Within the framework of a project comprising part of the Spanish Space Program related to the JASON-1 CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales)/NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) mission, a campaign was conducted on June 9-17, 2003, in the Absolute Calibration Site of the island of Ibiza. The objective was to determine the local marine geoid slope under the ascending (187) and descending (248) Jason-1 ground tracks, in order to allow a better extrapolation of the open-ocean altimetric data with on-shore tide gauge locations, and thereby improve the overall precision of the calibration process. For this we have used a catamaran with two GPS antennas onboard, following the Corsica/Senetosa design (Bonnefond et al., 2003a). Five GPS reference stations were deployed in order to reduce the distance between the areas covered by the catamaran and the fixed GPS receiver used in the kinematic process. The geodetic activities (e.g., GPS, leveling) have enabled to build a very accurate (few mm) network in a reference frame compatible with the satellite altimetry missions (ITRF2000). The GPS kinematic data were processed using two different softwares allowing to check the consistency of the solutions. If the standard deviation of the differences (3.3 cm) is close to the kinematic process precision they exhibits some large values (up to 14 cm). These large discrepancies have been reduced using a weighting based on the crossover differences. Inasmuch the distances between the tide gauges and the areas covered by the GPS catamaran we have used the MOG2D ocean model (Carrère and Lyard, 2003) to correct the sea surface from tides: in the farest areas it shows an improvement by a factor of two on the crossover differences. Finally, we also present preliminary results on Jason-1 altimeter calibration using the derived marine geoid: from this analysis the altimeter bias is estimated to be 120 ±5 mm. The quality of this first result validate the whole GPS-based marine geoid processing, for which the accuracy is estimated to be better than 3 cm rms at crossovers.

Real-scale fragmentation tests provide high quality data in order to study the fragmentation pattern of rock blocks. In the tests carried out, the initial rock mass, in terms of both volume and shape, was reconstructed by means of 3D photogrammetry. The fragments size distribution of the bocks tested was measured by hand using a tape. The drop tests were performed in four different sites, releasing a total of 124 blocks and measuring 2907 fragments. The obtained fragment size distributions may be well fitted using power laws. The survival rate (Sr), which is the proportion of remaining block shows a wide range of values. Observing the fragment distribution, two parameters are needed to characterize the fragmentation: the number of fragments produced and Sr. The intensity of the fragmentation is expressed by the exponent of the fitted power laws. Although the results are highly variable and show a stochastic behavior of the fragmentation, we have identified different patterns that reflect some local test conditions.

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This article discusses the convenience of adopting an approach of Collective Spatial Analysis in the P/PGIS processes, with the aim of improving the collection and integration of knowledge and local expertise in decision-making, mainly in the fields of planning and adopting territorial policies. Based on empirical evidence, as a result of the review of scientific articles from the Web of Science database, in which it is displayed how the knowledge and experience of people involved in decision-making supported by P/PGIS are collected and used, a prototype of a WEB-GSDSS application has been developed. This prototype allows a group of people to participate anonymously, in an asynchronous and distributed way, in a decision-making process to locate goods, services, or events through the convergence of their views. Via this application, two case studies for planning services in districts of Ecuador and Italy were carried out. Early results suggest that in P/PGIS local and external actors contribute their knowledge and experience to generate information that afterwards is integrated and analysed in the decision-making process. On the other hand, in a Collective Spatial Analysis, these actors analyse and generate information in conjunction with their knowledge and experience during the process of decision-making. We conclude that, although the Collective Spatial Analysis approach presented is in a subjective and initial stage, it does drive improvements in the collection and integration of knowledge and local experience, foremost among them is an interdisciplinary geo-consensus.

Purpose The importance of sustainability in architecture currently necessitates the integration of innovative teaching strategies on the subject into architecture programs. This study aims to introduce and examine peer learning pedagogy by peer tutoring to educate architecture students in sustainable design. Design/methodology/approach Based on class assignments proposed in two different architecture sustainability-focused courses in the second and fourth years of the Bachelor of Science in architecture program, a total of 103 students assessed the proposed peer learning experience and its impact on their sustainability mindsets and education. Subjective surveys for evaluating the peer learning experience were designed and delivered at different stages of the course sequences. A total of 502 survey responses were obtained in the study. Findings The qualitative and quantitative data analysis confirms that the proposed peer learning by peer tutoring increased students’ knowledge, motivation and commitment to sustainable design. In addition, participants became more confident in applying sustainable design skills and their academic grades improved more than 25% compared to previous courses using traditional teaching methods. Originality/value Traditional architecture education has long been criticized for their pedagogical methodologies based primarily on passive learning. Recently, these programs have begun to prepare students to become active learners and communicators in collaborative and multidisciplinary environments. A mixed-method approach of combining pre-/post-experience surveys and analysis of final grades was used to determine the level of success and the quantifiable behavior change delivered by students involved in this peer learning experience.

Abstract. Research studies in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) with social robots usually gather observational data in order to explore the dynamics of short and long-term interactions. The most common approach for the analysis of observational data is the proposal of a small number of behavioural units which frequency and/or duration is captured. As a consequence, comparing results between studies is difficult. The present manuscript proposes a procedure to assess the complete human-robot interactive activity. Experiences with two different robots were analysed using the novel instrumentation, leading to further considerations. Finally, general guidelines extracted from experimentation are proposed to assess the interaction quality between social robots and users. Further studies can be benefited from the proposed instruments, which are expected to be validated in different HRI contexts (e.g., school, hospitals, home) with different users (e.g., children, elderly, hospitalised people).

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