Miroslav Kubásek

Jiří Hřebíček

Jiří Kalina

Ladislav Dušek
email: dusek@iba.muni.czurbanek

Jaroslav Urbánek

Ivan Holoubek
email: holoubek@recetox.muni.cz

Global Environmental Assessment Requires Global Functional Searching Engines: Robust Application of TaToo Tools

Keywords: TaToo, semantic web, POPs, Stockholm Convention, GENASIS, SVOD, anthropogenic impact, global climate change

The synthesis of existing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pollution monitoring databases with epidemiological data is considered for identifying some impacts of POPs on human health. This task requires new, rich, data, services and models discovery capabilities from a multitude of monitoring networks and web resources. The FP7 project TaToo (Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework) is setting up a semantic web solution to close the discovery gap that prevents a full and easy access to web resources. The use of TaToo tools together with software GENASIS and SVOD is discussed as TaToo validation scenario for anthropogenic impact and global climate change influence on POPs trajectory.

Introduction

The FP7 project TaToo (Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework) aims to set up a semantic web solution to close the discovery gap that prevents a full and easy access to environmental resources on the web [START_REF] Rizzoli | TaToo: tagging environmental resources on the web by semantic annotations[END_REF]. The core of the project will focus on the development of tools allowing third parties to easily discover environmental resources (data and/or services residing on different information nodes) on the web and to add valuable information in the form of semantic annotations to these resources, thus facilitating future usage and discovery, and kicking off a beneficial cycle of information enrichment.

TaToo validates the usability of its developments through the implementation of three different scenarios. All three scenarios are embedded in highly complex environmental domains and are therefore mainly addressed to domain expert groups and communities as well as to technically skilled users.

This paper contains the detailed framework of Masaryk university scenario, which is the anthropogenic impact and the influence of global climate change on this impact [START_REF] Hřebíček | Anthropogenic Impact and Global Climate Change. Description of Validation Scenario in TaToo Project[END_REF], [START_REF] Hřebíček | Validation Scenario for Anthropogenic Impact and Global Climate Change for Tatoo[END_REF]. The purpose of the paper is to give the overview of the scenario (background, objectives, and available tools), the definition of users who will use the TaToo tools, describe the possible use cases, and to provide with the mock ups.

Description of the scenario

The third validation scenario of TaToo project named Anthropogenic impact and global climate change is managed by Masaryk University1 (MU). MU validation scenario is dealing with the correlation of environmental pollutants and their health impact on the population and the correlation of transport of environmental pollutants with global climate change [START_REF] Hřebíček | Anthropogenic Impact and Global Climate Change. Description of Validation Scenario in TaToo Project[END_REF], [START_REF] Hřebíček | Validation Scenario for Anthropogenic Impact and Global Climate Change for Tatoo[END_REF]. The aim is to create a central place for researchers, domain experts and decision makers to discover and access interdisciplinary knowledge in more efficient and usable way that is the currently state of the art. Due to the fact that there is an enormous amount of information resources in scientific fields, which is steadily growing, available search mechanisms like search engines, scientific networks and similar technologies are not sufficient to meet the complex requirements of today's researchers and scientists. The result of conventional discovery processes are often not matching the domain context of the users and obligate them the tedious task of filtering large result sets to obtain the original object of the interest of the researcher intended to find with the search. Therefore the need arises for an improving discovery method, which will incorporate the domain knowledge and additional semantic information into the search in order to obtain a more fitting result for the specific context of the user. This validation scenario not only aims to improve the discovery of scientific resources for one particular domain, but also tries to discover and create new relationships among different domains. The correlation of environmental pollutants including their transport due to global climate change and their health impact on the population is only one significant example of creating new relationships among different domains. These dependencies could represent new scientific insights for already available resources and connect the knowledge of the single domains. These relationships should facilitate further discovery process to deliver matching resources of multiple domains.

This validation scenario represents the close cooperation and joint venture of two university institutes: the Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment2 (RECETOX) and Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses3 (IBA).

RECETOX is an independent institute of the Masaryk University. RECETOX performs research, development, education and expertise in the field of environmental contamination by toxic compounds with specific focus on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), polar organic compounds, toxic metals and their species and natural toxins -cyanotoxins. It is also Stockholm Convention Regional centre 4 for capacity building and transfer of technology in Central and Eastern European countries. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants5 (Stockholm convention) is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife. RECETOX is formed by several research divisions, service laboratories and technology-transfer centres: Environmental chemistry and modelling, Ecotoxicology and risk assessment, Trace laboratory, and Laboratory of data analyses. Research and development of the centre include monitoring of environmental matrices, studies of environmental fate and effects (ecotoxicology) of toxic compounds, ecological and human risk assessment as well as the development of informational and expert systems. In January 2010 RECETOX launched the first version of the Global Environmental Assessment and Information System (GENASIS) 6 , which provides information support for implementation of the Stockholm convention at an international level. The initial phase of the GENASIS project is focused on data from regular monitoring programmes of POPs, providing a general overview of spatial patterns and temporal trends of pollutants concentrations [START_REF] Brabec | GENASIS: System for the Assessment of Environmental Contamination by Persistent Organic Pollutants[END_REF].

IBA is a research institute focused on delivering solutions to questions arising in scientific projects and providing related services, especially in the field of biological and clinical data analysis, organization and management of clinical trials, software development and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications. IBA activities are primarily focused on organizational and expert services for large scientific projects and clinical research projects. IBA is formed by four divisions: Division of Data Analysis, Division of Clinical Trials, Division of Information and Communication Technologies, and Division of Environmental Informatics and Modelling. For example, IBA created the web portal for epidemiology of malignant tumours in the Czech Republic, the System for Visualizing of Oncological Data (SVOD) 7 , based on the data from the Czech National Oncology Registry [START_REF] Dušek | Czech Cancer Care in Numbers 2008-2009[END_REF].

Dušek [START_REF] Dušek | The national web portal for cancer epidemiology in the Czech Republic[END_REF] pointed in 2009:"A full-area monitoring of the environmental risk factors in all main environmental components is performed in the Czech Republic. The main objective of this functional monitoring network is the estimation of exposure to xenobiotic substances, and the evaluation of subsequent risks to human health. The system provides information for health risks management and also serves for public education, which is a prerequisite for active care of one's own health. The outputs from monitoring systems may also be used for assessing human risks associated with cancer epidemiology. Data about POPs are of key importance, since these compounds are known to have a wide spectrum of carcinogenic effects, a tendency to bioaccumulation, and are subject to long-distance transport."

The objective of the MU validation scenario is to use and validate the resulting tagging and discovery framework of the TaToo project. Since the primary scope of the TaToo project is to facilitate the discovery of environmental resources, this scenario delivers the perfect opportunity to validate the resulting solution against challenging real word problems. There are numerous scientific domains available and actively researched at the MU, but two important domains have been carefully chosen to demonstrate and validate the envisioned functionality of the TaToo project. The vision of the MU validation scenario is that other scientific domains could follow the initial institutes to further spin a new kind of knowledge network to deliver a new generation of tools and methods to effectively and conveniently support the scientific user in their daily work.

System for Visualizing of Oncological Data

Creating the SVOD web portal about tumour epidemiology in the Czech Republic was primarily motivated by the effort to make this representative and valuable data available to wide spectrum of users. We anticipated that general epidemiology data about these serious diseases and related population risks should be freely available to everybody in the Czech Republic. Another ambition of the SVOD web portal was to provide relevant information about tumor epidemiology in the Czech Republic abroad.

The SVOD web portal information services can be divided into three sections: 1) Current news: regularly updated information about population risk assessment and tumor epidemiology; 2) Interactive analyses that allow the user to investigate directly epidemiological trends of selected oncological diagnoses; 3) Predefined presentations of important topics (Authorised information service). These services are available free to all users. All analyses contain only safe and publicable data of tumour epidemiology, without any personal data of patients.

The project of creating the SVOD web portal for tumour epidemiology in the Czech Republic was tied with longstanding development of analytical software for data from National Oncology Registry (NOR) of the Czech Republic. The SVOD portal was created in the years 1999-2003. Currently is used its sixth version. The SVOD web portal solves all these problems and provides an effective way of access to epidemiological analyses to unlimited number of users. It makes accessible all NOR data via wide range of automated analyses. Although the SVOD was finalized successfully, there are severe limits with its distribution and availability, [START_REF] Dušek | Czech Cancer Care in Numbers 2008-2009[END_REF].

Global Environmental Assessment Information System

The GENASIS web portal provides information support for the implementation of the Stockholm Convention at the international level. This environmental information system was developed as a subsystem of the Single Information System of the Environment8 (JISŽP) of the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic, which will be connected to Share Environmental Information System9 (SEIS) of European Union [START_REF] Pillmann | Information Sources for a European Integrated Environmental Information Space[END_REF]. GENASIS connection with other accessible information sources creates the potential for a comprehensive assessment of anthropogenic impact on the environment and the associated ecological and health risks. The GENASIS portal contains data collected by RECETOX and its partners since 1988 in various monitoring types (long-term, short-term, research studies ...).

