This book presents decade-long advances in atmospheric research in the Mackenzie River Basin in northern Canada, which encompasses environments representative of most cold areas on Earth. Collaborative efforts have yielded knowledge entirely transferable to other high latitude regions in America, Europe and Asia. This book complements the first volume coming from the GEWEX project, dealing with the region's atmospheric dynamics.

As editors of this volume we would like to express our gratitude to the contributing authors who have delivered these highly relevant and inspiring chapters and to the international scientific committee for their help in the review and editing. Special thanks go to our colleagues Mandy van de Sande, Marlyn Aretz, and Leo van Veghel, who were great in organising the conference and took care of everything that made it a pleasant and comfortable event. Eindhoven, July 2004 Jos van Leeuwen and Harry Timmermans Conference Chairs x DDSS 2004 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Alan Bridges, UK Kees Dorst, NL Aleksander Asanowicz, PL Luca Caneparo, IT Aloys Borgers, NL Mark Clayton, USA Anders Ekholm, SE Mark Gross, USA Andy Brown, UK Michael Batty, UK Anthony Yeh, HK Milton Tan, SG Ardeshir Mahdavi, AT Mitsuo Morozumi, JP Atsuyuki Okabe, JP Nancy Cheng, USA Bauke de Vries, NL Omer Akin, USA Bob Martens, AT Philip Steadman, UK Dirk Donath, DE Pierre Leclercq, BE Frances Brazier, NL Ray Wyatt, AU Gilles Halin, FR Richard Klosterman, USA Guilermo Vasquez de Velasco, USA Rivka Oxman, IL Hannu Penttila, FI Robert Woodbury, CA Henri Achten, NL Sevil Sariyildiz, NL Jin-Yeu Tsou, HK Sheng-Fen Chien, TW Joachim Kieferle, DE Stefania Bandini, IT Johan Verbeke, BE Tay-Sheng Jeng, TW John Stillwell, UK Theo Arentze, NL Jose Duarte, PT Thomas Kvan, HK Jose Kos, BR Wassim Jabi, USA INTRODUCTION The International Conference on Design & Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning is organised bi-annually by the Eindhoven"

1 2 Michel M. VERSTRAETE and Martin BENISTON 1 Space Applications Institute, EC Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy 2 Department of Geography, University of Fribourg, Switzerland This volume contains the proceedings ofthe workshop entitled "Satellite Remote Sensing and Climate Simulations: Synergies and Limitations" that took place in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, September 20-24, 1999. This international scientific conference aimed at addressing the current and pot- tial role of satellite remote sensing in climate modeling, with a particular focus on land surface processes and atmospheric aerosol characterization. Global and regional circulation models incorporate our knowledge ofthe dynamics ofthe Earth's atmosphere. They are used to predict the evolution of the weather and climate. Mathematically, this system is represented by a set ofpartial differential equations whose solution requires initial and bo- dary conditions. Limitations in the accuracy and geographical distribution of these constraints, and intrinsic mathematical sensitivity to these conditions do not allow the identification of a unique solution (prediction). Additional observations on the climate system are thus used to constrain the forecasts of the mathematical model to remain close to the observed state ofthe system.

This volume presents peer-reviewed papers from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Atmospheric Boundary Layers held in April 2006. The papers are divided into thematic sessions: nature and theory of turbulent boundary layers; boundary-layer flows: modeling and applications to environmental security; nature, theory and modeling of boundary-layer flows; air flows within and above urban and other complex canopies: air-sea-ice interaction.

This handbook presents the foundations of modern rural analysis. The first part of the book presents a comprehensive description of the elements of rural analysis, providing the basis for a synthetic view of rural landscapes in the second part. Included is a comprehensive description and explanation of the rural landscapes from throughout the world, which leads to a complete management scheme for rural landscapes.

This volume contains selected essays of Manfred M. Fischer in the field of spatial analysis from the perspective of GeoComputation. The volume is structured in four parts, from broad issues in spatial analysis and the role of GIS to computational intelligence technologies such as neural networks. The third part provides the theoretical framework required for adaptive pattern classifiers in remote sensing environments. The final section outlines the latest in neural spatial interaction modeling.

