scholarly journals Risk assessment for wildland fire aerial detection patrol route planning in Ontario, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin B. McFayden ◽  
Douglas G. Woolford ◽  
Aaron Stacey ◽  
Den Boychuk ◽  
Joshua M. Johnston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Route Planning ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Explicit Measure

This study presents a model developed using a risk-based framework that is calibrated by experts, and provides a spatially explicit measure of need for aerial detection daily in Ontario, Canada. This framework accounts for potential fire occurrence, behaviour and impact as well as the likelihood of detection by the public. A three-step assessment process of risk, opportunity and tolerance is employed, and the results represent the risk of not searching a specified area for the detection of wildland fires. Subjective assessment of the relative importance of these factors was elicited from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry experts to develop an index that captures their behaviour when they plan aerial detection patrol routes. The model is implemented to automatically produce a province-wide, fine-scale risk index map each day. A retrospective analysis found a statistically significant association between points that aerial detection patrols passed over and their aerial detection demand index values: detection patrols were more likely to pass over areas where the index was higher.

scholarly journals Escape Route Index: A Spatially-Explicit Measure of Wildland Firefighter Egress Capacity

Fire ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Campbell ◽  
Wesley G. Page ◽  
Philip E. Dennison ◽  
Bret W. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Vegetation Density ◽  
Escape Route ◽  
Evacuation Time ◽  
Density Mapping ◽  
Explicit Measure

For wildland firefighters, the ability to efficiently evacuate the fireline is limited by terrain, vegetation, and fire conditions. The impacts of terrain and vegetation on evacuation time to a safety zone may not be apparent when considering potential control locations either at the time of a wildfire or during pre-suppression planning. To address the need for a spatially-explicit measure of egress capacity, this paper introduces the Escape Route Index (ERI). Ranging from 0 to 1, ERI is a normalized ratio of the distance traveled within a time frame, accounting for impedance by slope and vegetation, to the optimal distance traveled in the absence of these impediments. An ERI approaching 1 indicates that terrain and vegetation conditions should have little impact on firefighter mobility while an ERI approaching 0 is representative of limited cross-country travel mobility. The directional nature of evacuation allows for the computation of four ERI metrics: (1) ERImean (average ERI in all travel directions); (2) ERImin (ERI in direction of lowest egress); (3) ERImax (ERI in direction of highest egress); and (4) ERIazimuth (azimuth of ERImax direction). We demonstrate the implementation of ERI for three different evacuation time frames (10, 20, and 30 min) on the Angeles National Forest in California, USA. A previously published, crowd-sourced relationship between slope and travel rate was used to account for terrain, while vegetation was accounted for by using land cover to adjust travel rates based on factors from the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS). Land cover was found to have a stronger impact on ERI values than slope. We also modeled ERI values for several recent wildland firefighter entrapments to assess the degree to which landscape conditions may have contributed to these events, finding that ERI values were generally low from the crews’ evacuation starting points. We conclude that mapping ERI prior to engaging a fire could help inform overall firefighter risk for a given location and aid in identifying locations with greater egress capacity in which to focus wildland fire suppression, thus potentially reducing risk of entrapment. Continued improvements in accuracy of vegetation density mapping and increased availability of light detection and ranging (lidar) will greatly benefit future implementations of ERI.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Evaluation on the Operation Index Applied to Public Hospitals in Pudong New District of Shanghai, China

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 004695801879059
Author(s):  
Shanshan Liu ◽  
Jiaoling Huang ◽  
Yanting Li ◽  
Jincheng Fan ◽  
Hong Liang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Risk ◽  
Public Hospital ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Condition Index ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Operating Index ◽  
The Public ◽  
Management Condition ◽  
Service Operation ◽  
Public Hospital Reform

