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In the last decade, mobile phones and mobile devices using mobile cellular telecommunication network connections have become ubiquitous. In several developed countries, the penetration of such devices has surpassed 100 percent. They facilitate communication and access to large quantities of data without the requirement of a fixed location or connection. Assuming mobile phones usually are in close proximity with the user, their cellular activities and locations are indicative of the user's activities and movements. As such, those cellular devices may be considered as a large scale distributed human activity sensing platform. This paper uses mobile operator telephony data to visualize the regional flows of people across the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the use of modified Markov chains for the ranking of significant regions of interest to mobile subscribers is investigated. Methodology is then presented which demonstrates how the ranking of significant regions of interest may be used to estimate national population, results of which are found to have strong correlation with census data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite a number of campaigns conducted in Ireland to increase awareness about appropriate waste management, waste enforcement is still a significant issue. Decisions such as the privatisation of waste collection services and the introduction of new waste charges have contributed to some of the classic waste enforcement issues, like illegal dumping. In addition, the current economic recession affects the resources that local authorities have available to implement enforcement actions. In order to analyse the current situation of waste enforcement in Ireland, a survey was carried out amongst the 34 environmental departments within the Irish local authorities. This paper presents the survey findings. From the results, the principal current waste enforcement issues are extracted and compared with previous studies in the field. In addition, an analysis of the resources employed with regard to technology, personnel, legal prosecutions and best practices is also performed. The technologies and practices used are evaluated for efficiency at reducing the main illegal actions, such as illegal dumping, and compared to international best practices. Finally, the actions carried out by the local authorities in terms of public awareness and environmental education are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]