23,150 research outputs found
Virtual regeneration
Regenerating our increasingly polluted, worn-out urban infrastructure is becoming the singly most important challenge facing our cities. Simon Doyle and Michael Batty explain how spatial information technologies and online laboratories can enable many diverse interests to participate in creating informed planning policies that best address these issues
Visual communication in urban planning and urban design
This report documents the current status of visual communication in urban design and planning. Visual communication is examined through discussion of standalone and network media, specifically concentrating on visualisation on the World Wide Web(WWW).Firstly, we examine the use of Solid and Geometric Modelling for visualising urban planning and urban design. This report documents and compares examples of the use of Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) and proprietary WWW based Virtual Reality modelling software. Examples include the modelling of Bath and Glasgow using both VRML 1.0 and 2.0. A review is carried out on the use of Virtual Worldsand their role in visualising urban form within multi-user environments. The use of Virtual Worlds is developed into a case study of the possibilities and limitations of Virtual Internet Design Arenas (ViDAs), an initiative undertaken at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. The use of Virtual Worlds and their development towards ViDAs is seen as one of the most important developments in visual communication for urban planning and urban design since the development plan.Secondly, photorealistic media in the process of communicating plans is examined.The process of creating photorealistic media is documented, examples of the Virtual Streetscape and Wired Whitehall Virtual Urban Interface System are provided. The conclusion is drawn that although the use of photo-realistic media on the WWW provides a way to visually communicate planning information, its use is limited. The merging of photorealistic media and solid geometric modelling is reviewed in the creation of Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality is seen to provide an important step forward in the ability to quickly and easily visualise urban planning and urban design information.Thirdly, the role of visual communication of planning data through GIS is examined interms of desktop, three dimensional and Internet based GIS systems. The evolution to Internet GIS is seen as a critical component in the development of virtual cities which will allow urban planners and urban designers to visualise and model the complexity of the built environment in networked virtual reality.Finally a viewpoint is put forward of the Virtual City, linking Internet GIS with photorealistic multi-user Virtual Worlds. At present there are constraints on how far virtual cities can be developed, but a view is provided on how these networked virtual worlds are developing to aid visual communication in urban planning and urban design
Modelling virtual urban environments
In this paper, we explore the way in which virtual reality (VR) systems are being broadened to encompass a wide array of virtual worlds, many of which have immediate applicability to understanding urban issues through geocomputation. Wesketch distinctions between immersive, semi-immersive and remote environments in which single and multiple users interact in a variety of ways. We show how suchenvironments might be modelled in terms of ways of navigating within, processes of decision-making which link users to one another, analytic functions that users have to make sense of the environment, and functions through which users can manipulate, change, or design their world. We illustrate these ideas using four exemplars that we have under construction: a multi-user internet GIS for Londonwith extensive links to 3-d, video, text and related media, an exploration of optimal retail location using a semi-immersive visualisation in which experts can explore such problems, a virtual urban world in which remote users as avatars can manipulate urban designs, and an approach to simulating such virtual worlds through morphological modelling based on the digital record of the entire decision-making process through which such worlds are built
A coronal wave and an asymmetric eruptive filament in SUMER, CDS, EIT, and TRACE co-observations
The objectives of the present study is to provide a better physical
understanding of the complex inter-relation and evolution of several solar
coronal features comprising a double-peak flare, a coronal dimming caused by a
CME, a CME-driven compression, and a fast-mode wave. For the first time, the
evolution of an asymmetric eruptive filament is analysed in simultaneous SUMER
spectroscopic and TRACE and EIT imaging data. We use imaging observations from
EIT and TRACE in the 195A channel and spectroscopic observations from the CDS
in a rastering and SUMER in a sit-and-stare observing mode. The SUMER spectra
cover spectral lines with formation temperatures from logT(K) ~ 4.0 to 6.1.
Although the event was already analysed in two previous studies, our analysis
brings a wealth of new information on the dynamics and physical properties of
the observed phenomena. We found that the dynamic event is related to a complex
flare with two distinct impulsive peaks, one according to the GOES
classification as C1.1 and the second - C1.9. The first energy release triggers
a fast-mode wave and a CME with a clear CME driven compression ahead of it.
This activity is related to, or possibly caused, by an asymmetric filament
eruption. The filament is observed to rise with its leading edge moving at a
speed of ~300 km/s detected both in the SUMER and CDS data. The rest of the
filament body moves at only ~150 km/s while untwisting. No signature is found
of the fast-mode wave in the SUMER data, suggesting that the plasma disturbed
by the wave had temperatures above 600 000 K. The erupting filament material is
found to emit only in spectral lines at transition region temperatures. Earlier
identification of a coronal response detected in the Mg X 609.79 A line is
found to be caused by a blend from the O IV 609.83 A line.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, A&A, in pres
Can coronal hole spicules reach coronal temperatures?
We aim with the present study to provide observational evidences on whether
coronal hole spicules reach coronal temperatures. We combine multi-instrument
co-observations obtained with the SUMER/SoHO and with the EIS/SOT/XRT/Hinode.