The GENASIS portal also offers analytical tools, one of the most important parts of the web portal. These tools allow basic processing of measured environmental data by "statistical" application programs. The user of GENASIS web portal can determine in the introductory screen what kind of data will enter to the analysis by the selection of various parameters (e.g. project name, sampling time, matrix, chemical compound, etc.). It will obtain by this way core set of data. The GENASIS system is able to visualize location of each sampled site where data are monitored or measured by the means of synoptic maps and examine general and / or detailed information about sampling frequency. It is also possible to sort and select / deselect monitored localities and view measured concentrations of selected compounds at these localities.

However, mere visualization is not the main objective of the development od analytical tools. Using additional GENASIS modules it is possible to obtain descriptive statistics for selected data set, observe changes in concentration of the user-selected chemicals during time period and easily depict seasonal and long-term trends (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. GENASIS Analytical Tools

Each module includes an option to use additional criteria that restrict entry data (e.g. selection of explicit altitudes). Another integral part of the analytical modules is stratification of localities according to various parameters (land use, altitude, distance to roads, sources of pollution, inhabited areas), which enables more detailed view and localities discrimination. More complex analyses and models are currently and continuously being prepared.

The pilot version of GENASIS uses data from monitoring network MONET [START_REF] Klánová | Towards the Global Monitoring of POPs -Contribution of the MONET Networks[END_REF], [START_REF] Urbánek | Monitoring and Assessment of Environmental Impact by Persistent Organic Pollutants[END_REF], which is focused on occurrence of POPs in an ambient air of the Central and Eastern European region (CEEC), Central Asia, Africa and Pacific Islands driven by RECETOX as the Regional Center of the Stockholm Convention for the CEEC region. For many of the participating countries these activities generated first data on the atmospheric levels of POPs. But the primary motivation for GENASIS project is to make all representative and very valuable data about presence and distribution of these dangerous substances in the environment accessible for wide forum of users and interested public.

GENASIS project uses data collected both within the National Implementation Plan for the Implementation of the Stockholm Convention in the Czech Republic (NIP)10 and international projects to reach its goals. The Czech Republic has had a long-term tradition in POPs monitoring in the environment and its monitoring networks cover all environmental components. A basic description supplemented by outputs used within the frame of the NIP is available for each monitoring network.

Relevance of the scenario

The synthesis of existing (air) pollution monitoring databases (e.g. EEA Datasets 11 , AirBase 12 etc.), with epidemiological databases (e.g. Virtual Library: Medicine and Health: Epidemiology 13 , NOR etc.) is required for identifying the effects of pollution on human health (anthropogenic impact). This task requires new, rich, data discovery capabilities within the bodies of available knowledge. IBA and RECETOX customers pose requests for new anthropogenic impact studies and influence of global climate change (e.g. a contamination of all environmental components by POPs through their changed transport due to global climate change) requiring data discovery from a multitude of monitoring networks and resources. Proper use of such data requires contextual information, which TaToo will deliver through tagging and enhanced information description (meta-data) provided by an appropriate semantic environment. In this context, MU intends to employ TaToo tools and validate their performance for tagging and semantic rich discovery of anthropogenic impact and global climate change resources. TaToo aims to set up a semantic web solution to close the discovery gap that prevents a full and easy access to environmental resources on the web. TaToo developments will be demonstrated in the domain of anthropogenic impact and global climate change analysis. To achieve such a goal, it is necessary to use data from national and international monitoring networks, and to discover and obtain ascomplete-as-possible data sets representing environmental anthropogenic impact.

Discovery, use, and reuse of these data require enhancements of meta-information descriptions, which can be achieved through TaToo's semantic rich environment (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. TaToo's semantic rich environment of information resources

In this context, MU intends to employ TaToo tools and validate their performance for tagging and semantic rich discovery of resources of anthropogenic impact and the influence of global climate change on the transport of pollutants.

Climate is a factor strongly interacting with transport, transformation and effects of POPs in the environment. They are emitted into ambient air from various primary and secondary sources and atmosphere plays a key role in their transport both around their source surroundings and on long distances. Atmospheric transport is also main pathway of POPs transport into aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Current research of POPs global fate searches new information on sources, but also on other factors that affect pollutants concentration in ambient air, because climate, processes at the interface of air and soil or water surface, and atmospheric transport significantly affect spatial and time variability of POPs in ambient air. From this point of view, regular measurements of pollutants concentration in ambient air at various localities and monitoring studies at various levels from immediate vicinity of local point sources up to continental level are of key importance. Important components of these measurements are monitoring design, selection of monitored chemicals, selection of sampling and analytical methods, processing method, and data interpretation.

Scenarios of climate changes predict decreasing temperature contrast between poles and equator, drier continental interiors, wetter arctic and sub polar regions, modification of wind and precipitation patterns, sea level rise and others. All these environmental changes can influence the level of POPs in the environment, their partitioning among environmental compartments (air, soil, water), long-range transport, degradation rates, and toxic effects. Also, the release of POPs can be higher, for example due to pesticides usage to stop potential increase of malaria disease. Higher concentrations of POPs in the environment would then probably have more serious effects on living organisms. The GENASIS information system is based on database and linked analytical tools providing information base available on the web portal [START_REF] Brabec | GENASIS: System for the Assessment of Environmental Contamination by Persistent Organic Pollutants[END_REF]. Visualization of temporal and spatial patterns linked to characteristics of chemical compounds involved in Stockholm Convention support development of scenarios for individual environmental compartments.

Initial version of GENASIS system contains air pollution data and data from other matrices are being prepared. Analytical tools of GENASIS system provide visualization of this data and basic statistics. The distribution models of POPS transport will be implemented in the near future to predict the fate of POPs in the environment. The user of TaToo tools would be able to find and explore such models from GENASIS website and also other relevant resources to investigate effects on the fate of POPs caused by global climate change.

TaToo tools will be validated over specific scenarios and they will allow for continued collaborative development by federated users communities.

TaToo Architecture

TaToo aims to deliver a web based system centred on a three main elements: • a clearinghouse, which plays the role of organising the semantic information on environmental resources. The clearinghouse contains a list of semantic annotations of environmental resources, referring to the original content as available on the world wide web. • a semantic processor, a core component of the TaToo system, since it uses a set of (pluggable) environmental ontologies to provide semantic services to the tagging tools of TaToo. • a set of tagging tools (TaToos), which offer services such as tagging new environmental resources, including quality and uncertainty information, searching for and discovering tagged environmental resources, validating the results of a search. The server side interacts with web based client components. These components can be interactively combined in order to enable human users to create, modify, delete and update TaToos. The composition is open, so that third party will be able to exploit the components to deliver their specifically targeted services.

The TaToo Web Portal represents the main entry point for the TaToo Semantic Framework and its functionality.

Due to the nature of a Web Portal the user has access independently of his location to all the Tagging, Discovery and Evaluation/Validation functionality. The TaToo Web Portal implements user first level authentication and authorization for access control and offers a customisable portal content.

The TaToo Web portal is in principle composed of a set of portlets that match with the set of services provided by the TaToo Semantic Framework: Tagging Portlets, Discovery Portlets, Evaluation and Validation Portlets. If a functionality requires a complex design, it can be provided throw the means of a set of the portlets.. The TaToo Web Portal interacts mainly with the portlets that make up the portal. The information exchanged between the portal and the portlets is not relevant at the specification level and depends on the specific portlet server / container.

Tagging Portlet

The Tagging Portlet interacts with the Tagging Service. It exchanges the following information with the Tagging Service:

• Domain selected by the user; • Ontologies (in simplified representation) matching the domain; • Tags (selected terms from an ontology); • User context information (to associate a tag with a user). The user accesses the TaToo Web Portal in tagging process and selects the Tagging Portlet user interface. The Tagging Portlet presents to the user one or more resources that were just discovered, or already known and stored. The user can add a new tag (meta-information). Once the user fills, for example, an input text box or chooses a term from a selection box on the Tagging Portlet, the meta-information entered is then sent to the Tagging Service associated with the selected resource(s). It will be then up to the TaToo Clearinghouse to manage storage of the metainformation associated with the resource(s).

Discovery portlets

There are three discovery portlets: It allows users to view, in a user-friendly manner, the results of a query, and to interact with them. To this end, the component will show different elements in different areas such as performed query, found resources, annotation related to those resources, and so on.

TaToo Evaluate and Validate Portlet

The TaToo Evaluate and Validate Portlet is a component responsible for the evaluation and validation of search results and tags associated with resources. It is part of the TaToo Presentation tier on the TaToo Web Portal providing evaluation and validation functionality to the user, communicating with the Evaluate and Validate Service.

It shows all available tags of a previously discovered resource including potentially attached validation meta-information. Validation meta-information, or validation tags, are special tags for the purpose of evaluation and validation. They are used, for example, to rate the quality, uncertainty, reliability, etc. of resources as well as tags (including Validation Tags). The portlet should also provide an indicator for overall level of quality, uncertainty, reliability, etc., of the resource computed from all available Validation Tags.

