Hazard Perspective Research Articles

Considerations Regarding the Climate Change Induced Hazards on Airports in Romania – A Case Study of Timişoara International Airport

Climate change is regarded as a global scale process in which an increase of magnitude and intensity of severe weather events is observed, thus affecting both air travel as well as airport infrastructure. Although the COVID-19 crisis has a significant negative impact on air travel and thus on the further development of airport infrastructure, the demand for air travel will continue to rise as the crisis nears the end. The aim of this paper is to analyse and highlight the climate change associated hazards for the airport infrastructure as well as for the safety of passengers and goods in the Western part of Romania, mainly Traian Vuia International Airport from Timişoara. Throughout this analysis, aviation related severe weather events, such as thunderstorms, hail events, fog, icing, squalls, low level wind shear, snow falls and heavy precipitation, which affect airport infrastructure and thus air travel, are highlighted. By analysing meteorological parameters from the time scale 1980-2010 together with climate change scenarios, and thus developing weather hazard maps, a better perspective of area-related hazards and therefore customized mitigation measures and adaptation strategies are to be developed. The implementation of modern forecasting equipment such as dual polarization Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) is thus necessary in order to prevent loss of human lives, to reduce financial losses and to protect the airport infrastructure and the aeronautical navigation and communication facilities. Long term changes in meteorological parameters include an increase in air temperature, an increase in speed for both horizontal and vertical windshear during severe weather events, an increasing number of air mass thunderstorms and an increase of situations with limited visibility especially during the late autumn and early spring time.

Volcanic Lakes in Africa: The VOLADA_Africa 2.0 Database, and Implications for Volcanic Hazard

Volcanic lakes pose specific hazards inherent to the presence of water: phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions, lahars, limnic gas bursts and dispersion of brines in the hydrological network. Here we introduce the updated, interactive and open-access database for African volcanic lakes, country by country. The previous database VOLADA (VOlcanic LAke DAta Base, Rouwet et al., Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2014, 272, 78–97) reported 96 volcanic lakes for Africa. This number is now revised and established at 220, converting VOLADA_Africa 2.0 in the most comprehensive resource for African volcanic lakes: 81 in Uganda, 37 in Kenya, 33 in Cameroon, 28 in Madagascar, 19 in Ethiopia, 6 in Tanzania, 2 in Rwanda, 2 in Sudan, 2 in D.R. Congo, 1 in Libya, and 9 on the minor islands around Africa. We present the current state-of-the-art of arguably all the African volcanic lakes that the global experts and regional research teams are aware of, and provide hints for future research directions, with a special focus on the volcanic hazard assessment. All lakes in the updated database are classified for their genetic origin and their physical and chemical characteristics, and level of study. The predominant rift-related volcanism in Africa favors basaltic eruptive products, leading to volcanoes with highly permeable edifices, and hence less-developed hydrothermal systems. Basal aquifers accumulate under large volcanoes and in rift depressions providing a potential scenario for phreatomagmatic volcanism. This hypothesis, based on a morphometric analysis and volcanological research from literature, conveys the predominance of maar lakes in large monogenetic fields in Africa (e.g. Uganda, Cameroon, Ethiopia), and the absence of peak-activity crater lakes, generally found at polygenetic arc-volcanoes. Considering the large number of maar lakes in Africa (172), within similar geotectonic settings and meteoric conditions as in Cameroon, it is somewhat surprising that “only” from Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos fatal CO2 bursts have been recorded. Explaining why other maars did not experience limnic gas bursts is a question that can only be answered by enhancing insights into physical limnology and fluid geochemistry of the so far poorly studied lakes. From a hazard perspective, there is an urgent need to tackle this task as a community.

Impact of UF6 chemical toxicity on design and emergency response of a nuclear fuel fabrication facility in China

UF6 leakage accident is one of the main accidents considered by nuclear fuel fabrication facilities. It is generally believed that the emergency class of such facilities should be limited to site area emergency. In this paper, RTM-96, a consequence assessment model developed by NRC, is used to assess a nuclear fuel fabrication facility in China. The evaluation results show that from the perspective of radiation hazard, it is appropriate to limit the emergency class of UF6 leakage accident to site area emergency; but from the perspective of chemical toxicity, the hazard of HF, a highly corrosive gas formed when UF6 reacts with H2O, may cause serious impact on the public. Besides the uranium removal efficiency, HF removal efficiency must also be considered in the accident exhaust system.

