COIN@AAMAS2015

COIN@AAMAS2015 is the nineteenth edition of the series and the fourteen papers included in these proceedings demonstrate the vitality of the community and will provide the grounds for a solid workshop program and what we expect will be a most enjoyable and enriching debate.Peer reviewe

Micro (Wind) Generation: \u27Urban Resource Potential & Impact on Distribution Network Power Quality\u27

Of the forms of renewable energy available, wind energy is at the forefront of the European (and Irish) green initiative with wind farms supplying a significant proportion of electrical energy demand. This type of distributed generation (DG) represents a ‘paradigm shift’ towards increased decentralisation of energy supply. However, because of the distance of most DG from urban areas where demand is greatest, there is a loss of efficiency. The solution, placing wind energy systems in urban areas, faces significant challenges. The complexities associated with the urban terrain include planning, surface heterogeneity that reduces the available wind resource and technology obstacles to extracting and distributing wind energy. Yet, if a renewable solution to increasing energy demand is to be achieved, energy conversion systems where populations are concentrated, that is cities, must be considered. This study is based on two independent strands of research into: low voltage (LV) power flow and modelling the urban wind resource. The urban wind resource is considered by employing a physically-based empirical model to link wind observations at a conventional meteorological site to those acquired at urban sites. The approach is based on urban climate research that has examined the effects of varying surface roughness on the wind-field above buildings. The development of the model is based on observational data acquired at two locations across Dublin representing an urban and sub-urban site. At each, detailed wind information is recorded at a height about 1.5 times the average height of surrounding buildings. These observations are linked to data gathered at a conventional meteorological station located at Dublin Airport, which is outside the city. These observations are linked through boundary-layer meteorological theory that accounts for surface roughness. The resulting model has sufficient accuracy to assess the wind resource at these sites and allow us to assess the potential for micro–turbine energy generation. One of the obstacles to assessing this potential wind resource is our lack of understanding of how turbulence within urban environments affects turbine productivity. This research uses two statistical approaches to examine the effect of turbulence intensity on wind turbine performance. The first approach is an adaptation of a model originally derived to quantify the degradation of power performance of a wind turbine using the Gaussian probability distribution to simulate turbulence. The second approach involves a novel application of the Weibull Distribution, a widely accepted means to probabilistically describe wind speed and its variation. On the technological side, incorporating wind power into an urban distribution network requires power flow analysis to investigate the power quality issues, which are principally associated with imbalance of voltage on distribution lines and voltage rise. Distribution networks that incorporate LV consumers must accommodate a highly unbalanced load structure and the need for grounding network between the consumer and grid operator (TN-C-S earthing). In this regard, an asymmetrical 3-phase (plus neutral) power flow must be solved to represent the range of issues for the consumer and the network as the number of wind-energy systems are integrated onto the distribution network. The focus in this research is integrating micro/small generation, which can be installed in parallel with LV consumer connections. After initial investigations of a representative Irish distribution network, a section of an actual distribution network is modelled and a number of power flow algorithms are considered. Subsequently, an algorithm based on the admittance matrix of a network is identified as the optimal approach. The modelling thereby refers to a 4-wire representation of a suburban distribution network within Dublin city, Ireland, which incorporates consumer connections at single-phase (230V-N). Investigations relating to a range of network issues are considered. More specifically, network issues considered include voltage unbalance/rise and the network neutral earth voltage (NEV) for increasing levels of micro/small wind generation technologies with respect to a modelled urban wind resource. The associated power flow analysis is further considered in terms of the turbulence modelling to ascertain how turbulence impinges on the network voltage/voltage-unbalance constraints

Fundamental Studies of Electrochemical Reactions and Microfluidics in Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Cells

In electrochemical energy devices, including fuel cells, electrolyzers and batteries, the electrochemical reactions occur only on triple phase boundaries (TPBs). The boundaries provide the conductors for electros and protons, the catalysts for electrochemical reactions and the effective pathways for transport of reactants and products. The interfaces have a critical impact on the overall performance and cost of the devices in which they are incorporated, and therefore could be a key feature to optimize in order to turn a prototype into a commercially viable product. For electrolysis of water, proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) have several advantages compared to other electrolysis processes, including greater energy efficiency, higher product purity, and a more compact design. In addition, the integration of renewable energy sources with water electrolysis is very attractive because it can be accomplished with high efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. However, there is a lack in fundamental understanding of rapid and microscale electrochemical reactions and microfluidics in PEMECs. This research investigates the multiscale behaviors of electrochemical reactions and microfluidics in a PEMEC by coupling an innovative design of the PEMEC with a high-speed and microscale visualization system (HMVS). The results of the investigation are used to aid in revealing the electrochemical reaction mechanisms and the microfluidics behavior including bubble generation, growth and detachment, which all together play a very important role in the optimization of the design of PEMECs. The effects of operating parameters such as current density, temperature and pressure on the electrochemical reactions and the microfluidics are determined and analyzed by mathematical models of PEMECs, which also match the experimental results. Improved understanding of the electrochemical reactions and microfluidics in PEMECs can not only help to optimize their designs, but can also help advance many other applications in energy, environment and defense research fields

