Automatic real-time interpolation of radiation hazards: prototype and system architecture considerations

Detecting and monitoring the development of radioactive releases in the atmosphere is important. In many European countries monitoring networks have been established to perform this task. In the Netherlands the National Radioactivity Monitoring network (NRM) was installed. Currently, point maps are used to interpret the data from the NRM. Automatically generating maps in realtime would improve the interpretation of the data by giving the user a clear overview of the present radiological situation and provide an estimate of the radioactivity level at unmeasured locations. In this paper we present a prototype system that automatically generates real-time maps of radioactivity levels and presents results in an interoperable way through a Web Map Service. The system defines a first step towards a emergency management system and is suited primarily for data without large outliers. The automatic interpolation is done using universal kriging in combination with an automatic variogram fitting procedure. The focus is on mathematical and operational issues and on architectural considerations on how to improve the interoperability and portability of the prototype system

Laughing Doubles: The Duality of Humour

This thesis examines humour as a theoretical problem, taking humour as both an object to be defined and as a mode of thinking in its own right. In the first chapter, I position humour between good sense and nonsense within a Deleuzian and psychoanalytic framework, culminating in a discussion of humour’s relationship to perversion. In the second chapter, I further develop this connection to perversion through an analysis of Christian humour, exploring the incongruity between the transcendent heights and corporeal depths, with special attention paid to the comedic works of Erasmus and Rabelais. In the third chapter, I examine how humour functions without the transcendent principle operative in Christianity, considering humour as a problem of modernity. I present modern humour as the incongruity between vital matter and mechanical life through a reading of Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman in dialogue with the theories of humour advanced by Henri Bergson and Wyndham Lewis. Across the various foci of this thesis, I develop a theory of humour as the expression of an incongruous duality that rejects resolution in favour of one term or a synthesis of the two into a higher principl

What Scaffolds Good Technology Teaching and Learning?

Within a six-week full time practicum experience, these candidates put their own personal philosophies of what it means to educate a student alongside their own presuppositions of how an increasingly digital classroom may improve or deter learning

Automated mapping of environmental variables from a SEIS or SISE perspective

The INTAMAP FP6 project has developed an interoperable framework for real-time automatic mapping of critical environmental variables by extending spatial statistical methods and employing open, web-based, data exchange protocols and visualisation tools. This paper will give an overview of the underlying problem, of the project, and discuss which problems it has solved and which open problems seem to be most relevant to deal with next. The interpolation problem that INTAMAP solves is the generic problem of spatial interpolation of environmental variables without user interaction, based on measurements of e.g. PM10, rainfall or gamma dose rate, at arbitrary locations or over a regular grid covering the area of interest. It deals with problems of varying spatial resolution of measurements, the interpolation of averages over larger areas, and with providing information on the interpolation error to the end-user. In addition, monitoring network optimisation is addressed in a non-automatic context

Quality of life, big data and the power of statistics

The digital era has opened up new possibilities for data-driven research. This paper discusses big data challenges in environmental monitoring and reflects on the use of statisticalmethodsintacklingthesechallengesforimprovingthequalityoflifeincities

The challenge of real-time automatic mapping for environmental monitoring network management

The automatic interpolation of environmental monitoring network data such as air quality or radiation levels in real-time setting poses a number of practical and theoretical questions. Among the problems found are (i) dealing and communicating uncertainty of predictions, (ii) automatic (hyper)parameter estimation, (iii) monitoring network heterogeneity, (iv) dealing with outlying extremes, and (v) quality control. In this paper we discuss these issues, in light of the spatial interpolation comparison exercise held in 2004