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Personal network and their federations (called Fednet) are considered as one of the promising future concepts regarding the personal communication. In this thesis, we first studies the state of the art of Fednet, from which we know there are two approaches for providing the services in Fednet, one is overlay and the other is proxy-based. Each of the approaches has the advantages and drawbacks. To trade off between these two approaches, we propose a new scheme, which can make the way of service provisioning in Fednet flexible and adaptable to the changing environment and the user’s preference.

P5 presentation PPT P5 presentation Panel

A venetian blind, which can be located in front or in between the façade panes, is proposed to do the task of a shading system and solar thermal collector, transferring the collected heat through a thermal network, so that it can be stored and used later for solar heating and cooling purposes. It is proposed that such venetian blind is enabled to track the sun along its path and its shape and materials were adapted to absorb most of solar thermal energy.

In hydraulic engineering it is known that for the evaluation of the performance of a system, a probabilistic approach is preferable to a deterministic one. The essence of such a probabilistic approach is that random variability/uncertainty is explicitly taken into account. In this graduation project, this probabilistic way of looking at a system is applied to the traffic system, in the context of analyzing (ways to alleviate) traffic congestion. Basically, the mechanism behind traffic congestion can be described as a process of interaction between the traffic demand and supply on a road network. Both this traffic demand and supply show a significant level of temporal variability, which makes the resulting traffic conditions variable as well. Traditionally, in evaluations of the effectiveness of proposed congestion relief measures this variability is taken into account only in a limited or simplified way, or even not at all. Often simply a kind of ‘representative’ situation is calculated. The main objective of this research project was to reveal what kind of new insights can be obtained if we actually do explicitly/systematically take into account the variable nature of daily motorway congestion. After a comprehensive study into the sources of the variability in the traffic conditions, and the selection of appropriate performance indicators, a quantification model was developed. The main principle of this model is that a large number of traffic simulations are performed for varying traffic demand and supply values. Subsequently, the desired performance indicators are computed from the combined set of simulation results. In order to explore the (potential) new insights obtained by explicitly considering the variability, the developed model was applied to a reasonably sized real-life motorway network. From the results it is clear that a ‘representative’ calculation (in which all demand and supply variables are taken at their ‘representative’ level, which for example could be the mean or median value) does not give a good impression of the performance of the traffic system. It underestimates the congestion in certain respects, and – obviously – does not provide information on the uncertainty in travel times (which is an important factor in the societal costs of traffic congestion). The research has shown that if the variability in traffic is explicitly considered, new insights can be obtained into the relative importance of different (variable) influence factors. This was demonstrated by ‘deactivating’ these influence factors in the model (one at a time). The results of this demonstration indicate that the capacity variations due to the intrinsic randomness in human driving behavior play a central role in (peak period-related) congestion. Such information yields important insights into how traffic congestion can be remedied most effectively. By considering the example of a rush-hour lane, the research has shown that new insights can also be obtained into the effectiveness of specific measures that are proposed to alleviate traffic congestion. It turned out that the ‘traditional’ way of evaluating may actually result in a significant underestimation of the benefits of a measure. The precise nature and extent of the additional/revised insights will be highly context and measure specific, however. Of course, these new insights are not necessarily all positive in nature. Some more negative aspects of a measure could be brought to light as well. The above implies that in practice more systematic attention should be given to the variability in traffic, when evaluating the effectiveness of measures that are proposed to alleviate congestion. Because of the complexity involved, this would have to be done by using a model in which the different sources of variability are explicitly accounted for, such as (a further developed version of) the model developed in this project.

Design of the Science Business Centre.

The project takes place in the Walloon region, one of the most profoundly shaped by industrialization in Europe starting from the 19th century, in particular by coke mining and steel industry. On a big scale we have the so called “Dorsale”, a linear city shaped by the transportation infrastructures, which was the rivers Sambre and Meuse (Maas) before, the railway afterwards and eventually the highway. On the very local scale the territory is obviously characterized by the huge industrial structures remained from the glorious past and the notorious terills, cone-shaped mining waste piles which can reach the considerable height of more than 150 m. The location I chose for my project is the resume of these aspects of Wallonia I introduced. The area is lying on the spine and there is now here an industrial area with the freight logistic Hub of Chrleroi-Chatelet. Moreover we have the biggest terill of Charleroi with 170 meters of height difference and an amazingly big abandoned industrial hall which could be one of the seven wonders of industrial architecture. When I went to visit the place I climbed up the terill and from there it was immediately clear the dichotomy between the city on one side of the Sambre and, on the other side, the hilly countryside of Wallonia. The industrial area is in the middle. It is like a wall separating the city from the river and the countryside on the other side. So I thought why not build up a scenario in which I have to redesign this industrial area and freight logistic hub in a way that is not separating but connecting the city to the river and the other bank of it, integrating it in the landscape, eventually making the infrastructure an architecture. Important to me was also keeping in my project the old industrial hall, not only as witness of the past, but also as a proof that these kind of buildings can be reused and create new quality.