The public hospital reform has lasted 5 years in China; however, the operation development status and trends of public hospitals have not been systematically evaluated in Pudong New District. We first applied the technology of longitudinal index to assess the development of public hospitals there. The quantitative data were mainly gathered by taking health statistics database from 2009 to 2014. The results showed that overall operating index presented a down-up trend, with the highest point in 2014 and the lowest point in 2012. Overall operating index, development foundation index, and management condition index were found to be statistically different ( P = .010, P = .016, P = .031) in different years, whereas the service operation index and financial risk index were not so ( P = .543, P = .228). Moreover, the results demonstrated that no obvious difference was observed in the overall operating index between the general and specialized hospitals ( P = .327), which was the same in the 4 first-class indexes. However, there were statistical differences in the overall operating index and development foundation index among these 5 years ( P = .018, P = .036), but none in the service operation index, management condition index, and financial risk index ( P = .503, P = .062, P = .177). No interaction effects were discovered between year and hospital categories in the current study ( P = .673, P = .375, P = .885, P = .152, P = .288).

scholarly journals Decentralised open data publishing for the public transport route planning ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián Rojas ◽  
Bert Marcelis ◽  
Eveline Vlassenroot ◽  
Mathias Van Compernolle ◽  
Pieter Colpaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Route Planning ◽  
Data Publishing ◽  
The Public

Chapter 8 in the edited volume Situating Open Data.

Planning for Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes: A Process within Your Grasp

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Connolly ◽  
Sandra DeYoung
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Nursing Student ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Assessment Of Student Learning ◽  
College Of Nursing ◽  
Total Program

Assessment in educational institutions is mandated by the public and by accrediting organizations. Faculty must plan for program assessment within the context of the college or university goals and assessment projects. Within the department or college of nursing, student learning outcomes must be assessed at the total program level and at the course and classroom levels. Faculty who are motivated to plan assessments and use outcome data should take leadership in the process. The process consists of determining the outcomes to be assessed, the measures to be used, and the standards to be reached. When data has been collected, it must be evaluated and used to make improvements. Finally, the assessment process itself should be assessed. This article gives examples of assessment methods for all levels of assessment at the institution, but especially at the program and course levels. A departmental assessment blueprint is included. The end result of implementation of an assessment plan is that at every level of the institution, excellence should be enhanced.

scholarly journals Observational properties of ultra-diffuse galaxies in low-density environments: field UDGs are predominantly blue and star forming

2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (2) ◽  
pp. 2143-2157 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Prole ◽  
R F J van der Burg ◽  
M Hilker ◽  
J I Davies
Keyword(s):  
Surface Brightness ◽  
Scaling Relations ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Total Field ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
The Public ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
Low Surface Brightness ◽  
Strategic Program ◽  
Formation Efficiency

Abstract While we have learnt much about ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) in groups and clusters, relatively little is known about them in less dense environments. More isolated UDGs are important for our understanding of UDG formation scenarios because they form via secular mechanisms, allowing us to determine the relative importance of environmentally driven formation in groups and clusters. We have used the public Kilo-Degree Survey together with the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program to constrain the abundance and properties of UDGs in the field, targeting sources with low surface brightness (24.0 ≤ $\bar{\mu }_{\mathrm{ e},r}$ ≤ 26.5) and large apparent sizes (3.0 arcsec ≤ $\bar{r}_{\mathrm{ e},r}$ ≤ 8.0 arcsec). Accounting for several sources of interlopers in our selection based on canonical scaling relations, and using an empirical UDG model based on measurements from the literature, we show that a scenario in which cluster-like red-sequence UDGs occupy a significant number of field galaxies is unlikely, with most field UDGs being significantly bluer and showing signs of localized star formation. An immediate conclusion is that UDGs are much more efficiently quenched in high-density environments. We estimate an upper limit on the total field abundance of UDGs of 8 ± 3 × 10−3 cMpc−3 within our selection range. We also compare the total field abundance of UDGs to a measurement of the abundance of H i-rich UDGs from the literature, suggesting that they occupy at least one-fifth of the overall UDG population. The mass formation efficiency of UDGs implied by this upper limit is similar to what is measured in groups and clusters.

