Publications

This book, the result of a COST conference held in Leuven in April 2012, focuses on the functioning and role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in Europe in a comparative, European and international perspective. At a time when the European Union is looking for a more coherent and strategic human rights policy, it is important that policy makers and academics pay more attention to the potential role of NHRIs. By bringing together contributions from academics and practitioners, this volume offers insights into the opportunities and challenges that accompany the increasing emergence of NHRIs in Europe and their proliferation on the multiple levels of human rights promotion and protection. Accordingly, this volume aims to inform and further trigger the NHRI debate in Europe.

Urban emissions occur mainly within or slightly above the canopy layer i.e. within a zone where the atmospheric flow is heavily disturbed by buildings and other obstacles. It is wellknown that buildings can deflect plumes and result in sometimes increased and sometimes decreased dilution, dependent on the density, height and shape of the obstacles and their orientation with the wind flow. In comparison to unobstructed terrain, local concentrations can change by more than an order of magnitude. As a consequence, it is inappropriate to consider buildings within a surface roughness parameterisation only, particularly if predictions on the scale of a few streets or city blocks are being made. These facts, in conjunction with increasing computer power, have promoted the development of obstacle-resolving or obstacleaccommodating prognostic and diagnostic models, subsequently called micro-scale meteorological models. Nowadays these models are commercially available and widely used in environmental impact studies.

Maps are a fundamental resource in a diverse array of applications ranging from everyday activities, such as route planning through the legal demarcation of space to scientific studies, such as those seeking to understand biodiversity and inform the design of nature reserves for species conservation. For a map to have value, it should provide an accurate and timely representation of the phenomenon depicted and this can be a challenge in a dynamic world. Fortunately, mapping activities have benefitted greatly from recent advances in geoinformation technologies. Satellite remote sensing, for example, now offers unparalleled data acquisition and authoritative mapping agencies have developed systems for the routine production of maps in accordance with strict standards. Until recently, much mapping activity was in the exclusive realm of authoritative agencies but technological development has also allowed the rise of the amateur mapping community. The proliferation of inexpensive and highly mobile and location aware devices together with Web 2.0 technology have fostered the emergence of the citizen as a source of data. Mapping presently benefits from vast amounts of spatial data as well as people able to provide observations of geographic phenomena, which can inform map production, revision and evaluation. The great potential of these developments is, however, often limited by concerns. The latter span issues from the nature of the citizens through the way data are collected and shared to the quality and trustworthiness of the data. This book reports on some of the key issues connected with the use of citizen sensors in mapping. It arises from a European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, which explored issues linked to topics ranging from citizen motivation, data acquisition, data quality and the use of citizen derived data in the production of maps that rival, and sometimes surpass, maps arising from authoritative agencies.

Abstracts of the Meeting in Budapest 16-19 May 2001.