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Semantic Array Programming For Environmental Modelling: Application Of The Mastrave Library, Daniele De Rigo Jul 2012

Semantic Array Programming For Environmental Modelling: Application Of The Mastrave Library, Daniele De Rigo

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Environmental datasets grow in size and specialization while models designed for local scale are often unsuitable at regional/continental scale. At regional scale, data are usually available as georeferenced collections of spatially distributed despite semantically atomic information. Complex data intrinsically impose modellers to manipulate nontrivial information structures. For example, multi-dimensional arrays of time series may be composed by slices of raster spatial matrices for each time step, whilst heterogeneous collections of uneven arrays are common when dealing with data analogous to precipitation events, and these structures may ask for integration at several spatial scales, projections and temporal extents. Interestingly, it might …

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Modelling Human-Environment Systems In Transdisciplinary Processes, Roman Seidl, Quang Bao Le Jul 2012

Modelling Human-Environment Systems In Transdisciplinary Processes, Roman Seidl, Quang Bao Le

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

There is an increased tendency in scientific projects to include different disciplines, policy makers, practitioners, and the general public in unstructured, complex, or potential environmental problems resulting from human activities. Such problems may sometimes be associated with strong value-laden and contested issues. Integrated assessment modelling (IAM) or decision support systems (DSS) are used in transdisciplinarity (TD) settings to organize processes of mutual learning in science and society. In its ideal form, a TD process is characterized by joint leadership, with representatives from the science community and legitimized decision makers having equal roles. We present and briefly illustrate our TD approach …

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Modelling The Spread Of An Invasive Crayfish Population With Fuzzy Cellular Automata, Stefano Marsili-Libelli, E. Giusti, F. Gherardi Jul 2012

Modelling The Spread Of An Invasive Crayfish Population With Fuzzy Cellular Automata, Stefano Marsili-Libelli, E. Giusti, F. Gherardi

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

This paper analyzes the spread of the invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) with a Cellular Automata (CA) model in a mixed terrestrial/aquatic environment. The spatial domain is subdivided in a number of cells, each behaving as a cellular automaton with local rules governing inner growth and movements across the cells. The novelty of the CA approach consists of incorporating a fuzzy inference system in the local rules determining the habitat suitability of neighbouring cells, thus determining the mobility of crayfish. Though the study is in an early stage of development, the preliminary results presented here look encouraging enough to …

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Which Household Tolerates Droughts? – Strategies To Secure Pastoral Livelihoods, Romina Drees, A. Linstadter, Karin Frank, Birgit Müller Jul 2012

Which Household Tolerates Droughts? – Strategies To Secure Pastoral Livelihoods, Romina Drees, A. Linstadter, Karin Frank, Birgit Müller

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Increasing frequencies of droughts pose a threat to pastoral livelihoods in drylands. Using a rangeland model, we analyze the effects of droughts and mobility strategies on herd size dynamics. Since the herd provides the basic income for mobile pastoralists, we evaluate herd dynamics as income to estimate the risk of endangered livelihoods due to droughts. This methodology enables us to identify critical changes in natural resource use systems which are prone to shocks. Model results show that the socio-economic type of the household and therewith its adaptive capacity to be mobile rather than the obvious ecological effects of droughts determine …

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Modeling Urban Growth And Land Use Change With Cellular Automata And Genetic Algorithms, Arlex Sanchez, Wilmer Barreto, Neiler Medina, Zoran Vojinovic Jul 2012

Modeling Urban Growth And Land Use Change With Cellular Automata And Genetic Algorithms, Arlex Sanchez, Wilmer Barreto, Neiler Medina, Zoran Vojinovic

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

It is a well accepted fact that urbanisation, climate change and population growth represent an enormous challenge for urban water managers. In this respect, computer models coupled with spatial mapping techniques have proved to be invaluable. The present paper demonstrates the use of a cellular automata model (Dinamica Ego) for modeling land use change process on a case study of Birmingham (UK). Two approaches were evaluated for this purpose. The results obtained show that the model based on optimization of parameters that deal with the process of expansion/contraction is capable of producing promising results. The analysis was carried out using …

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An Extensible, Multi-Model Software Library For Simulating Crop Growth And Development, Roberto Confalonieri, S. Bregaglio, T. Stella, G. Negrini, Marco Acutis, Marcello Donatelli Jul 2012

An Extensible, Multi-Model Software Library For Simulating Crop Growth And Development, Roberto Confalonieri, S. Bregaglio, T. Stella, G. Negrini, Marco Acutis, Marcello Donatelli