Urban Vitality in Dutch and Chinese New Towns. A comparative study between Almere and Tongzhou

Building new towns seems to be a rational regionalization approach that releases pressure from overly burdened large cities. This strategy was developed in Western Europe in the middle of twentieth century. Since the 1990s, the European new town model has been widely implemented in China. However, the author questions the feasibility of the large-scale, hasty new town developments. The study of worldwide new town experiences, especially European and Chinese cases, demonstrates that many new towns in fact have difficulty in achieving a real sense of urban quality and vitality. So far, few research projects have been conducted to evaluate and develop solutions for this problem. The purpose of this research project is therefore to identify the spatial and non-spatial factors and conditions that facilitate the development of urban vitality in new towns. It is aimed to reveal the impacts of spatial design, urban planning and governance approaches on the degree and patterns of local urban life of new towns in China and in the Netherlands. The generated knowledge of this research project helps develop not only a better understanding of the main problems of new towns, but also spatial strategies with the aim to enliven new towns and other types of (sub)urban areas as well. The central research question is approached through literature review and case studies. The literature review provides a critical re-evaluation of the scientific validation of the new town model, especially the notion of town self-containment in economic terms. The relevant theories under study mainly include regional science and economic geography. The literature review also clarifies the general definition of urban vitality and its distinct meanings in different socio-economic and political backgrounds of the two societies, sets up the quantitative measurements methodology, and identifies a preliminary framework of spatial factors and conditions. As it turns out, the key indicators of urban vitality are the co-presence of people as well as the social, cultural and economic activities in public spaces. The primary conditions are categorized as attractor-determinism, space-determinism and people-determinism. In regard to the spatial factors, the focus is on the spatial configuration of street networks, the composition of urban blocks and neighborhoods, as well as the value of details on small scales. The non-spatial factors primarily include the changing urban planning and governance approaches. The systems approach of planning and control, and the decentralization of decision-making powers are of particular importance to the topic. Various urban vitality evaluation criteria are derived, and then applied and tested in the comparative case studies. The Dutch new town Almere and the Chinese new town Tongzhou are both important new towns in their regions. They are selected based on their contrasting features as planned and market-driven, self-organized new towns, and the resultant differences in the level and character of their urban vitality. It is believed that their governments could gain inspiration from each other’s experiences for the future development of the towns. The key analytical approach of the case studies is to overlap multiple layers of top-down socio-spatial analyses with the actual space use from the bottom-up field investigations. The spatial analysis focuses on finding relations between the distribution of the planned and unplanned socioeconomic activities and the spatial configuration of different elements on different scales. Space syntax is adopted as one of the key analytical tools. The field study tasks include registering people’s movement of flows through static snapshots method, the mapping of self-organized small-businesses, activities and space appropriations, and conducting interviews and surveys of city officials, local people and shop owners. The results of the comparative case studies show that there is a strong correlation between space and the socio-economic life in new towns. As a market-driven, spontaneous new town, streets are the key places for socio-economic activities in Tongzhou. An essential spatial condition stimulating dynamic street life is found to be the open grid network structure with the mixture of diverse commercial, cultural and public programs widely dispersed on street frontages. The proliferation of groundfloor small businesses at the perimeters of neighborhoods in Tongzhou constitutes a big part of the street life, especially for the areas near public transport stations. As a top-down planned town, Almere excels at effective planning control and responsible social considerations, which benefits the long-term well-being of the city. Good urban governance is reflected not only in the public provisions and city marketing, but more importantly, in the quality of the public services and the available opportunities of citizen participation. For example, adaptable architectural design and bottom-up community planning implemented in Almere has positive impacts on animating local and perspective inhabitants, hence increasing urban vitality in another dimension. Interestingly, many of the home-based small businesses in Almere thrive by virtue of internet platform, despite that the effect is subtle in terms of bringing street activities. Both new towns need to further develop and experiment with new approaches of urban planning. Such new approaches are intended to be capable of creating a framework for a dynamic system to grow, balancing the planned and unplanned elements, involving a diversity of interested parties in the development process, being adaptive to changes over time, and emphasizing the quality of life for their citizens. Finally, the empirical and theoretical study findings are compared to each other. It results in a refined definition of urban vitality, which is synthesized into the placepeople-program triangle diagram, an enriched list of the favorable spatial conditions that are required to generate a sense of urban vitality, as well as a clear proposal for an upgraded urban planning and governance approach that is open to the complexity and uncertainty of contemporary societies

