Dynamic Flood Resilience Typology: A Systemic Transitional Adaptation from Peitou Plateau, Taiwan

Resilience practice is a place-based activity. This study incorporates the notion of “Transitional Progress” as an available scoping tool pin-pointing the human-habitat domain; the critical human resilience build-up can be identified by the site-specific and locally adapted practice as the residents’ perception and interaction within the local geographical character are examined. The assessment framework is proposed as a measurable process, followed by an adaptive cycle valuation performed for each of the scales at the different transitional stages. This resilience varies from the degree and time exposed to flood and the resident’s respective responses regarding people, community, and place; accordingly, the semi-structured interview documented respondents’ self-evaluation from the Peitou Plateau in Taipei. The study ascertained that in the face of climate risks: (1) adaptive measures aided and enhanced the information gathered for risk impact is based on the residents’ perception of the habitat and human domain (2) adaptive capacity assessment is an effective mean in understanding residents’ mitigation will and confidence, and (3) community ability to reflect on past actual time scenario. Most importantly, the assessment framework contributes to understanding local adaptation practice and contributes toward the sustainability of the urbanity.

Climatically Driven Landscape Evolution in the High-Mountainous Russian Altai and Its Human Occupation Over the Past 20 Thousand Years

Multidisciplinary studies of various natural archives indicate contrasting changes in the human habitat in the high-mountainous southeastern part of the Russian Altai during the last 20,000 years. This period includes the final stage of the last glaciation and its degradation, the formation of the last giant ice-dammed lakes in the intermountain basins and their cataclysmic draining, considerable transformation of glacial landscapes to modern diverse and mosaic structure. Warmer and more humid climate in the first half of the Holocene was followed by cooling and repeated advances of mountain glaciers. The general trend to cooling and aridization in the second half of the Holocene is the most pronounced during the last two millennia. Deglaciation and final drying of intermountain basins boosted a renovation of the local ecosystems and established an environmental baseline of human occupation in the region. The arid climate, widespread permafrost and low population density determined a good preservation of archaeological heritage in the region, which is located at the crossroad between East and West, North and South. This paper presents the analysis of previously published and new data including newly obtained 14C and OSL dates, which allow to correlate climatically driven landscape transformations with habitat of ancient communities and cultures shifting in the region during the last 20, 000 years, as well as to assess the anthropogenic impact on the environment.

Inequality, Conspicuous Consumption, and the Growth Trap

Avoiding devastation of the human habitat is arguably the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, and high inequality greatly impairs successfully addressing this threat. In societies in which fluid social mobility is believed possible, inequality encourages households to seek social certification and status through consumption. Rising inequality strengthens this dynamic. The institutions and behavior generated by the belief that ever-greater consumption brings ever-greater well-being reduce the potential for people to achieve social status and self-respect through more environmentally friendly domains such as democratized work and community. Inequality impedes responses aimed at reducing environmental damage by augmenting the political power of the wealthy, whose interests would be most harmed by measures to protect the environment. The wealthy benefit from pollution because their far greater consumption is made less expensive and their assets yield higher profits. They are also better able to shield themselves from the negative consequences of environmental degradation.

Assessing the vulnerability of transport network to flood hazard using GIS analysis. Case study along Orient-East Med TEN-T Corridor, on Timiș-Cerna Valley, Romania

In the context of current climate change, it is estimated that flood risk will increase significantly, with important consequences for the human habitat and transport networks. Research literature features a continuous concern both for the improvement of flood hazard modeling and for the quantification of economic costs specific to material and human damage caused by floods. In the present study, we intend to perform an analysis on the vulnerability of the transport network along the Orient-East Med (OEM) Corridor, part of the TEN-T Core network at European level. By integrating flood bands with high (10 years) and medium (100 years) probability of recurrence, as well as various typologies of the transport network in a GIS environment, we successfully identified and characterized road and railway sectors susceptible to flooding events. Vector overlay analysis and statistical methods were validated by means of local research literature, field observations and aerial imagery. Our results feature the geographic distribution and statistical characterization of transport infrastructure vulnerable to flood risk along Timiș-Cerna Valley, in south-western Romania. We also discuss the state of current flood risk mitigation measures for transport network in the study area, along with the importance of our research for regional and local spatial planning documents and investment prioritization activities. Similar spatially-enabled analysis could enable better protection for the current and proposed transport infrastructure and minimize the damaging effects of flash floods.

Assessment of the national significance «Skala-Podilsky park» park-memories and landscaping art green plantations conditions

Green plantations of ancient park not just only an important ecological component of human habitat, but also a cultural and historical factor of national identity. The history of Ternopil landscape art demonstrates the close links of Ukrainian culture with Polish, Lithuanian and Western European. Galicia is rich in architectural monuments of the past: fortresses, castles, defensive ramparts, courtyards, fortifications, fortified monasteries and temples, estates and manors of the local nobility. Decorative parks, orchards, and collections of medicinal plants were established near such buildings. Most of the ancient parks have undergone significant negative changes due to turbulent historical events in the twentieth century. But some objects, although in a state of disrepair, have been preserved and need to be restored and maintained. Skala-Podilsky Park, a monument of landscape art of national importance, was founded at the end of the 18th century. In the future, this park was repeatedly reconstructed. During that time, many ornamental, fruit, berry trees and shrubs, including exotic ones, have been acclimatized here. During the period of Ukraine's independence, proper care of plantations was not carried out. Such way brings the destruction of the park's infrastructure and a reduction in the number of valuable taxes. A tax inventory of dendroflora was carried out to organize the territory and reconstruct the park-monument. The vital and phytosanitary condition of trees and bushes was determined there according to the Alekseev scale. 63 species of trees, bushes and vines were found during this research. It is established that the general indicator of relative living condition of park plantings makes 57,7% and corresponds to a category "weakened". According to the phytosanitary condition of trees and shrubs, 41% belong to the category of "satisfactory", 34% - "good", 25% - "unsatisfactory". Thus, a quarter of the registered trees need to be rehabilitated or removed from the stand. The received materials testify to the need to conduct counting and inventory of all ancient parks of Ukraine and to develop a system of their geoinformation monitoring in order to streamline revitalization.

Longitudinal characterization of multispecies microbial populations recovered from spaceflight potable water

While sequencing technologies have revolutionized our knowledge of microbial diversity, little is known about the dynamic emergent phenotypes that arise within the context of mixed-species populations, which are not fully predicted using sequencing technologies alone. The International Space Station (ISS) is an isolated, closed human habitat that can be harnessed for cross-sectional and longitudinal functional microbiome studies. Using NASA-archived microbial isolates collected from the ISS potable water system over several years, we profiled five phenotypes: antibiotic resistance, metabolism, hemolysis, and biofilm structure/composition of individual or multispecies communities, which represent characteristics that could negatively impact astronaut health and life-support systems. Data revealed a temporal dependence on interactive behaviors, suggesting possible microbial adaptation over time within the ecosystem. This study represents one of the most extensive phenotypic characterization of ISS potable water microbiota with implications for microbial risk assessments of water systems in built environments in space and on Earth.

Analysis of banned or severely restricted chemicals and pesticides entering the Russian market under the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade

