The Fresnel Platform for Greater Paris: online tool to Dynamically Manage Multiscale Urban Resilience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Drouen ◽  
Daniel Schertzer ◽  
Laurent Monier ◽  
Bernard Willinger ◽  
Bruno Tisserand
Keyword(s):  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Hydrological Modeling ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Product Analysis ◽  
Scale Invariant ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Surface Rainfall ◽  
Wide Range

<p>The general goal of the Fresnel platform of Ecole des Ponts ParisTech is to develop research and innovation on multiscale urban resilience. It is therefore conceived as a SaaS (Sofware as a Service) plaform providing data over a wide range of space-time scales and  appropriate softwares to analyse and simulate them over this range. </p><p>The most recent development is the radar component RadX V3.0 that is now operational at https://radx.enpc.fr. It provides an easy access to various products based on precipitation measurement performed at the radial scale of 128 m by the ENPC polarimetric X-band radar. Using reliable and open source libraries it features a real-time radar display available to the general public and professionals who can freely access the precipitation data over a large part of Île-de-France region from their web browser (desktop and mobile). Another major component is the "analysis" section where scientists and managers  can define and select rainfall events in a interactive calendar and then analyse rainfall data throught different tools such as an interactive map with time control and dynamically genetared hyetograms.<br>For more refined spatial analysis registered users can also introduce their own shapefiles containing catchments and subcatchments, as well as to extract data and maps. They can also pinpoint a radar pixel to display hyetogram from a local area, this versatily on spatial and temporal selections allows for very precise analysis.</p><p>The application allows for different radar product analysis like DPSRI (Dual Polarization Surface Rainfall Intensity) and SRI (Surface Rainfall Intensity).These complementary products enhance the case studies analysis and give weather scientists more tools directly available from their web browser. </p><p>Further software developments include high resolution hydrological modeling and a multifractal toolbox to estimate the scale invariant features of the precipitation and other fields (e.g. landuse). These developments are performed in close contacts and feedbacks from the scientific and professional world and they greatly benefit from the support of the Chair “Hydrology for Resilient Cities” (https://hmco.enpc.fr/portfolio-archive/chair-hydrology-for-resilient-cities/) endowed by the world leader industrial in water management and from previous EU framework programmes.</p>

New cloud-based tool to Dynamically Manage Urban Resilience: the Fresnel Platform for Greater Paris

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Drouen ◽  
Daniel Schertzer ◽  
Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Data Accessibility ◽  
Urban Dynamics ◽  
Strongly Nonlinear ◽  
Runtime Environment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Extreme Variability

<p>As cities are put under greater pressure from the threat of impacts of climate change, in particular the risk of heavier rainfall and flooding, there is a growing need to establish a hierarchical form of resilience in which critical infrastructures can become sustainable. The main difficulty is that geophysics and urban dynamics are strongly nonlinear with an associated, extreme variability over a wide range of space-time scales.</p><p>The polarimetric X-band radar at the ENPC’s campus (East of Paris) introduced a paradigm change in the prospects of environmental monitoring in Ile-de France. The radar is operated since May 2015 and has several characteristics that makes it of central importance for the environmental monitoring of the region.</p><p>Based on the radar data and other scientific mesurement tools, the platform for greater Paris was developped in participative co-creation, and in scientific collaboration with the world leader industrial in water management. As the need for data accessibility, a fast and reliable infrastructure were major requirements from the scientific community, the platform was build as a cloud-based solution. It provides scientific weather specialists, as well as water manager,  a fast and steady platform accessible from their web browser on desktop and mobile displays.</p><p>It was developped using free and open sources librairies, it is rooted on an integrated suite of modular components based on an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime environment. It includes a comprehensive and (real-time) accessible database and also provides tools to analyse historical data on different time and geographic scales around the greater Paris.</p><p>The Fresnel SaaS (Sofware as a Service) cloud-based platform is an example of nowadays IT tools to dynamically enhance urban resilience. Developments are still in progress, in constant request and feedback loops from the scientific and professional world.</p>

scholarly journals Preparation of Synthetic Zeolites from Coal Fly Ash by Hydrothermal Synthesis

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1267
Author(s):  
David Längauer ◽  
Vladimír Čablík ◽  
Slavomír Hredzák ◽  
Anton Zubrik ◽  
Marek Matik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fly Ash ◽  
Coal Combustion ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Coal Fly Ash ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Product Analysis ◽  
Coal Combustion Products ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Silica Alumina