Urban Vitality in Dutch and Chinese New Towns:

Building new towns seems to be a rational regionalization approach that releases pressure from overly burdened large cities. This strategy was developed in Western Europe in the middle of twentieth century. Since the 1990s, the European new town model has been widely implemented in China. However, the author questions the feasibility of the large-scale, hasty new town developments. The study of worldwide new town experiences, especially European and Chinese cases, demonstrates that many new towns in fact have difficulty in achieving a real sense of urban quality and vitality. So far, few research projects have been conducted to evaluate and develop solutions for this problem. The purpose of this research project is therefore to identify the spatial and non-spatial factors and conditions that facilitate the development of urban vitality in new towns. It is aimed to reveal the impacts of spatial design, urban planning and governance approaches on the degree and patterns of local urban life of new towns in China and in the Netherlands. The generated knowledge of this research project helps develop not only a better understanding of the main problems of new towns, but also spatial strategies with the aim to enliven new towns and other types of (sub)urban areas as well. The central research question is approached through literature review and case studies. The literature review provides a critical re-evaluation of the scientific validation of the new town model, especially the notion of town self-containment in economic terms. The relevant theories under study mainly include regional science and economic geography. The literature review also clarifies the general definition of urban vitality and its distinct meanings in different socio-economic and political backgrounds of the two societies, sets up the quantitative measurements methodology, and identifies a preliminary framework of spatial factors and conditions. As it turns out, the key indicators of urban vitality are the co-presence of people as well as the social, cultural and economic activities in public spaces. The primary conditions are categorized as attractor-determinism, space-determinism and people-determinism. In regard to the spatial factors, the focus is on the spatial configuration of street networks, the composition of urban blocks and neighborhoods, as well as the value of details on small scales. The non-spatial factors primarily include the changing urban planning and governance approaches. The systems approach of planning and control, and the decentralization of decision-making powers are of particular importance to the topic. Various urban vitality evaluation criteria are derived, and then applied and tested in the comparative case studies. The Dutch new town Almere and the Chinese new town Tongzhou are both important new towns in their regions. They are selected based on their contrasting features as planned and market-driven, self-organized new towns, and the resultant differences in the level and character of their urban vitality. It is believed that their governments could gain inspiration from each other’s experiences for the future development of the towns. The key analytical approach of the case studies is to overlap multiple layers of top-down socio-spatial analyses with the actual space use from the bottom-up field investigations. The spatial analysis focuses on finding relations between the distribution of the planned and unplanned socioeconomic activities and the spatial configuration of different elements on different scales. Space syntax is adopted as one of the key analytical tools. The field study tasks include registering people’s movement of flows through static snapshots method, the mapping of self-organized small-businesses, activities and space appropriations, and conducting interviews and surveys of city officials, local people and shop owners. The results of the comparative case studies show that there is a strong correlation between space and the socio-economic life in new towns. As a market-driven, spontaneous new town, streets are the key places for socio-economic activities in Tongzhou. An essential spatial condition stimulating dynamic street life is found to be the open grid network structure with the mixture of diverse commercial, cultural and public programs widely dispersed on street frontages. The proliferation of groundfloor small businesses at the perimeters of neighborhoods in Tongzhou constitutes a big part of the street life, especially for the areas near public transport stations. As a top-down planned town, Almere excels at effective planning control and responsible social considerations, which benefits the long-term well-being of the city. Good urban governance is reflected not only in the public provisions and city marketing, but more importantly, in the quality of the public services and the available opportunities of citizen participation. For example, adaptable architectural design and bottom-up community planning implemented in Almere has positive impacts on animating local and perspective inhabitants, hence increasing urban vitality in another dimension. Interestingly, many of the home-based small businesses in Almere thrive by virtue of internet platform, despite that the effect is subtle in terms of bringing street activities. Both new towns need to further develop and experiment with new approaches of urban planning. Such new approaches are intended to be capable of creating a framework for a dynamic system to grow, balancing the planned and unplanned elements, involving a diversity of interested parties in the development process, being adaptive to changes over time, and emphasizing the quality of life for their citizens. Finally, the empirical and theoretical study findings are compared to each other. It results in a refined definition of urban vitality, which is synthesized into the placepeople-program triangle diagram, an enriched list of the favorable spatial conditions that are required to generate a sense of urban vitality, as well as a clear proposal for an upgraded urban planning and governance approach that is open to the complexity and uncertainty of contemporary societies

