scholarly journals Development and Application of STORMTOOLS Design Load (SDL) Maps

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 715
Author(s):  
Isabella Silverman ◽  
Blaze Engelman ◽  
Alexa Leone ◽  
Michael Rothenbucher ◽  
Allison Munch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Design Load ◽  
Residential Structures ◽  
Hydrodynamic Wave ◽  
The Impact

Under the STORMTOOLS initiative, maps of the impact of sea level rise (SLR) (0 to 12 ft), nuisance flooding (1–10 yr), 25, 50, and 100 yr storms, and hindcasts of the four top ranked tropical storms have been developed for the coastal waters of Rhode Island (RI). Estimates of the design elevations, expressed in terms of the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and thus incorporating surge and associated wave conditions, have also been developed, including the effects of SLR to facilitate structural design. Finally, Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) maps have been developed to estimate the risk to individual structures and infrastructure. CERI employs the BFE maps in concert with damage curves for residential and commercial structures to make estimates of damage to individual structures. All maps are available via an ArcGIS Hub. The objective of this senior design capstone project was to develop STORMTOOLS Design Load maps (SDL) with a goal of estimating the hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, wave, and debris loading, based on ASCE/SEI 7–16 Minimum Design Standards methods, on residential structures in the RI coastal floodplain. The resulting maps display the unitized loads and thus can be scaled for any structure of interest. The goal of the maps is to provide environmental loads that support the design of structures, and reduce the time and cost required in performing the design and the permitting process, while also improving the accuracy and consistency of the designs. SDL maps were generated for all loads, including the effects of SLR for a test case: the Watch Hill/Misquamicut Beach, Westerly, along the southern RI coast. The Autodesk Professional Robot Structural Analysis software, along with SDL loading, was used to evaluate the designs for selected on-grade and pile-elevated residential structures. Damage curves were generated for each and shown to be consistent with the US Army Corps of Engineers empirical damage curves currently used in CERI.

scholarly journals Persistently high SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate and incidence for Hispanic/Latinos during state reopening in an urban setting: a retrospective cohort study

2021 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Hsiang Weng ◽  
Andrew Saal ◽  
Daniel C. McGuire ◽  
Philip A. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
The United States ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Latino Population ◽  
Hispanic Latinos ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hispanic White

Abstract Hispanic/Latino populations are disproportionately impacted by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States. The impact of state reopening on COVID-19 in this population after stay-at-home orders is unknown. We evaluated the incidence, prevalence and trends during reopening of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) at a major federally qualified health centre in Providence, Rhode Island. A total of 14 505 patients were tested for SARS-CoV-2 from 19 March to 18 August 2020, of which, data on 13 318 (91.8%) patients were available; 70.0% were Hispanic/Latino, and 2905 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The urban Hispanic/Latino population was almost five times more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 (risk ratio 4.97, 95% CI 2.59–9.53, P < 0.001) compared to non-Hispanic White. The positivity rates among the urban Hispanic/Latino population remained >10% during all phases of reopening. The trends of the incidence rates showed similar associations to those we observed for positivity rates. Public health interventions to address SARS-CoV-2 in Hispanic/Latino communities are urgently needed, even in latter phases of state reopening.

scholarly journals Photovoltaic Power Forecasting: Assessment of the Impact of Multiple Sources of Spatio-Temporal Data on Forecast Accuracy

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1432
Author(s):  
Xwégnon Ghislain Agoua ◽  
Robin Girard ◽  
Georges Kariniotakis
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Images ◽  
Forecast Accuracy ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Temporal Data ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Forecasting Error ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Impact

The efficient integration of photovoltaic (PV) production in energy systems is conditioned by the capacity to anticipate its variability, that is, the capacity to provide accurate forecasts. From the classical forecasting methods in the state of the art dealing with a single power plant, the focus has moved in recent years to spatio-temporal approaches, where geographically dispersed data are used as input to improve forecasts of a site for the horizons up to 6 h ahead. These spatio-temporal approaches provide different performances according to the data sources available but the question of the impact of each source on the actual forecasting performance is still not evaluated. In this paper, we propose a flexible spatio-temporal model to generate PV production forecasts for horizons up to 6 h ahead and we use this model to evaluate the effect of different spatial and temporal data sources on the accuracy of the forecasts. The sources considered are measurements from neighboring PV plants, local meteorological stations, Numerical Weather Predictions, and satellite images. The evaluation of the performance is carried out using a real-world test case featuring a high number of 136 PV plants. The forecasting error has been evaluated for each data source using the Mean Absolute Error and Root Mean Square Error. The results show that neighboring PV plants help to achieve around 10% reduction in forecasting error for the first three hours, followed by satellite images which help to gain an additional 3% all over the horizons up to 6 h ahead. The NWP data show no improvement for horizons up to 6 h but is essential for greater horizons.

scholarly journals Storm Driven Migration of the Napatree Barrier, Rhode Island, USA

