Consumer spatial choice strategies: A comparative study of some alternative behavioural spatial shopping models

The purpose of this paper is to outline a conceptual model of consumer spatial decision making and choice behaviour and to investigate the use of various combination rules of consumer's evaluations of attributes of shopping centres to predict spatial choice behaviour.The research findings indicate that the linear combination rules perform as well as the multiplicative rules and that both types of rules perform quite acceptably. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for future research on spatial decision making and choice.     

Temporal stability of soil water content as affected by climate and soil hydraulic properties: a simulation study

Temporal stability of soil water content (TS SWC) is an often‐observed phenomenon, which characterization finds multiple applications. Climate and variability in soil properties are usually mentioned as factors of TS SWC, but their effects are far from clear. The objective of this work was to use SWC modeling to evaluate the effects of climate and soil hydraulic properties on the TS of soil water at different measurement schedules. We selected four representative climates found in USA and simulated the multiyear SWC dynamics for sandy loam, loam, and silty clay loam soils, all having the lognormal spatial distribution of the saturated hydraulic conductivity. The CLIMGEN and the HYDRUS6 codes were used to generate weather patterns and to simulate SWC, respectively. Four different methods were applied to select the representative location (RL). The low probability of having the same variability of mean relative differences of soil water under different climates was found in most of the cases. The probability that the variance of mean relative differences depended on sampling frequency was generally higher than 91% for the three soils. The interannual difference in mean relative differences variation from short and intensive summer campaigns was highly probable for all climates and soils. The RLs changed as climate and measurement scheduling changed, and they were less pronounced for coarse‐textured soils. The RL selection methods based solely on bias provided more consistency as compared with other methods. The TS appears to be the result of the interplay between climate, soil properties, and survey protocols. One implication of this factor interaction effect on TS SWC is that a simulation study can be useful to decide on the feasibility of including a search for TS‐based RLs for a specific site. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimation of Generic Subslab Attenuation Factors for Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Generic indoor air:subslab soil gas attenuation factors (SSAFs) are important for rapid screening of potential vapor intrusion risks in buildings that overlie soil and groundwater contaminated with volatile chemicals. Insufficiently conservative SSAFs can allow high‐risk sites to be prematurely excluded from further investigation. Excessively conservative SSAFs can lead to costly, time‐consuming, and often inconclusive actions at an inordinate number of low‐risk sites. This paper reviews two of the most commonly used approaches to develop SSAFs: (1) comparison of paired, indoor air and subslab soil gas data in empirical databases and (2) comparison of estimated subslab vapor entry rates and indoor air exchange rates (IAERs). Potential error associated with databases includes interference from indoor and outdoor sources, reliance on data from basements, and seasonal variability. Heterogeneity in subsurface vapor plumes combined with uncertainty regarding vapor entry points calls into question the representativeness of limited subslab data and diminishes the technical defensibility of SSAFs extracted from databases. The use of reasonably conservative vapor entry rates and IAERs offers a more technically defensible approach for the development of generic SSAF values for screening. Consideration of seasonal variability in building leakage rates, air exchange rates, and interpolated vapor entry rates allows for the development of generic SSAFs at both local and regional scales. Limitations include applicability of the default IAERs and vapor entry rates to site‐specific vapor intrusion investigations and uncertainty regarding applicability of generic SSAFs to assess potential short‐term (e.g., intraday) variability of impacts to indoor air.     

Lava channel roofing,overflows, breaches and switching: insights from the 2008–2009 eruption of Mt. Etna

During long-lived basaltic eruptions, overflows from lava channels and breaching of channel levées are important processes in the development of extensive 'a'ā lava flow-fields. Short-lived breaches result in inundation of areas adjacent to the main channel. However, if a breach remains open, lava supply to the original flow front is significantly reduced, and flow-field widening is favoured over lengthening. The development of channel breaches and overflows can therefore exert strong control over the overall flow-field development, but the processes that determine their location and frequency are currently poorly understood. During the final month of the 2008–2009 eruption of Mt. Etna, Sicily, a remote time-lapse camera was deployed to monitor events in a proximal region of a small ephemeral lava flow. For over a period of ~10 h, the flow underwent changes in surface elevation and velocity, repeated overflows of varying vigour and the construction of a channel roof (a required prelude to lava tube formation). Quantitative interpretation of the image sequence was facilitated by a 3D model of the scene constructed using structure-from-motion computer vision techniques. As surface activity waned during the roofing process, overflow sites retreated up the flow towards the vent, and eventually, a new flow was initiated. Our observations and measurements indicate that flow surface stagnation and flow inflation propagated up-flow at an effective rate of ~6 m h⁻¹, and that these processes, rather than effusion rate variations, were ultimately responsible for the most vigorous overflow events. We discuss evidence for similar controls during levée breaching and channel switching events on much larger flows on Etna, such as during the 2001 eruption.     

