scholarly journals Exploring the Potential of Zoning Regulation for Reducing Ice-Jam Flood Risk Using a Stochastic Modelling Framework

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2202
Author(s):  
Apurba Das ◽  
Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Stochastic Modelling ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Design Flood ◽  
Fort Mcmurray ◽  
Ice Jam ◽  
Stochastic Framework ◽  
The Impact

Ice-jam floods pose a serious threat to many riverside communities in cold regions. Ice-jam-related flooding can cause loss of human life, millions of dollars in property damage, and adverse impacts on ecology. An effective flood management strategy is necessary to reduce the overall risk in flood-prone areas. Most of these strategies require a detailed risk-based management study to assess their effectiveness in reducing flood risk. Zoning regulation is a sustainable measure to reduce overall flood risk for a flood-prone area. Zoning regulation is a specified area in a floodplain where certain restrictions apply to different land uses (e.g., development or business). A stochastic framework was introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of a potential zoning regulation. A stochastic framework encompasses the impacts of all the possible expected floods instead of a more traditional approach where a single design flood is incorporated. The downtown area of Fort McMurray along the Athabasca River was selected to explore the impact of zoning regulation on reducing expected annual damages (EAD) from ice-jam flooding. The results show that a hypothetical zoning regulation for a certain area in the town of Fort McMurray (TFM) can be effective in substantially reducing the level of EAD. A global sensitivity analysis was also applied to understand the impacts of model inputs on ice-jam flood risk using a regional sensitivity method. The results show that model boundary conditions such as river discharge, the inflowing volume of ice and ice-jam toe locations are highly sensitive to ice-jam flood risk.

Nature-Based Solutions: Dependency of Effectiveness on Spatial Configuration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Pattison
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
The Impact

<p>Several recent large flood events have had severe economic and social impacts. The winter 2015-16 UK floods resulted in 16,000 properties flooding and damage to critical infrastructure. It is increasingly being recognised that traditional approaches of flood defence are not sustainable due to the pressures of climate change and economic constraints. The solution to the flood risk problem in cities is no longer seen as being just on-site, and thinking is shifting upstream and to the catchment/landscape scales, known as Nature-Based Solutions or Natural Flood Management (NFM). The approach consists of measures that “Work with Natural Processes”, such as storing water in ponds, and slowing the flow in rivers. The evidence for the impacts is strong at the local scale, but the larger spatial scale impact is highly uncertain due to the cumulative impacts resulting from amplifying/mitigating effects of different interventions, controlled by spatial location and storm-track interaction.</p><p>To date, Nature-Based Solution schemes have proceeded on an opportunistic basis, without a clear design strategy (which measure and where to implement it). However, if schemes are implemented without clear understanding of their impacts, they may, at best, fail to achieve the optimum flood reduction benefit downstream, or, at worst, make flooding more severe (if implemented in inappropriate locations, when tributaries’ flows are synchronised).  </p><p><span>Impacts of NFM measures are spatially and temporally dependent i.e. the same intervention in two locations will have different effects on flows, and the same intervention will have different impacts during different storm events. Therefore, it is essential that when strategically designing NFM schemes for catchments, that WHERE? and WHAT? are answered together to optimise the impact, as it is possible that whilst upstream NFM may be beneficial locally it may make tributary peaks coincide and make flood magnitudes worse downstream. Here we demonstrate the importance of the spatial configuration of Nature-Based Solutions on their catchment scale effectiveness in reducing flood risk.</span></p>

scholarly journals A Stochastic Modelling Approach to Forecast Real-time Ice Jam Flood Severity Along the Transborder (New Brunswick/Maine) Saint John River of North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apurba Das ◽  
Sujata Budhathoki ◽  
Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Stochastic Modelling ◽  
Stochastic Approach ◽  
Monte Carlo Analysis ◽  
Flood Forecasting ◽  
River Ice ◽  
Ice Jam ◽  
Saint John ◽  
Modelling Approach

Abstract Ice jam floods (IJF) are a major concern for many riverine communities, government and non-government authorities and companies in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Ice jam related flooding can result in millions of dollars of property damages, loss of human life and adverse impacts on ecology. Ice jam flood forecasting is challenging as its formation mechanism is chaotic and depends on numerous unpredictable hydraulic and river ice factors. In this study, Modélisation environnementale communautaire – surface hydrology (MESH), a semi-distributed physically-based land-surface hydrological modelling system was used to acquire a 10-day flow forecast, an important boundary condition for any modelling of river ice-jam flood forecasting. A stochastic modelling approach was then applied to simulate hundreds of possible ice-jam scenarios using the hydrodynamic river ice model RIVICE within a Monte-Carlo Analysis (MOCA) framework for the Saint John River from Fort Kent to Grand Falls. First, a 10-day outlook was simulated to provide insight on the severity of ice jam flooding during spring breakup. Then, 3-day forecasts were modelled to provide longitudinal profiles of exceedance probabilities of ice jam flood staging along the river during the ice-cover breakup. Overall, results show that the stochastic approach performed well to estimate maximum probable ice-jam backwater level elevations for the spring 2021 breakup season.

