Integrating History and Measurement Into a Case for Site Release

Author(s):  
Angela Bartlett ◽  
Mike Davies ◽  
Peter Burgess ◽  
Gavin Coppins

The United Kingdom nuclear research programme started in the 1940s. Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL) is responsible for the restoration of two sites which were at the forefront of this research, under a programme funded by the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). These are the 100 hectare Harwell site in Oxfordshire and the 84 hectare Winfrith site on the south coast of England. The work performed on these sites covered a huge range of nuclides, combinations of nuclides, chemical and physical processes, far more complicated than a power station, for example. The sites have a complex history with records of hundreds of buildings, many kilometres of drainage systems, groundwater contamination issues and land areas which require remediation. Formal work towards site release began in the 1990s, but demolition and clearance for re-use started many years earlier. An efficient restoration programme requires appropriate quality data. It is vital to decide what you need to know and how well you need to know it. As part of this, a challenging number of factors need to be considered in its design. This paper discusses these factors using the examples of the approach used at the Harwell and Winfrith sites including: • historical knowledge and associated uncertainties; • relevant clearance criteria; • availability and limitations of surveying equipment; • effective targeted and validation sampling with appropriate analytical methods; • data capture and analysis techniques; • effective communication between RSRL and the relevant technical teams; • mapping technologies (Global Positioning Systems, Geographical Information Systems); • use of Babcock’s IMAGES land quality software tool; • integration of the above over long time scales. The RSRL programme of works at the Harwell and Winfrith Sites is producing large volumes of different types of information from decommissioning, site investigation and remediation projects. This will be required to be accessible and understandable to support the process of site release which will continue over many years. The paper illustrates the methods by which RSRL is using effective knowledge management to compile a verifiable record to support site release as the site restoration works progress.

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-49
Author(s):  
Katrina Scolaro

The purpose of this article is to analyse the technologies used in current pedagogical practices in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) classroom, in particular geography. It is argued that supporting children to be digitally literate is one of the keys to effective learning in the 21st Century. This article is based on potential practical applications of new technologies and ICTs, and linking them to the Australian Curriculum: Geography. As a preservice teacher, how can I best integrate the use of ICTs and use them to responsibility to enhance the learning of my future students? What quality and variety of ICT resources are available to us, as preservice teachers that will encourage creativity and motivate students and cater for all types of learners in the classroom? Fast, interactive and multimodal ICTs can assist teachers and students to explore the exciting ‘big ideas’ in the HASS classroom and with ICTs including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems all around us, it makes for new and innovative pedagogy.


Author(s):  
Katherine Homewood

Increasingly, methods not traditionally used by historians are becoming available for the study of African historical geography, landscapes, and environmental change. Starting with an outline of the main determinants of vegetation formations across African landscapes, the article goes on to look at a selection of macro, micro, and modeling methods. Remote sensing allows analysis of land cover change over the past few decades but also shows enduring features useful in interpreting sources describing these landscapes at times long past. Google Earth–type software makes it possible to take a virtual walk through landscapes with key informants in the present day, exploring how the land was used and has changed. Geographical information systems make it possible to collate different spatially explicit types of information, including qualitative data, for quantitative and statistical analysis. At the other end of the scale, pollen, diatoms, foraminifera, and other micro-particles (spicules, phytoliths, cuticles, micro-charcoal) from lake or oceanic sediment cores, and the chemical and isotopic composition of organic remains, all convey information about the environmental context of a site and its surroundings. Carbon isotope or thermoluminescence dating techniques can pinpoint the changes they indicate across potentially very long time spans. Genetic, protein, and other molecular materials may allow precise lineages and migrations to be traced back across very long periods and distances. Finally, modeling makes it possible to use sparse historical and more robust recent data to predict possible pasts in exploratory but evidence-based ways. The disequilibrium debate in drylands illustrates how environmental narratives, strategically used, silence place-based knowledge in ways that science, seeing itself as apolitical, is not well placed to detect.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-43
Author(s):  
Noura Azaiez ◽  
Jalel Akaichi

Business Intelligence includes the concept of data warehousing to support decision making. As the ETL process presents the core of the warehousing technology, it is responsible for pulling data out of the source systems and placing it into a data warehouse. Given the technology development in the field of geographical information systems, pervasive systems, and the positioning systems, the traditional warehouse features become unable to handle the mobility aspect integrated in the warehousing chain. Therefore, the trajectory or the mobility data gathered from the mobile object movements have to be managed through what is called the trajectory ELT. For this purpose, the authors emphasize the power of the model-driven architecture approach to achieve the whole transformation task, in this case transforming trajectory data source model that describes the resulting trajectories into trajectory data mart models. The authors illustrate the proposed approach with an epilepsy patient state case study.


Author(s):  
Manas Mandal ◽  
Bappa Paramanik ◽  
Anamay Sarkar ◽  
Debasis Mahata

Precision farming is a science base modern technology which provided management concept based on observation and response to intra-field variations. New technologies such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), sensors, satellites or aerial images and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are utilized to assess and analyse variations in agricultural and horticultural production. In this technology have two primary goals that are (i) optimum return (ii) preserving resource.  Wireless Sensor Networks has crucial role to management of water resources, to assess the optimum point of harvesting, to estimate fertilizer requirements and to predict crop performance more accurately, disease and pest hazard also. Sensors use to precision farming technology in horticulture, which increasing productivity, decreasing production costs and minimizing the environmental impact of farming. Though precision farming has vital role in Agriculture and Horticulture sector but, no so popular due to high cost of technology and need high speed internet facility.