This book approaches the realisation of digital terrain and landscape data through clear and practical examples. From data provision and the creation of revealing analyses to realistic depictions for presentation purposes, the reader is led through the world of digital 3-D graphics. The authors deep knowledge of the scientific fundamentals and many years of experience in 3-D visualization enable them to lead the reader through a complex subject and shed light on previously murky virtual landscapes.

The Introduction to Bayesian Statistics (2nd Edition) presents Bayes theorem, the estimation of unknown parameters, the determination of confidence regions and the derivation of tests of hypotheses for the unknown parameters, in a manner that is simple, intuitive and easy to comprehend. The methods are applied to linear models, in models for a robust estimation, for prediction and filtering and in models for estimating variance components and covariance components. Regularization of inverse problems and pattern recognition are also covered while Bayesian networks serve for reaching decisions in systems with uncertainties. If analytical solutions cannot be derived, numerical algorithms are presented such as the Monte Carlo integration and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.

This book examines one of the most important and complex of the world's tropical rainforest regions: the greater Panama Canal Watershed. The Rio Chagres is the primary water source for operating the Canal, and supplies potable water for municipal use and electricity generation, but science has left this important national resource largely unstudied. The text promotes understanding of the physical and ecological components of an isolated and largely pristine tropical rainforest.

One of the key methods of reducing and dealing with criminal activity is to accurately gauge and then analyse the geographical distribution of crime (from small scale to large scale areas). Once the police and government know what areas suffer most from criminal activity they can assess why this is the case and then deal with it in the most effective way. Crime mapping and the spatial analysis of crime data have become recognised as powerful tools for the study and control of crime. Much of the emerging demand for more information and detailed crime pattern analysis have been driven by legislative changes, such as the UK's new Crime and Disorder Act which has placed a joint statutory duty on Police Forces and Local Authorities to produce crime and disorder audits for their areas. The book sets out methods used in the fields of Geographical Information Systems and highlights areas of best practice, examines the types of problems to which spatial crime analysis can be applied, reviews the capabilities and limitations of existing techniques, and explores the future directions of spatial crime analysis and the need for training. It centres on a series of case studies highlighting the experiences of academics and practitioners in agencies centrally involved in the partnership approach to crime prevention. Practitioners and academics not only in the UK but also worldwide should be interested in the book as an up-to-date information resource and a practical guide.

Increasing evidence suggests that the composition and spatial configuration - the pattern - of forest landscapes affect many ecological processes, including the movement and persistence of particular species, the susceptibility and spread of disturbances such as fires or pest outbreaks, and the redistribution of matter and nutrients. Understanding these issues is key to the successful management of complex, multifunctional forest landscapes, and landscape ecology, based on a foundation of island bio-geography and meta-population dynamic theories, provides the rationale to deal with this pattern-to-process interaction at different spatial and temporal scales.

This carefully edited volume represents a stimulating addition to the international literature on landscape ecology and resource management. It provides key insights into some of the applicable landscape ecological theories that underlie forest management, with a specific focus on how forest management can benefit from landscape ecology, and how landscape ecology can be advanced by tackling challenging problems in forest (landscape) management. It also presents a series of case studies from Europe, Asia, North America, Africa and Australia exploring the issues of disturbance, diversity, management, and scale, and with a specific focus on how human intervention affects forest landscapes and, in turn, how landscapes influence humans and their culture.

An important reference for advanced students and researchers in landscape ecology, conservation biology, forest ecology, natural resource management and ecology across multiple scales, the book will also appeal to researchers and practitioners in reserve design, ecological restoration, forest management, landscape planning and landscape architecture.