scholarly journals Does Flooding Define the Aquapelago? Constructing Venice’s flood disaster risk personality

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Kelman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Flood Disaster ◽  
Flood Disasters ◽  
The Impact

Part of Venice’s character and appeal is sometimes constructed and construed as being not just about water, but also about the role which flood management plays, especially avoiding floods. A ‘disaster risk personality’ is created regarding water-land interaction, based mainly on avoiding inundation. This paper explores the construction of this approach for Venice’s flood disaster risk personality through a conceptual examination of Venice as an aquapelago to understand water-land links and separations. With this baseline, three decision-making lessons for Venice’s flood disaster risk personality are detailed: (i) the dynamicity of the water-land interface and hence the aquapelago, (ii) the impact of structural approaches on disaster risk personality, and (iii) the implications of submergence. While non-structural approaches to flood risk management tend to have the best long-term successes in averting flood disasters, Venice has chosen the opposite approach of constructing a large barrier, substantively changing its disaster risk personality. This choice is not inherently positive or negative, with the desirability and usefulness being subjective and based on the (flood) disaster risk personality sought for the locale.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact Index of Urbanization Index on Urban Flood Risk

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 509-516
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Tapi Basin ◽  
The Impact

The process of urbanization has changed overall Land use/Land cover patterns which are being attributed to flooding and resulting in the economic damages from flooding events. This current study aims to evaluate the implication of spatiotemporal changes of LULC Pattern on the flood risk of Surat city (Gujarat, India), Lower Tapi Basin. The Topographical maps and satellite imagery of Resources-1 of the year 1968 and the year 2006 respectively are used for analyses the urbanization index. As the flood risk is a combination of flood hazard, and vulnerability of the urbanized area, flood losses are expected to rise due to change in each of these aspects. The remote sensing and spatial analysis tools of Geographic Information System (GIS) have been used to statistically examine the flood risk index along with their different land-use scenarios. It has been observed that other than natural processes, rapid urbanization obstructions are being considered as one of the main drivers of flood risk aggravation, and if so, it has made essential for the implementation of flood management approach at the top priority for reducing the risk of flood.

Forms of physical activity of the elderly

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-228
Author(s):  
Piotr Czarnecki ◽  
◽  
Justyna Podgórska-Bednarz ◽  
Lidia Perenc ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
Central Statistical ◽  
Key Phrases ◽  
The Impact

Introduction. Physical activity is known to be an important factor influencing health throughout human life. This issue has become crucial for public health due to the aging of the population in both developed and developing countries. Aim. is to present a literature review on the forms of physical activity undertaken by the elderly, as well as on issues related to physical activity and the population aging. Material and methods. The study was prepared on the basis of a review of Polish and foreign literature. The following databases and data sources were used: EBSCO, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. An additional source of data were the websites of the Central Statistical Office. Strictly defined key phrases were used during the collection of literature. The work has been divided into thematic subsections on the aging of the society, the impact of physical activity on health and the main topic, i.e. forms of physical activity selected by the elderly. Analysis of the literature. The number of elderly people in Polish society has increased by almost 3.7 million over three decades. Therefore, an important topic is prophylaxis aimed at increasing the number of days in good health, largely covering the broadly understood activation of the elderly. The available data indicate that only 12% of elderly people undertake physical activity once a week. The most common form of spending free time actively is walking (as many as 73% of people in this population declare this form of physical activity in one of the presented studies). Conclusion. Organized forms of physical activity are undertaken much less frequently by the analyzed age group mainly due to financial limitations and limited availability of sports infrastructure.

