scholarly journals Resilience metrics for transport networks: a review and practical examples for bridges

Author(s):  
Sotirios A. Argyroudis

Climate change, diverse geohazards and structural deterioration pose major challenges in planning, maintenance and emergency response for transport infrastructure operators. Hence, to manage these risks and adapt to changing conditions, well-informed resilience assessment and decision-making tools are required. These tools are commonly associated with resilience metrics, which quantify the capacity of transport networks to withstand and absorb damage, recover after a disruption and adapt to future changes. Several resilience metrics have been proposed in the literature, however, there is lack of practical applications and worked examples. This paper attempts to fill this gap and provide engineers and novice researchers with a review of available metrics on the basis of the main properties of resilience, i.e. robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness and rapidity. The main steps of resilience assessment for transport infrastructure such as bridges are discussed and the use of fragility and restoration functions to assess the robustness and rapidity of recovery is demonstrated. Practical examples are provided using a bridge exposed to scour effects as a benchmark. Also, an illustrative example of a systems of assets is provided and different aspects of resilience-based decision making are discussed, aiming to provide a comprehensive, yet straightforward, understanding of resilience.

2019 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Tomasz Jałowiec

One of the key elements of the critical infrastructure of the state is the transport system. Its development is determined by a number of various factors, among which the priority role falls to defence issues. In accordance with the provisions of strategic doctrinal documents, the construction of a modern transport system, combined with the introduction of modern means of transport is one of the key areas in the system of defence preparations and state emergency response. From the perspective of contemporary conditions, the development of transport networks is necessary to ensure the required conditions of movement of people and the transport of armaments and military equipment, to meet the living needs of the population and the possibility of evacuation, support of the Polish Armed Forces and allied forces in the crisis or war time. The article, based on performed researches has identified the essence and importance of defence needs for the development of transport infrastructure in Poland.


This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6949
Author(s):  
Gang Lin ◽  
Shaoli Wang ◽  
Conghua Lin ◽  
Linshan Bu ◽  
Honglei Xu

To mitigate car traffic problems, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) issued a document that provides guidelines for sustainable development and the promotion of public transport. The efficiency of the policies and strategies needs to be evaluated to improve the performance of public transportation networks. To assess the performance of a public transport network, it is first necessary to select evaluation criteria. Based on existing indicators, this research proposes a public transport criteria matrix that includes the basic public transport infrastructure level, public transport service level, economic benefit level, and sustainable development level. A public transport criteria matrix AHP model is established to assess the performance of public transport networks. The established model selects appropriate evaluation criteria based on existing performance standards. It is applied to study the Stonnington, Bayswater, and Cockburn public transport network, representing a series of land use and transport policy backgrounds. The local public transport authorities can apply the established transport criteria matrix AHP model to monitor the performance of a public transport network and provide guidance for its improvement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 103250
Author(s):  
Janna Ataiants ◽  
Megan K. Reed ◽  
David G. Schwartz ◽  
Alexis Roth ◽  
Gabriela Marcu ◽  
...  

Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Alan C. Logan ◽  
Susan H. Berman ◽  
Richard B. Scott ◽  
Brian M. Berman ◽  
Susan L. Prescott

The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place, and planet. It emphasizes the interconnected grand challenges of our time, and underscores the need for integration of biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Here, in our Viewpoint article, we revisit vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk’s contention that wisdom is central to the concept of planetary health. Our perspective is centered on the idea that practical wisdom is associated with decision-making that leads to flourishing—the vitality and fullest potential of individuals, communities, and life on the planet as a whole. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has illustrated the acute consequences of unwise and mindless leadership; yet, wisdom and mindfulness, or lack thereof, is no less consequential to grotesque biodiversity losses, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health inequalities, and social injustices. Since mindfulness is a teachable asset linked to both wisdom and flourishing, we argue that mindfulness deserves much greater attention in the context of planetary health.


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