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The availability of different crop models and of a variety of techniques to evaluate their behaviour led to a change of paradigm in crop models use. Modellers are now looking beyond the idea of groups of users and developers grounded on a specific model, and international initiatives focusing on model improvement basing on intercomparison and knowledge sharing are recently catalysing the attention of the international community. Also, the analysis under environmental conditions of no adaptation by crops, such as the ones of climate change scenarios, demand for extension of crop models to account for extreme events, diseases and pests impact, …

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Contribution Of River-Bed Interfaces To Running Water Quality By Coupling Modeling And In Situ Measurements., Sabine Sauvage, José-Miguel Sanchez-Perez, Magali Gerino, Stéphanie Boulêtreau, Sébastien Delmotte, Dimitri Peyrard, Samuel Teissier Jul 2012

Contribution Of River-Bed Interfaces To Running Water Quality By Coupling Modeling And In Situ Measurements., Sabine Sauvage, José-Miguel Sanchez-Perez, Magali Gerino, Stéphanie Boulêtreau, Sébastien Delmotte, Dimitri Peyrard, Samuel Teissier

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Water quality is strongly related to interactions between the structure and function of ecosystem components at landscape scale of a river. Key interfaces as part of these components, identified in our study, are the epilithic biofilm, the fine sediments in the bottom of the river and the macroporous medium or hyporheic zone located essentially in the active channel where subsurface flow takes place. This article presents three examples of interface sub-models where water and elements fluxes exchanged with the surface water are different, with the focus on organic matter and nitrate dynamics for the Garonne river (France) in its middle …

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Modelling Of Ecosystem With Different Types Of Components Aggregation, Evgeniya Giricheva Jul 2012

Modelling Of Ecosystem With Different Types Of Components Aggregation, Evgeniya Giricheva

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The paper presents several models of the Bering Sea ecosystem. The models differ in the degree and method of grouping. The use of the multimodal approach to research of ecosystems makes better use of available information about the object. The system is considered in two ways: as a closed object and given the influence of the environment. Equilibriums of the system were examined for stability. A comparison of the solutions of the aggregated model with the dynamics of the original model is performed.

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Weight-Of-Evidence-Based Assessment Of Sediment Quality Of The São Francisco River (Brazil) With The Help Of Software Tool Sqa, Alla Khosrovyan, Maria Jose Salamanca Marin, André Moldenhauer Peret, Débora Fernandes De Almeida, T. Angel Delvalls, Inmaculada Riba Jul 2012

Weight-Of-Evidence-Based Assessment Of Sediment Quality Of The São Francisco River (Brazil) With The Help Of Software Tool Sqa, Alla Khosrovyan, Maria Jose Salamanca Marin, André Moldenhauer Peret, Débora Fernandes De Almeida, T. Angel Delvalls, Inmaculada Riba

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Weight-of-evidence (WOE) approach is a requirement for comprehensive integrated sediment quality assessment and management worldwide. WOE is a system approach based on collection of several lines of evidences that are able to derive multi-aspect characterization of availability and adverse effects of contaminants for living organisms in water environments. A software tool addressing this approach is already available and based on the statistical package STATISTICA 6.0. The tool provided user-friendly and user-assisting interface for entering and analyzing of data, as well as presented a summary of the results of the conducted analysis. It was designed for environmental scientists and managers, academia …

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Combining Socio-Economic And Ecological Modelling To Inform Natural Resource Management Strategies, Johannes P. M. Heinonen, Justin M. J. Travis, Steve M. Redpath, Michelle A. Pinard Jul 2012

Combining Socio-Economic And Ecological Modelling To Inform Natural Resource Management Strategies, Johannes P. M. Heinonen, Justin M. J. Travis, Steve M. Redpath, Michelle A. Pinard

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Effective management of natural resources requires understanding both the dynamics of the natural systems being subjected to management and the decision-making behaviour of stakeholders who are involved in the management process. We suggest that simulation modelling techniques can provide a powerful method platform for the transdisciplinary integration of ecological, economic and sociological aspects that is needed for exploring the likely outcomes of different management approaches and options. A concise review of existing literature on ecological and socio-economic modelling and approaches at the interface of these fields is presented followed by a framework coupling an individual-based ecological model with an agent-based …

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Conceptual And Practical Aspects Of Quantifying Uncertainty In Environmental Modelling And Decision Support, Peter Reichert Jul 2012

Conceptual And Practical Aspects Of Quantifying Uncertainty In Environmental Modelling And Decision Support, Peter Reichert

