Search results for "technical"
showing 10 items of 955 documents
Mapping Leaf Area Index with a Smartphone and Gaussian Processes
2020
Leaf area index (LAI) is a key biophysical parameter used to determine foliage cover and crop growth in environmental studies. Smartphones are nowadays ubiquitous sensor devices with high computational power, moderate cost, and high-quality sensors. A smartphone app, which is called PocketLAI, was recently presented and tested for acquiring ground LAI estimates. In this letter, we explore the use of state-of-the-art nonlinear Gaussian process regression (GPR) to derive spatially explicit LAI estimates over rice using ground data from PocketLAI and Landsat 8 imagery. GPR has gained popularity in recent years because of its solid Bayesian foundations that offer not only high accuracy but also…
Electrochemical analysis of the first Polish coins using voltammetry of immobilized particles
2017
[EN] A series of 20 denarii from Boleslaus the Brave (992-1025) and Mieszko II Lambert (1025-1034), corresponding to the beginning of the Polish state were studied using the voltammetry of immobilized particles (VIMP) methodology. VIMP experiments, applied to nanosamples of the corrosion layers of the coins in contact with aqueous acetate buffer, provided well-defined responses mainly corresponding to the corrosion products of copper and lead. Such voltammetric responses, combined with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy experiments performed on the same set of coins, and complemented by focusing ion beam-field emission scanning electron microscope (FIB-FESEM) on silver coins from the 19t…
Modelling of segment structures: Boudins, bone-boudins, mullions and related single- and multiphase deformation features
2009
Finite element modelling has been used to simulate the development of segment structures, deformed layer segments separated by veins, such as boudins, mullions, and bone-boudins. A parameter sensitivity analysis is used to compare the influence of the nature of the flow, the relative viscosities of veins in necks and the host rock, and the initial geometry of the layer segments. Parameter fields have been determined for the relative viscosity of veins and layers, and the kinematic vorticity number of flow. Reworked segment structures can have several shapes such as bone-, bulging, shortened bone-boudins and their asymmetric equivalents such as domino- and shearband-boudin geometry. The mode…
An assessment of the Beerkan method for determining the hydraulic properties of a sandy loam soil
2014
Abstract Establishing the ability of the Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters (BEST) procedure to reproduce soil properties is necessary for specific soil types. In this investigation, the BEST predictions for a sandy loam soil were compared with water retention data obtained by a standard laboratory method and with the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K s , obtained by both the Wu et al. (1999) method, applied to the BEST infiltration data, and the Simplified Falling Head (SFH) technique. When the original BEST-slope algorithm with the infiltration constants fixed at β = 1.9 and γ = 0.79 was applied, the agreement between the predicted and the measured retention data was sa…
A three-dimensional back-analysis of the collapse of an underground cavity in soft rocks
2017
Abstract The assessment of stability of man-made underground caves, excavated in the past and later on abandoned, represents a serious challenge for land and urban planning operations, especially for the areas of possible interaction of the caves with overlying structures and infrastructures. Several areas of Southern Italy are characterized by the presence of abandoned underground quarries for the extraction of soft calcarenite rocks, which now threatens the overlying environment due to the risk of collapse and the consequent generation of sinkholes. This work presents a back-analysis of a sinkhole occurred in 2011 in the town of Marsala, caused by the collapse of an underground quarry, as…
Closure to “Experimental Study of the Stage-Discharge Relationship for an Upstream Inclined Grid with Longitudinal Bars” by C. Di Stefano and V. Ferro
2014
The discusser would like to thank the authors of the original paper for investigating the outflow process of an upstream inclined grid with longitudinal bars using the dimensional analysis and the incomplete self-similarity theory. The discusser, however, would like to add a few points. Using the theoretical analysis the authors of the original paper showed that a power equation can be used for establishing the stage-discharge equation of an upstream inclined grid with longitudinal bars. The authors of the original paper also showed that the coefficient and exponent of the power equation depend on the slope angle and the void ratio. They proposed a stage-discharge equation
The role of controversy in engineering design
1997
Abstract To ensure the acceptance of technical systems and products in society, the crucial role of social controversy in technology development has to be more openly recognized. Many of the current acceptance problems of technical systems developed because the social controversy generated by the system under design was not sufficiently taken into account. Actively managed and organized controversy, on the other hand, could become an integral part of the engineering design process and the basis for a new underlying philosophy of design. Technical design in companies and technological organizations could be opened up to the active involvement of social actors usually excluded from it (like t…
Towards a More Effective Hospital: Helping Health Professionals to Learn from their Own Practice by Developing an Easy to use Clinical Processes Quer…
2016
Application of complex socio-technical systems theory to optimization of clinical processes in hospitals highlights the importance of the acceptance and promotion of responsible autonomy among health professionals. Therefore the independent ability for clinicians to search for answers to questions which are outside the scope of pre-made reports is important. However, the ad-hoc data querying process is slow and error prone due to inability of health professionals to access data directly without involving IT experts. The problem lies in the complexity of means used to query data. We propose a new natural language- and star ontology-based ad-hoc data querying approach which reduces the steep …
The impact of communicating digital technologies: How information and communication technology journalists conceptualize their influence on the audie…
2012
Information technology is ever-changing. Information and communication technology (ICT) journalists play a significant part in diffusing, explaining and interpreting these new technologies and in forging the societal understanding of future trends, influencing both their audience and the developers they cover. They are important gatekeepers and their coverage is – most likely – decisive for the success or failure of new products. To explore this function of ICT journalism, an online survey of 102 ICT journalists in Germany was conducted, including 32 journalists in managing roles. This study focuses on two research questions: (a) how do ICT journalists perceive their relationship to and the…
Interactive Uses of Journalism: Crossing Between Technological Potential and Young People’s News-Using Practices
2004
The article examines the interactive uses of journalism, focusing on the changes brought by new communication technology in the everyday news media uses of young Finns. The study is based on a survey and in-depth interviews. The results indicate that even though young Finns have easy access to new communication technology, journalism is still predominantly used via television and printed newspapers. While nearly all subjects followed news regularly, a fifth of the respondents had taken advantage of participatory activities offered by the news media. Consequently, technology alone does not seem to alter news practices. The interactive usage of journalism thus seems to be individualized ente…