Re-use of an ontology for modelling urban energy systems

The use of ontologies for the interoperability of software models is widespread, with many applications also in the energy domain. By formulating a shared data structure and a definition of concepts and their properties, a language is created that can be used between modellers and - formalised in an ontology - between model components. When modelling energy systems, connections between different infrastructures are critical, e.g. the interaction between the gas and electricity markets or the need for various infrastructures including power, heat, water and transport in cities. While a commonly shared ontology of energy systems would be highly desirable, the fact is that different existing models or applications already use dedicated ontologies, and have been demonstrated to work well using them. To benefit from linking data sources and connecting models developed with different ontologies, a translation between concepts can be made. In this paper a model of an urban energy system built upon one ontology is initialised using energy transformation technologies defined in another ontology, thus illustrating how this common perspective might benefit researchers in the energy domain. ©2010 IEEE

An acoustic view of ocean mixing

Knowledge of the parameter K (turbulent diffusivity/"mixing intensity") is a key to understand transport processes of matter and energy in the ocean. Especially the almost vertical component of K across the ocean stratification (diapycnal diffusivity) is vital for research on biogeochemical cycles or greenhouse gas budgets. Recent boost in precision of water velocity data that can be obtained from vessel-mounted acoustic instruments (vmADCP) allows identifying ocean regions of elevated diapycnal diffusivity during research cruises - in high horizontal resolution and without extra ship time needed. This contribution relates acoustic data from two cruises in the Tropical North East Atlantic Oxygen Minimum Zone to simultaneous field observations of diapycnal diffusivity: pointwise measurements by a microstructure profiler as well as one integrative value from a large scale Tracer Release Experiment

Towards an extended network-based description for BIM and Smart Cities

The pervasive deployment of “smart city” and “smart building” projects in cities world-wide is driving innovation on many fronts including; technology, telematics, engineering and entrepreneurship. Traditionally, descriptive models of built form were adapted to predict performance by using few data sets. This trend has recently diverted towards making short-term predictions and visualizing real-time information enabled by Big Data and the Internet of Things. Building and urban morphology need yet to adapt new frameworks to embrace these new technologies in the design and evolution of sustainable infrastructure. Through representing relationships between different infrastructure components and linking the resultant network to smart systems, it is perhaps possible to provide better predictions of the operational performance of buildings and cities. This workshop was dedicated to provide a platform for discussing these challenges between academics, construction and engineering experts, and policy makers. Together with a team of academics and researchers from UCL, the BIM Task Group at the Government Department of Business Innovation and Skills has scored success at releasing the Digital Built Britain construction strategy. The strategy will execute the UK government plans for BIM Level’3, making a shift from file-based collaboration to the more scalable and flexible semantic web. This is thought to provide opportunities for acquiring information about how performance data could support the design and operation phases of buildings and how BIM could constitute a bottom up approach to smart cities. The “Towards an extended network-based description for BIM and Smart Cities” workshop, which took place at Space Syntax Limited, was dedicated to tackle these challenges and plan for a start on the BIM level’3 project by attending to the morphological and performance aspects of the built environment and the wealth of research that was done in this field at UCL over the last decades. The workshop was intended to discuss a wide-range of theoretical frameworks and representational schemes for establishing network-based models as to structure data in building and urban information models and respond to social and environmental performance requirements of the built environment. The workshop has also discussed some applications and challenges presented by IoT, and by the data available on energy performance of buildings. The core discussion was centred on whether network-based models are fundamental to comprehend and represent the complexity of cities and inform urban design and public policy practices, during the design, construction, and operation phases of infrastructure projects

An overview of virtual city modelling : emerging organisational issues

This paper presents a recent overview of the increasing use of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for the simulation of urban environments. It builds on previous research conducted on the identification of three-dimensional (3D) city models and offers an analysis of the development, utilization and construction of VR city models. Issues pertaining to advantages, barriers and ownership are identified. The paper describes a case study of the development of a VR model for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK and outlines the role that academic institutions can play in both the creation and utilization of urban models. The study offers a new approach for the creation, management and update of urban models and reflects on issues which are emerging. Areas for future research are discussed

National innovation systems, developing countries, and the role of intermediaries: a critical review of the literature

Developed over the past three decades, the national innovation system concept (NIS) has been widely used by both scholars and policy makers to explain how interactions between a set of distinct, nationally bounded institutions supports and facilitates technological change and the emergence and diffusion of new innovations. This concept provides a framework by which developing countries can adopt for purposes of catching up. Initially conceived on structures and interactions identified in economically advanced countries, the application of the NIS concept to developing countries has been gradual and has coincided – in the NIS literature – with a move away from overly macro-interpretations to an emphasis on micro-level interactions and processes, with much of this work questioning the nation state as the most appropriate level of analysis, as well as the emergence of certain intermediary actors thought to facilitate knowledge exchange between actors and institutions. This paper reviews the NIS literature chronologically, showing how this shift in emphasis has diminished somewhat the importance of both institutions, particularly governments, and the process of institutional capacity building. In doing so, the paper suggests that more recent literature on intermediaries such as industry associations may offer valuable insights to how institutional capacity building occurs and how it might be directed, particularly in the context of developing countries where governance capacities are often lacking, contributing to less effective innovation systems, stagnant economies, and unequal development

An Integrated Material Flows, Stakeholders and Policies Approach to Identify and Exploit Regional Resource Potentials

Material flows in the construction and demolition (C&D) sector remain high in many countries. But, their changes or reductions are essential for successful circular economies. Existing material flow analyses do not cover regional characteristics, stakeholders and impacts of policy measures and interactions. We contribute a new, unprecedented way of integrating regional building and infrastructure material stock and flow modelling with stakeholders, policy measures, their impacts and mutual interactions. Stakeholders are considered with their objectives, influences, interactions, willingness to act, to cooperate or contribute to resource conservation. 31 policy measures are crystallized from literature and evaluated in two surveys regarding their expected impact, their bundling and temporal effects. The integrated bottom-up simulation model was tested for the federal state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). The results show that until 2030 net stock piling can be expected and secondary raw materials from building stock will be sufficient to supply future recycling concrete production until 2030. Most effective policy measures are additional cost/taxes on primary resources, increased disposal fees and curriculae adaption. Bundling these leads to a combined RESPOT of 30.8%. The results are useful for political decision makers, educational institutions, disposal site operators as well as primary and secondary raw material extraction industries

Proceedings of the Conference on Production Systems and Logistics: CPSL 2022

[no abstract available

Household Portfolios in Germany

This paper describes portfolio choices of German households in the 1980's and 1990's. We present stylized facts and analyze recent trends of asset ownership rates and asset shares on the basis of national accounts and survey data. We correlate socio-demographic household characteristics with asset shares and ownership, and analyze how German households have adjusted their asset portfolios in response to the policy changes during this time. A particular focus is on the effects of German reunification and the portfolio adjustments of East German households during the transition process.