Geochemical speciation and bioaccumulation of trace elements in different tissues of pumpkin in the abandoned soils: Health hazard perspective in a developing country

Trace elements contamination in vegetables especially pumpkin is a major concern for public health where human beings are continuously exposed to trace elements through consumption of pumpkin grown in the trace elements contaminated abandoned soil. The present study was conducted to assess the geochemical speciation of essential and toxic elements in abandoned agricultural soil, contamination and bioaccumulation of essential and toxic elements in different tissues of pumpkin plant and probable risk to human health using an integrated research methodology. Soils and different tissues of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) plants were collected from agricultural fields around the tannery industries in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. The values of pH, electrical conductivity and organic carbon were ranged from 5.7 to 7.6, 16 to 44 μS/cm and 0.36–3.3%, respectively. The geochemical speciation analysis indicated that Cr, Ni, Cu, Fe and Zn were predominantly associated with the residual fraction followed by organically bound phase where As, Cd and Pb were associated with the weakly bound fractions (exchangeable and carbonate). The average concentrations of essential and toxic elements in plants parts were in the decreasing order of Fe > Zn > Ni > Cu > Mn > Cr > Pb > As > Cd. The concentration of Cr, As, Cd and Pb in vegetables were higher than the standard limits of elements in food, indicates that toxic elements may pose potential risk to the consumers. The translocation factor (TF) revealed that studied elements were more accumulated in leaves than roots. Considering health risks of essential and toxic elements due to pumpkin consumption, Cr, As, Cd and Pb caused non-cancer and cancer risk for the adult’s inhabitants in the study area.

General Overview of Radon Studies in Health Hazard Perspectives.

The adverse human health effects due to ionizing radiation are well known. Radon is the major source of background radiation among those that are of natural origin. It contributes about 55% of the natural radiation dose to humans. It is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless radioactive noble gas that comes from the natural radioactive decay series of uranium. Radon can be found everywhere in the atmosphere and become attached to aerosols in the air. The aerosols carrying radon and its progeny can be inhaled and deposited in different regions of the human respiratory tract. The deposited radioactive aerosols continue to decay and exposing the lung to ionizing radiation can destroy sensitive cells in the lung, causing a mutation that turns to be cancerous. Different countries and international and national organizations put their action levels to reduce radon lung cancer risk. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends 148 Bq/m3 as the action level. On the other hand, International Commission for Radiation Protection (ICRP) recommends 200 Bq/m3 as the action level. The main objective of this review is to focus on how radon is established as a health hazard, ways of radon detection and measurements, methods of reducing and controlling high indoor radon concentration, and what are the recommended international action levels of radon concentrations. It mainly focuses on the health perspective of radon studies because it is now a crucial and hot issue in the world. In most developing countries like our country Ethiopia, radon studies are not well investigated.

Determination of flood probability and prioritization of sub-watersheds: A comparison of game theory to machine learning

Floods often significantly impact human lives, properties, and activities. Prioritizing areas in a region for mitigation based on flood probability is essential for reducing losses. In this study, two game theory (GT) algorithms – Borda and Condorcet – were used to determine the areas in the Tajan watershed, Iran that were most likely to flood, and two machine learning models – random forest (RF), and artificial neural network (ANN) – were used to model flood probability (the probability of flooding). Twelve independent variables (slope, aspect, elevation, topographic position index (TPI), topographic wetness index (TWI), terrain ruggedness index (TRI), land use, soil, lithology, rainfall, drainage density, and distance to river) and 263 locations of flooding were used to model and prepare flood-probability maps. The RF model was more accurate (AUC = 0.949) than the ANN model (AUC = 0.888). Frequency ratio (FR) was calculated for all factors to determine which had the most influence on flood probability. The values of twelve factors that affect flood probability were estimated for each sub-watershed. Then, game-theory algorithms were used to prioritize sub-watersheds in terms of flood probability. A pairwise comparison matrix revealed that the sub-watersheds most likely to flood. The Condorcet algorithm selected sub-watersheds 1, 2, 4, 5, and 11 and the Borda algorithm selected sub-watersheds 2, 4, 5, 20 and 11. Both models predicted that most of the watershed has very low flood probability and a very small portion has a high probability for flooding. The quantitative analysis and characterization of the watersheds from the perspective of flood hazard can support decision making, planning, and investment in mitigation measures.

