ECOSYSTEM INFORMATICS Development of Postgraduate Curriculum

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ECOSYSTEM INFORMATICS Development ofPostgraduate
Curriculum

• EIDOPC
• JEP_41038_2006

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Specific Objectives of the project

• To develop a new, up-to-date, two-year
  postgraduate curriculum in Ecosystem Informatics
  at the University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in
  Skopje, based on the European Credit Transfer
  System and in accordance with the Bologna
  declaration, aimed to establish the European
  Higher Education Area
• To fulfil the conditions necessary for offering a
  Master Degree Title in Ecosystem Informatics
  which is to be implemented jointly on the basis
  of an agreement between the University "Sts.Cyril
  and Methodius" in Skopje, Aristotle University of
  Thessaloniki - Greece, Universität Oldenburg
  Germany, Institute Jozef Stefan Slovenia and
  ESCi University Spain.

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Activities to be performed
(i) Visits of the Partner Country academic staff
to the EU Universities (ii) Survey of the
Partner Country educational and labour market
needs in the ecosystem informatics field (iii)
Preparation of vocational guidance and the list
of the new curriculum modules, as well as the
list of the Partner Country academic staff (iv)
Production of educational materials (v)
Establishment of new Ecosystem Informatics
Postgraduate Curriculum at the University "Sts.
Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje.
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The project will provide the following

• Equipment for the development of the Curriculum
  at University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" FYRO
  Macedonia. This outcome will be achieved through
  needs analysis and definition of laboratory
  equipments, i.e. dedicated software packages,
  computer equipments, research field measurement,
  instrumentations and sensors, audio-visual
  equipment.
• Tender documentation will be prepared, open call
  procedure performed, the suppliers will be
  selected, and the new equipment will be delivered
  and installed.
• Online Learning System this will allow the
  establishment of new learning environments, as
  well as methods and procedures for more efficient
  educational process, better suited to the
  students' needs.
• Priority will be given to the so-called "blended"
  education concept, that is, a combination of both
  classical educational methods through the direct
  contact between the teacher and the student and
  the Distance Online Learning methodology.
• Dissemination that will be achieved through the
  project web-site, informative sessions in each
  project year, and peer reviews in order to inform
  the academic community and the non-consortium
  policymakers about the project progress, as well
  as the quality control of the project results.

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Module I Concepts in
Ecosystem Informatics
Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h
Personal work(e-learning based) 45h Total
90h ECTS 4-5 Pre-requests Fundamentals of
Mathematics and IT Chapters of the Module 1) An
introduction of Ecosystem Informatics 2) Basic
concepts in mathematics, computer sciences, and
ecosystem science 3) An introduction in
formation of multi-disciplinary student teams 4)
Identification of research problems pursued for
the one-year Module series.
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Module II
Computing and Data acquisition in
Environmental Engineering
ECTS 4-5 Pre-requests Fundamentals of Mathematics
and IT Chapters of the Module 1)Computing
problems in the environmental and resource
engineering 2)Problem definition, hypothesis
formulation, data acquisition (internet),
analysis (spreadsheet) and display (spreadsheet
and/or Graphic Information System) 3)Statistical
methods are introduced as needed for the projects
using the tools in the software 4)Students
knowledge and practical experience they will need
to interpret lab and field data 5)The MATLAB
programming language will be used to perform
virtual experiments and to analyze real-world
data sets, many downloaded from the web.
Programming applications will include display and
assessment of data sets, investigation of
hypotheses, and identification of possible casual
relationships between variables.
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Module III
Knowledge Discovery in Environmental Data

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h ECTS
  4-5
• Personal work(e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of Artificial
  intelligent
• Chapters of the Module
• 1)An introduction of knowledge discovery from
  environmental data
• 2)Basic knowledge and skills about data analysis
  using machine learning methods
• 3)Using of these methods for environmental data
  analysis
• 4)In the scope of practical work, they will be
  trained to independently use some machine
  learning methods for knowledge discovery from
  environmental data.
• 5)Introduction to knowledge discovery and machine
  learning methods
• - decision and regression trees, learning the
  rules
• - probability classification, nearest neighbour
  method, equation discovery
• 6) Examples of machine learning application in
  environmental data analysis
• - biological classification of Slovenian waters,
  biodegradability prediction
• - modelling of population dynamics and the
  habitats of bear, deer, etc
• 7) Practical work on environmental data using
  selected machine learning methods.