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Environmental decision support intends to use the best available scienti-fic knowledge to predict the consequences of management alternatives. This raises 3 questions:(i) How to formally represent and quantify scientific knowledge?(ii) How to find adequate model structures and parameter values for predicting the behaviour of environmental systems under different driving conditions?(iii) How to implement efficient numerical procedures to actually calculate such predictions?Approaches to address all three of these questions will briefly be discussed. With respect to (i) an intersubjective interpretation of probabilities with an extension to imprecise probabilities is suggested as the most adequate representation of scienti-fic knowledge. Conceptual arguments in …

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Transdisciplinary Research For Supporting Environmental Management, Meike Düspohl, Sina Frank, Tuck-Fatt Siew, Petra Döll Jul 2012

Transdisciplinary Research For Supporting Environmental Management, Meike Düspohl, Sina Frank, Tuck-Fatt Siew, Petra Döll

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Generation and integration of different forms of disciplinary knowledgeand knowledge outside of academia have become increasingly important in theeffort of tackling real-world problems that are related to complex and uncertainhuman-environment systems. In recent years, transdisciplinary research hasemerged as a collaborative and integrative approach for the co-generation ofsystem knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge amongscientists and stakeholders. In this paper, we present a methodology forparticipatory modelling processes that we apply in a transdisciplinary project forsustainable energy supply based on renewable energies in the county of Groß-Gerau in the German state of Hesse. The core of the transdisciplinary researchproject is a stakeholder …

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The Application Of The Virtual Ecologist Approach To Evaluating The Effects Of Uncertainty In Plot Based Monitoring Schemes Due To Landscape Spatial And Temporal Heterogeneity, Alex Lechner, Daniel Clarke, Dion Weatherley, Andrew Fletcher, Peter Erskine, Alexis Comber Jul 2012

The Application Of The Virtual Ecologist Approach To Evaluating The Effects Of Uncertainty In Plot Based Monitoring Schemes Due To Landscape Spatial And Temporal Heterogeneity, Alex Lechner, Daniel Clarke, Dion Weatherley, Andrew Fletcher, Peter Erskine, Alexis Comber

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Monitoring programs that can detect changes in ecosystem condition are critical to assessing the success of rehabilitation and detecting negative anthropogenic impacts from activities such as mining. However, vegetation communities vary considerably and may exhibit short-term condition changes that mask long-term trends. This paper describes the development of a virtual ecologist (VE) landscape and observation simulation model for time-series data (VELOS_t). VELOS_t can be used to quantify the relationship between vegetation temporal and spatial variability, measurement uncertainty and sampling design to evaluate the robustness of a particular monitoring strategy. The model has four components: i) a landscape model that uses …

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Modelling Human Radiation Risks Around Nuclear Facilities In Germany And Switzerland: A Case Study, Hagen Scherb, Kristina Voigt, Ralf Kusmierz Jul 2012

Modelling Human Radiation Risks Around Nuclear Facilities In Germany And Switzerland: A Case Study, Hagen Scherb, Kristina Voigt, Ralf Kusmierz

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Ever since the discovery of the mutagenic properties of ionizing radiation, the possibility of birth sex odds shifts in exposed human populations was considered. The aim of this study was to investigate sex odds trends in the vicinity of nuclear facilities. Official gender specific annual live birth data were compiled at the levels of all municipalities in Germany, Switzerland and France. In a recently published study by the authors, the effect of ionizing radiation on the alteration of sex odds in the vicinity of German nuclear facilities was investigated. The authors revealed an increase in the sex odds. To assess …

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Modeling Dietary Intake Of Arsenic And The Associated Human Health Risk For People Living In Rural Bangladesh, Nasreen I. Khan, David Bruce, Gary Owens Jul 2012

Modeling Dietary Intake Of Arsenic And The Associated Human Health Risk For People Living In Rural Bangladesh, Nasreen I. Khan, David Bruce, Gary Owens

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Dietary intake of Arsenic (As) via contaminated drinking water and food is the major exposure pathway for people living in rural Bangladesh and causes adverse human health effects where groundwater As contamination and the associated human health risks are potentially spatially connected. This research quantifies the spatial variability of As in the rural landscape in relation to As concentrations in drinking water, rice and other foods. The impact of As exposure on an individual’s human health was quantified using the average daily intake (ADI) to calculate the Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Cancer Risk (CR) using Bangladesh specific parameters via integration …

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Data Set Characterizing Reforestation Of Drained Peatlands, Victor Sidorencov Jul 2012

Data Set Characterizing Reforestation Of Drained Peatlands, Victor Sidorencov

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The presentation concerns the problem of protecting such vulnerablecarbon stocks as peat deposits at the drained peatlands. Due to reduced demandsfor peat since the middle of 1990s, a large part of peatlands drained in Vologdaregion (Russian North-West) between 1980 and 1990 were not used for peatmining. The risk of fire is high at such ecosystems, and so it was decided to growforest on these lands. This paper presents the data set summarizing the results ofsurvey that was undertaken to study reforestation of drained peatlands.