Testing gas dispersion modelling: A case study at La Soufrière volcano (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles)

Volcanic gas dispersal can be a serious threat to people living near active volcanoes since it can have short- and long-term effects on human health, and severely damage crops and agricultural land. In recent decades, reliable computational models have significantly advanced, and now they may represent a valuable tool to make quantitative and testable predictions, supporting gas dispersal forecasting and hazard assessments for public safety. Before applying a specific modelling tool into hazard quantification, its calibration and its sensitivity to initial and boundary conditions should be carefully tested against available data, in order to produce unbiased hazard quantifications. In this study, we provided a number of prototypical tests aimed to validate the modelling of gas dispersal from a hazard perspective. The tests were carried out at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe volcano, one of the most active gas emitters in the Lesser Antilles.La Soufrière de Guadeloupe has shown quasi-permanent degassing of a low-temperature hydrothermal nature since its last magmatic eruption in 1530 CE, when the current dome was emplaced. We focused on the distribution of CO2 and H2S discharged from the three main present-day fumarolic sources at the summit, using the measurements of continuous gas concentrations collected in the period March–April 2017. We developed a new probabilistic implementation of the Eulerian code DISGAS-2.0 for passive gas dispersion coupled with the mass-consistent Diagnostic Wind Model, using local wind measurements and atmospheric stability information from a local meteorological station and ERA5 reanalysis data. We found that model outputs were not significantly affected by the type of wind data but rather upon the relative positions of fumaroles and measurement stations. Our results reproduced the statistical variability in daily averages of observed data over the investigated period within acceptable ranges, indicating the potential usefulness of DISGAS-2.0 as a tool for reproducing the observed fumarolic degassing and for quantifying gas hazard at La Soufrière. The adopted testing procedure allows for an aware application of simulation tools for quantifying the hazard, and thus we think that this kind of testing should actually be the first logical step to be taken when applying a simulator to assess (gas) hazard in any other volcanic contexts.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on microbial and metals contaminations in a part of Thirumanimuthar River, South India: A comparative health hazard perspective

Twenty-two water samples from the Thirumanimuthar River course in southern India were collected before COVID-19 lockdown and during COVID-19 lockdown periods and were analyzed for microbiological parameters (fecal coliform bacteria, total coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli, and fecal streptococci) and heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cr). The lockdown has decreased microbial populations and heavy metals. Fe, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cr exceeded the drinking water limits, respectively, in 77%, 45%, 27%, 18%, 9% and 91% of the pre-lockdown samples. During the lockdown period, Fe, Cu and Cd concentrations in 23% and Cr in 50% of the samples exceeded the limits. Heavy Metal Pollution Index (PI) expressed that 27%, 64% and 9% of the pre-lockdown samples represented ‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high’ pollution categories, respectively, but 68% and 32% of the lockdown period samples represented ‘low’ and ‘medium’ categories, respectively. The Metal Index (MI) exposed that all samples of pre-lockdown were under the seriously affected category, whereas 54% and 46% of lockdown samples were under strongly and seriously affected categories, respectively. Health risk evaluation predicted that 95%, 91% and 86% of pre-lockdown samples and 45%, 36% and 33% of lockdown period samples were at risk among children, teenagers and adults, respectively. As there is no integrated study on river water quality of COVID-19 lockdown this work is uniquely carried out by combining heavy metal pollution, microbial contamination and human health risk evaluation.

