ALBERT

Description: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Herman van Os , Rien Herber , Bert Scholtens The decision-making process for subsurface activities in the Netherlands has been unable to cope with the driving forces related to social acceptance in several recently proposed subsurface activities. We therefore investigated the possibility to include the triangle of social acceptance in the decision-making process. Our conceptual model relates the stakeholders, their goals and the driving forces to each other. We developed a framework, which describes the interaction between eleven design criteria for a Decision Support System (DSS). This framework will enable us to design a better, from a social acceptance perspective, DSS for subsurface activities in the Netherlands. Since the goals addressed in the decision-making process are very broad and the stakeholders are quite diverse, a single uniform DSS is not able to provide a satisfactory solution. We therefore suggest to design a DSS that is matched with each class of social acceptance.

Description: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Yoshie Inada , Shinobu Izumi , Motoya Koga , Shigehito Matsubara We are developing a planning support system for welfare urban design. If we quantify the optimal route (the route that is the easiest to pass through) for challenged people, we will be able to select the areas that require adjustment in terms of accessibility with greater efficiency. In this paper we report on our development of the prototype system to present an optimal route for wheelchair users, and also, the two workshops we had for evaluating the accuracy of the resulted optimal route.

Description: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Erfaneh Allameh , Mohammadali Heidari , Bauke De Vries , Harry Timmermans , Mohammad Masoud , Farhang Mozaffar Almost everyone would agree that teleworking is increasingly growing; but beyond this broad statement, we know little about how people behave when they work at home and how they balance their work and life. User comfort and productivity cannot be addressed properly, without a deep understanding of usersʼ working behavior. This gap is even deeper when it comes to the domain of smart homes as new types of housing which aim to enhance working at home. Hence, more user-centered studies are needed to comprehend the interrelationships among housing, technology, daily life and the work activities. In this paper, we use the outputs of an experiment to model usersʼ work activities in a smart home. The experiment was conducted among 254 respondents, who were asked to explore a smart home in a virtual environment and then to arrange their daily activities including work related activities in the virtual smart home. A choice modeling approach, based on the Multinomial Logit Model (MNL), is applied to model how an individual works at a smart home given influential factors such as the individualsʼ socio-demographic profile and their current lifestyle. Two features of working in a smart home are covered in this paper, namely, “the integration of work activities with other daily activities” and “the location of work activities in the house”. The results give better insight into the future trends of working at home and the effects of smart homes on working behavior of people. The results can be used in further developments of both smart homes and teleworking.

Description: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Jinhee Kim , Soora Rasouli , Harry Timmermans Hybrid choice models have been developed as an extension of discrete choice models, particularly multinomial logit models, in an attempt to include attitudinal variables. The quintessence of hybrid choice models is that a model of attitude formation is estimated and the estimated attitudes are added to the commonly used set of attributes in discrete choice models: attributes of the choice alternatives and socio-demographic variables. The most commonly applied model is based on linear specifications, both for the attitude model and the utility function. In this review paper, we discuss the principles underlying the hybrid choice model, summarize the specifications used in previous applications of the model and then continue discussing recent progress that added social influence to the model specification and replaced the linear specification of the utility function with a nonlinear function.

Description: Publication date: 2014 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Yountaik Leem , Sang Ho Lee , Jungho Yoon To overcome many difficulties in sustaining the satisfying quality of life for a large population 1 , urban spaces are evolving toward more efficient spaces by combination with ICTs (information and communication technologies) and raising the possibility to provide improved urban services which can enrich the quality of life of the citizen. In many cities over the world, a good number of public and private services in transportation, environment, urban safety from crime or disaster, health and other fields are designed and implemented with IT infrastructure. In spite of the expectation of cost-effective urban services based on the linkage between data and systems, obstructions in administrative and technical domains have made it difficult to be implemented. In this study, two advanced ICTs based urban services, which were developed by linkage and convergence of urban information and systems of Korea were introduced and analysed. The structural design of system convergence and data sharing scheme of Carbon Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) in Sejong City uses UIS (Urban Information System for local authorities), GIS data and other data provided by the public agencies, such as Korea Meteorological Administration for the monitoring and analysing the characteristics of the energy consumption of household 2 . Another system, Urban Integrated CCTV Control System (ICCS) in Anyang City, shows integrated CCTV networks for crime prevention, traffic control and public facility management to provide extended urban services, such as disaster prevention, police investigation and others. Qualitative and Quantitative effects analyses with technical and policy directions were suggested for the development and improvement of future urban services for a liveable city.

Description: Publication date: Available online 12 November 2014 Source: Geoscience Frontiers Author(s): Wengang Zhang , Anthony T.C. Goh Piles are long, slender structural elements used to transfer the loads from the superstructure through weak strata onto stiffer soils or rocks. For driven piles, the impact of the piling hammer induces compression and tension stresses in the piles. Hence, an important design consideration is to check that the strength of the pile is sufficient to resist the stresses caused by the impact of the pile hammer. Due to its complexity, pile drivability lacks a precise analytical solution with regard to the phenomena involved. In situations where measured data or numerical hypothetical results are available, neural networks stand out in mapping the nonlinear interactions and relationships between the system's predictors and dependent responses. In addition, unlike most computational tools, no mathematical relationship assumption between the dependent and independent variables has to be made. Nevertheless, neural networks have been criticized for their long trial-and-error training process since the optimal configuration is not known a priori. This paper investigates the use of a fairly simple nonparametric regression algorithm known as multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), as an alternative to neural networks, to approximate the relationship between the inputs and dependent response, and to mathematically interpret the relationship between the various parameters. In this paper, the Back propagation neural network (BPNN) and MARS models are developed for assessing pile drivability in relation to the prediction of the Maximum compressive stresses (MCS), Maximum tensile stresses (MTS), and Blow per foot (BPF). A database of more than four thousand piles is utilized for model development and comparative performance between BPNN and MARS predictions. Graphical abstract

