Urbanization has been identified as one of the issues with the greatest environmental impacts on water resources. This study aims to make an environmental diagnosis of urban water management with a ...systematic approach in a basin with great hydrogeological complexity. We have analyzed urban water management in the Langueyú basin, Argentina, in the period comprehended between 1940 and 2015 in which the city has had a disordered urban growth. It showed that the lack of integrated management together with urban expansion have resulted in a process of building densification and infrastructure that favors the recurrence and magnitude of exceptional hydrological events. This has been accompanied by a spatial displacement of these events and a lack of sanitary services with the same sense of urbanization. It was also demonstrated that the lack of integrated water management this not only had consequences on the Tandil city services associated with the urban hydrological cycle, but also on the quality of its surface water resources (contamination of streams in its urban section) and groundwater (elevation of nitrates levels in water from wells water supply). The absence of a systemic approach to the problem has not considered the relationships between the subsystems involved in water management. This management has been based mainly on the application of structural measures. The main non-structural measure carried out has been to expand the regulations and some neighbor's struggle movements. Other non-structural measures promoted by several actors involved in urban water management, such as authorities, should be carried out in order to raise awareness amongst the population on the importance of water resource protection, especially in areas with hydrogeological limitations.
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•Urban water management (UWM) is an organizing axis of space.•Urban water cycle includes different subsystems closely and complexly linked.•UWM should have a systemic approach that is necessary to address that complexity.•Structural measures only are not enough for a sustainable UWM.•Sustainable UWM requires non-structural measures with different stakeholders.
The paper examines how local-level institutions mitigate landslide hazards in southeast Bangladesh. In this context, sixteen sub-districts (Upazila) were selected as sample sites from the ...southeastern districts through disproportionate quota sampling for a sample survey. Forty-five officials were interviewed by using a semi-structured questionnaire at the local level. The study reveals two types of measures (i.e., structural and non-structural) that have been taken by local-level institutions under the National Plan of Disaster Management (NPDM) as there is no Landslide-specific Disaster Management Policy in southeast Bangladesh. The study explores that the structural measures (guide wall and retaining wall for slope stabilization, resettlement, small-scale plantation, etc.) are insufficient due to the financial constraints. The findings reveal that the emergency responses (eviction, temporary evacuation, dissemination of early warning, etc.) are adequate to reduce the landslide-induced causality; however, the non-structural measures (such as early warning system, housing facilities, community-based awareness-raising programs with more training and workshops, rehabilitation activities, etc.) need special attention to mitigate landslide hazards. The results also suggest that resettlement policy should consider the ethnic culture along with other regional factors of a diversified hilly environment. It also puts forward an institution-based solution, including a comprehensive official landslide database with sustainable hill management mechanisms. Such evidence epitomizes a significant foremost step in developing realistic mitigation strategies for landslide-prone areas with similar socio-economic, cultural, and regional settings like southeast Bangladesh.
•Lack of Landslide-specific Disaster Management Policy in southeast Bangladesh.•The structural measures are insufficient due to the financial constraints.•The non-structural measures need special attention to mitigate landslide hazards.•Resettlement policy should consider the ethnic culture along with other regional factors.
Flood disasters have appeared more frequently in recent years because of climate change and urbanization, and Integrated Flood Risk Management (IFRM) has emerged as an effective method to reduce ...damage from these floods. This research studies IFRM methods in three aspects: flood risk identification of high-risk areas, flood risk assessment to quantify economic losses, and flood risk management to identify structural measures with the greatest engineering benefits. These methods were applied to Beijing as a case study, and the results showed that the Zuoan-Road area was a high-risk area with economic losses ranging from 0.7 million to 35.9 million euros over different return periods. There are five structural measures in Zuoan-Road area, with engineering benefits ranging from 0.97 to 1.60 over different return periods, and the one with the greatest engineering benefits had a fifty-year return period. The results of this research can be used to support urban flood risk management in Beijing.
•Engineering Management mostly reduces flood risk through structural measures, but doesn’t consider the engineering benefit.•Integrated flood risk management can achieve a better engineering benefit than engineering management.•Flood economic losses and engineering benefits of structure measures can be calculated by integrated flood risk management.•A case study in Beijing was analyzed and the structure measure with greatest engineering benefits was obtained.