Emergency Medical Services are an important part of society. In this thesis a simulation engine is developed that can be used to evaluate an EMS. TIFAR is tested on the Amsterdam region, and the results for high priority calls are very close to the actual statistics.

Dwelling project on the Tacheles-site in Berlin-Mitte.

Lifted railway and trainstation in hybrid building in Lisbon.

The thesis presents the results of research into temporal preference analysis in recommender systems. Temporal preference analysis consists of methods for detecting time recurrent changes in user preferences and for using this information to improve the recommendation precision.

This thesis studies cost estimation and investment decisions under cost uncertainty of large construction projects. The combination of these two topics intends to satisfy the Master’s theses of Civil Engineering at the Delft University of Technology and Quantitative Finance (Econometrics) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The first part relates to the Delft University of Technology, the second to the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Both parts are interrelated but can be read separately. Part A develops a model for APM Terminals to estimate costs of new terminals investments. Present-day estimates of APM Terminals insufficiently incorporate risk. Therefore, the study formulates and analyses six (new) estimation models. Differences in the model include the use of error distribution function or the incorporation of interdependency. The analysis subjects the models to various constraints and selects the most appropriate model for APM Terminals. The selected model requires little input information, uses normally distributed error distributions and accounts for shocks. Moreover, the study points out shocks are of great importance in the estimation of costs. Shocks increase expected costs and mainly determine cost uncertainty. The change of estimation model and occurrence of shocks implies that APM Terminals changes its estimation process. The new approach requires an estimate of both expected cost and uncertainty to estimate construction costs. Part B studies investments of projects subjected to cost uncertainty. Prior to construction investors have an idea of the value but not of the costs. Academic research assumes that cost uncertainty is composed of technical and input uncertainty (Pindyck (1993)). Technical uncertainty covers the physical difficulty to complete the project and is only known after completion. Input uncertainty relates to the pricing uncertainty of the required commodities to complete the project and is known beforehand. This study adds shocks to uncertainty because of the significant contribution to uncertainty (Part A). The research argues that shocks are a special form of technical uncertainty. Shocks occur after investing and complicate physical completion. But where technical uncertainty can accelerate construction, shocks solely delay progress. The study uses option theory to examine investments subjected to the different types of uncertainty. The analysis defines optimal investments and shows shocks increase the aversion to invest.

Een duaal onderzoek naar een ontwerp van een nieuw faculteitsgebouw voor Bouwkunde en naar het verbeteren van de akoestiek in een ruimte met de toepassing van beton geïntegreerd in één project.

In this project the order book model proposed by Cont et al. [10] is used as a starting point to model order book dynamics. This model nicely combines three desirable properties from earlier studies: it is easy to calibrate, it reproduces statistical properties of the order book and it allows to make analytical computations in the order book. The model is studied, calibrated and tested on real-time data from the London Stock Exchange. Possible improvements to the model are discussed and tested. A method to compute probabilities in the model will be presented: recovering densities by inverting continued fraction representations of Laplace transforms. This is also implemented and evaluated.