The Status of Mind and Intellect in Digital Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-143
Author(s):  
Elena I. Yaroslavtseva
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Natural Material ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
Digital World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Natural Foundation ◽  
The Impact

The article examines the impact of digitalization on human life and intellectual experience. The development of computer technology demands an understanding of new aspects of human development and requires a capability to overcome not only external conditions but also ourselves. Entering a new level of development cannot imply a complete rejection of previous dispositions, but should be accompanied by reflection on personal experience and by the quest for new forms of interaction in society and with nature. Communicative and cognitive activity of a person has an ontological basis and relies on processes that actually evolve in nature. Therefore, the creation of new objects is always associated with the properties of natural material and gives rise to new points of support in the development of man. The more audacious his projects, the more important it is to preserve this connection to nature. It is always the human being who turns out to be the initiator who knows how to solve problems. The conformity of complex technical systems to nature is not only a goal but also a value of meaningful construction of development perspectives. The key to the nature orientation of the modern digital world is the human being himself, who keeps all the secrets of the culture of his natural development. Therefore, the proposed by the Russian philosopher V.S. Stepin post-non-classical approach, based on the principle of “human-sizedness,” is an important contribution to contemporary research because it draws attention to the “human – machine” communication, to the relationship between a person and technological systems he created. The article concludes that during digital transformation, a cultural conflict arises: in an effort to solve the problems of the future, a person equips his life with devices that are designed to support him, to expand his functionality, but at the same time, the boundaries of humanity become dissolved and the forms of human activity undergo simplification. Transhumanism engages society in the fight against fears of vulnerability and memory loss and ignores the flexibility and sustainability of natural foundation.

Psychology: Volume 1

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cognitive Capability ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cognition And Affect

This survey of research on psychology in five volumes is a part of a series undertaken by the ICSSR since 1969, which covers various disciplines under social science. Volume One of this survey, Cognitive and Affective Processes, discusses the developments in the study of cognitive and affective processes within the Indian context. It offers an up-to-date assessment of theoretical developments and empirical studies in the rapidly evolving fields of cognitive science, applied cognition, and positive psychology. It also analyses how pedagogy responds to a shift in the practices of knowing and learning. Additionally, drawing upon insights from related fields it proposes epithymetics–desire studies – as an upcoming field of research and the volume investigates the impact of evolving cognitive and affective processes in Indian research and real life contexts. The development of cognitive capability distinguishes human beings from other species and allows creation and use of complex verbal symbols, facilitates imagination and empowers to function at an abstract level. However, much of the vitality characterizing human life is owed to the diverse emotions and desires. This has made the study of cognition and affect as frontier areas of psychology. With this in view, this volume focuses on delineating cognitive scientific contributions, cognition in educational context, context, diverse applications of cognition, psychology of desire, and positive psychology. The five chapters comprising this volume have approached the scholarly developments in the fields of cognition and affect in innovative ways, and have addressed basic as well applied issues.

Stochastic simulation for determining the design flood of cascade reservoir systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 54-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohong Lu ◽  
Huanghe Gu ◽  
Ziyin Xie ◽  
Jiufu Liu ◽  
Lejun Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Stochastic Simulation ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Simulation Method ◽  
Simulation Approach ◽  
Design Flood ◽  
Design Values ◽  
Stochastic Simulation Model ◽  
The Impact

Stochastic simulation is widely applied for estimating the design flood of various hydrosystems. The design flood at a reservoir site should consider the impact of upstream reservoirs, along with any development of hydropower. This paper investigates and applies a stochastic simulation approach for determining the design flood of a complex cascade of reservoirs in the Longtan watershed, southern China. The magnitude of the design flood when the impact of the upstream reservoirs is considered is less than that without considering them. In particular, the stochastic simulation model takes into account both systematic and historical flood records. As the reliability of the frequency analysis increases with more representative samples, it is desirable to incorporate historical flood records, if available, into the stochastic simulation model. This study shows that the design values from the stochastic simulation method with historical flood records are higher than those without historical flood records. The paper demonstrates the advantages of adopting a stochastic flow simulation approach to address design-flood-related issues for a complex cascade reservoir system.

scholarly journals Sexuality and Affection in the Time of Technological Innovation: Artificial Partners in the Japanese Context

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 296
Author(s):  
Beatriz Yumi Aoki ◽  
Takeshi Kimura
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Sexuality ◽  
Sexual Intimacy ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the number of academic studies on the impact of technological advancements on human life, including possible transformations and changes in human sexuality following the development of sex-related devices, such as sex robots. In this context, terms such as posthuman sexuality, digisexuality, and techno-sexuality have emerged, signaling possible new understandings of sexual, intimacy, and emotional practices. It is important to note that ancient history shows that humankind has for a long time been fascinated with their relationship to non-living things, mostly human-like figures, such as dolls. The Ningyo (人形, the Japanese term for doll) has a long history of usage, and has deep religious and animistic significance in the Japanese context—there are records of sexual use as early as the 18th century. With this context in mind, this paper focuses on three Japanese examples, aiming to shine a light on beyond-human relationships, which include a Japanese man’s marriage to a digital character, sex dolls, and communicative robots, from both a sexual and emotional perspective. In a new horizon of sexual and romantic possibilities, how will humans respond, and what can emerge from these interactions?

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