Description: Publication date: Available online 18 November 2014 Source: Geoscience Frontiers Author(s): Fei Gao , Lily Wang , Mudan Yin

Description: Publication date: Available online 20 November 2014 Source: Geoscience Frontiers Author(s): I.V. Ashchepkov , A.M. Logvinova , T. Ntaflos , L.F. Reimers , Z.V. Spetsius , N.V. Vladykin , D.S. Yudin , A.V. Travin , H. Downes , V.S. Palesskiy Heavy mineral concentrate and xenoliths from late autolithic breccia and porphyritic kimberlite of the Sytykanskaya pipe (Alakit field, Yakutia, Russia) were studied by EPMA and LA-ICPMS methods to obtain PTXfO 2 diagrams. Trends in P- Fe# - CaO - fO 2 for minerals from the porphyritic kimberlite show greater discontinuities than xenocrysts from the breccia. Xenoliths show the widest variation at all pressures. Protokimberlite systems are marked by ilmenite PT points that range from the lithosphere base (7.5 GPa) to a pyroxenite lens situated at intermediate depths (5 - 3.5 GPa) with increasing Cr because of AFC that formed two metasomatic groups with differing Fe#Ol (∼ 10-12 and 13-15). The first Opx-Gar-based mantle geotherm for the Alakit field based on 10 mineral associations is close to the 35 mW/m 2 geotherm at 6.5 GPa and 600 ° C, i.e. near to the Moho. The oxidation state for the megacrystalline ilmenites in the lithosphere base is higher than for other kimberlites in Yakutia. Calculated parental melts for clinopyroxene and garnet by xenocrysts from the breccia show highly inclined linear REE patterns with deep HFSE troughs similar to differentiated protokimberlite magmas. Melts calculated for metasomatic xenoliths have less inclined slopes without troughs in spider diagrams. Garnets reveal S-shaped REE patterns. Calculated melts for garnets from graphite-bearing Cr-websterites located mainly in middle part of the mantle column show slightly inclined convex REE patterns and Ba-Sr troughs with variable enrichment in Nb-Ta-U. The calculated parental melts for clinopyroxenes have inclined REE spectra with a depression in HFSE. Metasomatic clinopyroxenes have enriched patterns with Ba, Zr peaks. 40 Ar- 39 Ar analyses of dispersed phlogopites from the Alakit mantle xenoliths yield a Proterozoic (1154 Ma) age, corresponding to continental arc metasomatism. Alkaline and Ti-rich veins with alkali amphiboles close to richterite formed at ∼1015 Ma and mark a plume event in Rodinia mantle. The∼600-550 Ma stage relates to Rodinia break-up. The last metasomatic event near 385 Ma is related to the protokimberlite. Graphical abstract

Description: Publication date: March 2015 Source: GeoResJ, Volume 5 Author(s): A. Poortinga , J.G.S. Keijsers , S.M. Visser , M.J.P.M. Riksen , A.C.W. Baas Coastal dunes are the primary defence protecting the coastline from the destructive forces of the sea in The Netherlands. Aeolian processes are important in this context as they contribute to dune accretion and thus the safety of the coastal hinterland. In this study, we analyze horizontal and vertical variability of event scale aeolian sand transport on a wide beach on the island of Ameland, The Netherlands. Data were obtained from a meteorological station, groundwater monitoring wells and a camera installed on the beach. Fifteen aeolian transport events (two involving onshore winds, seven longshore and six offshore) were measured using a comprehensive grid of 37 customized MWAC traps. The highest sand transport rates and largest variability was found for alongshore events. Surface moisture, governed by groundwater, was found to be an important controlling parameter for aeolian transport rates and vertical flux profiles. Groundwater levels were largely dominated by beach inundation, influencing the groundwater table for a two week period. Variations in vertical flux profiles between traps were larger for wet sand transport events than dry ones. In general, sand transport rates were highest at the foreshore and lowest at the dune toe. Sand transport dynamics are dependent on local conditions such as beach dimensions, beach orientation and also meteorological and surface characteristics. Moderate (high frequency, low magnitude) events are also capable of transporting large amounts of sand. Future studies should include spatially explicit measurements of elevation and surface moisture to obtain a more complete understanding of the complex sand transport dynamics.

Description: Publication date: September–December 2014 Source: GeoResJ, Volumes 3–4 Author(s): A. Määttänen , M. Douspis Recent datasets on heterogeneous deposition mode ice nucleation have revealed a strong dependence of the contact parameter m on temperature, ranging from linear to exponential, depending on the experiments. We analyze recent datasets using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain method with the full classical nucleation theory including spherical and planar geometry. The method we use allows us to test models of the temperature dependence of the contact parameter and evaluate their performance. We estimate the applicability of different forms of contact parameter temperature dependence, including a new well-behaved suggestion. Such a function has a more physical behavior at high and low temperatures and might thus be more easily applicable in atmospheric modeling. However, because of their limited temperature range, the present datasets are unable to reveal the behavior of the contact parameter in low temperatures, and we are unable to fully validate the proposed function. We thus call for more heterogeneous nucleation experiments reaching low temperatures (〈170 K). Such datasets may be significant for studies on, for example, polar mesospheric clouds, Mars ice clouds, and perhaps exoplanet clouds. This work provides a new framework, valid even for very small ice nucleus sizes, for analyzing heterogeneous nucleation datasets.