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How To Use New Online Monitoring Techniques To Improve River Water Quality Modeling At The River Reach Scale, Michael Rode, Uwe Kiwel Jul 2012

How To Use New Online Monitoring Techniques To Improve River Water Quality Modeling At The River Reach Scale, Michael Rode, Uwe Kiwel

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

High spatial and temporal resolution monitoring systems are needed to improve our knowledge on flow and matter transport pathways and substance transformation. The presentation will introduce a new online water quality monitoring system as part of the UFZ TERENO Hydrological Observatory “Bode” and show how this new information can improve river water quality modelling. Additional low flow measurement campaigns including delta 18O and delta 15N isotope analyses of nitrate have been used to identify denitrification processes on a selected lower river reach. It will be demonstrated how high resolution data can be used in combination with a process based river …

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An Agent-Based Model For Assessing Effects Of A Chinese Pes Programme On Land-Use Change Along With Livelihood Dynamics, And Land Degradation And Restoration, Takafumi Miyasaka, Quang Bao Le, Toshiya Okuro, Xueyong Zhao, Roland W. Scholz, Kazuhiko Takeuchi Jul 2012

An Agent-Based Model For Assessing Effects Of A Chinese Pes Programme On Land-Use Change Along With Livelihood Dynamics, And Land Degradation And Restoration, Takafumi Miyasaka, Quang Bao Le, Toshiya Okuro, Xueyong Zhao, Roland W. Scholz, Kazuhiko Takeuchi

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Some Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programmes are designed to restore ecosystem services degraded by desertification, but evaluation of their effects are not straightforward because of complex human-environment systems (HES) in drylands. A PES system is used across China (the Sloping Land Conversion Programme, SLCP), including desertified regions. Previous research on SLCP indicated the lack of HES approaches to enable the integrated assessment of socio-ecological long-term effects of the programme. In particular, assessment was needed of: (1) multiple benefits, which cannot be positively correlated, including their cost-effectiveness, and (2) the effect of shifts in economic structure, particularly from agriculture to …

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Instability Of The Exploited Population With A Simple Age Structure, Oksana Revutskaya, Efim Frisman Jul 2012

Instability Of The Exploited Population With A Simple Age Structure, Oksana Revutskaya, Efim Frisman

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In this paper, we investigated an optimal harvesting problem in a simpleage structure population. We assume that by the end of each reproduction seasonthe population consists of two age groups: juveniles and adults. The increase in thepopulation number is regulated by density-dependent limitation of a younger classsurvival. We consider the strategy with a stationary character of exploitation notleading to the population extinction. The optimization problem is to determine theoptimal catch quotas and equilibrium population size to provide a sustainable yieldand maximum sales return taking price fluctuations into account. It is shown that asingle age class harvesting is the optimal one, …

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A Stochastic Trout Population Model For Supporting Fish Management, C. Siegenthaler-Le Drian, L. Indermaur, A. Peter, Peter Reichert Jul 2012

A Stochastic Trout Population Model For Supporting Fish Management, C. Siegenthaler-Le Drian, L. Indermaur, A. Peter, Peter Reichert

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) is an ecologically and economically important fish species in many Swiss rivers. Since the 1980s, a significant decrease of brown trout catches was reported across Swiss rivers. To better understand the causes of this decline, a trout population model was developed a few years ago. It predicted trout densities at single river reaches. We improved this model to better guide management decisions for river restoration. We extended the model by distinguishing stocked and resident fish. This allows us to account for the empirical evidence of different behavior of stocked and resident fish in order to …

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Comparison Of Outputs Based On Three Different Modelling Approaches For The Response Of An Intertidal Ecosystem To Climate Change., Thomas Murphy Jul 2012

Comparison Of Outputs Based On Three Different Modelling Approaches For The Response Of An Intertidal Ecosystem To Climate Change., Thomas Murphy