The flood defence in the historical town centre of Dordrecht is situated in the Voorstraat, which is a busy shopping street. The dike itself is too low at some places, but with a system of flood stop logs in the doors of buildings along the street some extra height can be reached. The reliability of the stop log system is doubted however, so plans for strengthening the flood defence are needed. One important issue for strengthening the flood defence is the climate change. Warming of the earth would lead to sea level rise and higher river discharges. The rate of climate change is unsure however and various scenarios have been made which range from minor to major changes. The water level at Dordrecht is determined by both the sea level and river discharges, so climate change could have severe consequences for the safety against flooding of Dordrecht. When the advice of the Delta Committee is followed, the safety standards of the dike rings should be heightened and much higher water levels have to be expected. Also the plans for the Rijnmond-Drechtsteden area are important for the strategy of strengthening the flood defence in the town centre of Dordrecht. A system of barriers in this area could protect Dordrecht against flooding, but it is also possible that strengthening the flood defence in the town centre of Dordrecht is still needed. Strengthening the flood defence in the Voorstraat is difficult. Therefore also a new flood defence through the part of the town centre which now lies outside the flood defence is considered. Various alignments are possible, of which a flood defence along the river, which protects the entire town centre against flooding has been elaborated. This new flood defence will consist of an automatically floating barrier in the quays. Under normal circumstances this barrier is invisible and when the water level rises the barrier automatically floats up. At one part of the alignment buildings stand with the facades directly along the river. Here a boulevard through the river will be made, separated from the buildings. By integrating the floating barrier in the structure the boulevard can be kept low. Inside the flood defence there is place for a marina and a swimming area. At five places in the alignment a harbour has to be crossed. For this purpose at four places a flood gate will be made, which under normal circumstances lies at the bottom, so it is not visible and ships can pass. When a flood is expected the gates are closed. At one place, at the largest harbour crossing, a multi-functional barrier will be made. This barrier consists of two gates which stand horizontally when retaining a flood. After the flood the gates are lifted and rotated to form a bridge and viewing platform over the harbour. Because of the floating barrier the largest part of the new flood defence will not be visible under normal circumstances, so it will have little impact on the historical town centre. Therefore it is a good and sustainable solution for protecting the entire town centre of Dordrecht against flooding for a long time.

In the last few years, the CUR committee 159B has been working on the new Dutch Design Guideline for the design of piled embankments. To validate the guideline several field tests have been performed. From the field measurements is concluded that the design method is very conservative. Improving the design guideline will reduce the construction costs. To understand the physical behaviour of the piled embankment and to validate the theory, experimental scale tests have been performed. During these tests the load distribution, deformation and strains were measured. The results of the scale tests are analysed and published. To improve the understanding of the phenomenon arching and where possible, to confirm the observed load distributions and displacements, numerical analysis of the scale tests have been performed and reported in this thesis. The numerical analysis of the scale test is performed with Plaxis 3D Tunnel version 2.4 (Plaxis). The geometry of the Plaxis model is one quarter of the geometry of the scale test. This reduces the amount of elements and therefore the calculation time. In the scale test circular piles are applied. Circular geometry cannot be modelled in Plaxis, therefore the circular pile is mathematically converted to a square pile. The sand and granular material are modelled with Mohr Coulomb (MC) model and Hardening Soil (HS) model. The scale test is driven by applying top load and by drainage of the foam cushion. The top load is modelled as the measured equally distributed load on the embankment. To model the drainage of the foam cushion, the measured water pressure is assigned to the subsoil clusters in Plaxis by a water pressure head. From the Plaxis results can be concluded that arching is immediately found after the first drainage of the foam cushion. Increasing the top load and drainage of the foam cushion in Plaxis results in an increase of loads transferred to the pile by arching and GR, thus results in improvement of arching. The by Plaxis calculated tensile forces in the GR are concentrated in ‘tensile strips’ that lie on top and between adjacent piles. The largest displacement of the GR is found at the middle of four piles. The results of the Plaxis calculations are compared to the scale test results. The total load on the pile and water pressure in the foam cushion found with Plaxis are corresponding with the scale test results. During the first part of the test, the load distribution shows similar results as the measured load distribution. During the second part of the test the load transferred to the pile by arching is overestimated and the load transferred to the pile by the GR is underestimated. The displacement of the geosynthetic reinforcement calculated with Plaxis is underestimated compared to the scale test results. In general the results of the HS model are better than the MC model. By varying a number of parameters in the model, possible causes for the underestimated displacement are investigated. This research concludes that the stiffness of the foam cushion and the water pressure in the foam cushion does not have influence on the GR displacement. The vertical effective stresses are concentrated on and directly next to the pile and are relatively small between the piles. The internal friction angle does have a large influence on the geosynthetic reinforcement displacement, because when the internal friction angle is decreased, the arch decreases and the settlements increase. However, the measured geosynthetic reinforcement displacement from the scale test is still not found in the numerical results calculated in Plaxis.

