Publications

COST Action 298 ‘Participation in the Broadband Society’ has been working towards understanding the factors that both constrain and enable users’ abilities to shape and use ICTs and more broadly have a bearing on different cross-cultural experiences of technology. As in the previous and successful conferences, COST 298 invited technology and product developers, desginers, social scientist, policy makers, community representatives and early stage researchers who are interested in the conference topics, to join our attempt to develop this discussion on a common, shared and transdisciplinary ground. We asked participants to

– strive to present their approach to technology from a human-centric point of view, and to
– present their topic in a language that attempts to transcend disciplinary boundaries, a language that non-experts can also understand, and to
– not only report on their work, but also to engage in the conference debate which aims to develop ways to understand the interests of people and society, to evaluate developments against such an evolving understanding, and to chart interesting and desirable future directions.

In addition to promoting and understanding of the current and future developments in a broadband information society, the event aimed to promote networking between and a dialogue with colleagues from around Europe and the rest of the world.

This book, based on Transport and Urban Development COST Action TU1208, presents the most advanced applications of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in a civil engineering context, with documentation of instrumentation, methods and results. It explains clearly how GPR can be employed for the surveying of critical transport infrastructure, such as roads, pavements, bridges and tunnels and for the sensing and mapping of underground utilities and voids. Detailed attention is also devoted to use of GPR in the inspection of geological structures and of construction materials and structures, including reinforced concrete, steel reinforcing bars and pre/post-tensioned stressing ducts. Advanced methods for solution of electromagnetic scattering problems and new data processing techniques are also presented. Readers will come to appreciate that GPR is a safe, advanced, non destructive and noninvasive imaging technique that can be effectively used for the inspection of composite structures and the performance of diagnostics relevant to the entire life cycle of civil engineering works.

This publication presents a collection of academic works associated with the second annual conference of the Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) which took place at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania, between 3 and 5 may 2011. The conference was Chaired by Dr William Webster and Dr Doina Balahur. The edited collection is organized around the diverse but related academic activities including : individual conference paper presentations, LiSS Working Group “Showcases”, the LiSS Doctoral School and European Research workshop.