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Three simple ecosystem models were developed to provide an understanding of how the choice of ecosystem modelling approach influences conclusions. The first ecosystem model is based on functional (biomass-flux) interactions, the second ecosystem model is based on Lotka-Volterra interactions and the third ecosystem model is based on a goal-orientated approach. All modelled the response of a rocky intertidal ecosystem to climate change. Each type of model has been shown to lead to different conclusions when considering change in the abiotic environment. This highlights the importance of using models based on different perspectives to gain a more complete insight in to …

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Definition Of Environmental Objectives In Relation With Nitrate Pollution In The Aquifers Of Spain. Simulation Model And Scenarios Used., Miguel A. Pérez-Martín, T. Estrela, M. A. Marín, P. Del-Amo Jul 2012

Definition Of Environmental Objectives In Relation With Nitrate Pollution In The Aquifers Of Spain. Simulation Model And Scenarios Used., Miguel A. Pérez-Martín, T. Estrela, M. A. Marín, P. Del-Amo

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Nitrate pollution in groundwater (GW) is a major problem in European Union that also affects a large number of GW bodies in Spain. The Spanish Ministry of Environment, and Rural and Marine Affairs has defined environmental objectives for each GW bodies of Spain in relation to pollution by nitrates, for water planning horizons, 2015, 2021, 2027. These objectives have been made available to the Spanish River Basin Authorities (RBAs) to support the elaboration of River Basin Management Plans established by the European Water Framework Directive (EC, 2000). The definition of nitrate concentration objectives in the groundwater bodies has been performed …

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Identifying The Decision To Be Supported: A Review Of Papers From Environmental Modelling And Software, Richard S. Sojda, Serena H. Chen, Sondoss El Sawah, Joseph H. A. Guillaume, A. J. Jakeman, Sven Lautenbach, Brian Mcintosh, Andrea-Emilio Rizzoli, Ralf Seppelt, Peter Struss, Alexey A. Voinov, Martin Volk Jul 2012

Identifying The Decision To Be Supported: A Review Of Papers From Environmental Modelling And Software, Richard S. Sojda, Serena H. Chen, Sondoss El Sawah, Joseph H. A. Guillaume, A. J. Jakeman, Sven Lautenbach, Brian Mcintosh, Andrea-Emilio Rizzoli, Ralf Seppelt, Peter Struss, Alexey A. Voinov, Martin Volk

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Two of the basic tenets of decision support system efforts are to help identify and structure the decisions to be supported, and to then provide analysis in how those decisions might be best made. One example from wetland management would be that wildlife biologists must decide when to draw down water levels to optimise aquatic invertebrates as food for breeding ducks. Once such a decision is identified, a system or tool to help them make that decision in the face of current and projected climate conditions could be developed. We examined a random sample of 100 papers published from 2001-2011 …

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Fusion Of Environmental Information For The Delivery Of Orchestrated Services For The Atmospheric Environment In The Pescado Project, Victor Epitropou, Lasse Johansson, Kostas Karatzas Jul 2012

Fusion Of Environmental Information For The Delivery Of Orchestrated Services For The Atmospheric Environment In The Pescado Project, Victor Epitropou, Lasse Johansson, Kostas Karatzas

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The PESCaDO project (http://www.pescado-project.eu/) aims at providing tailored environmental information to EU citizens. For this purpose, PESCaDO delivers personalized environmental information, based on coordinating the data flow from multiple sources. After the necessary discovery, indexing and parsing of those sources, the harmonization and retrieval of data is achieved through Node Orchestration and the creation of unified and accurate responses to user queries by using the Fusion service, which assimilates input data into a coherent data block according to their imprecision and relevance in respect to the user defined query. Environmental nodes are selected from open-access web resources of various types, …

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Design And Implementation Of The Land Surface Model Naturalenvironment Within The Generic Framework Opendanubia For Integrative, Distributed Environmental Modelling, Daniel Waldmann, Markus Muerth, Wolfram Mauser Jul 2012

Design And Implementation Of The Land Surface Model Naturalenvironment Within The Generic Framework Opendanubia For Integrative, Distributed Environmental Modelling, Daniel Waldmann, Markus Muerth, Wolfram Mauser

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The project GLOWA-Danube (http://www.glowa-danube.de) aimed atinvestigating the manifold consequences of Global Change on regional waterresources in the Upper Danube Basin. In order to achieve this task, aninterdisciplinary, university-based network of experts developed the integrativeDecision Support System OpenDanubia (OD). The common base for implementingand coupling the various scientific model components is a generic framework,which provides the coordination of the coupled models that run in parallelexchanging iteratively data via their interfaces. The OD framework takes care oftechnical aspects, such as ordered data exchange between sub-models, dataaggregation, data output, model parallelization and data distribution over thenetwork, which means that model developers do not …