This

Conclusions

In this paper we have introduced the aims and the vision of the MU scenario of FP7 project TaToo, which aims at providing a collaborative platform for the semantic enrichment of environmental information resources on the web. The main challenges of the TaToo project are the provision of an appealing user interface for the semantic annotation of environmental resources, more specifically environmental data, information, web services and models, and the development of a set of TaToo tools to provide a preliminary semantic analysis of the content of web resources, with the ability to access different published ontologies that describe the available knowledge basis.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. TaToo architecture 14

  Simple Search Portlet; Hierarchical Search Portlet; Result Presentation Portlet: • Simple Search Portlet acts as a Web Client of the TaToo Discovery Service. To display the retrieved information, the Simple Search Portlet redirects the results to a TaToo User Component able to show results. This is the component responsible for the search and discovery of tagged environmental resources. It provides a GUI suitable for expressing the most relevant queries for a given domain. This component provides functionality to search and discover through the key concepts and relations chosen from the corresponding ontology domain. The user accesses the TaToo Web Portal in discovery process looking for search and discovery functionality. On the TaToo Web Portal the user can access the related Search and Discovery user interface. The Search and Discovery Portlet will contact the TaToo Service tier and in particular will access the Discovery Service, which will be responsible for forwarding the required operation to the Clearinghouse. The Simple Search Portlet asks the Discovery Service for Ontologies matching a domain selected by the user and sends the search terms (chosen from the ontology) to the Discovery Service. It receives search results from the Discovery Service in the form of URIs of matching resources along with some meta-information describing the resource. • Hierarchical Search Portlet acts as a Web Client of the TaToo Discovery Service. To display the retrieved information, the Hierarchical Search Portlet redirects the search results to a TaToo User Component (e.g. the Result Presentation Portlet) able to show results. This is the component responsible for the search and discovery of tagged environmental resources. The Hierarchical Search Portlet provides a GUI suitable for the discovery strategy called navigation. It can be accessed by the user through its GUI which allows formulating the search query via a category tree. The user retrieves the resources belonging to a category (previously selected on the tree) and its related meta-information. The Hierarchical Search Portlet interacts with the TaToo Web Portal and the Discovery Service. It asks the Discovery Service for Ontologies matching a domain selected by the user and sends the search terms (chosen from the category tree) to the Discovery Service. It receives search results back in the form of URIs of matching resources along with some meta-information describing the resource. • Result Presentation Portlet interacts with Search Portlets to present search results.

  Portlet interacts with the TaToo Web Portal, the Discovery Portlet, the Tagging Service and the Evaluate and Validate Service. It receives the URI of a resource from the Search Portlet receives associated Validation Tags from the Evaluate and Validate Service and sends new Validation Tags to the Evaluate and Validate Service.

http://www.muni.cz

http://www.recetox.muni.cz

http://www.iba.muni.cz

http://www.recetox.muni.cz/index-en.php?pg=regional-pops-center

http://www.pops.int

http://www.genasis.cz

http://www.svod.cz

http://www.mzp.cz/cz/jednotny_informacni_system_zivotni_prostredi

http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/what/shared-environmental-information-system

http://www.recetox.muni.cz/pops-centrum/index.php?pg=pops--nip

http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-andmaps/data#c5=all&b_start=0&c9=air%2520emissions&c11=air

12 http://acm.eionet.europa.eu/databases/airbase/

index_html 13 http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/epidem.html

Acknowledgments. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement nr. 247893.


Klára Komprdová
email: komprdova@recetox.muni.cz

Jiří Komprda

Milan Sáňka

Ondřej Hájek

Spatial Soil Modeling of Organochlorine Pesticides, their Pools and Volatilization Fluxes

Keywords: pesticides, pool, modeling, fugacity, POPs

The goal of this study was to use the modeling tools for prediction of environmental concentrations and pools of pesticides (HCB and DDT) in soil. The characterization and quantification of secondary background sources of HCB, were computed using fugacity based deterministic model. Areas with a high potential for deposition and volatilization of HCB were identified. Results of modeling were maps showing spatial distribution of HCB and DDT in the Czech Republic which have been visualized on the web portal GENASIS (Global Environmental Assessment Information System) to provide information on environment contamination.

Introduction

HCB and DDT were produced during last decades for various agricultural and industrial purposes. They are widely distributed in all environmental compartments including air, soil, water, sediment and biota because of their physical-chemical properties. The considerable amount of these compounds is still presented mainly in the soil. Sources of HCB in the environment in the mid 1990s were considered to be the manufacture of chlorinated solvents, the manufacture and application of HCB containing pesticides [START_REF] Bailey | Global hexachlorobenzene emissions[END_REF], metal production and the residential sector [START_REF] Denier Van Der Gon | Emissions of POPs and eight candidate POPs from UNECE-Europe in 2000, 2010 and 2020 and the emission reduction resulting from the implementation of the UNECE POP protocol[END_REF]. DDT was widely used in the second half of the 20th century and Czechoslovakia was an important producer and consumer of DDT [START_REF] Holoubek | Úvodní národní inventura persistentních organických polutantů v České republice[END_REF].

In addition to the long-range transport, HCB and DDT are also re-mobilized from primary and secondary sources such as contaminated sites and soils, which may strongly influence their concentration in air on shorter spatial scales e.g., in areas of former heavy HCB application elevated soil concentrations of HCB are commonly found [START_REF] Barber | Hexachlorbenzene in the global environment: Emissions, levels, distribution, trends and processes[END_REF]. DDT is very persistent in soil, too.

One of important properties of those compounds is semivolatility. When atmospheric concentrations of POPs (persistent organic pollutants) declined as a result of restrictions to low level volatilization from soil become their significant or even dominant emission source in the environment. Spatially resolved deterministic model based on fugacity approach was created for calculation of volatilization fluxes and total amount of HCB being volatilized was predicted. Influence of environmental temperature changes and variation of organic carbon content in soil was included in the model.

Data sources

In central Europe, unique continuous monitoring of POPs is conducted at the background sampling site Košetice, Czech Republic, since 1988. This dataset allow analyzing pollution level and temporal trend in various environmental matrices and study the environmental fate of POPs more deeply. Input concentrations for the soil model were collected from several projects. The most important sources of data came from two nation-wide soil monitoring systems: Basal monitoring of agricultural soils conducted by CISTA (Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture) and Basal monitoring of soils in protected areas conducted by ANLP (Agency for Nature and Landscape Protection). Other data sources were projects conducted by RECETOX (Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment) for various purposes and at various spatial scales. Altogether, comprehensive data from about 600 sites around the country formed the basic database used for further evaluation and modeling. The collected data covered not only soil concentrations of POPs but also other important parameters measured at individual sites, e.g. geographical coordinates, soil organic carbon content, soil type, land use.

Methodology

Determination of the spatial and quantitative distribution of POPs in soil

Concentration maps for each substance in soil at a 1x1 km grid resolution were constructed using the GIS approach. The prediction model was based on the dependency of POP concentration levels on environmental parameters. Only parameters which were supposed to influence the concentration were used. Four groups of predictor variables were used: 1. markers of anthropogenic activity such as distance from industry, distance from populated areas and road classes, NO x , SO 2 , particulate matter content in air, old dumps, size of populated area 2. climatic factors such as altitude, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation 3. soil properties such as soil type, character of soil and organic carbon content and 4. land cover [START_REF] Bossard | CORINE land cover technical guide-Addendum 2000[END_REF]. Prior to modeling, a square grid was generated for the Czech Republic using ArcGIS 9.2 (in total 80 033 squares of 1x1 km).

Non-parametric methods, CART [START_REF] Breiman | Random forests[END_REF] and Random Forest [START_REF] Breiman | Classification and Regression Trees[END_REF], were used for the prediction of POP soil concentrations in CZ. The reason is the character of data (categorial variables with many categories, assumption of nonlinear relationships, non-normal distribution of variables and multicolinearity). The concentrations' maps of HCB and DDT were used from previous study on RECETOX [START_REF] Kubosova | Spatially resolved distribution models of POP moncentrations in moil: A stochastic approach using regression trees[END_REF]. A pool of POPs in the top soil layer was calculated for each cell of the grid using concentration of pesticides and a bulk density and thickness of soil horizons. The values were specific for each grid square [START_REF] Cupr | Soil burdens of persistent organic pollutants -Their levels, fate and risks Part III. Quantification of the soil burdens and related health risks in the Czech Republic[END_REF].

