Sediment Transport and Floods In A Changing Climate

Rainfall intensity and river flood magnitudes in Norway are expected to increase in the near future due to climate change. This thesis investigates the morphological impacts this increase in rainfall intensity will have on pluvial river flood events. The 2-D numerical morphologic model FINEL2D is applied to 3 scenarios, with 5-hour rainfall courses of different intensities. To explore the differences between hydrologic and morphologic models, parallel simulations with the morphologic module turned off are carried out for comparison. Special attention is given to the effect that differences in slope in a river have on sediment transport. Reliability of morphologic models, and their applications in river flood maps, are discussed. The simulation results imply an exponential relationship between rainfall intensity and sediment transport in rivers. A 50% increase in rainfall intensity results in a doubling of transported sediment. The differences between a morphologic and hydrologic simulation amounts to significant variations in flood-levels and flow extension based on the terrain and river layout. Differences in slope is identified as a driving factor of morphological changes. Sediment is eroded from steep segments of a river and causes sedimentation in flatter areas. The model strives towards an equilibrium in flow conditions, and thus flattens out differences in slopes. Morphological models are able to accurately hindcast morphological changes over time. It is argued that the behavior of morphological models to find an equilibrium, makes them in large part able to predict morphological changes in a flood event. Even with the strong non-linear behavior and added uncertainties, a morphologic model has several benefits over a hydrologic model, making them potentially valuable in flood maps. The importance of morphological models may become even more relevant with a future increase in rainfall intensity caused by climate change, which results in larger morphological changes in a flood event.Masteroppgave i anvendt og beregningsorientert matematikkMAB399MAMN-MA

Sound and Music Interventions in Psychiatry at Aalborg University Hospital

This article reports on the ongoing project development and research study ‘A New Sound and Music Milieu at Aalborg University Hospital’. Based on a number of pilot studies in AUH-Psychiatry on how special playlists and sound equipment (sound pillows and portable players) can be used by hospital patients and administered by hospital staff supervised by music therapists, the new project aims to prepare the ground for a systematic application of sound and music in the hospital environment. A number of playlists have been developed, based on theoretical and empirical research in music medicine and music therapy. A special software and hardware design – ‘The Music Star’– has been developed, and installed in combination with a directional line array speaker in patient rooms in two ICUs at the AUH–Psychiatry. The aim of the project is to empower patients to choose music suited to their needs here and now. In the study we focus on how self-selected music may lead to a decrease in anxiety and pain or improved relaxation/sleep. The article describes and discusses the theory-driven development of the sound/music milieu, relevant empirical studies, the novel method of data collection, preliminary results of the project and implications for the future implementation of the model

Is hyperkalaemia in heart failure a risk factor or a risk marker? Implications for renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitor use

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143644/1/ejhf1175.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143644/2/ejhf1175_am.pd

Mass Customization: Customizing for the Human Aspect of Operations Management

There is a tendency that the consumer market is getting more and more individualized as an effect of people craving customized products, and producers seeing this as an opportunity for earning more money on a product or service customized to a customer’s specific needs. This customization increases the complexity tied to the product, not necessarily for the consumer, but typically for the producer. As the complexity of products are moved closer to the producer, the job of producing and/or assembling the end-product gets more complicated. For instance, a higher degree of flexibility will be needed, if compared to traditional mass production where one typically produces in bulk. This will again demand more from the organization and its employees in form of more responsive systems, machines, processes, and not least employees. In this paper we suggest a self-assessment form to measure the individual job satisfaction at the shopfloor and take one step in the direction of customizing the daily work of employees in mass customizing companies.acceptedVersio

Kortsigtede økonomiske virkninger for Nanortalik ved en kommunesammenlægning

A new local government structure is announced for Greenland from 2009. If the reform is carried through, Nanortalik the most southerly town will come together with Qaqortoq, then the new centre, and Narsaq. A suggestion by the mayor of Nanortalik about the number of civil servants that should move to the centre is the basis for calculating the potential loss of gross income (wages and profits) in the first years of the reform. With the civil servants follow some adults and children. On top of the direct loss of income come derived losses determined by a multiplier process. The size of the multiplier is estimated to be around 1,25. This is based on assumptions about income levels, expenditure patterns, and local income parts of sales. Full implementation of the reform could mean a loss of 5 plus percent of gross income. If other probable losses (e.g. fewer elected members of the local authority) are added in, the loss could rise to more than 7 percent. Tax rates are assumed not to be lowered by the departure of civil servants to the centre. To the contrary an increase in the tax rate for Nanortalik is envisaged as this small town in these years enjoys an advantage from taxing local people and foreign skilled workers operating a nearby gold mine. It is stressed that the paper doesn’t evaluate the proposal for a reform, neither for the South of Greenland nor for Greenland as a whole. It is about possible very short term local effect

Forskellige scenarier for den luftbårne trafik til og i Grønland

The paper defines a base model of the airborne passenger traffic to and in Greenland showing the number of passengers on every non-stop connection. The type of airplane is defined for each route, and that determines the flying time. The number of connections and capacity utilization are fixed with due regard to the timetable of Air Greenland and the density of traffic on each route. Assumptions as to the cost per hour as a function of the duration of the flight are made for each aircraft. Applying this to different investment scenarios for airports and landing strips an index for the costs of supply of air traffic is found. Using this index the supplier’s cost savings in the scenarios are found as a percentage of the relevant sale. A number of reports from recent years have information about the necessary investments in the scenarios, and matching these with the changes in costs permits the calculation of present values for the different projects. Apart from direct savings there are derived benefits in some of the scenarios the most prominent being the possibility to abandon Kangerlussuaq. The calculations include these indirect effects. Two scenarios have high present values: the use of Keflavik as hub, and the construction of a new airport with a 3000 meter runway south of Nuuk: two rather different scenarios, the first dominated by current savings, and the second dependent on a large fixed investment

Problemer vedrørende den talmæssige belysning af betalingsbalancen for Grønland

Abstract: The balance of payments of Greenland has special features due to an important current transfer, bloktilskud, from Denmark. The trade balance does not exhibit a deficit of this order of magnitude but comparison of the bloktilskud and the deficit is difficult as official figures are available for the merchandise trade only. Figures for services are missing. However, guesses about the size of a deficit in the services’ trade do not easily discard the impression of a large surplus on the current account. Over a ten year period it is suggested that accumulated surpluses could be twice the level of Greenland’s GDP. This seems unlikely, but the available data raise a puzzle that ought to be addressed as it nourishes suspicion of unobserved accumulation of wealth