Author(s):  
Andrew J Rixon ◽  
Stewart Burn

Public participatory geographical information systems (PPGIS) are becoming widely recognised as powerful tools for informed participatory decision-making processes within urban planning projects. This paper discusses a technique recently used within a case study for providing visualisations of traffic flows and how to incorporate local community perceptions of their neighbourhoods into a PPGIS software tool. In particular, the paper demonstrates a new methodology for visualisation of qualitative social data, facilitating dialogue and discussion amongst stakeholders and planning professionals in an urban context. The paper concludes with a discussion on techniques for developing software and presenting visualisations in an understandable and usable manner catering for a diversity of participants.


2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
Dejan Sabic ◽  
Misko Milanovic

The paper describes reality method sand geographical information systems (GIS- technologies) in integration GIS system. Sjenica is a specific area of the our state and therefore must notes of all elements and factors in environmental. GISs differ from the other types of information systems in that they manage huge quantities of data, enquire complex concepts to describe the geometry of objects and specify complex topological relationship between them. The paper describes our proposal for the project GIS for local community of Sjenica based on GIS technologies, with particular reference to the GIS demands and possibilities.


Author(s):  
Jane Dawson ◽  
Iain Colquhoun ◽  
Inessa Yablonskikh ◽  
Russell Wenz ◽  
Tuan Nguyen

Current risk assessment practice in pipeline integrity management tends to use semi-quantitative index-based or model-based methodologies. This approach has been found to be very flexible and provide useful results for identifying high-risk areas and for prioritizing physical integrity assessments. However, as pipeline operators progressively adopt an operating strategy of continual risk reduction with a view to minimizing total expenditures within safety, environmental, and reliability constraints, the need for quantitative assessments of risk levels is becoming evident. Whereas reliability-based quantitative risk assessments can be and are routinely carried out on a site-specific basis, they require significant amounts of quantitative data for the results to be meaningful. This need for detailed and reliable data tends to make these methods unwieldy for system-wide risk assessment applications. This paper describes methods for estimating risk quantitatively through the calibration of semi-quantitative estimates to failure rates for peer pipeline systems. By applying point value probabilities to the failure rates, deterministic quantitative risk assessment (QRA) provide greater rigor and objectivity than can usually be achieved through the implementation of semi-quantitative risk assessment results. The method permits a fully quantitative approach to suit the operator’s data availability and quality, and analysis needs. The paper also discusses experiences of implementing this type of risk model in Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS) software and the use of and integration of data via existing pipeline geographical information systems (GIS).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2417
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Evangelidis ◽  
Theofilos Papadopoulos ◽  
Stella Sylaiou

We put forward a conceptualization of Mixed Reality as a blend of digital objects with real ones that coexist and interact with each other and they are also spatially referenced so that they are properly perceived in space by an observer that could potentially be at any position any time. In accordance with this statement, we have adopted the concept of a Mixed Object which is composed of a set of physical properties linked with a set of digital ones. In our case, the physical properties are acquired by employing geospatial technologies such as photogrammetry, laser scanning, unmanned aerial vehicles and positioning systems and are further processed in order to be visually displayed by utilizing Geographical Information Systems and Geovisualization frameworks in combination with traditional image processing techniques. We show that the Mixed Object approach is in conformance with Microsoft’s approach on Mixed Reality as the common space between humans, computers, and the environment and we further incorporate in these the Geospatial Linking Modalities. We finally provide an affordable MR experience as a proof of concept, by utilizing a smartphone for capturing and visualizing the environment, a visual tag for positioning purposes and freely available photogrammetrically mapped content and virtual objects to form a digital scene blended with the real environment.


Author(s):  
Stefanos Nastis

A Decision Support System (DSS) is an interactive, computer-based system that helps users in making decisions. Besides the provision of storing and data retrieval, DSS enhances information access and retrieval functions. Designing a DSS for agriculture enables farmers to make effective decisions for higher yield and lower production costs. Precision agriculture, through the use of remote sensing, geographical information systems, global positioning systems, soil testing, yield monitors and variable rate technology, provide a number of inputs into the DSS. Case studies are presented where the DSS is designed to optimize specific inputs, such as water consumption or pesticide applications by employing precision agriculture through information and communication technology.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 507-508
Author(s):  
Gary J. Stankovich

ABSTRACT Is technology developing faster than it can be effectively used and managed in oil spill planning and response? Satellite communications, global positioning systems (GPS), geographical information systems (GIS), and advanced spill management computer software, to name a few technologies, are currently available to the response community—and more is on the way. This paper will discuss some successes and pitfalls of new technology implementation in emergency management teams. Questions regarding how technology is selected, tested, and implemented will be raised from the perspective of a purchaser or implementer rather than that of a technology developer or provider. Discussion will also include the practical experiences of a spill management team in its attempts to use some of the latest technologies. Finally, suggestions that may lead to more practical and effective selection and use of new technologies are presented.


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