Performance below Historical Aspirations, Management Autonomy and Financial Fraud

The ethical issues in the growth of firms have always been the focus of the practical and academic circles. When faced with underperformance, whether firms will take moral hazard to deal with this dilemma is an important issue worthy of discussion. Based on the behavioral theory of the firm （BTOF） and the upper echelon theory （UET）, this research discusses the influence of negative performance aspirations on corporate financial fraud, and further analyzes the regulatory mechanism of management autonomy. Based on the data of Chinese listed firms from 2003 to 2016, our research mainly draws the following conclusions: First, when a firm performs far below its historical aspirations, the firm tends to adopt a greater degree of financial fraud behavior to deal with the operating pressure. Second, when the CEO serves as the chair of the board, the CEO has higher management autonomy, which strengthens the relationship between performance below historical aspirations and financial fraud. Third, the greater the degree of staggered tenure between the CEO and the CFO, and the lower the CEO’s management autonomy, the weaker the positive relationship between performance below historical aspirations and financial fraud. Fourth, the higher the ownership concentration of the firm, and the stronger the shareholder’s supervision on the CEO’s participation in strategic decision-making, the weaker the CEO’s ability to take financial fraud, thus inhibiting the positive relationship between performance below historical aspirations and financial fraud. Further research shows that, because the controlling family can indirectly influence the strategic decision-making of family business through the personnel arrangement of key positions, the staggered tenure between the CEO and the CFO in family business strengthens the positive relationship between performance below historical aspirations and financial fraud. This paper has practical significance and enlightenment to standardize the legal operation of the firm, improve the corporate governance structure, and strengthen the internal control mechanism. This research has following contributions: First, it reveals the internal motivation that drives the firm to take financial fraud: performance below historical aspirations, which enriches the existing research in the field of corporate moral failure. Second, based on the perspective of motivation-ability, it introduces the CEO’s management autonomy into the framework of performance below historical aspirations and financial fraud, discusses the regulating effect of internal governance mechanism, expands the boundary of the influence of performance below historical aspirations on the firm’s financial fraud, and makes up for the previous literature which overemphasizes the impact of aspirations on executives’ risk-taking motivation and ignores the importance of risk-taking ability. Third, it expands the boundary of corporate performance feedback from the perspective of corporate moral hazard, enriches the existing research based on the theory of corporate behavior, and provides a reasonable research direction for scholars in this field.

GIS-based spatial landslide distribution analysis of district Neelum, AJ&K, Pakistan

The Landslide happens in mountainous regions due to the catastrophe of slope through intensive rain and seismicity. The Himalayas is one of the susceptible parts of the world in the perspective of slope catastrophe hazard; i.e., Mass Movement, especially Neelum valley is considerable destruction of community infrastructure, highway, and critically disturbed the tourism segment. Landslide is a common and recurrent phenomenon in the northern mountainous terrain of Pakistan such as District Neelum. After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the importance of landslide investigation is increasing. The purpose of this research is to establish a brief landslide inventory and to determine the relationship of landslides with causative factors by spatial distribution analysis. With the aid of Google Earth imageries and field visits, a total of 618 landslides were identified in the study area of 3621 km. These landslide localities compared with causative factors. Finally, distribution maps are generated and analyse their feature class through Digital Elevation Model and ArcGIS. Landslide intensity is calculated in terms of landslide concentration. Landslide concentration (LC) is significantly found very high in slope gradient less than 30 (1.21) and the first 100 m zone around the road network (15.06). A bit higher landslide frequency is noted in east orienting slopes. In the first 100 m, zone road network and drainage networks are 83.49% and 62.78% of the total landslide occurs having LC value 4.6, respectively. The analysis shows that the steep slopes, an area closer to the road network, drainage network, barren lands, and Quaternary alluvium of loose material are more susceptible to landslides. In addition, a landslide classification map is also prepared on the basis of field observation that shows that debris slides are more dominating.

The Nature\u2013Culture Distinction in Disaster Studies: The Recent Petition for Reform as an Opportunity for New Thinking?

This article constructively challenges the often cited distinction between the so-called hazard and vulnerability perspectives in disaster studies. In a context of increasingly intertwined, dense, and complex socioecological dynamics, disaster scholars often hold onto an apparently untenable distinction between nature and culture, manifested as either a hazard or a vulnerability approach. This article maintains that the typically undesired approach (the hazard approach) is inherent to the preferred (vulnerability) perspective. The article builds on Oliver-Smith’s (2013) critique of the magnitude of requirements placed upon practitioners given the full implications of the vulnerability perspective. Although critical of the vulnerability perspective, this article does not fundamentally disagree with the validity of its claims. Instead, by drawing on the pragmatist philosophy of Rorty (1989) and by demonstrating the potential value of posthumanism for disaster studies, I wish to argue for greater pragmatism within disaster scholarship. The article considers the recent petition or manifesto for disaster studies (Gaillard et al. 2019) for more inclusive disaster research as a potential opportunity to challenge the aforementioned nature–culture distinction in the field, as the petition signed by a number of disaster scholars outlines various concerns over the asymmetrical power relations between local and external researchers. These power relations have adverse consequences for the appropriateness of knowledge production in many contexts. I am primarily concerned with the very local level of disaster occurrence, where posthumanism might be most valuable.