We introduce a class of networks formed by randomly interconnected cliques, with prescribed distribution of clique sizes and density of inter-clique connections. For these random networks of cliques, ...we determine the conditions for existence of a giant component and provide analytical expressions for clustering coefficients and assortativity. Also, we estimate their modularity and numerically find the average distance between nodes. As an application to real systems, we successfully compare our analytical predictions with the statistical structural properties of an intra-generational kinship (sibling and spouse) network built from genealogical data. The present model provides a tool for constructing networks with controlled structure, in particular, displaying small-world features.
Despite massive investments and continuous flood-control efforts in India, the socio-economic damages and death toll continue to remain high. Undoubtedly, the process of flood management in India is ...very complex due to the influence of several socio-hydroclimatological factors, such as climate change, sea level rise, and socio-economic dynamics. While these factors influence the intensity and frequency of flood events, factors explicitly related to the process of flood management, such as the improper execution of traditional structural measures, the lack of the proper implementation of schemes, lackadaisical execution of traditional structural measures and end-to-end management of the flood management programs/practices, ensure only partial protection. This review article identifies the region-specific flood problems in India and discusses the initiatives undertaken by major Indian flood management agencies, with an emphasis on the current ongoing flood management practices. The effectiveness of these practices in the long term is discussed, and specific gaps are identified. The recommendations provided in this article may be useful to guide stakeholders and policymakers in formulating and implementing sustainable flood management plans for improved flood resilience.
Abstract
Early warning systems are an essential tool for managing flood emergencies. Alert and warning applications and mobile-phone messaging services have become increasingly widespread among major ...international emergency agencies as means of communicating risks to the population, and their effectiveness in reducing human and material damages during flood events is significant. Despite their crucial importance, one of the main challenges in the field of emergency communication is the lack of protocols for systematic and standardized production of warning messages. While emergency agencies produce messages on a diversity of topic areas, there are no protocols for structuring their content according to communication functions, exhaustive identification of the relevant areas of action, or classification of content according to different topics. With a view to this opportunity for improvement, the aim of this article is to propose a method for creating a catalog of warning messages enabling their systematic composition and organization. To exemplify the successive stages in the development of such a catalog, we present here the resources and methodological process followed by the authors of this article when commissioned with this task by the emergency services of the Valencian Autonomous Region (south-east Spain) for flood-risk communication. The warning message catalog was pilot tested with experts and user focus groups. Developing warning message catalogs offers a vital resource that can enhance the outreach and operability of warning systems in the current context of increased flood risk due to climate change.
Flood risk and its reduction in China Kundzewicz, ZW; Su, Buda; Wang, Yanjun ...
Advances in water resources,
August 2019, 2019-08-00, 20190801, Letnik:
130
Journal Article
Recenzirano
•Floods in China often cause annual loss in excess of 10 billion US$.•Flood risk has grown in many places in China and is likely to grow further in the future.•Floods of a given return period in the ...reference interval are projected to become more frequent in much of China.•There is a strong link between climate variability and abundant humidity in China.
Despite massive flood protection efforts in China, undertaken since the ancient times, disastrous floods continue to plague the country. In this paper, we discuss changes in flood hazard and flood risk in China. First, we review published results (including our own works) on change detection in observed records of intense precipitation, high river flow and flood damage in China. We provide information on essential features of extreme floods in last decades – floods on large rivers, urban floods, and flash floods. Next, we review available projections for the future (including our own results), related to intense precipitation, high river flow and flood damage in China. We try to interpret the difference in flood hazard projections obtained in various publications. Since the spread of river flood hazard projections is large, projections have to be interpreted with caution, because of the impact on decisions related to climate change adaptation, flood risk reduction, and water resources management. We review flood risk reduction strategies in China, focusing on the present situation and division of responsibilities. China has embarked upon an ambitious and vigorous task to improve flood preparedness, by both structural (“hard”) defences, such as: dikes, dams and flood control reservoirs, and diversions, as well as non-structural (“soft”) measures: spatial planning and zoning; watershed management (source control), flood forecasting and warning systems; and awareness raising. The strategy of flood mitigation includes flood retention and urban water management to alleviate the burden of flash and urban flooding.