Large amounts of coal combustion products (as solid products of thermal power plants) with different chemical and physical properties cause serious environmental problems. Even though coal fly ash is a coal combustion product, it has a wide range of applications (e.g., in construction, metallurgy, chemical production, reclamation etc.). One of its potential uses is in zeolitization to obtain a higher added value of the product. The aim of this paper is to produce a material with sufficient textural properties used, for example, for environmental purposes (an adsorbent) and/or storage material. In practice, the coal fly ash (No. 1 and No. 2) from Czech power plants was firstly characterized in detail (X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), particle size measurement, and textural analysis), and then it was hydrothermally treated to synthetize zeolites. Different concentrations of NaOH, LiCl, Al2O3, and aqueous glass; different temperature effects (90–120 °C); and different process lengths (6–48 h) were studied. Furthermore, most of the experiments were supplemented with a crystallization phase that was run for 16 h at 50 °C. After qualitative product analysis (SEM-EDX, XRD, and textural analytics), quantitative XRD evaluation with an internal standard was used for zeolitization process evaluation. Sodalite (SOD), phillipsite (PHI), chabazite (CHA), faujasite-Na (FAU-Na), and faujasite-Ca (FAU-Ca) were obtained as the zeolite phases. The content of these zeolite phases ranged from 2.09 to 43.79%. The best conditions for the zeolite phase formation were as follows: 4 M NaOH, 4 mL 10% LiCl, liquid/solid ratio of 30:1, silica/alumina ratio change from 2:1 to 1:1, temperature of 120 °C, process time of 24 h, and a crystallization phase for 16 h at 50 °C.

Durban’s 100 Resilient Cities journey: governing resilience from within

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 547-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Roberts ◽  
Joanne Douwes ◽  
Catherine Sutherland ◽  
Vicky Sim
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
South African City ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
African City ◽  
Global Policy ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Urban Risk

Urban resilience is the focus of a global policy discourse that is being mobilized by a wide range of organizations to reduce urban risk and respond to the shocks and stresses facing cities. This paper explores the process of “governing for resilience” through Durban’s resilience journey as part of the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) programme. From an insider perspective, it presents both 100RC and Durban’s approaches to developing a resilience strategy. It reflects on the contestations that emerged as Durban and 100RC struggled over the meaning and practice of urban resilience. The paper develops a continuum of urban resilience approaches to analyse the conflicts that emerged as the global programme of urban resilience travelled to, and landed in, a South African city. The paper argues that a global framing of urban resilience needs to be responsive to a world of cities that share common risk trajectories but have different contexts and vulnerabilities.(1)

scholarly journals Measurement and Implications of the Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum

1996 ◽  
Vol 168 ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
John C. Mather
Keyword(s):  
Background Radiation ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Scale Invariant ◽  
Background Spectrum ◽  
Nasa Goddard Space ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Infrared Background ◽  
Microwave Radiometers ◽  
The Big Bang

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) was developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to measure the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early universe. It also measured emission from nearby sources such as the stars, dust, molecules, atoms, ions, and electrons in the Milky Way, and dust and comets in the Solar System. It was launched 18 November 1989 on a Delta rocket, carrying one microwave instrument and two cryogenically cooled infrared instruments. The Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) mapped the sky at wavelengths from 0.01 to 1 cm, and compared the CMBR to a precise blackbody. The spectrum of the CMBR differs from a blackbody by less than 0.03%. The Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) measured the fluctuations in the CMBR originating in the Big Bang, with a total amplitude of 11 parts per million on a 10° scale. These fluctuations are consistent with scale-invariant primordial fluctuations. The Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) spanned the wavelength range from 1.2 to 240 μm and mapped the sky at a wide range of solar elongation angles to distinguish foreground sources from a possible extragalactic Cosmic Infrared Background Radiation (CIBR). In this paper we summarize the COBE mission and describe the results from the FIRAS instrument. The results from the DMR and DIRBE were described by Smoot and Hauser at this Symposium.