Recognized and advocated as a powerful tool, the role of remote sensing in identifying, mapping, and monitoring soil salinity and salinization will continue to expand. Remote Sensing of Soil Salinization: Impact on Land Management delineates how to combine science and geospatial technologies for smart environmental management. Choose the Right Techniques for the Job An overview of soil salinity assessment using remote sensing technologies, the book describes a variety of sensors, ranging from ground-based to airborne and satellite-borne, and their use in a diversity of geographical regions and environmental settings from coastal to inland saline areas. It provides guidance on how to identify and choose the right remote sensing tools and data sets required based on the purpose of the study and the environmental setting. Organized into three sections, the book covers: Section I: Soil Salinity and Remote Sensing: The Object and the Tool - Focuses on the relationships between the landscape-object salinity and the remote sensing tools Section II: Trends in Mapping Soil Salinity and Monitoring Salinization Using Remote and Proximal Sensing - Provides a variety of case studies dealing with soil salinity mapping and monitoring the process of salinization Section III: Diversity of Approaches to Modeling Soil Salinity and Salinization - Demonstrates the diversity of approaches used in modeling soil salinity and salinization in space and time Combines Fundamentals, the Latest Technology, and Practical Examples The book includes analyses of basic issues of remote detection, such as the spectral behavior of salt types and vegetation influence, and evaluations of currently available remote sensing platforms delineating their advantages and disadvantages. The accompanying CD-ROM provides color images that enhance the mat

In the recent years, space-based observation methods have led to a subst- tially improved understanding of Earth system. Geodesy and geophysics are contributing to this development by measuring the temporal and spatial va- ations of the Earth's shape, gravity ?eld, and magnetic ?eld, as well as at- sphere density. In the frame of the GermanR&D programmeGEOTECHNO- LOGIEN, researchprojectshavebeen launchedin2002relatedto the satellite missions CHAMP, GRACE and ESA's planned mission GOCE, to comp- mentary terrestrial and airborne sensor systems and to consistent and stable high-precision global reference systems for satellite and other techniques. In the initial 3-year phase of the research programme (2002-2004), new gravity ?eld models have been computed from CHAMP and GRACE data which outperform previous models in accuracy by up to two orders of m- nitude for the long and medium wavelengths. A special highlight is the - termination of seasonal gravity variations caused by changes in continental water masses. For GOCE, to be launched in 2006, new gravity ?eld analysis methods are under development and integrated into the ESA processing s- tem. 200,000 GPS radio occultation pro?les, observed by CHAMP, have been processed on an operational basis. They represent new and excellent inf- mation on atmospheric refractivity, temperature and water vapor. These new developments require geodetic space techniques (such as VLBI, SLR, LLR, GPS) to be combined and synchronized as if being one global instrument.

Although designed primarily for desktop mapping and analysis, Geographic Information Systems have, for some years, been coupled to other allied technologies. This coupling or integration has occurred for some time due to the limitations in commercially available systems. It has occurred in several areas including visualisation (virtual reality), simulation (pedestrian, urban modelling), data storage and management (distributed or Internet GIS) and decision support. The chapters of the book, written by an international group of experts examine several of these discrete areas, focussing on the use of GIS and the technology it has been allied to. "

This book provides an account of recent developments in light scattering media optics. Leading researchers focus on both the theoretical and experimental results in the area. In particular, light scattering by ice crystals, soil particles and biological particles is considered. This volume first discusses single light scattering, followed by multiple light scattering and finally examines possible applications in combustion and marine research.

In the wake of the so-called information technology revolution, many stakeholders from the public and private sectors (including citizens) have indeed grown accustomed to the promise and usability of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) for data access, use, and sharing. Analyzing the obstacles as well as the processes and mechanisms of integration and implementation, Spatial Data Infrastructures in Context: North and South investigates the technological and the non-technological aspects of the widespread adoption of spatial data infrastructures. Supporting theoretical issues with empirical studies, the editors pay particular attention to the non-technological aspects of organizational, financial, and legal issues including owner rights, liability, copyrights, and compatibility with precedent and supercedent laws. The authors also highlight the importance of understanding the local environment and circumstances in the process of tailoring the approaches to the conditions that characterize societies of different cultural, institutional, and economic settings. Designed to improve the accessibility, interoperability, and affordability of spatial data, the book focuses on the increasing challenges associated with integrating individuals and organizations into a network to support (1) public authorities and administrations at various levels, (2) thematic user communities, (3) enterprises, and (4) citizen-oriented society as a whole. It addresses the implementation and development of spatial data infrastructures for a wide range of themes, applicable technical standards and protocols, and specific organizational issues unique to data policy. Highlighting the potential for profound changes to the access, use, and exchange of spatial data for citizens, organizations, and geographically related applications, and therefore to the role and interaction of the stakeholders from the public and private sectors, this timely contribution provides new insights into improving our understanding of the increasing relevance, applicability, and value of spatial data infrastructures.

