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Complex Space (complex + space)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Engineering	50%

Selected Abstracts

Modeling and predicting complex space,time structures and patterns of coastal wind fields

ENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 5 2005
Montserrat Fuentes
Abstract A statistical technique is developed for wind field mapping that can be used to improve either the assimilation of surface wind observations into a model initial field or the accuracy of post-processing algorithms run on meteorological model output. The observed wind field at any particular location is treated as a function of the true (but unknown) wind and measurement error. The wind field from numerical weather prediction models is treated as a function of a linear and multiplicative bias and a term which represents random deviations with respect to the true wind process. A Bayesian approach is taken to provide information about the true underlying wind field, which is modeled as a stochastic process with a non-stationary and non-separable covariance. The method is applied to forecast wind fields from a widely used mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) model (MM5). The statistical model tests are carried out for the wind speed over the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding region for 21 July 2002. Coastal wind observations that have not been used in the MM5 initial conditions or forecasts are used in conjunction with the MM5 forecast wind field (valid at the same time that the observations were available) in a post-processing technique that combined these two sources of information to predict the true wind field. Based on the mean square error, this procedure provides a substantial correction to the MM5 wind field forecast over the Chesapeake Bay region. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Transformationsraum Fotografie: Berlin-Hellersdorf am Übergang von DDR Zu BRD

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 4 2010
Svea Bräunert
ABSTRACT Built between 1979 and 1991, the housing complex Berlin-Hellersdorf was one of the last and most ambitious construction projects of the GDR. Located at the interstice between East and West Germany, Hellersdorf can thus be seen as a space conducive to thinking about the 1990s post-socialist transformations. The 1998 interdisciplinary project,Peripherie als Ort. Das Hellersdorf Projekt,picks up on this idea. Focusing on the works of Ulrich Wüst and Helga Paris, who have contributed to the,Hellersdorf Project, the following essay analyses the role photography and architecture play as indices of socio-political and spatial transitions. Entering into a dialogue with photography, East German prefab housing, commonly referred to as ,Platte', becomes a mnemonic space whose parallactic perspectives are materially bound to the past without denying the changing present. As such, Hellersdorf presents itself as a complex space outside Berlin's city centre that invites reflections about the transformations that have taken place since German unification. Die zwischen 1979 und 1991 errichtete Großsiedlung Berlin-Hellersdorf war eines der letzten und ehrgeizigsten Wohnungsbauprojekte der DDR. Solcherart am direkten Übergang von DDR zu BRD lokalisiert, kann Hellersdorf als Denkraum verstanden werden, anhand dessen sich die postsozialistischen Transformationsprozesse der 1990er-Jahre exemplarisch nachvollziehen und problematisieren lassen. An diesen Gedanken anknüpfend, entstand 1998 das interdisziplinäre Vorhaben,Peripherie als Ort. Das Hellersdorf Projekt, an dem sich unter anderem die Fotograf/innen Ulrich Wüst und Helga Paris beteiligten. Von ihren Arbeiten ausgehend, untersucht der vorliegende Essay die Bedeutung von Fotografie und Architektur als Indizes des Übergangs. Im Dialog mit der Fotografie wird der Plattenbau zum parallaktischen Erinnerungsraum, der in einer materiellen Verbindung mit der Vergangenheit steht, ohne jedoch die Veränderungen der Gegenwart leugnen zu können. Damit bietet Hellersdorf einen komplexen Raum abseits des Berliner Zentrums, der zum Nachdenken über die Transformationsprozesse seit der deutschen Vereinigung einlädt. [source]

Analytical study of mine closure behaviour in a poro-visco-elastic medium

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 14 2008
H. Wong
Abstract This paper is interested in the hydro-mechanical behaviour of an underground cavity abandoned at the end of its service life. It is an extension of a previous study that accounted for a poro-elastic behaviour of the rock mass (Int. J. Comput. Geomech. 2007; DOI: 10.1016/j.compgeo.2007.11.003). Deterioration of the lining support with time leads to the transfer of the loading from the exterior massif to the interior backfill. The in situ material has a poro-visco-elastic constitutive behaviour while the backfill is poro-elastic, both saturated with water. This loading transfer is accompanied by an inward cavity convergence, thereby compressing the backfill, and induces an outward water flow. This leads to a complex space,time evolution of pore pressures, displacements and stresses, which is not always intuitive. In its general setting, a semi-explicit solution to this problem is developed, using Laplace transform, the inversion being performed numerically. Analytical inversion leading to a quasi-explicit solution in the time domain is possible by identifying the characteristic creep and relaxation times of volumetric strains with those of the deviatoric strains, on the basis of a parametric study. A few numerical examples are given to illustrate the hydro-mechanical behaviour of the cavity and highlight the influence of key parameters (e.g. stiffness of backfill, lining deterioration rate, etc.). Further studies accounting for more general material behaviours for the backfill and external ground are ongoing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Let's Rock over Barock

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 2 2010
Wolf D Prix
Abstract Since the 17th century, Austria has been a stronghold of the Baroque. Here Wolf D Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au recognises the deep pull of this cultural tradition in contemporary Austrian architecture, as it continues to endow its designers with an aptitude for spatial sequence and a tendency to prefer to design complex spaces over simplified boxes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]