Construction of a fugacity model for determining the volatilization of POPs from Czech soils

Land cover, soil type, temperature gradient and organic carbon content in soil form the basis of the applied fugacity model. It was necessary to construct temperature maps for the whole area of the Czech Republic. Results were evaluated according to the potential of individual areas to volatilization and deposition of HCB. The fugacity model [START_REF] Mackay | Multimedia Environmental Models: The Fugacity Approach -Second Edition[END_REF] was based on a dynamic box model, based on previous experience with the construction and use of a similar model type comprising both soil and air [START_REF] Komprda | Application of an unsteady state environmental distribution model to a decadal time series of PAH concentrations in Central Europe[END_REF]. Input parameters were both physical-chemical properties of the studied substances and properties of the environment, e.g. temperature and organic carbon content in soil. Three resistance concept based on fugacity approach was used (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Three resistance concept based on fugacity approach [START_REF] Mackay | Multimedia Environmental Models: The Fugacity Approach -Second Edition[END_REF].

Volatilization flux is proportional to difference of fugacities between air and soil. Fugacity as criterion of equilibrium is a "pressure" of POPs in compartments. The model contains mass transfer coefficients describing transfer over the air-soil interphase (air and soil compartments are homogenous boxes). Temperature dependence was included through partitioning coefficients (K ow n-octanol/water, K aw air/water, K oc organic carbon/water, K sw soil/water).

Correction of partitioning coefficients to the specific environmental temperature (van´t Hoff's equation):

K aw = K aw0 * e (dH/R*( 1 / T0 -1 / T )) (1)
Evaluation of partitioning coefficients soil-water (K sw ):

K oc = K ow * 0.41 K' sw = K oc * f oc K sw = K' sw / (1000 * ρ ) (2) (3) (4)
Evaluation of fugacity capacities Z [mol• (m 3 •Pa) -1 ]:

Z a = 1 / (R * T) Z l = 1 / ( K awt * R * T) Z s = K sw * Z l Z sbulk = f s * Z s + f a * Z a + f l * Z l (5) (6) (7) (8)
Evaluation of total flux of pollutant between air and soil:

F = F sa -F as F = D s * f s -D s * f a (53) (64)
When s-soil, a-air, l-liquid, w-water, R-gas constant 8.314 [J•( mol•K) -1 ], MTCmass transport coefficient [m•h -1 ], f s , f a ,f l -solid, liquid and air fractions in soil, f s , f a -fugacities of pollutant in soil and air [Pa], F-flux of pollutant over air/soil interphase [mol•h -1 ], f a -fugacity of pollutant in air was set to average fugacity from regular monitoring in Kosetice., f s -fugacity of pollutant in soil was calculated from predicted concentration maps using Z sbulk (grid specific values). For detail see [START_REF] Koblizkova | Soil Burdens of Persistent Organic Pollutants: Their Levels, Fate, and Risks. Part IV. Quantification of Volatilization Fluxes of Organochlorine Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls from Contaminated Soil Surfaces[END_REF]. The median of HCB concentration in air from background side (Kosetice) was used. The evaluation was performed in MATLAB.

Concentration maps of DDT and HCB were constructed with a high accuracy of prediction and their pools were computed (Fig. 2 and3). Based on these results, the total POPs pool in soils was determined in grassland, forests soil and arable land (Fig. 4) HCB and DDT maps clearly show higher pools in lowlands when compared to mountain soils. It is a result of using these compounds as pesticides for several decades. Volatilization maps show that pools are active source of these pollutants during warm part of year. This is in contrast to colder regions in mountains which are target places of air transport e.g. cold condensation nearly during whole year (Fig. 5 and6). This approach was proved to be very suitable. The total amount of a substance volatilized into air was determined. The areas with a high potential for deposition and volatilization and areas with potential for fast pesticides concentration changes in soil were identified during the analysis. Maps have been visualized on the web portal GENASIS (Global Environmental Assessment Information System) to provide information on environment contamination.

  Evaluation of transport coefficients D [mol• (h•Pa) -1 ]: D a = MTC a *Z a D sa = MTC sa * Z a D sl = MTC sw * Z l D s = 1 / (1 / D a + 1 / ( D sa + D sl ) )

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. Spatially resolved (grid of 1×1 km) pools of HCB (kg•km -1 ).

Fig. 3 .Fig. 4 .

 34 Fig. 3. Spatially resolved (grid of 1×1 km) pools of DDT (kg•km -1 ).

Fig. 5 .

 5 Fig. 5. Volatilization flux of HCB from soil in January (ng•m -2 •h -1 ).

Fig. 6 .

 6 Fig. 6. Volatilization flux of HCB from soil in July (ng•m -2 •h -1 ).

Acknowledgments. The research was supported by CETOCOEN (CZ.1.05/2.1.00/ 01.0001) project, granted by the European Union and administered by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MEYS), by MEYS (MSMT0021622412).


Zuzana Chvátalová

Alena Kocmanová
email: kocmanova@fbm.vutbr.cz

Marie Dočekalová
email: docekalova@fbm.vutbr.cz

Zuzana Chvatalová
email: chvatalova@fbm.vutbr.cz

Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Measuring Corporate Performance

Keywords: Corporate Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Performance, GRI, KPI, Modelling

ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

As regards the environmental, economic, social and corporate governance aspects in relation to measurement of company performance, also the Corporate Sustainability Reporting is gaining importance. Corporate Sustainability Reporting has become a mainstream business activity. The Amsterdam Declaration on Transparency and Reporting of the Board of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 1 from March 2009 told to global leaders from business, labour and civil society declared their belief that the lack of transparency in the existing system for corporate reporting has failed its stakeholders. It brought a new impulse to reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

The development in the field of corporate sustainability and environmental reporting in the Czech Republic reflect the overall global world trends; see [START_REF] Hrebicek | Current Trends in Sustainability Reporting in the Czech Republic[END_REF]. The available statistics show that through all objective benefits the corporate sustainability reporting can bring to businesses an appropriate feedback. Existing motivation is not sufficient to make this a normal business practice as compared to the financial accounting and reporting. On the one hand, some large corporations are actively performing GRI; on the other hand, the relative share of these companies is rather small. Plenty of companies in the Czech Republic have implemented and certified an Environmental Management System (EMS) as a part of integrated management system (quality, environment and occupational health and safety management).

Therefore, the environmental, economical and social data and information are being monitored, codified, registered and aggregated into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 2 . This fact indirectly indicates that in the case of such need the company is able to aggregate these data and incorporate it into the corporate sustainability or environmental report, see [START_REF] Hrebicek | Current Trends in Sustainability Reporting in the Czech Republic[END_REF].

Although the GRI has served as an essential and very useful means in improving the standardisation of company reporting, companies continue to have differing degrees of compliance with the GRI and sometimes differing interpretations of the best means to apply the standards to their reporting. To be comparable across all companies, and thus useful for mainstream investment analyses, it is important that economic, environmental, social and governance data is transformed into consistent units and is presented in a balanced and coherent manner in ESG indicators.

GRI and UNEP FI Proposals

There the Board of GRI concluded that the root causes of the current economic crisis would have been moderated by a global transparency and accountability system based on the exercise of due diligence and the public reporting of economic, environmental, social and governance (sustainability) performance. They called on governments to introduce policies requiring companies to address publicly sustainability factors. A revitalized and resilient economic system will only be sustained if it accounts for the full costs and value of sustainability activity. The Board of GRI calls on governments to take leadership by:

• Introducing policy requiring companies to report on sustainability factors or publicly explain why they have not done so; • Requiring sustainability reporting by their public bodies -in particular: state owned companies, government pension funds and public investment agencies; Integrating sustainability reporting within the emerging global financial regulatory framework being developed by leaders of the G20 (The Group of Twenty) 3 . Investors have been a key driver in promoting the uptake of sustainability reporting -as a result of initiatives such as the United Nations Environment Programme's Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) 4 . They are increasingly asking companies for economic, environmental, social and governance (ESG) information to help them make investment decisions, see [START_REF] Hrebicek | Current Trends in Sustainability Reporting in the Czech Republic[END_REF].

UNEP FI Asset Management Working Group (AMWG) and the Markets & Valuation Work Stream of the Word Business Council for Sustainable Development have jointly published the new report: "Translating ESG into sustainable business value" 5 .This report providing key insights for companies and investors on how their business and investment philosophy and practices going forward can better address the why, what and how of communicating corporate economic, environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to the capital markets. Business leaders and investors can use this report as a tool to advance the integration of ESG factors into corporate and investment decision-making, and to continue discussing the needed evolution towards more holistic and realistic capital market valuation processes.

The AMWG is a global platform of asset managers that collaborate to understand the various ways ESG factors affect investment value and the evolving techniques for the inclusion of ESG criteria and metrics. 6From sustainability performance data is necessary to determine KPIs to identify company overall sustainability performance. Great importance is attributed to the defining of KPIs in the economic, environmental, social and governance areas for a specified economic activities (NACE 7 ) with subsequent measurement of sustainable development. The corporate sustainability reporting and overall performance of a company in a specific economic activity would thus be defined by the integrated achievement of economic, social, environmental and corporate governance performance measures. Sustainability performance is, however, often understood as performance in environmental and social terms, thus excluding economic performance [START_REF] Schaltegger | Integrative Management of Sustainability Performance, Measurement and Reporting[END_REF].