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 330
Author(s):  
Bryan A. Oakley
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Tropical Storms ◽  
Lower Intensity ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Washover Fan

Napatree Point, an isolated barrier in southern Rhode Island, provides a case study of barrier spit migration via storm driven overwash and washover fan migration. Documented shoreline changes using historical surveys and vertical aerial photographs show that the barrier had little in the way of net change in position between 1883 and 1939, including the impact of the 1938 hurricane. The barrier retreated rapidly between 1945 and 1975, driven by both tropical and extra-tropical storms. The shoreline position has been largely static since 1975. The removal of the foredune during the 1938 hurricane facilitated landward shoreline migration in subsequent lower intensity storms. Dune recovery following the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm has been allowed due to limited overwash and barrier migration over the last several decades. Shoreline change rates during the period from 1945–1975 were more than double the rate of shoreline change between 1939 and 2014 and triple the rate between 1883 and 2014, exceeding the positional uncertainty of these shoreline pairs. The long-term shoreline change rates used to calculate coastal setbacks in Rhode Island likely underestimate the potential for rapid shoreline retreat over shorter time periods, particularly in a cluster of storm activity. While sea-level rise has increased since 1975, the barrier has not migrated, highlighting the importance of storms in barrier migration.

scholarly journals How Representative Are Snowball Samples? Using the Ethnosurvey to Study Guatemala-U.S. Migration

2016 ◽  
Vol 666 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-76
Author(s):  
David P. Lindstrom
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Background Characteristics ◽  
Household Location ◽  
Sample Weighting ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

This analysis draws on binational data from an ethnosurvey conducted in Guatemala and in the United States in Providence, Rhode Island, to develop a refinement of the weighting scheme that the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) uses. The alternative weighting procedure distinguishes between temporary and settled migrants by using a question on household location in the Guatemala questionnaire that is not used in the MMP. Demographic characteristics and integration experiences of the most recent U.S. trip are used to assess the composition and representativeness of the U.S. sample. Using a composite index of migrant integration to compare the impact of alternative U.S. sample weights on point estimates, I find that although the U.S. sample is broadly representative across a range of background characteristics, the MMP sample weighting procedure biases estimates of migrant integration downward.

Design Range of Indoor Relative Humidity in Radiant Cooling Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 243-249 ◽  
pp. 4905-4908
Author(s):  
Xue Min Sui ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Guang Hui Han
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Mean Radiant Temperature ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Human Thermal Comfort ◽  
Radiant Cooling ◽  
Climate Parameter ◽  
Radiant Temperature ◽  
Thermal Comfort Model ◽  
The Impact

Relative humidity is an important micro-climate parameter in radiant cooling environment. Based on the human thermal comfort model, this paper studied the effect on PMV index of relative humidity, and studied the relationship of low mean radiant temperature and relative humidity, drew the appropriate design range of indoor relative humidity for radiant cooling systems.The results show that high relative humidity can compensate for the impact on thermal comfort of low mean radiant temperature, on the premise of achieving the same thermal comfort requirements. However, because of the limited compensation range of relative humidity, together with the constraints for it due to anti-condensation of radiant terminal devices, the design range of relative humidity should not be improved, and it can still use the traditional air-conditioning design standards.

Assessing the impact of library instruction on studio-based research: developing a qualitative model

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Petraits
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Library Instruction ◽  
Qualitative Model ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Fostering Reflection ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Coordinator

Throughout the year, research and instruction librarians at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) instruct students in ways to use the library for studio-based research. At the end of each semester, librarians attend studio critiques for these classes to see the finished work and participate in the critique. These visits are opportunities to look for and reflect upon the presence of research and the impact of concepts taught during library research workshops on the finished presentations and artworks. The coordinator of graduate library instruction created a qualitative tool to assess the evidence of student learning within the studio critique. Its use is cultivating a culture of art and design research within the library and throughout campus by fostering reflection and discussion about the value of qualitative assessment.

scholarly journals Assessment of Soil Fertility and Crop Nutrient Status in Agricultural Soils Near a Brick Kiln Cluster

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Nasrin Chowdhury ◽  
Md. Mamunur Rasid
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Contamination Factor ◽  
Nutrition Status ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Optimum Level ◽  
Brick Kiln ◽  
The Impact

Brick kiln exhaust when deposited can hamper the nutritional status of the agricultural soils and crops. To study the impact, soil and associated plant samples were collected from the vicinity of a brick kiln cluster in Chattogram, Bangladesh. The soil contamination was evaluated by heavy metal indices. Agricultural soils close to the brick kiln area were very strongly acid to slightly acid. Organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorus content of the agriculture soils near brick kiln cluster were 0.35% to 1.01%, 0.10 to 0.24% and 2.21 to 13.48 mg kg-1 respectively and the significant different mean value of 0.70%, 0.22% and 14.65 mg kg-1 respectively in the reference soil. The nutritional status of sampling sites was lower than the previously reported data. The nutrition status of the plants was at an optimum level as regular fertilizer application was practiced but showed an irregular pattern along with all the soil parameters and heavy metal indices. The contamination factor (Cd), potential ecological risk index (PER) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) demonstrated that the agricultural soils in the vicinity of the brick kiln cluster were moderately- to highly-polluted. This indicates the deterioration of soil quality by uncontrolled brick kiln operation.