Parody in Pale fire : a re-reading of Boswell's Life of Johnson

This study explores Vladimir Nabokov's parody, in his 1962 novel Pale Fire, of Boswell's Life of Johnson. I attempt to show that Nabokov's numerous parodic references to Boswell's work in Pale Fire perform two significant functions. Like all of the parodies in Nabokov's novels, the Boswell allusions help give Nabokov's own book a sense of defintion or identity; by placing his own work in the context of another, earlier work, Nabokov's individual artistic concerns come into focus. His highly allusive novels, composed largely of pastiches of parody, thus are not created simply for pedantic purposes, i.e. to show to the reader how many books the well-read Nabokov digested throughout his life, but instead help him to combat Harold Bloom's anxiety impulse, the fear that any modern artist must somehow surmount when faced with the legions of dead strong poets and thinkers who came before him. Parody also sends Nabokov's readers back to the original sources, helping them to re-read older texts, in new ways. Through the prism of his parody, Nabokov also revives moribund genres, books and plays for his readers, providing insights into them that might not be possible in the context of a strictly scholarly exercise. As I will show, the close reader of Pale Fire will, in addition to feeling the force of the authorial identity Nabokov has established for himself in his own book, also develop an intricate understanding of the controversies surrounding highly subjective books such as The Life of Johnson, and come to look at the works parodied in Nabokov's novel in a different light. Newer novels can thus inform readings of older texts, helping the reader to re-read the older works in important, new ways

HSCI2013: proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Hands-on Science

The core topic of the 10th Hands-on Science Conference is "Educating for Science and through Science"Livro de trabalhos extensos aceites para publicação no livro de proceedings da 10ª conferencia HSC

Salt Lake City Mission, et. al. v. Salt Lake City Corporation, et. al. : Brief of Appellee

ADDENDUM TO BRIEF OF APPELLEE

Beyond Functionalism: A Quantitative Survey and Semiotic Reading of Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian’s Wall is perhaps one of the best studied, but east understood,Roman monuments in Britain. Traditional interpretations have sought to identify one underlying principle to the Wall’s function. Similarly, the Wall’s purpose has often been interpreted as solely functional, with either military or ‘customs barrier’ arguments proposed. However, military theories are at odds with both general Roman practice of the time, which sought to defeat enemies in the field, and the Wall’s generally low level of soldiery per kilometre. Customs barrier arguments cannot account for the seemingly illogical placement of structures along the line of the Wall. Furthermore, both these interpretations are connected to a broader dialogue between the Victorian era, which saw the rise of Wall-scholarship, and the modern world which effectively excluded the Roman context within which the Wall was constructed. It is the question of the Wall’s intent and purpose, as well as the structure’s place in the wider Roman world, that this thesis explores. This necessitates an innovative combination of techniques including historiography, theory, quantitative survey and modelling. A theoretical standpoint is adopted that considers the construction from a symbolic perspective as an explicit means for understanding the original purpose of the Wall. Quantitative survey is used to reveal the full extent of the structure’s symbolic ower, the results of which can also evaluate dominant functional theories. Importantly, in emphasising theory and the Roman context alongside traditional functional models, this thesis reconnects the Wall to its original context within the Roman world. This research aims to stimulate debate on both the purpose of the Wall and its place in the wider Roman world, whilst also creating a framework for using quantitative theory to assess symbolic potential

Towards the conceptualisation of maritime delimitation: legal and technical aspects of a political process

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea sets a normative framework for an integrated governance of the oceans, with far-reaching implications for states. Its implementation - as to navigation rights, preservation of marine environment, exploitation of resources, economic jurisdiction, or any other marine issues - depends however on one central issue: the spatial allocation of authority. This thesis examines one specific aspect of this international legal problem - maritime boundary delimitation. A major challenge for this thesis lies in the fact that its subject has been extensively and thoroughly reviewed, both in scholarship and in jurisprudence. Notwithstanding this, a closer look reveals a paucity of conceptual analysis. Drawing on historical elements, as well as on state practice and case law, the present thesis endeavours to further the understanding of maritime delimitation from a conceptual standpoint. Focusing on the development of conventional provisions on delimitation, Part I eventually argues that the so-called 'equitable principles doctrine' is not customary law. What is part of customary law is an obligation of result: maritime delimitations must resulting equitable solutions. The distinction between these propositions becomes clear in Part II. By deconstructing the subject into its three core issues - concept, methods and normativity, this thesis submits that the said obligation is to be met through the optimisation of two legal principles: the principle of maritime zoning and the principle of equity. Whilst suggesting that the watchword is reasonableness, it proposes that the reasonableness of the boundary be objectified by reference to a novel concept: the average 'distance ratio' of the line. As a denouement, Part III investigates the 'discovery' of boundary-lines. Recognising that the legal determination of maritime boundaries consists of a multiple-factor analysis, in which the sphere of discretion conferred upon courts is critical, it aims at improving reasoning discourse through 'multicriteria decision-making' and the utilisation of 'yardsticks'. After discussing which elements of the 'factual matrix' are legally relevant, and how they bear on the 'discovery' of the boundary-line, this thesis offers a test study intended to validate the conceptualisation proposed