An Integrated approach to street canyon pollution modelling.

An integrated method for the prediction of the spatial pollution distribution within a street canyon directly from a microscopic traffic simulation model is outlined. The traffic simulation package Paramics is used to model the flow of vehicles in realistic traffic conditions on a real road network. This produces details of the amount of pollutant produced by each vehicle at any given time. The authors calculate the dispersion of the pollutant using a particle tracking diffusion method which is superimposed on a known velocity and turbulence field. This paper shows how these individual components may be integrated to provide a practical street canyon pollution model. The resulting street canyon pollution model provides isoconcentrations of pollutant within the road topography.

A module-based approach to foster and document the intercultural process before and during the residence abroad.

This article contributes to the debate on what form of preparation and support can enhance the intercultural student experience during the Year Abroad. It presents a credit-bearing and multi-modal module at a UK university designed to both prepare students prior to departure through a series of workshops and activities on an e-portfolio and help them engage in meta-reflection on intercultural issues during their stay. The presentation of the curricular components of the course and instances extracted from student blogs are contextualised within theoretical considerations on intercultural education and a holistic approach to student development. The longitudinal evolution of the module is presented in the context of an iterative approach leading to a cycle of revisions and amendments. With its pragmatic stance this article aims to address one of the concerns recently expressed about intercultural education, namely that although intercultural theories are suitably incorporated in the latest thinking on communicative competence, there is a lack of evidence-based practice.