Arsenic contamination of the groundwater and as a consequence, of the drinking water, has developed to a major problem for many regions globally during the last decades (Chile, China, United States, Argentina, and Mexico). The issue of Arsenic contamination has already been studied extensively in West Bengal, India and Bangladesh, which are some of the affected areas. The importance of studying arsenic groundwater contamination lies in the fact that it has impacts on human health, which indicate that proper measures need to be taken towards a safe drinking water solution. Despite the fact that many researchers around the world have tried to determine arsenic release and mobilization mechanisms, it appears that this is a procedure that is controlled by rather regional parameters and therefore, there is no standard mechanism that can be taken for granted. Each region has different geological and stratigraphic characteristics and since arsenic is naturally formed and released in groundwater for most of the contaminated cases, each region needs to be carefully studied separately. The state of Bihar in India and more specifically the region close to the conjunction of the Ganga and Sone Rivers was chosen as a research location, because, contrary to other affected regions, no geologically related research regarding Arsenic has been carried out there until now. The initial target of this research project was to build a 3D sedimentary architecture model of the area using PETREL software. This model could later be used in flow modeling. The study was then focused on determining the various depositional environments of fluvial sediments and in finally correlating them with the presence or absence of Arsenic in the groundwater. In addition, this study aims to provide a suggestion regarding the possible source of Arsenic in the groundwater for the region of Maner in Bihar. There are two basic hypotheses that will be investigated during this research. One is that Arsenic is confined within the Newer Alluvium of the Ganga River (Holocene sediments) and especially within the point bar alluvial depositions. The second is that Arsenic is already present within the sediments and released in the groundwater due to the presence of Iron oxides in Iron rich minerals (biotite and micas in general) or Iron coatings on Quartz and clay grains. The following methodologies were applied in order to achieve the research purpose. First, literature study of existing research in the area and other Arsenic affected regions was carried out. Then the study area was visited and fieldwork was carried out, which included drilling three approximately 50 m deep boreholes by hand sludging and logging the sediment cores that were obtained as accurately as possible. Hand sludging was used as the drilling technique, even if it is suboptimal for the initial research purpose, because of financial and time constraints. Therefore, it was not possible to obtain undisturbed soil samples while drilling. As a result, core logging, which is an important input for a 3D model, was not always successful. Then, Ultra Violet Spectrophotometry testing was carried out in order to measure the Arsenic content in soil and Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Diffraction in order to determine the mineralogy and chemical composition of the soil samples. In addition, existing measurements of Arsenic levels in drinking water were registered and the coordinates of the handpumps were recorded, using a Global Positioning System device (GARMIN). The purpose of this research is to combine existing knowledge regarding the source of arsenic and specific sedimentary settings in order to correlate local geological characteristics with the presence or absence of arsenic in the groundwater and to suggest a possible source of arsenic for the region of Maner. The results support the hypothesis that it is essential to consider the origin of the sediments to localize regions of high arsenic content.

