Precipitation Data Requirements for Urban Hydrology

ABSTRACT

Precipitation is the decisive input variable for a large number of dimensioning methods and models in urban hydrology. Due to the small catchment areas and the shorter flow paths, the runoff processes are characterized by a high degree of dynamics. This makes it necessary to lay down correspondingly strict requirements for representative time-and space-related precipitation data. The following defines these requirements in greater detail with regard to ‘sewer dimensioning’, ‘storm-water treatment’, and ‘sewer system management’. The methods used in Germany for supplying precipitation data are described, and reference is also made to alternatives that may be used in cases where the database is insufficient.     

Locus of interpretive and inference processes during text comprehension: A comparison of gaze durations and word reading times.

Investigated the locus of interpretive and inference processes during text comprehension. Two positions were contrasted: the buffer-integrate-purge position, which assumes that text-level interpretive and inference processes operate at sentence or clause boundaries, and the immediacy position, which assumes that interpretive and inference processes operate as soon as possible. Two methods of collecting word reading times were contrasted: gaze durations and self-paced word reading times. In simple narrative passages, there was an increase in word reading times for end-of-clause words when self-paced reading times were collected, but there was a decrease when gaze durations were measured with eye tracking equipment. The data indicate that interpretive and inference processes operate immediately and that buffering is to some extent an artifact of the self-paced moving window method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation of volatile aroma components in organically and conventionally produced apples by stir bar sorptive extraction combined with gas chromatography and EI/CI TOF mass spectrometry

Volatile aroma components and contents of organically and conventionally produced apples of the cultivars Elstar, Jonagold, Jonagored and Braeburn were studied. In three cultivars investigated, the aroma contents of organically produced apples were significantly lower (Elstar 16%, Jonagold 29%, Jonagored 68%). For Braeburn, no statistically significant difference was observed. In particular, the main aroma components were present at much lower concentrations in organically produced apples. In all apple cultivars, these were hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, 2-methylbutylacetate and hexylacetate. twenty-three aroma components were identified in total, in different relative ratios in the different apple cultivars: saturated esters, saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and alcohols. Some components identified in the conventionally produced cultivars were not present in the organically produced cultivars at all. The aroma components were extracted from juice freshly prepared from the apples by stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) technique and characterised by FID gas chromatography and EI/CI TOF mass spectrometry.     

Reading strategies of fast and slow readers.

Evaluated in 3 S-paced experiments reading patterns at the word, line, and sentence levels for fast and slow readers. A moving-window method was used to collect word reading times for natural texts. At the reading level, reading times of word N were influenced by features of word N–2 for fast (but not slow) Ss. The lag effect shown by fast Ss indicates that they continue to process a word when it is no longer in view. Both reader groups processed many new arguments (NAs) from a sentence. However, fast Ss exhibited greater NA effects relative to lines, whereas slow Ss exhibited greater NA effects relative to sentences. Results are discussed in terms of a buffer-and-integrate model of reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Component processes in text comprehension and some of their interactions.

58 college students read 12 passages word by word in the moving-window method. Word reading times (WRTs) were analyzed in multiple-regression analyses. 16 attributes of the stimulus materials were quantified as measures of specific component processes. WRTs were predicted by most of the 16 attributes. There were significant effects for such word-level attributes as length, frequency, and repetition, presumed to reflect processes involved in word identification. Such sentence-level (SL) attributes as sentence imagery and the number of new concepts in the sentence, considered indicators of integration and abstraction of the sentence gist, had a significant effect on WRTs, particularly at the sentence-final word. In addition, WRTs of sentence-final words increased linearly with the number of new concepts in the sentence. The text-level attributes that significantly influenced WRTs were the serial position of the sentence in the passage and the genre of the passage. These attributes were considered indicators of topic identification and intersentence integration, respectively. Word-level variables, word length and word frequency, interacted with the load or complexity of processes at the SL and at the text level. Similarly, SL variables interacted with the complexity of text-level variables. These interactions are consistent with models of reading that assume that lower-level processes interact with higher-level processes. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic fuzzy-rule assessment and its application to the modelling of nitrogen leaching for large regions

 Diffuse nutrient emissions from agricultural land is one of the major sources of pollution for ground water, rivers and coastal waters. The quantification of pollutant loads requires mathematical modelling of water and nutrient cycles. The deterministic simulation of nitrogen dynamics, represented by complicated highly non-linear processes, requires the application of detailed models with many parameters and large associated data bases. The operation of those models within integrated assessment tools or decision support systems for large regions is often not feasible. Fuzzy rule based modelling provides a fast, transparent and parameter parsimonious alternative. Besides, it allows regionalisation and integration of results from different models and measurements at a higher generalised level and enables explicit consideration of expert knowledge. In this paper an algorithm for the assessment of fuzzy rules for fuzzy modelling using simulated annealing is presented. The fuzzy rule system is applied to simulate nitrogen leaching for selected agricultural soils within the 23687 km² Saale River Basin. The fuzzy rules are defined and calibrated using results from simulation experiments carried out with the deterministic modelling system SWIM. Monthly aggregated time series of simulated water balance components (e.g. percolation and evapotranspiration), fertilization amounts, resulting nitrogen leaching and crop parameters are used for the derivation of the fuzzy rules. The 30-year simulation period was divided into 20 years for training and 10 years for validation, with the latter taken from the middle part of the period. Three specific fuzzy rule systems were created from the simulation experiments, one for each selected soil profile. Each rule system includes 15 rules as well as one prescribed rules from expert knowledge and 7 input variables. The performance of the fuzzy rule system is satisfactory for the assessment of nitrate leaching on annual to long term time steps. The approach allows rapid scenario analysis for large regions and has the potential to become part of decision support systems for generalised integrated assessment of water and nutrients in macroscale regions.     

Research on component processes in reading: Reply to Danks.

Responds to J. H. Danks's (see record 1986-21147-001) criticisms of the present authors' (see record 1986-13625-001) article on component processes in reading. The present authors review the theoretical and empirical foundations of their predictor variables, discussing the issue of discriminability, and defend the moving-window procedure in a sufficiently sensitive paradigm for detecting the processes considered in their research. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)