Decision-making is based on a qualified assessment (measurement) of a situation determined at the same time by multiple factors (indicators), primarily in their horizontal development. In pursuit of an outstanding informative force an emphasis is currently placed not only on the absolute data, but in the first place on the change data and analyses of changes of these changes. That is, dynamics of systems is the focus of attention. Appropriately applied vertical analyses then add further dimension to the conditions for decision making. In this conjunction other methods have to be discussed: logical and empirical methods, methods of qualitative and quantitative research such as in particular modelling of statistics.

Modelling Tools for Measuring Corporate Performance

"Creating of models of social phenomena is at the heart of economic science. By model we understand here a simplified representation of reality", see [START_REF] Varian | Microeconomic Analysis, Third Edition[END_REF]. The process of creating models of real situations (in general, not just in economics) may be called real phenomena modelling. The more real situation aspects the model embraces, the more exactly it describes it. Such a model, however, may not be suitable for understanding context and achieving clearness, processing and further manipulation (obtaining results within a reasonable time span, formulation of conclusions; possible uncovering of strengths and weaknesses of facts or inappropriate use of information technology), see [START_REF] Chvatalova | Company Sustainable Development and Measuring of its Environmental, Social and Governance Factors[END_REF], [START_REF] Chvatalova | The Methods of Quantitative Disciplines in the Environment[END_REF]. Modelling may be categorized from different points of view. For example if the focus is on description, this may be of verbal, visual, quantitative, qualitative or analytic kinds. If the focus is on character, this encompasses deterministic and stochastic, static, dynamic and other approaches, see [START_REF] Fábry | Matematické modelování 1[END_REF].

In connection with the currently ever more demanded change analysis, we have to mention Deming's cycle, i.e. application of what is known as Deming's fourcomponent diagram also referred to as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) 8 .

When modelling and employing advanced quantitative methods, optimization, stochastic, dynamic, further mathematic (e.g. disaster theories) and other methods in measuring corporate performance, the level of knowledge may be increased by also considering significant aspects of qualitative character, mainly consisting in capturing facts non-deterministically. For example: by capturing phenomena under conditions of indeterminateness; by means of data extraction; by considering and reflecting upon uncertainties not just by "measuring" empirical data; by considering also inaccuracy of methods, technology and the facts that economic, environmental as well as social experiments are difficult to control; by taking into account degrees of phenomenal ambiguity, delimiting certain balance space etc.

The resulting methods for measuring corporate performance should be modifiable, enabling e.g. local specification which takes into account abnormal or marginal conditions, with a potential of reasonable prediction, deduces historical development, single/multi criteria, capable of further simplification (e.g. comparative statics approach) etc.

Graphical possibilities for results of measuring corporate performance such as visualization, animation, simulation etc. are an important support for their understanding. An indispensable tool is presented by the rapidly developing information and communication technologies (ICTs), see [START_REF] Gander | Solving Problems in Scientific Computing Using Maple and Matlab[END_REF], [START_REF] Chvatalova | The Methods of Quantitative Disciplines in the Environment[END_REF]. A great number of ICTs exists at present, e.g. the modelling tools Maple, MuPAD, Mathematica, tailormade for statisticians are the cutting-edge systems Statgraphics, Statistica and others.

Scientific computing thus plays an ever more important role which is even more accentuated by the rapidly developing ICTs, see [START_REF] Chvatalova | Company Sustainable Development and Measuring of its Environmental, Social and Governance Factors[END_REF]. In this way new methods are created, but along with that even some older methods have been re-discovered and transferred from their academic environment into practical use.

Mathematicians found inspiration in the nature and developed new theories such as fuzzy logic (determining "how many" elements belong in a specific set), artificial neuron networks (are sort of imperfect model of the human mind, termed "black box", as it is impossible to thoroughly learn about an internal structure of a system), genetic algorithms (used where exact solutions of practical problems would be almost infinitely long if systematically examined) or chaos (describes behaviour of non-linear systems which though having a hidden order, still appear as systems controlled by chance effects). These methods are considered for measuring ESG performance. E.g. by evaluating the development of a time series of collected enterprise data we are using these theories and we may form an idea of a time series future development ESG performance and carry out a qualified decision making process through applying the fuzzy logic rules based on the findings, see [START_REF] Dostál | Pokročilé metody manažerského rozhodování[END_REF].

As regards statistical methods inputs into research of ESG performance, the creation of new fuzzy stochastic models is essential at present for the description and evaluation of sets of collected data of ESG factors with dominating indeterminateness. Furthermore, the creation of unconventional mathematic-statistical methods for fitting discrete distributions of probability aimed at categorical analysis of ESG factor trends including the testing of statistical hypotheses and multicriterial decision-making is crucial. Applied software implementation of these developed methods and their application to real ESG data and information sets is used, see [START_REF] Karpisek | Zadeh-Type Fuzzy Probability with Triangular Norms[END_REF].

We also used the conception of managerial functions defined by H. Fayol9 to the determination of ESG factors. This is five functions that he named administration/governance functions (planning), organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling. The mentioned functions are interrelated and are characterized as "sequential managerial functions" (sequential functions). Decision-making is one of the parallel managerial functions, permeating the sequential managerial functions [START_REF] Dostál | Pokročilé metody manažerského rozhodování[END_REF].

The theory of systems 10 , i.e. system analysis is another important approach for determination of ESG factors based on gradual decomposition of integrated management system of organisation into its subsystems and elements. It focuses on transformation of system inputs into outputs, i.e. behaviour and features of systems. The construction of methods for rational while at the same sophisticated use of multifactor metric, the creation of change methodology of measuring ESG factors, a methodical handbook for an organisations in specific industry considering modifiability and broad spectral application, will be universally applicable in the commercial, institutional and public spheres.

Corporate Performance

Corporate sustainability reporting tools designed for the environmental, economic, social and governance corporate performance -Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) -appear as essential at present. The "Reporting" will thus produce one of the greatest value "products", even if intangible in nature, i.e. information about corporate performance. This, however, needs to be used effectively. The overall corporate performance plays a key role in the general development of a company. The using the reliable method of corporate performance measurement where concurrent acting of multiple ESG factors is in play, can be considered a prerequisite for success not only in decision making, but also with regard to general corporate governance, comparison possibilities, development of healthy competition environment.

Economic Performance

The Economic Performance is based on Financial Reporting. Sources of financial information are: final accounts, annual reports of a company, company financial analysts and managers information, annual reports, stock exchange news, quantified non-financial information and statistics, unquantified information. Sustainability Accounting is an important tool which processes, analyzes and evaluates three pillars of sustainable development in their interaction and context for improving the company performance in fields environmental -economic performance, environmental -social performance and economic -social performance.

There are often used the economic indicators of targeted for selection strategies (maximizing profits, maximizing total costs, company survival, etc.), using new methods of design and measurement is often reflecting the evolution of economic performance lessons from history and look to the future.

Economic performance indicators can be divided in relation to the surveyed area:

• indicators of liquidity (current ratio, quick ratio, cash ratio, etc.);

• indicators of profitability (ROA -return on assets, ROE -return on equity, ROI -return on investment, ROS -return of sales, etc.); • indicators of indebtedness (debt ratio, self-financing ratio etc.); • indicators of financial and asset structure;

• indicators of activity and other, e.g.:

-Benchmarking, EVA (EVA = NOPAT -Capital • WACC, where NOPAT -net operating profit after taxes, Capital -fixed capital in assets, weighted average cost of capital), -BSC -Balanced Scorecard and other [START_REF] Vecheta | Finanční analýza firmy užitím systému Maple[END_REF].

We use developed ICT tools with above mentioned modelling tools for measuring corporate performance to facilitate the calculations and the visualizations of models of these economic indicators development and these differences.

Environmental Performance

The Environmental Performance (EP) of an organisation is defined as results of an organisation's management of its environmental aspects. In the context of EMS these results can be measured against the organization's environmental policy (i.e. overall intentions and direction of an organization related to its environmental performance as formally expressed by top management); environmental objectives (overall environmental goals, consistent with the environmental policy, that an organization sets itself to achieve); environmental targets (i.e. detailed performance requirements, applicable to the whole organization or parts thereof, that arise from the environmental objectives and that need to be set and met in order to achieve those objectives) and other environmental performance requirements.

We propose environmental KPIs to provide businesses with a tool for the measurement of the environmental performance of organizations [START_REF] Hřebíček | Methodology Guideline. Proposal of Indicators for Environmental Reporting and Annual Reports of EMAS[END_REF]. They are quantifiable metrics that reflect the EP of a business in the context of achieving its wider goals and objectives. These environmental KPIs will help businesses to implement strategies by linking various levels of an organisation (business units, departments and individuals) with clearly defined targets and benchmarks of selected economic activities. Environmental KPIs are measures by which the performances of organizations, business units, and their division, departments and employees are periodically assessed.

KPIs are summarized in the Table 1.

Table 1. Key Performance Indicators [START_REF] Hřebíček | Corporate key performance indicators for environmental management and reporting[END_REF].