This open access book provides insights into the novel Locally Refined B-spline (LR B-spline) surface format, which is suited for representing terrain and seabed data in a compact way. It provides an alternative to the well know raster and triangulated surface representations. An LR B-spline surface has an overall smooth behavior and allows the modeling of local details with only a limited growth in data volume. In regions where many data points belong to the same smooth area, LR B-splines allow a very lean representation of the shape by locally adapting the resolution of the spline space to the size and local shape variations of the region. The iterative method can be modified to improve the accuracy in particular domains of a point cloud. The use of statistical information criterion can help determining the optimal threshold, the number of iterations to perform as well as some parameters of the underlying mathematical functions (degree of the splines, parameter representation). The resulting surfaces are well suited for analysis and computing secondary information such as contour curves and minimum and maximum points. Also deformation analysis are potential applications of fitting point clouds with LR B-splines.

From environmental management to land planning and geo-marketing, the number of application domains that may greatly benefit from using data enriched with spatio-temporal features is expanding very rapidly. This book shows that a conceptual design approach for spatio-temporal databases is both feasible and easy to apprehend. While providing a firm basis through extensive discussion of traditional data modeling concepts, the major focus of the book is on modeling spatial and temporal information.

Eugene Sharkov, of the Space Research Institute in Moscow, has here put together the most comprehensive description of the physical findings of an investigation into the spatio-temporal characteristics of the gravity of breaking waves. He's also described the foam activity in the open sea using methods and instruments of optical and microwave remote sensing. Numerous practical applications and illustrations are provided from air-borne, ship-borne and laboratory up-to-date experiments.

Juval Portugali The notion of complex artificial environments (CAE) refers to theories of c- plexity and self-organization, as well as to artifacts in general, and to artificial - vironments, such as cities, in particular. The link between the two, however, is not trivial. For one thing, the theories of complexity and self-organization originated in the "hard" science and by reference to natural phenomena in physics and bi- ogy. The study of artifacts, per contra, has traditionally been the business of the "soft" disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The notion of "complex artificial environments" thus implies the supposition that the theories of compl- ity and self-organization, together with the mathematical formalisms and meth- ologies developed for their study, apply beyond the domain of nature. Such a s- st position raises a whole set of questions relating to the nature of 21 century cities and urbanism, to philosophical issues regarding the natural versus the artificial, to the methodological legitimacy of interdisciplinary transfer of theories and me- odologies and to the implications that entail the use of sophisticated, state-of-t- art artifacts such as virtual reality (VR) cities and environments. The three-day workshop on the study of complex artificial environments that took place on the island of San Servolo, Venice, during April 1-3, 2004, was a gathering of scholars engaged in the study of the various aspects of CAE.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of how aerosols form in the atmosphere through in situ processes as well as via transport from the surface (dust storms, seas spray, biogenic emissions, forest fires etc.). Such an analysis has been followed by the consideration of both observation data (various field observational experiments) and numerical modeling results to assess climate impacts of aerosols bearing in mind that these impacts are the most significant uncertainty in studying natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change.

This volume contains the extended papers selected for presentation at the ninth edition of the International Symposium on Web & Wireless Geographical Information Systems 2 (WGIS 2009) hosted by the National Centre for Geocomputation in NUI Maynooth 2 (Ireland). WGIS 2009 was the ninth in a series of successful events beginning with Kyoto 2001, and alternating locations between East Asia and Europe. We invited s- missions that provided an up-to-date review of advances in theoretical, technical, and 2 practical issues of W GIS and Intelligent GeoMedia. Reports on ongoing implemen- tions and real-world applications research were particularly welcome at this symposium. 2 Now in its ninth year, the scope of W GIS has expanded to include continuing - vances in wireless and Internet technologies that generate ever increasing interest in the diffusion, usage, and processing of geo-referenced data of all types - geomedia. Spatially aware wireless and Internet devices offer new ways of accessing and anal- ing geo-spatial information in both real-world and virtual spaces. Consequently, new challenges and opportunities are provided that expand the traditional GIS research scope into the realm of intelligent media - including geomedia with context-aware behaviors for self-adaptive use and delivery. Our common aim is research-based innovation that increases the ease of creating, delivering, and using geomedia across different platforms and application domains that continue to have dramatic effect on today's society.