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Coupling The Extendsim Platform With Hec-Hms For Modeling Irrigation Strategies, M. Lample, Denis Bailly, Johanna Ballé-Béganton Jul 2012

Coupling The Extendsim Platform With Hec-Hms For Modeling Irrigation Strategies, M. Lample, Denis Bailly, Johanna Ballé-Béganton

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The quantitative water management of the Charente River in France is a major policy concern because of freshwater scarcity in summer. In the context of SPICOSA project (Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment),) this policy issue was chosen to apply the System Approach Framework (SAF) methodology. This led to modeling irrigation management strategies to quantify its impacts on various uses. It was decided to model all sub-systems within the ExtendSim® platform as a first attempt for model-integration. For this purpose a hydrological model has been entirely programmed in ExtendSim ModL language. This allowed us to understand and quantify …

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Upgrading A Decision Support System For Air-Scour Control In Flat Sheet Membrane Bioreactors, Ivan Brun, Hèctor Monclús, Jordi Moreno, Montse Dalmau, Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda, Joaquim Comas Jul 2012

Upgrading A Decision Support System For Air-Scour Control In Flat Sheet Membrane Bioreactors, Ivan Brun, Hèctor Monclús, Jordi Moreno, Montse Dalmau, Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda, Joaquim Comas

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

A decision support system to reduce energy consumption has been validated during five months in a flat sheet membrane bioreactor pilot plant treating urban wastewater. Membrane bioreactor technology consists of biological nutrient removal combined with physical separation using microfiltration or ultrafiltration membranes for wastewater treatment. The main operational cost in membrane bioreactors is the energy consumed by the blowers to reduce the fouling phenomenon. The paper demonstrates the benefits of the performance of the intelligent decision support system for air-scour control, in terms of energy reduction through the evolution of the fouling. Overall, the intelligent decision support system saves 25% …

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Automatic Population Counts For Improved Wildlife Management Using Aerial Photography, B. Sirmacek, M. Wegmann, A. D. P. Cross, J. G. C. Hopcraft, P. Reinartz, Stefan Dech Jul 2012

Automatic Population Counts For Improved Wildlife Management Using Aerial Photography, B. Sirmacek, M. Wegmann, A. D. P. Cross, J. G. C. Hopcraft, P. Reinartz, Stefan Dech

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

For effective conservation management, it is very important to provide accurate estimates of animal populations with certain time intervals. So far many studies are performed visually/manually which requires much time and is prone to errors. Besides, only a limited area can be considered for counting because of the effort required. In order to bring a new solution to this problem, herein we propose a novel approach for counting animals from aerial images by using computer vision techniques. To do so, we apply a probabilistic framework on local features in the image whose pectral reflectance differs from the surrounding region. We …

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Selecting Relevant Predictors: Impact Of Variable Selection On Model Performance, Uncertainty And Applicability Of Models In Environmental Decision Making, Gert Everaert, Javier E. Holguin, Peter L. M. Goethals Jul 2012

Selecting Relevant Predictors: Impact Of Variable Selection On Model Performance, Uncertainty And Applicability Of Models In Environmental Decision Making, Gert Everaert, Javier E. Holguin, Peter L. M. Goethals

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

One of the crucial steps when developing models is the selection of appropriate variables. In this research we assessed the impact variable selection on the model performance and model applicability. Regression trees were built to understand the relationship between the ecological water quality and the physical-chemical and hydromorphological variables. Different model parameterizations and three combinations of explanatory variables were used for developing the trees. Once constructed, they were integrated with the water quality model (PEGASE) and used to simulate the future ecological water quality. These simulations were summarized per combination of explanatory variables and compared.Three key messages summarize our conclusions. …

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Mathematical Model For Number Dynamics Of Populations With Varying Reproductive Age, Galina Neverova, Efim Frisman Jul 2012

Mathematical Model For Number Dynamics Of Populations With Varying Reproductive Age, Galina Neverova, Efim Frisman

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

This paper investigates a two-component model of population dynamicswith seasonal reproduction. Density-dependent regulation is realized by varying thereproductive age. Analytical and numerical research of the model is made, and themodel is approved using data on the natural population number. It is shown that theregulation of reproductive age is realized primarily by the number of matureanimals. The growth of juvenile survival leads to the emergence of biennialoscillation.

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