Introduction Daily approximately 150.000 individual travel movements are conducted by passengers and Schiphol-workers to and from Schiphol. For this they use cars, taxis, busses, shut-tles, trains, motorcycles, scooters and bicycles. As such Schiphol is Holland’s biggest mobility node. Understandably this makes accessibility of vital importance. Within Schiphol the Traffic & Transportation (T&T) department has the responsibility for the accessibility of Schiphol. Separated in several modalities (public trans-port/taxi/private transport/roads) the goal is to improve the accessibility for Schiphol’s customers (passengers/personnel/business partners/cargo). T&T has the ambition to become “Europe´s most accessible multimodal hub”. To achieve this the performance on the quality of accessibility will have to increase while facing an increased passenger volume and tougher constraints. Therefore increased insight in the performance of the accessibility operation is required. In short: the rele-vant performance delivered by T&T on airport accessibility has to be measured. Design tracks The objectives of this thesis is to (1) Design a method that can measure T&T´s perform-ance and (2) Create a system that uses the designed method to report on the perform-ance. To achieve these two objectives, two design tracks are undertaken Design Track I The first step is defining what is considered relevant performance for T&T. Through research and interviews, relevant performance is regarded as the quality of accessibility delivered to the client. This can be measured by the amount in which the demands of a client group on the quality of accessibility are met by the characteristics of a modality. To be able to measure the regarded performance, the offered accessibility is analysed. It is found that T&T can influence the quality characteristics of each modality based on the relation with the stakeholder that operates the modality. There are three levels of influ-ence: Control, Guide and Influence. To get more insight in the accessibility demand of the different client groups (Passen-gers and Schiphol workers) an experiment is conducted. This experiment indicates a different demand profile on accessibility between the client groups, especially towards price and information. A combination of literature on measuring accessibility and internal Schiphol documents is used to declare factors and criteria that determine the quality perception of the client on accessibility. Six factors (cost, time, reliability, quality, convenience and information) and 34 underlying quality criteria are declared. To measure these criteria there is a need for data points and sources that report on these criteria. A table of needed data points, sources and expected unities is created. As it is found that the unities of the data points differ greatly and it is unknown what levels of performance are considered adequate, a measuring method is proposed that states the increase or decline of performance on the criteria. This is done through indi-ces that are calculated by comparing performance on two different moments in time. The declaration of 7 formulates enables the design of a measurement method that puts weights on the calculated indices. These weights are based on the found demand pro-files. The criteria that are considered most important in the accessibility perception of a certain client group, are given a higher weight, resulting in a bigger influence on the overall index on airport accessibility. Combining all criteria, factors and weights on the different modalities and client groups with the seven formulas, gives the possibility to create an overall index on the delivered quality of accessibility of an airport. Design Track II As less than 40% of the needed data sources is available, it is not possible to implement the developed method in a Performance Measurement System (PMS). Therefore an alternative system is created. Based on an analysis of available data sources, supportive systems and existing KPI, a PMS System is developed. This system is based on Excel and can present indicators on a monthly basis. The PMS shows a comparison with the pre-ceding month and the same month one year ago. To enhance the insightfulness, coloured arrows are used to show high, medium of no decrease/increase between the periods. Also a graph is presented in the same fashion graphs are currently presented, for each indicator. Indicators are coupled for each mo-dality. This gives modality managers the possibility to quickly look for the most relevant indicators. As the developed PMS is not able to indicate the client perception of the current quality od accessibility, a second system is created. This system uses public messages on online social media (mostly twitter) to measure the sentiment on the accessibility quality of-fered on train, bus and taxis servicing Schiphol. The system is able to present the amount of positive, neutral and negative messages on a modality. This enables manag-ers to react on incidents and to see the change in perception over a longer period of time. Conclusion A first draft design of a method to measure the quality of airport accessibility is created. Implementation is not possible to a shortage on data sources. It therefore proposed to start developing the needed data points. If more than 60% of the needed data is avail-able, the designed measurement method can be implemented. It is advised to use the available Qlikview Business Intelligent system for an improved PMS. Furthermore both design steps are first ventures into creating a system to measure per-formance at T&T. Due to limitations in time and resources, several assumptions had to be done. To increase the validity of the indicators presented by the measurement method, several recommendations on improvement are done.

De focus in het eerste half jaar van mijn afstuderen bestond uit het ontwikkelen van de visie voor een multifunctioneel gebouw met publieke en private functies. Mijn ambities op dat vlak bestond uit conclusie die was ontstaan naar aanleiding van de High-rise workshop en de stedenbouwkundige analyse. Hieruit kwam naar voren dat dit gebouw een stukje stadsuitbreiding werd en het heel belangrijk was om het stedelijk weefsel door te zetten in je gebouw. Verder was voor mij een ambitie dat ik een gebouw wilde maken dat in proportie stond tot de rest van de stad en de menselijke maat. Om die reden heb ik een gebouw ontworden dat bestaat uit 3 lagen: - een publieke plint die een relatie aangaat met omringende straten en het stedelijk weefsel - een verhoogde kantoorband die een relatie aangaat met doorgaandewegen en de omringende wijk - een drietal torens elk met eigen functie die een relatie aan gaan met de hele stad De opdracht die wij binnen deze context kregen was om binnen dit studiegebied een TALL building met een programma van 363.000 m2 neer te zetten. In vergelijking: de Delftse Poort, tot 2009 het hoogste kantoorgebouw van Nederland heeft met twee torens van 164 en 93 meter een totaal oppervlak van 75.000 m2. Het programma dat grotendeels bestond uit kantoren, hotel en woningen, omvatte verder een groot casino, veel winkels, restaurants en clubs.

The Dutch youth care sector defends and supports children in their maturing process. Over last decades this complex and heavily resource bound health care system faced long waiting lists and over utilized resources. Various policies based on increasing budgets and care capacities did not result in the expected structural waiting list decreases. Youth care authorities and care providers require decision support models to oversee the consequences of their mutual capacity decisions. In this research we practically evaluate the insights a stochastic Discrete Event Simulation model provides, in addition to the currently used deterministic System Dynamic model, when parameterized with data of a real world care provider over 2008 and 2009.