Using simulation to map fire regimes: an evaluation of approaches, strategies, and limitations

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Keane ◽  
Geoffrey J. Cary ◽  
Russell Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Eastern Australia

Spatial depictions of fire regimes are indispensable to fire management because they portray important characteristics of wildland fire, such as severity, intensity, and pattern, across a landscape that serves as important reference for future treatment activities. However, spatially explicit fire regime maps are difficult and costly to create requiring extensive expertise in fire history sampling, multivariate statistics, remotely sensed image classification, fire behaviour and effects, fuel dynamics, landscape ecology, simulation modelling, and geographical information systems (GIS). This paper first compares three common strategies for predicting fire regimes (classification, empirical, and simulation) using a 51�000�ha landscape in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area of Montana, USA. Simulation modelling is identified as the best overall strategy with respect to developing temporally deep spatial fire patterns, but it has limitations. To illustrate these problems, we performed three simulation experiments using the LANDSUM spatial model to determine the relative importance of (1) simulation time span; (2) fire frequency parameters; and (3) fire size parameters on the simulation of landscape fire return interval. The model used to simulate fire regimes is also very important, so we compared two spatially explicit landscape fire succession models (LANDSUM and FIRESCAPE) to demonstrate differences between model predictions and limitations of each on a neutral landscape. FIRESCAPE was developed for simulating fire regimes in eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia. Finally, challenges for future simulation and fire regime research are presented including field data, scale, fire regime variability, map obsolescence, and classification resolution.

Wildland Fire Danger Zoning - a Methodology

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Gouma ◽  
A Chronopoulou-Sereli
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Geographic Information System ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Overlay Analysis ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Thematic Maps ◽  
Mountain Area

A mountain area in Southeastern Greece exposed to wildland fire problems was used to establish a method for fire danger zoning. Meteorological risk (MR), fuel susceptibility (FS) and fire occurrence (FO) maps are created. The method integrates these maps and produces the constant and variable danger (CFD,VFD) zones that require respective activities for wildland fire prevention. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to perform the overlay analysis of thematic maps and delineate the fire danger zones.

Learnings from recent offshore project proposal submissions

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 461
Author(s):  
Naomi L. Kerp ◽  
Claire Weller
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Project Lifecycle ◽  
Made In ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

The offshore project proposal (OPP) process was introduced in 2014 as part of the streamlining of regulatory processes under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to provide for offshore petroleum developments to be assessed early in the project lifecycle. The OPP process involves the assessment of environmental impacts and risks of petroleum activities conducted over the life of an offshore project by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). An OPP for an offshore project must be accepted by NOPSEMA before a titleholder can submit environment plans for activities that make up the offshore project. Although the OPP process is not new, it has proven complex to navigate, with four revisions to the OPP contents requirements guideline published by NOPSEMA since inception, and only three OPPs reaching the public consultation stage to date. An OPP is required to describe the offshore project; describe the environment that may be affected by the project; set out environmental performance outcomes for the project; describe feasible alternatives to the project or its activities; and evaluate environmental impacts and risks of the project. This paper provides insight to the OPP drafting, submission and assessment process, with shared key learnings based on actual examples of OPP submissions made. In particular, we will focus on the crucial elements that haven proven to make an OPP submission effective, including project aspect scoping, understanding relationships between aspects and receptors, building flexibility within set project boundaries and demonstrating acceptability.

Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike D. Flannigan ◽  
Meg A. Krawchuk ◽  
William J. de Groot ◽  
B. Mike Wotton ◽  
Lynn M. Gowman
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
General Increase ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Linear Interactions

Wildland fire is a global phenomenon, and a result of interactions between climate–weather, fuels and people. Our climate is changing rapidly primarily through the release of greenhouse gases that may have profound and possibly unexpected impacts on global fire activity. The present paper reviews the current understanding of what the future may bring with respect to wildland fire and discusses future options for research and management. To date, research suggests a general increase in area burned and fire occurrence but there is a lot of spatial variability, with some areas of no change or even decreases in area burned and occurrence. Fire seasons are lengthening for temperate and boreal regions and this trend should continue in a warmer world. Future trends of fire severity and intensity are difficult to determine owing to the complex and non-linear interactions between weather, vegetation and people. Improved fire data are required along with continued global studies that dynamically include weather, vegetation, people, and other disturbances. Lastly, we need more research on the role of policy, practices and human behaviour because most of the global fire activity is directly attributable to people.

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