No

Social and Governance Performance

We have continued in our research from the development of economic and environmental KPIs to "the construction of methods for multifactor measurement of corporate performance in chosen economic (CZ-NACE) activities and the creation of a modifiable and broad-spectrum methodology of their putting into practice."

The main objective of our research is specified by its partial research targets: 1. Analysis of the state-of-art on economic, environmental, social and corporate governance aspects of company performance through targeted research of the world literature and database sources available with using available ICTs tools. 2. Analysis of the current implementation of ESG reporting in chosen economic activities and its justification. 3. Analysis and categorization of contemporary characteristics of the individual pillars: economic, environmental, social and corporate governance (or the attractive sustainability of success) in relation to the measure of progress or dynamics of development of the overall corporate performance. 4. Specification of possibilities for company overall corporate performance measurements in chosen economic activities based on analyses of previous findings. Identification of the importance and relative roles of ESG factors with using ESG data and KPIs in the company overall performance. 5. Construction of methods of multifactor measurement of complex company overall performance in chosen economic activities through the advanced quantitative and qualitative methods (in detail mentioned above) while using the ICT tools and defining their practical implementation ability, functionality, modifiability and embracing a broad spectrum of factors. 6. Application of methods for multifactor measurement of company overall performance of chosen economic activities in practice with feedback for possible change correction aimed at further improvement. The first results of our research were determination of additional KPIs following results [START_REF] Hřebíček | Corporate key performance indicators for environmental management and reporting[END_REF] in Table 2.

Conclusion

Environmental, social and governance reporting (ESG reporting) tools designed for the corporate ESG performance appear as essential at present. The overall corporate performance plays a key role in its corporate strategic policy and sustainability of success. The creation of reliable methods of corporate performance measurement where concurrent acting of multiple factors is in play can be considered a prerequisite for success not only in decision making, but also with regard to corporate governance, comparison possibilities, development of healthy competition environment etc. The planned and already developed applied software components for measuring corporate performance within our research project Nr. P403/11/2085 have great potential to be used in different application contexts. On the one hand selection and configuration of existing plug-ins leads to new software tools which suit special application contexts due to their dedicated functionality. On the other hand the open source platform is a basis for custom developments of plug-in-based software tools, where the existing source code of modelling tools can be extended or customized. If necessary the GUI elements provided by the open source platform can be used to build a low effort user interface with basic core functionalities. Finally the developed prototype of applied software for measuring corporate performance will be used as a prototype application for the involved SME which can be directly used without further development steps.

Table 2 .

 2 Additional KPIs[START_REF] Hřebíček | Corporate key performance indicators for environmental management and reporting[END_REF].

	No.	indicator	unit
		Compliance with legislation
	EN28	Monetary value of significant fines and	thousand of CZK
		total number of non-monetary sanctions for
		non-compliance with environmental laws
		and regulations
		Economic Benefits of Environmental Conservation Activities
	EC1	indicating whether activities in	Economic benefits / Environmental
		environmental conservation are	conservation costs.
		economically rational í
	EC2	indicating whether activities in	(Economic benefits + social cost
		environmental conservation are	reduction) / Environmental
		economically and social rational	conservation costs
	EC3	indicating the efficiency of environmental	Environmental impact reduction /
		improvements made by the	Environmental conservation costs.
		project/investment activity
		Environmental Efficiency of Business Activities
	EC4	indicating the environmental impact of	Sales / Total environmental impact.
		business activities and whether those
		activities respond to public needs and
		expectations is justifiable
	EC5	indicating whether the business activity	Value-added business activities /
		generates an appropriate level of profit in	Total environmental impact.
		relation to its environmental impact

http://www.globalreporting.org/aboutgri/whatisgri/history/amsterdamdeclaration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_indicator

http://www.g20.org/about_what_is_g20.aspx

http://www.unepfi.org/about/index.html

http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/translatingESG.pdf

http://www.unepfi.org/work_streams/investment/amwg/index.html

NACE is an acronym standing for Statistical Classification of Economic Activities, used by the European Union (or the European Communities) since 1970. NACE provides a framework for statistical data relating to activities in many economic areas (e.g. production, employment, national accounts).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA

http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/history/classical_organization_theory_modified.htm

http://statpac.org/walonick/systems-theory.htm

Acknowledgments. This paper is supported by The Czech Science Foundation. Name of the Project: Construction of Methods for Multifactor Assessment of Company Complex Performance in Selected Sectors. Reg. Nr. P403/11/2085.


Peter Mooney
email: peter.mooney@nuim.ie

Padraig Corcoran
email: padraig.corcoran@nuim.ie

Can Volunteered Geographic Information Be a Participant in eEnvironment and SDI?

Keywords: VGI, OpenStreetMap, SDI, Spatial data

ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

On first glance VGI appears to have all of the required ICT ingredients to provide a dynamic picture of the environment. VGI's ability to leverage large numbers of dedicated "citizen sensors" [START_REF] Goodchild | Neogeography and the nature of geographic expertise[END_REF] is unprecedented. As a consequence the amount of VGI available on the Internet today has grown enormously in the past few years. Initiatives such as Wikimapia, Google Mapmaker, OpenStreetMap (OSM), geotagging in Flickr, geolocation in Twitter, Geonames, etc have seen VGI become a "hot topic in GIS research" [START_REF] Mooney | Towards quality metrics for openstreetmap[END_REF] and is now one of the rapid growth areas of GIS. Recently VGI (such as OpenStreetMap) has begun to provide an interesting and feasible alternative to traditional authoritative spatial information from National Mapping Agencies and corporations. However the fact that VGI is a spatial form of the user-generated content in Web 2.0 has raised serious concerns and reservations within the GIS, Geomatics and Environmental Science communities [START_REF] Mooney | Towards quality metrics for openstreetmap[END_REF][START_REF] Mooney | A study of data representation of natural features in openstreetmap[END_REF] about its quality, accuracy, sustainability, and fitness for use/purpose. Kessler et al [START_REF] Kebler | An agenda for the next generation gazetteer: geographic information contribution and retrieval[END_REF] points out that compared to other projects building on user contributed content, such as Wikipedia, VGI remains on the GIS periphery and consequently has been restricted to web-based mapping applications [START_REF] Haklay | A comparative study of openstreetmap and ordnance survey datasets for london and the rest of england[END_REF] and not considered for involvement in "serious geomatics applications" [START_REF] Over | Generating web-based 3d city models from openstreetmap: The current situation in germany[END_REF]. De Longueville et al [START_REF] Longueville | Addressing vagueness in volunteered geographic information (VGI) -A case study[END_REF] (also in [START_REF] Longueville | Community-based geoportals: The next generation? concepts and methods for the geospatial web 2.0[END_REF]) comments that work-flows have been implemented to create, validate, and distribute VGI datasets for various thematic domains but its exploitation in real-time and its integration into existing concepts of Digital Earth, such as SDI, still needs to be further addressed". SDI are created for specialists and experts with the goal of making diverse and heterogeneous data available and accessible. Gouveia et al [START_REF] Gouveia | Promoting the use of environmental data collected by concerned citizens through information and communication technologies[END_REF] stress that the development of SDI, throughout the world, has facilitated improved public access to environmental information because of its inherently spatial characteristics. As GPS and web-enabled mobile devices have become ubiquitous we feel that it is important to leverage these new information sources and work towards stronger integration capabilities. Our paper attempts to make a case for VGI as a participant in eEnvironment and SDI.

Overview of Related Literature

Citizens, experts and non-experts alike, are increasingly participating in the process of generating continuous spatial information and collaborating with others in problem-solving tasks. This highlights the transition of the role of users from just mere data consumers to active participants and providers [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF]. Traditionally, SDI building follows a top-down approach. This scenario leads to the provider-consumer paradigm, where only official providers like National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) and other environmental agencies, centrally, manage and deploy resources according to institutional policies. In this approach end-users can only be consumers [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF]. However, VGI has changed this. There has been a transition in the role of users from just mere "data consumers to active participants and providers" [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF]. Budhathoki et al [START_REF] Budhathoki | Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure[END_REF] argue that SDI and VGI are not separate entities but are complementary phenomena. Budhathoki et al believe that these phenomena can be brought within a "single framework where the role of the user of SDI is re conceptualized to produser (producer and consumer of spatial data [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF]) and VGI is included in the SDI-related processes. To enhance consumption of spatial data from SDI Omran and van Etten [START_REF] Omran | Spatial-data sharing: Applying social-network analysis to study individual and collective behaviour[END_REF] suggest using a social network approach to spatial data sharing as a means of improving spatial data exchange in SDI. However, in a social network model (just as in VGI) there needs to be "a redefining of the rules about spatial data sharing and transferring more responsibility to more individuals in organizations [START_REF] Omran | Spatial-data sharing: Applying social-network analysis to study individual and collective behaviour[END_REF]. Most SDI typically comprise of participants such as National Mapping Agencies (NMA), government agencies, private organizations, etc who have traditional or commercial roles in producing spatial information. Ho and Rajabifard [START_REF] Ho | Learning from the crowd: The role of volunteered geographic information in realising a spatially enabled society[END_REF] believe that this view "leaves a large part of society (community groups, concerned citizens) with none or nominal roles in SDI and are excluded or disengaged" where VGI is potentially left on the fringes. Research on SDIs and other spatial data sharing structures has not specifically considered the challenges facing grassroots data users. This is addressed by Elwood [START_REF] Elwood | Grassroots groups as stakeholders in spatial data infrastructures: challenges and opportunities for local data development and sharing[END_REF] who emphasizes the need for local data integration and accessibility to local users. SDIs are predicated on an assumption of openness to data sharing and exchange, conceptualizing data as a public good and assuming institutional and individual openness to sharing. In all likelihood, no single approach is wholly sufficient, given the social, political and technological complexity of spatial data sharing. Ho and Rajabifand [START_REF] Ho | Learning from the crowd: The role of volunteered geographic information in realising a spatially enabled society[END_REF] argue that as a visible representation of citizens' thoughts, observations, collected spatial and environmental data, VGI can be a "potential barometer for people's environmental concerns and attitudes and potentially lead to better citizen 'buy-in' to SDIs". This could also help inform the SDI managers what grassroots users and citizens currently require from an SDI.