Self-compacting concrete has the advantages of high fluidity, high uniform density, and low porosity. To promote the engineering application of self-compacting concrete, this article studies the ...axial compression test of ten square steel tube self-compacting concrete columns. The effects of design parameters such as different grades of concrete strength and internal structures of circular steel tubes, square steel tubes, and H-shaped steel on the mechanical properties of self-compacting fly ash concrete filled square steel tube columns are studied. The failure mode, characteristic load and characteristic displacement, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of each specimen are analyzed. On the basis of the test, the finite element analysis model of steel tube self-compacting concrete column is established, and the test results and simulation results are compared and analyzed. The results show that: the failure mode of the square steel tube specimen is the multilayer middle and upper ring buckling failure. Internal structural measures of square steel tube and H-shaped steel can improve the bearing capacity, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the specimen. It is not recommended to use the specimen with an outer square and an inner circle design. The results of the finite element simulation have a high degree of matching with the test results, which intuitively reflects the changes in force of each component.
•The cause of fatigue failure in steel wire rope suspenders on suspension bridges has been identified.•The recommended approach of utilizing auxiliary cables is successful in decreasing ...tensile-bending fatigue stress levels.•These discoveries are significant for guiding the development and upkeep of comparable infrastructure ventures.
In consideration of the significant impact of train loads on the fatigue of suspenders in railway bridges, this paper focuses on the first railway suspension bridge in China − the Jinsha River Railway Suspension Bridge. The study analyzes the force characteristics and bending failure features of the steel wire ropes in railway suspension bridges, aiming to provide insights into the design of such structures. Firstly, a finite element model of the Jinsha River Railway Suspension Bridge is established in this paper. The natural frequencies are analyzed and compared with on-site measurements to validate the accuracy of the finite element model. Secondly, the tension force amplitude and angular displacement amplitude of the suspenders are analyzed under design loads, and the failure characteristics of the cables are experimentally examined. Subsequently, a wear fatigue test for steel wire rope is designed, evaluating the fatigue life of the suspender in the bridge. The computational results are compared with experimental data to validate their accuracy. Finally, structural measures to reduce the bending fatigue of railway suspension bridge suspenders are proposed to ensure their safety during the service life. The study reveals that the presence of bending stress exacerbates the fatigue failure of suspension cables in railway suspension bridges, with the failure mode identified as fatigue failure due to the tension-bending-wear coupling effect. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the implementation of auxiliary cables can reduce the displacement differential at both ends of the suspension cables by approximately 4/5, and decrease the axial tensile stress amplitude by about 3/4. Consequently, this significantly enhances the fatigue life of the suspension cables.
Business process modeling is one of the main tools of the BPM (Business Process Management) concept. With the help of business process modeling, business scenarios can be presented in the form of ...graphical models that can be easily understood by both information technology (IT) professionals and non-IT professionals – business analysts, software customers, department heads, top managers, and other stakeholders interested in business process improvement. Business process improvement is usually done through the automation of activities, which were identified as “bottlenecks” after analysis. However, it is possible to analyze a business process model only if it is clear and correct in terms of compliance with both the notation used and the real business process it depicts. This paper considers the analysis of BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) business process model structural measures. It is assumed that business process models, which by their structural features violate rules of business process modeling, are neither understandable nor suitable for further work with them, which also can lead to various errors occurring at the stage of business process analysis, as well as at the stage of its improvement and implementation of proposed changes, i.e., during development, testing and maintenance of distinct software components, information system modules or BPM-system scenarios that ensure business process execution. Therefore, in this paper, we propose to identify the main elements of BPMN business process models and their structural measures that affect models’ understandability and maintainability and could be sources of errors. Considering selected measures, it is proposed to calculate respective values for a large collection of BPMN business process models, and then study compliance with theoretical business process modeling guidelines on practice when real business process models are designed. In order to provide efficient storage and processing of a large collection of BPMN business process models data, there were developed a database, and a software component. Results of analysis of BPMN business process model structural measures obtained using developed database and software component are demonstrated and discussed. The conclusion is made, as well as future research directions in this field are formulated.