scholarly journals Improving indicators of tuberculosis program cascades by leveraging HIV program strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-195
Author(s):  
S. C. Meribe ◽  
E. Harausz ◽  
I. Lawal ◽  
A. Ogundeji ◽  
C. Mbanefo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Military Hospitals ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Army Medical Research ◽  
Signed Rank Test ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Background: To improve rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) case detection and treatment, the Nigerian Ministry of Defense Health Implementation Program and the US Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa/Nigeria introduced a HIV standard of care (SOC) package. Given the integration of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV programs and evolving policies, we evaluated the impact of this strategy on TB program indicators.Methods: Routine, de-identified program data from 27 Nigerian military hospitals were analyzed. Using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, bivariate analyses were performed to compare data from 12 months before and after implementation of the SOC package.Results: Our data showed improvements post-implementation as follows: the number of individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) screened for TB increased from 14 530 to 29 467 (P < 0.001); the number of individuals with presumptive TB identified increased from 803 to 1800 (P < 0.001); the number of ART clients bacteriologically tested for TB increased from 746 to 1717 (P < 0.001); and the number of ART clients treated for TB increased from 152 to 282 (P < 0.001). Newly registered or relapsed TB cases increased from 436 to 906 (P < 0.001), the number of TB cases with known HIV status increased from 437 to 837 (P < 0.001), the number of TB-HIV co-infected cases increased from 182 to 301 (P = 0.006), and the number of TB-HIV co-infected clients who started ART increased from 101 to 176 (P = 0.003).Conclusion: The implementation of the updated HIV SOC package led to the improvement in key TB diagnosis and treatment indicators. When emulated, this could help improve the performance of other TB programs in countries other than Nigeria.

scholarly journals The Simulation of Sloped Bank Effect Influence on Container Ship Trajectory

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1283
Author(s):  
Mate Baric ◽  
Robert Mohovic ◽  
Djani Mohovic ◽  
Vinko Pavic
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Flow ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Suez Canal ◽  
Container Ship ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Bank Effect ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
External Forces ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vessel Speed

The latest container vessel grounding in the Suez Canal, which occurred on 23 March 2021 (the Ever Given), raised many questions regarding the safety of navigation. The sudden concern about safety is due to fears that traffic flow through the Suez Canal could be blocked for longer periods of time. Besides external forces imposed by wind, in this case bank effect had a significant influence on the ship’s grounding. Bank effect occurs due to restricted water flow caused by narrow waterways. Many fairway design standards consider sloped banks such as those of the Suez Canal as unsubstantial in bank-effect forces. This paper analyses the impact of sloped banks on container ship trajectory and proposes minimal distances that may decrease bank-effect forces in order to reduce the risk of vessel grounding and increase the safety of navigation. However, this type of accident has happened before and may occur again due to a small sailing distance from the bank in cases where vessel speed is increased.

scholarly journals A copula-based assessment of Bartlett–Lewis type of rainfall models for preserving drought statistics

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 7469-7516 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Pham ◽  
W. J. Vanhaute ◽  
S. Vandenberghe ◽  
B. De Baets ◽  
N. E. C. Verhoest
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Rainfall Time Series ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Drought Duration ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Stochastic Point Process ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Of all natural disasters, the economic and environmental consequences of droughts are among the highest because of their longevity and widespread spatial extent. Because of their extreme behaviour, studying droughts generally requires long time series of historical climate data. Rainfall is a very important variable for calculating drought statistics, for quantifying historical droughts or for assessing the impact on other hydrological (e.g. water stage in rivers) or agricultural (e.g. irrigation requirements) variables. Unfortunately, time series of historical observations are often too short for such assessments. To circumvent this, one may rely on the synthetic rainfall time series from stochastic point process rainfall models, such as Bartlett–Lewis models. The present study investigates whether drought statistics are preserved when simulating rainfall with Bartlett–Lewis models. Therefore, a 105 yr 10 min rainfall time series obtained at Uccle, Belgium is used as test case. First, drought events were identified on the basis of the Effective Drought Index (EDI), and each event was characterized by two variables, i.e. drought duration (D) and drought severity (S). As both parameters are interdependent, a multivariate distribution function, which makes use of a copula, was fitted. Based on the copula, four types of drought return periods are calculated for observed as well as simulated droughts and are used to evaluate the ability of the rainfall models to simulate drought events with the appropriate characteristics. Overall, all Bartlett–Lewis type of models studied fail in preserving extreme drought statistics, which is attributed to the model structure and to the model stationarity caused by maintaining the same parameter set during the whole simulation period.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document