On Designing, Composing and Performing Networked Collective Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-339
Author(s):  
Frederic Bevilacqua ◽  
Benjamin Matuszewski ◽  
Garth Paine ◽  
Norbert Schnell
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
Space Groups ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
The People ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Concert Works ◽  
Collective Interactions

In this article, we discuss some of our research with Local Area Networks (LAN) in the context of sound installations or musical performances. Our systems, built on top of Web technologies, enable novel possibilities of collective and collaborative interaction, in particular by simplifying public access to the artwork by presenting the work through the web browser of their smartphone/tablet. Additionally, such a technical framework can be extended with so-called nano-computers, microprocessors and sensors. The infrastructure is completely agnostic as to how many clients are attached, or how they connect, which means that if the work is available in a public space, groups of friends, or even informally organised flash mobs, may engage with the work and perform the contents of the work at any time, and if available over the Internet, at any place. More than the technical details, the specific artistic directions or the supposed autonomy of the agents of our systems, this article focuses on how such ‘networks of devices’ interleave with the ‘network of humans’ composed of the people visiting the installation or participating in the concert. Indeed, we postulate that an important point in understanding and describing such proposals is to consider the relation between these two networks, the way they co-exist and entangle themselves through perception and action. To exemplify these ideas, we present a number of case studies, sound installations and concert works, very different in scope and artistic goal, and examine how this interaction is materialised from several standpoints.

scholarly journals Modelling Effects of Rainfall Patterns on Runoff Generation and Soil Erosion Processes on Slopes

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2221
Author(s):  
Qihua Ran ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Jihui Gao
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Slope Length ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
Total Runoff ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Critical Slope ◽  
Rainfall Patterns

Rainfall patterns and landform characteristics are controlling factors in runoff and soil erosion processes. At a hillslope scale, there is still a lack of understanding of how rainfall temporal patterns affect these processes, especially on slopes with a wide range of gradients and length scales. Using a physically-based distributed hydrological model (InHM), these processes under different rainfall temporal patterns were simulated to illustrate this issue. Five rainfall patterns (constant, increasing, decreasing, rising-falling and falling-rising) were applied to slopes, whose gradients range from 5° to 40° and projective slope lengths range from 25 m to 200 m. The rising-falling rainfall generally had the largest total runoff and soil erosion amount; while the constant rainfall had the lowest ones when the projective slope length was less than 100 m. The critical slope of total runoff was 15°, which was independent of rainfall pattern and slope length. However, the critical slope of soil erosion amount decreased from 35° to 25° with increasing projective slope length. The increasing rainfall had the highest peak discharge and erosion rate just at the end of the peak rainfall intensity. The peak value discharges and erosion rates of decreasing and rising-falling rainfalls were several minutes later than the peak rainfall intensity.

scholarly journals Organisational Strategies for Competitive Advantage in the Construction Industry: Chinese Dominance in Southern Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Daniel Soares Fernandes ◽  
George Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
African Region ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Chinese Enterprises ◽  
Construction Market ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Southern African Region ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Construction Services

Chinese enterprises are presently dominating various sectors of businesses abroad, offering a wide range of low to high-end quality products and services. The construction sector in Africa is now being dominated by Chinese multinational contractor companies, who find in Africa their next preferable market to grow. The available literature on the field has serious gaps in explaining which organisational strategies increase the competitive advantage and the market dominance of Chinese multinational contractors, especially in the Southern African region. This research aims to uncover the organisational strategies, implemented by Chinese multinational contractors operating in the Southern African region, who have paved the way and consolidated their success in the region. Through a mixed methods process, qualitative and quantitative data are obtained. The construction markets of the Southern African region are analysed (environmental analysis) and the main multinational Chinese contractors are identified, through a literature review and organisational analysis. Several organisational strategies are shortlisted and, finally, through an online questionnaire, the opinions of the participants to rank the organisational strategies previously identified in terms of contribution to the actual success, copying capability, etc., are carried out. The findings revealed that the capability to offer a lower price for construction services, the easy access to loans and funds from the organisation's home government and the capability to trade debt for local resources, such as wood, land and minerals are the organisational strategies that mostly contributed to the recent Chinese contractor dominance in the Southern African construction market.

Rapid 3D geological modeling to assess and visualize uncertainties in a web application