First established in 1993 with a conference in Elba, Italy, COSIT (the International C- ference on Spatial Information Theory) is widely acknowledged as one of the most - portant conferences for the field of spatial information theory. This conference series brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines for intensive scientific - changes centered on spatial information theory. COSIT submissions typically address research questions drawn from cognitive, perceptual, and environmental psychology, geography, spatial information science, computer science, artificial intelligence, cog- tive science, engineering, cognitive anthropology, linguistics, ontology, architecture, planning, and environmental design. Some of the topical areas include, for example, the cognitive structure of spatial knowledge; events and processes in geographic space; incomplete or imprecise spatial knowledge; languages of spatial relations; navigation by organisms and robots; ontology of space; communication of spatial information; and the social and cultural organization of space to name a few. This volume contains the papers presented at the 9th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT 2009, held in Aber Wrac'h, France, September 21-25, 2009. For COSIT 2009, 70 full paper submissions were received. These papers were carefully reviewed by an international Program Committee based on relevance to the conference, intellectual quality, scientific significance, novelty, relation to previously published literature, and clarity of presentation. After reviewing was completed, 30 papers were selected for presentation at the conference and appear in this volume. This number of papers reflects the high quality of submissions to COSIT this year.

The impact of anthropogenic activities on our atmospheric environment is of growing public concern and satellite-based techniques now provide an essential component of observational strategies on regional and global scales. The purpose of this book is to summarise the state of the art in the field in general, while describing both key techniques and findings in particular. It opens with an historical perspective of the field together with the basic principles of remote sensing from space. Three chapters follow on the techniques and on the solutions to the problems associated with the various spectral regions in which observations are made. The particular challenges posed by aerosols and clouds are covered in the next two chapters. Of special importance is the accuracy and reliability of remote sensing data and these issues are covered in a chapter on validation. The final section of the book is concerned with the exploitation of data, with chapters on observational aspects, which includes both individual and synergistic studies, and on the comparison of global and regional observations with chemical transport and climate models and the added value that the interaction brings to both. The book concludes with scientific needs and likely future developments in the field, and the necessary actions to be taken if we are to have the global observation system that the Earth needs in its present, deteriorating state. The appendices provide a comprehensive list of satellite instruments, global representations of some ancillary data such as fire counts and light pollution, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a set of colourful timelines indicating the satellite coverage of tropospheric composition in the foreseeable future. Altogether, this book will be a timely reference and overview for anyone working at the interface of environmental, atmospheric and space sciences.

The chapters in this volume were presented at the July-August 2008 NATO Advanced Study Institute on Unexploded Ordnance Detection and Mitigation. The conference was held at the beautiful Il Ciocco resort near Lucca, in the glorious Tuscany region of northern Italy. For the ninth time we gathered at this idyllic spot to explore and extend the reciprocity between mathematics and engineering. The dynamic interaction between world-renowned scientists from the usually disparate communities of pure mathematicians and applied scientists which occurred at our eight previous ASI's continued at this meeting. The detection and neutralization of unexploded ordnance (UXO) has been of major concern for very many decades; at least since the First World war. UXO continues to be the subject of intensive research in many ?elds of science, incl- ing mathematics, signal processing (mainly radar and sonar) and chemistry. While today's headlines emphasize the mayhem resulting from the placement of imp- vised explosive devices (IEDs), humanitarian landmine clearing continues to draw signi?cant global attention as well. In many countries of the world, landmines threaten the population and hinder reconstruction and fast, ef?cient utilization of large areas of the mined land in the aftermath of military con?icts.