The analysed three large spicules were found to be comprised of numerous thin
spicules which rise, rotate and descend simultaneously forming a bush-like
feature. Their rotation resembles the untwisting of a large flux rope. They
show velocities ranging from 50 to 250 km/s. We clearly associated the red- and
blue-shifted emissions in transition region lines with rotating but also with
rising and descending plasmas, respectively. Our main result is that these
spicules although very large and dynamic, show no presence in spectral lines
formed at temperatures above 300 000 K. The present paper brings out the
analysis of three Ca II H large spicules which are composed of numerous dynamic
thin spicules but appear as macrospicules in EUV lower resolution images. We
found no coronal counterpart of these and smaller spicules. We believe that the
identification of phenomena which have very different origins as macrospicules
is due to the interpretation of the transition region emission, and especially
the He II emission, wherein both chromospheric large spicules and coronal X-ray
jets are present. We suggest that the recent observation of spicules in the
coronal AIA/SDO 171 A and 211 A channels is probably due to the existence of
transition region emission there.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&
SMMR simulator radiative transfer calibration model. 1: Derivation
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Coronal hole boundaries at small scales: IV. SOT view Magnetic field properties of small-scale transient brightenings in coronal holes
We study the magnetic properties of small-scale transients in coronal hole.
We found all brightening events are associated with bipolar regions and caused
by magnetic flux emergence followed by cancellation with the pre-existing and
newly emerging magnetic flux. In the coronal hole, 19 of 22 events have a
single stable polarity which does not change its position in time. In eleven
cases this is the dominant polarity. The dominant flux of the coronal hole form
the largest concentration of magnetic flux in terms of size while the opposite
polarity is distributed in small concentrations. In the coronal hole the number
of magnetic elements of the dominant polarity is four times higher than the
non-dominant one. The supergranulation configuration appears to preserve its
general shape during approximately nine hours of observations although the
large concentrations in the network did evolve and were slightly displaced, and
their strength either increased or decreased. The emission fluctuations seen in
the X-ray bright points are associated with reoccurring magnetic cancellation
in the footpoints. Unique observations of an X-ray jet reveal similar magnetic
behaviour in the footpoints, i.e. cancellation of the opposite polarity
magnetic flux. We found that the magnetic flux cancellation rate during the jet
is much higher than in bright points. Not all magnetic cancellations result in
an X-ray enhancement, suggesting that there is a threshold of the amount of
magnetic flux involved in a cancellation above which brightening would occur at
X-ray temperatures. Our study demonstrates that the magnetic flux in coronal
holes is continuously recycled through magnetic reconnection which is
responsible for the formation of numerous small-scale transient events. The
open magnetic flux forming the coronal-hole phenomenon is largely involved in
these transient features.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, A&A in pres
Diagnosing transient ionization in dynamic events
The present study aims to provide a diagnostic line ratio that will enable
the observer to determine whether a plasma is in a state of transient
ionization. We use the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure (ADAS) to calculate
line contribution functions for two lines, Si IV 1394 A and O IV 1401 A, formed
in the solar transition region. The generalized collisional-radiative theory is
used. It includes all radiative and electron collisional processes, except for
photon-induced processes. State-resolved direct ionization and recombination to
and from the next ionization stage are also taken into account. For dynamic
bursts with a decay time of a few seconds, the Si IV 1394 A line can be
enhanced by a factor of 2-4 in the first fraction of a second with the peak in
the line contribution function occurring initially at a higher electron
temperature due to transient ionization compared to ionization equilibrium
conditions. On the other hand, the O IV 1401 A does not show such any
enhancement. Thus the ratio of these two lines, which can be observed with the
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, can be used as a diagnostic of transient
ionization. We show that simultaneous high-cadence observations of two lines
formed in the solar transition region may be used as a direct diagnostic of
whether the observed plasma is in transient ionization. The ratio of these two
lines can change by a factor of four in a few seconds owing to transient
ionization alone.Comment: 3 pages, in press A&
Calculating effective resistances on underlying networks of association schemes
Recently, in Refs. \cite{jsj} and \cite{res2}, calculation of effective
resistances on distance-regular networks was investigated, where in the first
paper, the calculation was based on stratification and Stieltjes function
associated with the network, whereas in the latter one a recursive formula for
effective resistances was given based on the Christoffel-Darboux identity. In
this paper, evaluation of effective resistances on more general networks which
are underlying networks of association schemes is considered, where by using
the algebraic combinatoric structures of association schemes such as
stratification and Bose-Mesner algebras, an explicit formula for effective
resistances on these networks is given in terms of the parameters of
corresponding association schemes. Moreover, we show that for particular
underlying networks of association schemes with diameter such that the
adjacency matrix possesses distinct eigenvalues, all of the other
adjacency matrices , can be written as polynomials of ,
i.e., , where is not necessarily of degree . Then, we use
this property for these particular networks and assume that all of the
conductances except for one of them, say , are zero to give a
procedure for evaluating effective resistances on these networks. The
preference of this procedure is that one can evaluate effective resistances by
using the structure of their Bose-Mesner algebra without any need to know the
spectrum of the adjacency matrices.Comment: 41 page
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