Rapid changes of sediment dynamic processes in Yalu River Estuary under anthropogenic impacts

The response of the Yalu River Estuary to human activities was investigated.Changes of sediment dynamics during the past 10 years were explored through hydrodynamic calculation,as well as heavy mineral...     

Simulations of spatial variability in particle‐size emissions during wind erosion events

This study simulates how spatial variations in particle‐size emissions from a playa affect bulk and size‐resolved dust concentration profiles during two contrasting wind erosion events (a small local and a large regional event) in the Channel Country, Lake Eyre Basin, Australia. The regional event had higher dust concentration as a result of stronger frontal winds and higher erodibility across the playa. For each event, two emission scenarios are simulated to determine if measured size‐resolved dust concentration profiles can be explained by spatial variability in source area emissions. The first scenario assumes that particle‐size emissions from source areas occur at a uniform rate, while the second scenario assumes that particle‐size emissions vary between and within source areas. The uniform emission scenario, reproduced measured bulk dust concentration profiles (R² = 0·93 regional and R² = 0·81 local), however simulated size‐resolved dust concentration profiles had poor statistical fits to measured size‐resolved profiles for each size class (the highest were R² = 0·5 regional and R² = 0·3 local). For the differential particle‐size emission scenario, the fit to the measured bulk dust concentration profiles is improved (R² = 0·97 regional and R² = 0·83 local). However, the fit to the size‐resolved profiles improved dramatically, with the lowest being R² = 0·89 (regional) and R² = 0·80 (local). Particle‐size emission models should therefore be tested against both bulk and size‐resolved dust concentration profiles, since if only bulk dust concentration profiles are used model performance may be over‐stated. As the source areas in the first 90 m upwind of the tower were similar for both events, the percentage contributions of each particle‐size class to total emissions can be compared. The contribution of each particle‐size class was similar even though the wind speed, turbulence and dust concentrations were significantly different; suggesting that the contribution of each particle‐size to the total emitted dusts is not related to wind speed and turbulence. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional geostatistical inversion of flowmeter and pumping test data

We jointly invert field data of flowmeter and multiple pumping tests in fully screened wells to estimate hydraulic conductivity using a geostatistical method. We use the steady-state drawdowns of pumping tests and the discharge profiles of flowmeter tests as our data in the inference. The discharge profiles need not be converted to absolute hydraulic conductivities. Consequently, we do not need measurements of depth-averaged hydraulic conductivity at well locations. The flowmeter profiles contain information about relative vertical distributions of hydraulic conductivity, while drawdown measurements of pumping tests provide information about horizontal fluctuation of the depth-averaged hydraulic conductivity. We apply the method to data obtained at the Krauthausen test site of the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. The resulting estimate of our joint three-dimensional (3D) geostatistical inversion shows an improved 3D structure in comparison to the inversion of pumping test data only.     

Modelling the water balance of a mesoscale catchment basin using remotely sensed land cover data

Hydrological modelling of mesoscale catchments is often adversely affected by a lack of adequate information about specific site conditions. In particular, digital land cover data are available from data sets which were acquired on a European or a national scale. These data sets do not only exhibit a restricted spatial resolution but also a differentiation of crops and impervious areas which is not appropriate to the needs of mesoscale hydrological models. In this paper, the impact of remote sensing data on the reliability of a water balance model is investigated and compared to model results determined on the basis of CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) Land Cover as a reference. The aim is to quantify the improved model performance achieved by an enhanced land cover representation and corresponding model modifications. Making use of medium resolution satellite imagery from SPOT, LANDSAT ETM+ and ASTER, detailed information on land cover, especially agricultural crops and impervious surfaces, was extracted over a 5-year period (2000–2004). Crop-specific evapotranspiration coefficients were derived by using remote sensing data to replace grass reference evapotranspiration necessitated by the use of CORINE land cover for rural areas. For regions classified as settlement or industrial areas, degrees of imperviousness were derived. The data were incorporated into the hydrological model GROWA (large-scale water balance model), which uses an empirical approach combining distributed meteorological data with distributed site parameters to calculate the annual runoff components. Using satellite imagery in combination with runoff data from gauging stations for the years 2000–2004, the actual evapotranspiration calculation in GROWA was methodologically extended by including empirical crop coefficients for actual evapotranspiration calculations. While GROWA originally treated agricultural areas as homogeneous, now a consideration and differentiation of the main crops is possible. The accuracy was determined by runoff measurements from gauging stations. Differences in water balances resulting from the use of remote sensing data as opposed to CORINE were analysed in this study using a representative subcatchment. Resulting Nash–Sutcliff model efficiencies improved from 0.372 to 0.775 and indicate that the enhanced model can produce thematically more accurate and spatially more detailed local water balances. However, the proposed model enhancements by satellite imagery have not exhausted the full potential of water balance modelling, for which a higher temporal resolution is required.