In Section 1 we mentioned that VGI was not used in "serious applications" but there are some examples. Pultar et al [START_REF] Pultar | Dynamic gis case studies: Wildfire evacuation and volunteered geographic information[END_REF] show applications to wildfire evacuation modeling and travel scenarios of urban environments. Over et al [START_REF] Over | Generating web-based 3d city models from openstreetmap: The current situation in germany[END_REF] develop prototype 3-D models using German OSM data. The "extensive produser (producer and consumer of spatial data [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF]) base" in VGI referred to by Budhathoki et al [START_REF] Budhathoki | Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure[END_REF] is a now large enough to be considered by SDI-related initiatives and eEnvironment. Some authors outline the problems in SDI development which are actually positives in VGI. Thellufsen et al [START_REF] Thellufsen | Awareness as a foundation for developing effective spatial data infrastructures[END_REF] argue that the effective development of SDI is often a "fragmented" activity requiring inter-organization collaboration. Unfortunately many of the stakeholders in this collaboration resist "data sharing across organizational boundaries due to loss of control, power and independence. This is an area where VGI is very strong through the collaborative nature and ethos of the community based upon an inherent understanding and willingness to share data. Budhathoki et al [START_REF] Budhathoki | Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure[END_REF] argue that VGI has harnessed a "large number of participants, without being coordinated by any formal organization, and without the lure of monetary or personal gain". Thellufsen et al [START_REF] Thellufsen | Awareness as a foundation for developing effective spatial data infrastructures[END_REF] conclude that currently too many organizations, with spatial data useful for SDIs, are data "silo-minded" precisely at a time when they ought to be outreaching and co-operative. The authors suggest that these organizations should focus on building motivation awareness before actual solutions. In the next section we provide some results of analysis of OSM which provides some open questions for the inclusion of VGI in SDIs.

Using VGI in SDI: The OpenStreetMap case study

In this section we outline some results from some experimental analysis of OSM in Europe. To give an overview of some of the problems that VGI must tackle before becoming an active player in VGI we use the methodology of Grus et al [START_REF] Grus | An assessment view to evaluate whether spatial data infrastructures meet their goals[END_REF] as well as some examples of the characteristics of OSM. Grus et al [START_REF] Grus | An assessment view to evaluate whether spatial data infrastructures meet their goals[END_REF] developed a goal-oriented assessment view approach for assessing the realization of SDI goals and is demonstrated by its implementation in the Dutch SDI. As concluded by Giff and Crompvoets [START_REF] Giff | Performance indicators a tool to support spatial data infrastructure assessment[END_REF] SDIs must "not only to justify expenditure on their implementation but also to determine whether or not they are achieving their objectives". For this case-study we have analyzed the OSM databases for UK and Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, and Estonia. We show sample results under a number of headings: metadata, the nature of collaborative contributions, and data scale issues.

Metadata

Grus et al [START_REF] Grus | An assessment view to evaluate whether spatial data infrastructures meet their goals[END_REF] suggest two metadata related indicators for SDI: Metadata-standard applied in the national SDI geoportal and Metadata are produced for a significant fraction of spatial datasets. Metadata can be inserted into the OSM database through the use of the accepted tagging structures. Tag keys such as "source","source:ref", "source:url" can be used as metadata to document the source of imported bulk data, tracing from aerial imagery, etc. Tags such as "note" and "attribution" can make specific statements about mapping techniques, errors, or other information useful to other mappers or users of the data. Tags offer OSM contributors with an opportunity to document their contributions. In the global OSM database the "source" tag is widely used of the 73 million objects using the source tag 51% are points, 47% are polygon, and 40% are relations. However our analysis shows this is dominated by bulk imports such as the French import of the EEA Corine Land Cover dataset. The "note" tag is used on five million objects: 5.8% of these are points, 1.74% of these are polygons, and 5.77% are relations. The tagging of OSM can rapidly degenerate into a folksonomy by leaving tagging up to individual contributors. But this can be seen as a flexibility which can grow to accommodate other metadata needs for example. Best practices, at the very minimum for bulk import or tracing of aerial imagery using OSM editors, can and should be implemented. All edits are tracked in OpenStreetMap so there is a clear trail of "who did what". While there are well known advantages in spatial data interoperability in using Dublin Core and ISO 19115 metadata schemes Kalantari et al [START_REF] Kalantari | Automatic spatial metadata enrichment: Reducing metadata creation burden through spatial folksonomies[END_REF]) argue that the folksonomy approach of VGI could have unpredicted advantages by leading to "more user-generated metadata potentially initiating richer metadata and better possibillty of user/creator updating".

Collaborative Contributions

In Figure 1 we show a 2-D heat map histogram of the distribution of the number of versions (x axis) of OSM polygons and polylines against the number of unique contributors (y) to each feature. 10, 000 "high edit" (more than 20 edits from OSM contributors) polygons and polylines from the UK and Ireland OSM databases were analyzed. Most of these features have a small number of contributors (≤ 5) while the number of versions (subsequent edits) of these features have a mean of 35 versions. We analyzed the complete historical record for these 10, 000 objects. Table 1 shows a summary of the time between edits of consecutive versions of the same object. Almost 42% of consecutive edits are separated by an editing time of 1 week to 1 month. Almost 38% of consecutive edits have 1 hour and 24 hours between them. The results in Table 1 gives an indication of the rate of change of the OSM database for these 10, 000 objects. To integrate the most up-to-date versions of these features into an SDI one must consider the time between edits. While almost half of edits (updates) happened with a period of 24 hours or more one must consider if the OSM database is changing too quickly for integration into an SDI.

Spatial Scale Issues

As Mooney and Corcoran [START_REF] Mooney | A study of data representation of natural features in openstreetmap[END_REF] outline differences between countries in Europe to how spatial data is represented in the corresponding OSM database particularly in the number of nodes used to represent features. Differences in representation is an artefact of the different surveying and sampling methodologies employed by contributors to OSM. Figure 2 shows a plot of the mean spacing between nodes in landuse polygons in OSM for Estonia and Austria. Both Estonia and Austria have benefited from the donation of spatial data from Corine and Government sources respectively. It is evident from figure 2 that the scales of the two datasets are different. Grus et al [START_REF] Grus | An assessment view to evaluate whether spatial data infrastructures meet their goals[END_REF] cite the inclusion of harmonized datasets within an SDI as an important indicator of a successful SDI.

Conclusions

VGI is a rapidly evolving user-generated content movement. It's sustainability going forward into the long-term is uncertain. VGI will need to introduce im-proved management of contributions and contributors to prevent the spatial data moving indefinitely between a status of good and bad quality. Leveraging those dynamic updates (indicated in Table 1) is a key step to making the most of VGI.

It is necessary that the VGI community can demonstrate that issues such as data quality (see Mooney and Corcoran [START_REF] Mooney | Towards quality metrics for openstreetmap[END_REF]), scale and harmonization problems (Figure 2), etc can be detected effectively and efficiently. We agree with Budhathoki et al [START_REF] Budhathoki | Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure[END_REF] that is "unlikely that VGI will completely replace SDIs". However, we believe that there is adequate scope and motivation for VGI to become a key stakeholder (both as spatial data producer and consumer) in SDIs. Diaz et al [START_REF] Daz | Managing user-generated information in geospatial cyberinfrastructures[END_REF] remark that VGI is forcing the expert producers to rethink their traditional approaches of spatial production. Many open research questions remain. One of the key questions in relation to GIS is how VGI will interact with this community? As Budhathoki et al [START_REF] Budhathoki | Reconceptualizing the role of the user of spatial data infrastructure[END_REF] (and Mooney and Corcoran [START_REF] Mooney | Towards quality metrics for openstreetmap[END_REF]) remark "VGI is unlikely to satisfy the vast majority of institutional and professional GI producers whose requirements in terms of data quality, timeliness, and completeness are very strict". Can a suitable middleground between professional GI producers and VGI can be found? Wiemann and Bernard [START_REF] Wiemann | A comparative study of proprietary geodata and volunteered geographic information for germany[END_REF] indicates that "the full integration of VGI (such as OSM) within SDI is not yet possible". However we believe that the generation of knowledge from a variety of sources of spatial information can play a decisive role in building knowledge-based structures made accessible through the vehicle of SDI. Giff and Crompvoets [START_REF] Giff | Performance indicators a tool to support spatial data infrastructure assessment[END_REF] conclude that SDIs must "engage its users to clearly think through the processes involved in the provision of spatial information products and services". Engagement of users/communities is one of the most impressive characteristics of the VGI phenonema.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. A 2-D heat map histogram showing the distribution of the number of versions (x axis) against the number of unique contributors (y)

Table 1 .

