Integration of an adaptive infotainment system in a vehicle and validation in real driving scenarios

More services, functionalities, and interfaces are increasingly being incorporated into current vehicles and may overload the driver capacity to perform primary driving tasks adequately. For this reason, a strategy for easing driver interaction with the infotainment system must be defined, and a good balance between road safety and driver experience must also be achieved. An adaptive Human Machine Interface (HMI) that manages the presentation of information and restricts drivers’ interaction in accordance with the driving complexity was designed and evaluated. For this purpose, the driving complexity value employed as a reference was computed by a predictive model, and the adaptive interface was designed following a set of proposed HMI principles. The system was validated performing acceptance and usability tests in real driving scenarios. Results showed the system performs well in real driving scenarios. Also, positive feedbacks were received from participants endorsing the benefits of integrating this kind of system as regards driving experience and road safety.Postprint (published version

Development of scenarios for land cover, population density, impervious cover, and conservation in New Hampshire, 2010–2100

Future changes in ecosystem services will depend heavily on changes in land cover and land use, which, in turn, are shaped by human activities. Given the challenges of predicting long-term changes in human behaviors and activities, scenarios provide a framework for simulating the long-term consequences of land-cover change on ecosystem function. As input for process-based models of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem function, we developed scenarios for land cover, population density, and impervious cover for the state of New Hampshire for 2020–2100. Key drivers of change were identified through information gathered from six sources: historical trends, existing plans relating to New Hampshire’s land-cover future, surveys, existing population scenarios, key informant interviews with diverse stakeholders, and input from subject-matter experts. Scenarios were developed in parallel with information gathering, with details added iteratively as new questions emerged. The final scenarios span a continuum from spatially dispersed development with a low value placed on ecosystem services (Backyard Amenities) to concentrated development with a high value placed on ecosystem services (the Community Amenities family). The Community family includes two population scenarios (Large Community and Small Community), to be combined with two scenarios for land cover (Protection of Wildlands and Promotion of Local Food), producing combinations that bring the total number of scenarios to six. Between Backyard Amenities and Community Amenities is a scenario based on linear extrapolations of current trends (Linear Trends). Custom models were used to simulate decadal change in land cover, population density, and impervious cover. We present raster maps and proportion of impervious cover for HUC10 watersheds under each scenario and discuss the trade-offs of our translation and modeling approach within the context of contemporary scenario projects

EU WATER POLICY: RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTS AND NEW MANAGEMENT TOOLS

At the end of 2000, the European Commission published its Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the Official Journal of the European Communities (2000/60/EC). This new legislation provides for achieving the sustainable management of water resources through its 26 articles that focus primarily on the improvement and protection of the quality of European water resources. The WFD adopts an integrated approach, based upon general principles deriving mainly from four disciplinary approaches, Geography; Ecology; Economics and Sociology. The new challenges posed to the people responsible for the management of water resources across the European Union include the "marrying" of existing national policies with the stipulations of the WFD. Research can support this transition by identifying compatibility and conflicts between legislative instruments, and by encouraging trans-national cooperative relationships. A relevant role of research is also foreseen in providing criteria and tools for conflict resolution by representing the goals of sustainable management in an objective and transparent way. The elaboration required for making planning decisions are increasing in number and complexity, requiring tools that help to organise and communicate the data that should be used to describe the decision context in terms of sustainability, in a holistic way by including environmental, economic and social information. These problems are being addressed by the MULINO Project, a 3-year research program aiming at producing a Decision Support System that will assist water managers in responding to the evolution of policies and management methodologies. The development of the system, which will be prepared in a software format, is being steered by a group of people from European water authorities. This steering committee is contributing to the policy analysis component of the research and to the software design which aims to be applicable in five different national contexts. This paper addresses the challenges and innovations that have been encountered in the second phase of research in which the first prototype of the software has been developed to operate in specific decision situations in each of MULINO's six case studies.Sustainable water management, EU policy, DSS tool, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Exploiting Qualitative Information for Decision Support in Scenario Analysis

The development of scenario analysis (SA) to assist decision makers and stakeholders has been growing over the last few years through mainly exploiting qualitative information provided by experts. In this study, we present SA based on the use of qualitative data for strategy planning. We discuss the potential of SA as a decision-support tool, and provide a structured approach for the interpretation of SA data, and an empirical validation of expert evaluations that can help to measure the consistency of the analysis. An application to a specific case study is provided, with reference to the European organic farming business

Development of a conceptual framework for integrated analysis and assessment of agricultural systems in SEAMLESS-IF

Production Economics,