Northwestern Europe | EPFL Graph Search

Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The term is used in geographic, history, and military contexts. Geographic definitions Geographically, Northwestern Europe is given by some sources as a region which includes Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Northern France, parts of Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. In some works, Switzerland, Finland, and Austria are also included as part of Northwestern Europe. Under the Interreg program, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, "North-West Europe" (NWE) is a region of European Territorial Cooperation that includes Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and parts of France and Germany. Et

Permanence and Persistence Conception, Construction and Conversion of Modern Cinema Theatres [1910-1939]

Joana de Almeida Gouveia Oliveira Alves

This work is based on the assumption that it is possible to achieve sustainable development by preserving the twentieth century heritage. Modern European cinemas were especially vulnerable to the passing of time: in a few decades buildings with tremendous socio-cultural importance became obsolete structures in cities. This research into cinema theatre design in Western Europe during the period 1910-1939 is based on articles on cinema design published in leading architectural periodicals, using the information they contain to trace the history of the cinemas which had the greatest influence on the development of this building type in Europe. Chapters II and III focus on the theoretical and technical approaches to cinema building and aim to synthesise the ideas discussed at the time. They represent a study of the emergence of cinema as an autonomous architectural programme and how this building type was developed. The final chapters concern the abandonment of cinema theatres, which has resulted in a number of public demonstrations calling for the function of these buildings as cultural venues to be maintained and for their physical conservation. Unlike the usual nostalgic approach, an objective study of the conversion processes for these buildings enables conversion patterns to be identified. A significant number of the buildings in the study were demolished or gutted as a result of speculative financial ventures, while others were reused. The ultimate purpose of this thesis is to understand the aspects on which the life cycle of a cinema theatre and its permanence in the urban fabric depend, even if it serves a different function.

EPFL2015

The role of mixing in controlling resource availability and phytoplankton community composition

Bieito Fernandez Castro, Emilio Marañón

We investigate the role of mixing, through its effect on nutrient and light availability, as a driver of phytoplankton community composition in the context of Margalef’s mandala. Data on microstructure turbulence, irradiance, new nitrogen supply and phytoplankton composition were collected at 102 stations in three contrasting marine environments: the Galician coastal upwelling system of the northwest Iberian Peninsula, the northwestern Mediterranean, and the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Photosynthetic pigments concentration and microscopic analysis allowed us to investigate the contribution of diatoms, dinoflagellates, pico- and nanoeukaryotes, and cyanobacteria to the phytoplankton community. Simple linear regression was used to assess the role of environmental factors on community composition, and environmental overlap among different phytoplankton groups was computed using nonparametric kernel density functions. Mixing and new nitrogen supply played an important role in controlling the phytoplankton community structure. At lower values of mixing and new nitrogen supply cyanobacteria dominated, pico- and nanoeukaryotes were dominant across a wide range of environmental conditions, and finally enhanced new nitrogen supply was favourable for diatoms and dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates were prevalent at intermediate mixing levels, whereas diatoms spread across a wider range of mixing conditions. Occasional instances of enhanced diatom biomass were found under low mixing, associated with the high abundance of Hemiaulus hauckii co-occurring with high N2 fixation in subtropical regions, and with the formation of thin layers in the Galician coastal upwelling. Our results verify the Margalef’s mandala for the whole phytoplankton community, emphasizing the need to consider nutrient supply, rather than nutrient concentration, as an indicator of nutrient availability.

2019

The role of mixing in controlling resource availability and phytoplankton community composition

Bieito Fernandez Castro, Emilio Marañón

2019