 1 Distribution of time between consecutive edits for 10, 000No. Edits % of Edits Time Between Edits

	3, 866	3.30%	≤ 5 minutes
	11, 478	9.80%	5mins ≤ 30mins
	2, 400	2.05%	30mins ≤ 1hour
	12, 183	10.40%	1hr ≤ 2hr
	21, 318	18.20%	2hr ≤ 12hr
	11, 608	9.91%	12hr ≤ 24hr
	3, 391	2.90%	24hr ≤ 1week
	49, 084	41.91%	1week ≤ 1month
	1, 784	1.52%	> 1month

Acknowledgements

Dr. Peter Mooney is a research fellow at the Department of Computer Science NUIM and is funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency STRIVE programme (grant 2008-FS-DM-14-S4). Dr. Padraig Corcoran is a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher also at the Department of Computer Science NUIM. Dr. Corcoran is part of STRAT-AG which is a Strategic Research Cluster grant (07/SRC/I1168) funded by Science Foundation Ireland under the National Development Plan. The authors gratefully acknowledge this support.


Jiří Jarkovský

Ladislav Dušek

Eva Janoušová

Is on-line data analysis safety? Pitfalls steaming from automated processing of heterogeneous environmental data and possible solutions

Keywords: classification, nonparametric, multivariate analysis, heterogeneous data

The current situation in environmental monitoring is characterized by increasing amount of data from monitoring networks together with increasing requirements on joining of these data from various sources in comprehensive databases and their usage for decision support in environmental protection and management. The automated analysis of such a heterogeneous datasets is a complicated process, rich in statistical pitfalls. There is a number of methods for multivariate classification of objects, e.g. logistic regression, discriminant analysis or neural networks; however, most of commonly used classification techniques have prerequisites about distribution of data, are computationally demanding or their model can be considered as "black box". Keeping these facts in mind, we attempted to develop a robust multivariate method suitable for classification of unknown cases with minimum sensitivity to data distribution problems; and thus, suitable for routine use in practice.

Introduction

The current situation in environmental monitoring is characterized by increasing amount of data from monitoring networks together with increasing requirements on joining of these data from various sources in comprehensive databases and their usage for decision support in environmental protection and management. The important part of these requirements is demand on automated on-line analysis of data with immediate delivery of results.

The automated analysis of such a heterogeneous datasets is a complicated process, especially in case of multivariate analysis. The common tasks and their pitfalls in automated analysis are as follows.

Descriptive statistics of measured concentrations and sampling sites characteristics: i) Pitfalls: unfulfilled prerequisites of parametric descriptive statistics can easily lead to unrealistic results and automated testing and taking these prerequisites into account is extremely problematic; ii) Solutions: there is a well-accepted alternative of parametric descriptive statistics , i.e. nonparametric statistics.

Statistical tests of differences in measured values between/among groups of sampling sites or relationships between measurements: i) Pitfalls: unfulfilled prerequisites of parametric tests lead to biased or incorrect results; ii) Solutions: nonparametric tests can be computed instead of parametric testing.

Classification of newly added samples or sampling sites into defined classes of environmental quality based on multivariate analysis of reference dataset: i) Pitfalls: most of commonly used classification techniques have prerequisites about distribution of data, are computationally demanding or their model can be considered as "black box"; Solutions: nonparametric models can be the solution but they are not common and well developed.

There are a number of methods for multivariate classification of objects, e.g. logistic regression, discriminant analysis or neural networks; however, these also have their problems, e.g. prerequisites of normality and absence of outliers for discriminant analysis [START_REF] Legendre | Numerical ecology[END_REF]. Moreover, the methods should be used in a routine way in monitoring, i.e. without proper analysis of problems concerning the data. Keeping these facts in mind, we attempted to develop a robust multivariate method suitable for classification of unknown cases with minimum sensitivity to data distribution problems; and thus, suitable for routine use in practice.

Suggested methodology

The suggested methodology of the classification of unknown cases into categories of reference data for automated procedure should be as simple and robust as possible. The simplest and the most objective measure of object association in multivariate space is their distance; thus, we decided to build our method on an analysis of a distance matrix among objects. Now, selection of proper distance metrics is the first task in designing the method. We have adopted Gower distance metrics [START_REF] Gower | A general coefficient of similarity and some of its properties[END_REF]; however, any multivariate distance metrics suitable for given data could be used. Concerning environmental monitoring data, there are some advantages in Gower metrics:

Continuous, binary or categorical parameters may be incorporated in computation: binary data is computed by coefficient -agreement and disagreement of values forming distance 0 or 1 respectively; categorical data is computed in the same way. Distance of objects according to continuous data is weighted to i) a parameter range in the data file or ii) an externally provided parameter range, i.e. difference in parameter values of objects is divided by parameter range to obtain partial metrics ranging from 0 to 1.

As noted above, parameters are weighted to their range, i.e. the influence of parameter absolute value is removed.

The final distance metrics ranges from 0 to 1 and could be interpreted easily.

Parameters in computation could be weighted according to expert knowledge or results of preliminary analysis. The final metrics takes the following form:

where D is a distance between objects x 1 and x 2 , d 12j is a partial distance of objects x 1 and x 2 associated with parameter j (there are 1..p parameters; partial metrics associated with parameter ranges from 0 to 1) and w j is a weight of parameter j ranging from 0 to 1.

Every homogeneous category of reference data could be characterised by its position in the multivariate space; and also, by its multivariate variability. Position of the reference category centroid (based on the median of continuous data and modus of binary/categorical data) exhibits representative of this group; multivariate radius of group provides the measure of its variability (in fact 95% percentile of radius is used in our computation to remove the influence of outliers). The distance of an unknown case to the centroid (D) is compared to the percentile of the reference category range (R). This ratio measures the extent to which an unknown case differs from objects incorporated in the reference category -see figure 1. Due to the fact that reference categories are not probably multivariate spheres we had to add a safety measure reflecting the real multivariate shape of the reference data. There are two parameters incorporated in the computation: the distance of an unknown case to the nearest neighbour in the reference group (N) and the measure of intragroup distances (I) within the reference group. The measure of intragroup distances is taken as median length of the MST branches (minimal spanning tree, [START_REF] Prim | Shortest connection networks and some generalizations[END_REF]) of objects in the reference group. The following formula gives the measure of distance of an unknown case to the reference group x (U x ) in multiplies of the reference group x radius weighted for multivariate shape of this group.

( )

x abs D N I U R + - = . ( 2
)
This computation could be also expressed as a probability of case U belongs to group x: 1 ( ) 100

x x P U U = × . ( 3
)
Where values over 100 % (i.e. objects inside the reference group) are truncated to 100 %. In the first step of the analysis, P(U x ) is computed for all reference groups x=1..n and probability of unknown case belongs to a particular group is weighted as follows:

1 2 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) x x n P U PW U P U P U P U = + + ⋅⋅⋅ + . ( 4
)
In the second step of the analysis, U x or P(U x ) based on case characteristics is adopted for assessing distance/similarity of an unknown case from/to a particular reference group. The main output is the probability of assigning a locality into the reference category based on case characteristics, i.e. to which reference category the evaluated case belongs.

Radius of reference data

Distance from centroid of reference category The classification methods applied on data were: i) The novel method ("centroid distance") mentioned above; ii) Discriminant analysis; iii) Classification tree and iv) Neural network.

1) Simple classification of unknown case

Radius

The dataset with the given groups of localities was divided into two files which were used for cross validation in these analyses. The following results of application of the models on independent cross validation datasets were obtained: i) Centroid distance: correct classification 91.3%; ii) Discriminant analysis: 87.6%; iii) Classification tree: 94.7%; iv) Neural network: 93.7%.

The results suggest that the developed methodology has similar predictive power as the commonly used methods or even better than some of them (discriminant analysis).

Conclusion

The presented methodology is a robust nonparametric classification method suitable for automated computing in heterogeneous environmental datasets. The predictive power of the method is comparable to commonly used parametric classification methods but without their extensive prerequisites and with simple interpretation of the classification model based on multivariate distances of objects.

3 )Fig. 1 .

 31 Fig. 1. Centroid distance method classification

Acknowledgments. This study was supported by FP7 project TaToo "Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework".