Existing studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp drop in carbon emissions in 2020. A recent example of the impact of sudden extreme events on carbon emissions occurred in the ...2008 global financial crisis, in which carbon emissions droped in 2009, but jumped in 2010. This study is aimed to discuss how to prevent the retaliatory growth of carbon emissions post COVID-19 through learning the lessons from analysis of short-term and long-term drivers of carbon emissions. This study explored the short-term (annual) effects (population scale. affluence level, carbon intensity, energy intensity) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emissions in the world, different income groups and selected countries before and after the 2008 financial crisis using LMDI technique. In addition, this study explored the long-term effects (energy consumption per capita, energy structure, energy intensity, foreign direct investment, and trade openness) of changes in carbon emissions by decomposing carbon emission in the world and different income groups from 1990 to 2014 using VAR technique. The decomposition results of short-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that the deterioration in energy efficiency (increase in energy intensity) was the main reason for the retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-2008 financial crisis, especially in high-income countries. The decomposition results of long-term drivers of carbon emission uncovered that trade openness contributed to reduce carbon emission in the world and the incomes groups in the long term, although trade openness led to increase in carbon emission in developing countries in the short term. To prevent retaliatory rebound of carbon emissions, what we should learn two lessons from the decomposition of carbon emission: improving energy efficiency, and expanding trade openness. Unfortunately, energy efficiency has been neglected in the economic recovery plans to respond to COVID-19 of various countries, especially developed countries, and worse, trade protectionism is on the rise, especially in developed countries. Therefore, we are pessimistic about preventing a retaliatory rebound in carbon emissions post-COVID-19 for now.
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•Global economy and three income level groups are selected as study objects.•G7 group and BRICS countries are selected for specific countries study.•Carbon reduction can take a lesson from 2008 global economic crisis.•Energy intensity is critical for avoid retaliatory rebound after COVID-19 pandemic.•Affluence level is still primary contributor to carbon emission increase.
In sum, by showing how and why local regional disputes quickly develop into global crises through the paired power of historical memory and time-space compression, Near Abroad reshapes our ...understanding of the current conflict raging in the center of the Eurasian landmass and international politics as a whole.
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the spread rules of the three pneumonia: COVID-19, SARS and MERS. We compare the new spread characteristics of COVID-19 with those of SARS and MERS. By ...considering the growth rate and inhibition constant of infectious diseases, their propagation growth model is established. The parameters of the three coronavirus transmission growth models are obtained by nonlinear fitting. Parametric analysis shows that the growth rate of COVID-19 is about twice that of the SARS and MERS, and the COVID-19 doubling cycle is two to three days, suggesting that the number of COVID-19 patients would double in two to three days without human intervention. The infection inhibition constant in Hubei is two orders of magnitude lower than in other regions, which reasonably explains the situation of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei.
•The growth rate of SARS-CoV-2 is about twice that of the SARS and MERS viruses.•Doubling cycle for the cases of COVID-19 is two to three days if without intervention.•The infection inhibition constant in Hubei is two orders of magnitude lower than in other regions.
The portrayal of Greece by the international press during the financial crisis has been seen by many independent observers as very harsh. The Greeks have often been blamed for a myriad of ...international political problems and external economic factors beyond their control. In this original and insightful work George Tzogopoulos examines international newspaper coverage of the unfolding economic crisis in Greece. American, British, French, German and Italian broadsheet and tabloid coverage is carefully analysed. The Greek Crisis in the Media debates and dissects the extent to which the Greek response to the financial crisis has been given fair and balanced coverage by the press and questions how far politics and national stereotypes have played their part in the reporting of events. By placing the Greek experiences and treatment alongside those of other EU members such as Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain, Tzogopoulos examines and highlights similarities and differences in the ways in which different countries tackled the challenges they faced during this crucial period and explores how and why the world's media reported these events.
Strong earthquakes, especially in continental mountainous areas, can trigger extensive mass wasting, producing large amounts of debris that accumulates along the hillslopes or in drainage channels. ...The coseismic deposits and disturbed slopes are prone to be reactivated or remobilized by heavy rainfalls in the subsequent years after the earthquake. Predicting how long post-seismic landslide activity will return to the pre-earthquake level is a key to risk assessment and management. However, this is still poorly understood, and lacks quantitative prediction approach. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake triggered an unprecedented number of landslides, creating an extraordinary natural laboratory to investigate the evolution of post-seismic landslides and their impacts on environment. Using the vegetation recovery rate as an indicator, we present the observational evidence of the post-seismic landslide evolution based on MODIS NDVI time series between 2000 and 2018. Using a simple vegetation recovery rate (VRR) function, we quantify the rate of vegetation regrowth in the Wenchuan earthquake affected area, and discuss the decaying trend of post-seismic landslide activities. Our findings show that 83% of the co-seismic landslides become inactive within a decade. The NDVI trend suggests that landslide activity may return to the pre-earthquake level within 18 years. The sensitivity of vegetation regrowth to post-seismic landsliding thus offers a great potential to improve our understanding of the spatio-temporal evolution of the post-seismic landslide activities.
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•First decadal time series analysis is carried after 2008 Wenchuan Mw 7.9 earthquake.•NDVI0 is proposed to minimize uncertainty in the vegetation damage area estimation.•Vegetation recovery rate function is used to locate active and inactive landslides.•Recovery of vegetation to the pre-earthquake level is expected within 18 years.
The evaluation of seismic site amplification and its relationship with geological structures play a vital role in earthquake engineering and hazard assessment. This study presents an analysis of ...topographic and geologic site amplification effects observed in the Qiaozhuang region, Sichuan Province, China. Seismic recordings at several monitoring stations installed on two slopes located at a distance of about 1 km in the study area after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake provide evidence of strong and variable amplifications. To assess the combined effect of topographic and geological controls in slope response to seismic motions, we built 2D and 3D dynamic numerical models using monitoring data as inputs. Four layers with different P-wave velocities, based on geophysical survey in the study area, are considered in the numerical models. Models that only consider topography give an amplification factor of <3, which is much lower than the amplification factor of 5–6 from the monitoring data, while those models that considered both the topographic variation and four layers agree well with the monitoring data. The 3D modeling results show that the subsurface amplification factor is less than that on the slope surface even at the same elevation. This is also consistent with the monitoring data and further indicates that the combined topographic and geological amplification effect on the slope surface is more significant than the sole geological amplification effect inside the slope. Our numerical simulation results suggest that it is important to consider the combined topographic and geological amplification effects in the hazard assessment of seismically induced slope failures.
•This study presents long-term monitoring data of slope seismic response.•Homogeneous numerical models show that topography alone only produces low amplification effects.•The results from three-layer heterogenous 3D model indicat the importance of geological amplification effect.
The annual incidence rate of community-associated
Clostridioides difficile
infections in Quebec, Canada, has increased by 33.3%, from 0.51 (2008) to 0.68 (2015) cases/100,000 population, while ...incidence of healthcare-associated cases remained relatively stable. Possible causes include increased disease severity, increased antimicrobial drug use, emergence of virulent strains, and heightened physician awareness.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Understanding the evolution of post-seismic geohazards with vegetation recovery is of great significance for long-term geohazard risk assessment. The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 triggered numerous ...landslides and severely damaged the vegetation in the earthquake-stricken region. Between 2008 and 2017, we evaluated the vegetation recovery process, the evolution of rain-induced landslides and debris flows, and the relationship between them by analyzing satellite images and conducting detailed field investigations. Shortly after the earthquake, numerous landslides and debris flows were triggered by rainstorms and the vegetation was severely damaged near the epicenter. In the first 5 years (2008–2013) the vegetation recovered quickly but was not well rehabilitated. Rain-induced landslides and debris flows occurred actively but exhibited a clear declining trend in both frequency and magnitude. After 2013, the vegetation gradually recovered to the pre-seismic normal level in terms of quantity, but with higher variability and isolated spots to be further rehabilitated. Over this period, rain-induced geohazards mainly occurred in the catchments where the level of vegetation recovery was uneven, with occasional bare deposits. Therefore, a close relation is observed between declining rain-induced geohazards and the recovery of vegetation, in both time and space. The findings provide important information for post-seismic infrastructure re-construction and disaster risk reduction in future mountain earthquake events.
•The Wenchuan earthquake generated a large number of coseismic landslides.•We evaluated vegetation recovery and landslide activities ten years in a row in the epicentral area.•A strong relation is found between declining geohazards and recovery of vegetation.•Vegetation on average has recovered to the prior-quake level in the first ten years.•The recovery of vegetation exhibits high variability and isolated weak spots are present.
The reliable numerical simulation of the landslide process contributes to the establishment of evidence-based disaster mitigation measures in seismically active zones. To achieve this goal, a simple ...and unified state-dependent shear strength model of discontinuities is presented to describe the shear strength degradation in a seismic landslide process. The proposed model establishes a relationship between the shear strength parameters and the global safety factor of the slope by assuming that the slope instability (or landslide initiation) is accompanied by an instantaneous shear strength degradation of discontinuities. To realize the model numerically, the algorithms for the computation of global safety factor and the modification of shear strength parameters were incorporated into the discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA). Subsequently, the kinematic accuracy of the improved DDA method was validated by comparisons with theoretical solutions for the dynamic sliding of a block on an inclined plane. Numerical simulations of the Daguangbao landslide triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake were performed using the improved DDA method. The results illustrate that the shear strength degradation of discontinuities affect the evolution process, travel distance, and post-failure shape of the seismic landslide significantly.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Wide-grading loose soils (WGLS) are a special slope deposit that often serve as a source for debris flows in the western mountainous area of China. Previous research indicated that rainfall ...infiltration induced the migration of fine particles within soil slopes and lead to the initiation of shallow failure and subsequent debris flows. Clearly, soil pore structure exerts a profound influence on seepage during rainfall infiltration, which is closely related to soil permeability and corresponding internal erosion. The current understanding of the mechanisms of fine particle migration is limited because of the complexity of WGLS micropore structure. The challenge lies in how to systematically characterize WGLS pore structure so that it provides a foundation for future numerical simulations of fine particle migration-induced debris flows. In this study, the characteristics of WGLS pore structure were analyzed quantitatively using scanning electron microscopy. The results revealed that WGLS predominantly contained micropores and mesopores. The pore size distribution exhibited a bimodal nature with one peak occurring at a pore diameter of 12 μm and another at 72 μm. The pore complexity of all samples exceeded 0.75, which indicates a low aspect ratio for each pore. The average diameter of the fine particles that migrated was then determined with a laboratory seepage test. A preliminary jamming probability analysis based on three-dimensional micropore reconstruction and average fine particle diameter indicate that jamming is most prevalent along the slope.
•Wide grading loose soil (WGLS) from Wenchuan earthquake area were sampled.•Pore structure characteristics were analyzed using SEM and ST method.•Characterization include pore complexity, pore connectivity, and pore size distribution.•Pore structure were linked with fine particle migration by a preliminary jamming analysis.
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