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Module IV
Environmental WEB based Information Systems

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h ECTS 4-5
• Personal work (e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of DBMS, WEB
  technologies and UML
• Chapters of the Module
• - Ecological requirement analysis (UML based)
• - Ecological Relational Databases (SQL- based)
• - Creation of integrated ecological database for
  practical work of the students. The measured
  values are organized as relational database,
  which is suitable for statistical analysis using
  different on-line analytical processing tools
  (based on OLAP) as well as data mining
  technologies.
• - WEB technologies for Ecological Information
  systems
• - Creation of WEB-based monitoring system based
  on existing technologies (for example .NET
  technology) Environmental eutrophication will be
  monitored according to EU WFD (2000/60).

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Module
V Implementations of Geographic
Information Systems

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45hECTS 4-5
• Personal work(e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of computer graphics
  and GIS technologies
• Chapters of the Module
• 1) Application of Geographic Information Science
  (GIS) to issues of natural resource management
  for the sake of satisfying fundamental human
  needs
• 2) Topical strengths include
• - watershed management,
• - biodiversity conservation,
• - landscape ecology,
• - land-use change,
• - climate change,
• 3) Using selected data from pollution monitoring
  systems and GIS software for virtual modelling
• and visualization.
• 4) 2D/3D modelling.

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Module VI
Requirement Analysis in Ecosystem
Informatics

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h ECTS
  4-5
• Personal work (e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests None
• This module introduces the general discipline of
  the requirement analysis through requirements
• modelling in order to capture, validate, specify
  and manage requirements and apply them into the
  Ecosystem problem domain. The module also focuses
  on the analysis of risks and failures of
  Ecosystem software projects with emphasis on the
  role of requirement analysis when building
  successful Ecosystem systems.
• Chapters of the Module
• 1) The requirements problem and Ecosystem
  software applications
• 2) Underpinnings in requirement analysis
• 3) Requirements determination and specification
• 4) Advanced requirements analysis
• 5) Case studies in Ecosystem from analysis
  models towards system design

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Module
VII Ecological Modelling

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h ECTS
  4-5
• Personal work (e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of Mathematics
• Chapters of the Module
• 1) Introduction in ecological modelling
• 2) Identify applicable models the student will
  gain knowledge in developing environmental models
  that can be divided into empirical, dynamic and
  mixed models.
• - Empirical models are constructed on the basis
  of the relationship between different parameters
• - Dynamic models, derived from a causal analysis
  of ecological and biological fluxes, are based on
  calculations using differential equations. Some
  of these models tend to give an overall picture
  by using realistic process equations.
• - Mixed models combine some advantages of the
  previously described models in the context of
• predictive modelling.
• 3) Prediction models of different regimes, where
  mixed models will combine some advantages of the
  previously described models in the context of
  predictive modelling. The most frequently used
  technique of these models is regression analysis
  between two or more important parameters for a
  specific water body.
• 4) Fuzzy rule-based models have some advantages
  over classical models for the predictive
  modelling.

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Module
VIII Product and Environment

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h ECTS
  4-5
• Personal work (e-learning based) 45h Total 90h
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of standardization
• Chapters of the Module
• 1)Sustainable production and consumption.
  Integrated Product policy of the European Union.
• The product perspective from a natural view to
  a more businesslike view of environmental
  problems.
• The three pilars of sustainability environment,
  social and economic.
• Integrating actors and tools to find
  environmental solutions.
• Brief introduction to environmental assessment
  and management of companies EMAS Regulation,
• IPPC Directive, etc.
• 2)Environmental assessments of products Life
  Cycle assessments and other simplified techniques
• (ISO 14040 series).
• Introduction to life cycle thinking and
  assessment.
• Systems modelling with GaBi software and related
  environmental databases, like the European Life
• Cycle Database launched by the JRC in Ispra.
• Learning on applying dynamic parameters to
  modelling.
• Building scenarios and analysing reliability of
  results.
• 3)Environmental improvement of products
  Ecodesign (ISO 14060 series)
• Ecodesign strategies extending life span,
  increasing reciclability, etc.

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Module IX
Remote sensing

• Organization Coursework (classroom) 45h
• Personal work (e-learning based) 45h Total
  90hECTS 4-5
• Pre-requests Fundamentals of GIS
• Chapters of the Module
• 1) Introduction to Photo Interpretation and
  Photogrammetry
• 2) Overview of Remote Sensing of the Environment
• 3) Introductory Digital Image Processing
• 4) Applications in Remote Sensing
• 5) Remote Sensing Field Techniques
• 6) Remote Sensing GIS Integration
• 7) Remote Sensing in Health Applications

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WORKPLAN

• FIRST YEAR 2007-2008

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BUDGET ALLOCATION

• EIDOPC

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