Introduction. In recent years, due to the stricter requirements for compliance with the provisions of the Rotterdam Convention, the volume of export notifications on the permission to import dangerous chemicals into the Russian Federation has increased significantly. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to analyze the nomenclature, volume, toxicity and danger of industrial chemicals and pesticides entering the Russian market, despite prohibitions or restrictions on their use at the international and national levels. Materials and methods. The materials used are applications for the import of chemical products (export notifications) of the National Designated authorities of the European Union, China, Great Britain, Serbia to the Russian Register of Potentially Dangerous Chemical and Biological Substances-a branch of the Federal State Scientific Research Center named after F.F. Erisman - in the period from 2018 to 2020. The year 2019 was considered in the most detail. Results and discussion. The analysis of applications showed an ever-increasing number of chemical supplies; for example, 130 notifications were received in 2018, 539 in 2019, and 565 in 2020. In 2019, the number of tin compounds prevailed in the nomenclature of imported products to the territory of the Russian Federation. As for the substances from Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention, most of the imported chemicals by tonnage were substances included in this document - 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB), carbofuran, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride (1,2-dichloroethane), which are imported for industrial use, and not for use as pesticides, as they are declared in the convention. Chemicals and pesticides imported into the country under the PIC procedure, with the exception of numerous derivatives of dibutyl - and dioctyltin, creosote, have an established hygienic standard in at least one human habitat. In most cases, they are assigned to hazard classes 1 and 2 according to the maximum permissible concentration. Conclusion. Chemical products that are highly dangerous for human health and the environment, which are banned or severely restricted in many states, caused specific and long-term effects on the body, and having high toxicity to natural biota are used in the Russian Federation economy. In this regard, there is a need to develop regulatory decisions at the national level and within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Commission on the prohibition or restriction of the circulation of substances and pesticides characterized by an unacceptable risk of exposure.

Digital Age: New Competencies and Occupations that Define a Sustainable Development Amidst the Industrial Revolution 4.0

The paper focuses on the challenges of training a new generation of statisticians with the core 21st-century competencies for life, work, and creativity in a digital society amidst the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). Along with the economic feasibility, the attractiveness of improving the quality of life, and new possibilities for developing the creative potential of human beings, Industry 4.0 freights with risks of destabilization of the world socio-economic system, but also creates a new cultural and historical context of the advancement of the humankind, where the network becomes a new human habitat, when digital technologies penetrate all spheres of human activity. It requires the development of «digital» skills that have never been more important than today. Summarizing the results of digital skills projects, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics developed the «Digital Literacy Global Framework» as a basis for creating national digital literacy frameworks and digital competence models for various occupations. The article substantiates the importance of digital competencies and the feasibility of developing common requirements for digital literacy in the EAEU member-states and establishing a system for its development with a single scientific, educational and methodological center that will at the same time become the core of a new ecosystem of continuous statistical training, designed to correct the situation when it is almost impossible to find a statistician with the necessary competencies in the labor market. One of the reasons for this is that the existing system of statistical education does not meet the needs of the digital age, which requires new approaches to the organization of continuing education. However, the digital agenda implies not only the development of digital competencies, including statistical literacy but also the emergence of new «digital» professions, to which the profession of a statistician can be assigned if it is filled with competencies listed in the paper. This will allow statistics to take its rightful place among the occupations determining sustainable development in the digital age.

USING GIS TECHNOLOGIES TO SELECT THE LOCATIONS OF MSW LANDFILLS

As a result of the constant growth of the population, the development of industry, the increase in the socio-economic needs of people, the amount of solid waste generated increases, and therefore a large number of landfills and landfills are formed that violate the stability of ecological systems. The use of modern methods, such as GIS technologies, will allow us to get an idea of the general state of the territory, the degree of influence of waste storage sites on nature and the human habitat, provide specialists with objective information for the development of measures to eliminate the existing anthropogenic load, as well as promote the rational use of residential areas, land protection and modern waste management.

İNTEGRATİON OF İNDUSTRİAL DESİGN İNTO ALL AREAS OF HUMAN ACTİVİTY

Industrial design deals with the artistic design of certain elements of the human habitat. Industrial designers strive to define the appearance of the objects around us and try to make them as functional or decorative as possible. Undoubtedly, modern civilization is industrial. This is probably the reason why industrial companies make profits hardly comparable to those of other types of activities. Interest in the industry has led to an increase in demand for the services of professional designers.