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pflieger ◽  
Miguel de la Varga Hormazabal ◽  
Simon Virgo ◽  
Jan von Harten ◽  
Florian Wellmann
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Geological Modeling ◽  
Web Browser ◽  
3D Geological Modeling ◽  
State Management ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Three dimensional modeling is a rapidly developing field in geological scientific and commercial applications. The combination of modeling and uncertainty analysis aides in understanding and quantitatively assessing complex subsurface structures. In recent years, many methods have been developed to facilitate this combined analysis, usually either through an extension of existing desktop applications or by making use of Jupyter notebooks as frontends. We evaluate here if modern web browser technology, linked to high-performance cloud services, can also be used for these types of analyses.</p><p>For this purpose, we developed a web application as proof-of-concept with the aim to visualize three dimensional geological models provided by a server. The implementation enables the modification of input parameters with assigned probability distributions. This step enables the generation of randomized realizations of models and the quantification and visualization of propagated uncertainties. The software is implemented using HTML Web Components on the client side and a Python server, providing a RESTful API to the open source geological modeling tool “GemPy”. Encapsulating the main components in custom elements, in combination with a minimalistic state management approach and a template parser, allows for high modularity. This enables rapid extendibility of the functionality of the components depending on the user’s needs and an easy integration into existing web platforms.</p><p>Our implementation shows that it is possible to extend and simplify modeling processes by creating an expandable web-based platform for probabilistic modeling, with the aim to increase the usability and to facilitate access to this functionality for a wide range of scientific analyses. The ability to compute models rapidly and with any given device in a web browser makes it flexible to use, and more accessible to a broader range of users.</p>

Microgrid Model on Homer Software

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VI) ◽  
pp. 757-760
Author(s):  
Mohd Ahamad
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Power Electronics ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Local Area ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Wide Range

A new concept in power generation is a microgrid. The Microgrid concept assumes a cluster of loads and microsources operating as a single controllable system that provides power to its local area. This concept provides a new paradigm for defining the operation of distributed generation. The microsources of special interest for MGs are small (<100-kW) units with power electronic interfaces. These sources are placed at customers sites. They are low cost, low voltage and have a high reliability with few emissions. Power electronics provide the control and flexibility required by the MG concept. A properly designed power electronics and controllers insure that the MG can meet the needs of its customers as well as the utilities. The goal of this project is to build a complete model of Microgrid including the power sources, their power electronics, and a load and mains model in THE HOMER. The HOMER Micropower Optimization Model is a computer model developed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to assist in the design of micropower systems and to facilitate the comparison of power generation technologies across a wide range of applications. HOMER models a power system’s physical behavior and its life-cycle cost, which is the total cost of installing and operating the system over its life span. HOMER allows the modeler to compare many different design options based on their technical and economic merits. It also assists in understanding and quantifying the effects of uncertainty or changes in the inputs.

NUKLEUS - User-relevant and applicable kilometer-scale climate information for Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Sieck ◽  
Bente Tiedje ◽  
Hendrik Feldmann ◽  
Joaquim Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Climate Models ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Post Processing ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Impact Modelling ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impact Models

&lt;p&gt;Given the current developments in climate science it becomes more a more feasible to provide climate information at the kilometer-scale from convection-permitting climate simulations. This progress will enable many users to directly feed high-resolution climate information into their impact-models for climate impact studies at the local scale. Examples include urban heat stress at street level or the design of drainage systems for future precipitation extremes. Within the RegIKlim (Regional information for action on climate change) consortium, the NUKLEUS (Actionable local climate information for Germany) project will not only provide climate information at the local scale, but also to co-develop interfaces between climate and impact models, in order to fulfil the needs of the impact modelling community as good as possible. Within the RegIKlim consortium, the impact modelling community is organised in six &amp;#8220;model regions&amp;#8221; across Germany, which cover a wide range of geographical and socio-economic conditions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the NUKLEUS project, the baseline will be the latest generation of EURO-CORDEX downscaled CMIP6 simulations, which will be further refined to roughly 3&amp;#160;km horizontal resolution and 30-year time-slices for Germany with convection-permitting climate models (ICON CLM, COSMO-CLM, REMO-NH) and statistical-dynamical downscaling approaches. A detailed analysis on the performance of the multi-model mini-ensemble is planned to assess the quality of the provided data. At the interface to the users, we will follow three different approaches to provide usable climate information at the kilometer-scale. One is to provide easy-access to data and post-processing opportunities using the FREVA system. FREVA offers various access-levels from shell to web-based, which serves different levels of user-expertise. In addition, it provides a transparent way of post-processing data by workflow sharing mechanisms. The second one is to develop appropriate additional downscaling methods for the &amp;#8220;last mile&amp;#8221; where needed. For this &amp;#8220;last mile&amp;#8221;, we will apply dynamical and statistical methods such as urban climate models and/or weather generators. With the third approach we explicitly aim at integrating a collected user-feedback into the regional modelling systems used within NUKLEUS. Specifically, we intend to identify and incorporate data processing that is best done during the simulation permanently into the models. Examples are wind speeds at rotor heights of windmills or high frequency precipitation sums. NUKLEUS is a contribution to the German research program RegIKlim funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).&lt;/p&gt;

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