The Thórólfsfell tuya, South Iceland – A new type of basaltic glaciovolcano

Basaltic tuyas are glaciovolcanoes that form when substantial focused eruptions take place beneath thick ice. None have been witnessed, so models reconstructing tuya formation are grounded in detailed fieldwork. A key feature of many basaltic tuyas is the presence of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks that indicate the sustained presence of an encircling meltwater lake during the eruption.Here we provide the first description of Þórólfsfell (Thórólfsfell), a basaltic tuya from Iceland, which is sufficiently distinct from previously described tuyas to be considered a new type of basaltic glaciovolcano.Thórólfsfell is an asymmetric tuya with an area of c.8 km2, base-to-top height of c.450 m, and volume of c.2.2 ± 0.4 km3 that has been emplaced onto the approximately 12o sloping lower southern flanks of Tindfjallajökull central volcano.Thórólfsfell shares only two major morphological characteristics with other basaltic tuyas: (1) a sub-horizontal top comprising subaerial lavas; (2) a clear vertical topographic expression, which reflects preferential upwards edifice growth due to lateral confinement by encircling ice and/or meltwater. There is no evidence for the presence of a large and long-lived syn-eruptive meltwater lake.The Thórólfsfell eruption is effusion-dominated, and there is a gradual reduction in cooling fractures in lavas with elevation. The eruption is divided into three Stages. Stage I forms a c.110 m thick drape onto an irregular but persistently c.12o dipping basement of older basaltic tuffs; Stage I consists of palaeoslope-parallel lava lobes with abundant cooling fractures, accompanied by abundant breccias. Stage II comprises a c.240 m thick stack of c.12o dipping stacked lava lobes with abundant cooling fractures, and occasional autobreccias. Stage III is c.110 m thick, and whilst early lavas have cooling fractures, the final Stage III lavas are sub-horizontal, subaerial pahoehoe lava flows.Our model for the formation of Thórólfsfell has two key features. The first is that the inclined basement has facilitated the downslope movement of meltwater away from the eruption site into an efficient gravity-assisted subglacial meltwater drainage system. The second is that there is a close connection between the vertical growth of the tuya and the ice above, with each successive lava in the growing stack being close to and/or in contact with the overlying ice. This repeated process provides the regular (but transient) meltwater supply necessary to produce a c.350 m stack of similarly-cooled lava carapaces.From a hazards perspective, a Thórólfsfell-style eruption is of little concern as rapid and steady meltwater drainage away from the eruption site would prevent the high-magnitude glacial outburst floods that require accumulated meltwater. The Thórólfsfell eruption provides a new perspective on effective meltwater dispersal away from tuya-building eruptions on dipping palaeoslopes, and on lava-ice interactions during subglacial eruptions. The products of other subglacial eruptions onto dipping basements, producing Thórólfsfell-type tuyas, await study.This first description of a new type of basaltic glaciovolcano may aid in the identification and interpretation of similar glaciovolcanoes on Earth and Mars that have yet to be discovered.

The Logic of Business Groups: A Moral Hazard Perspective

The Logic of Business Groups: A Moral Hazard Perspective

Three-dimensional seismic tomographic imaging beneath the Sea of Marmara: evidence for locked and creeping sections of the Main Marmara Fault

SUMMARYWe present 3-D Vp and Vp/Vs tomographic images for depths down to 22 km along with precise earthquake locations beneath the Sea of Marmara using the seismological data sets collected during the Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) experiments conducted in 2001 and 2006. The unique data set collected by 52 OBSs and augmented by 14 land stations include 3852 P and 2643 S arrival times from 434 earthquakes and 4744 P arrival times from 557 air-gun shot records. From the tomographic depth sections and relocated seismicity, we identify two shear zones which are marked by narrow-width (∼10 km), low Vp (4.3–5.3 km s–1) and high Vp/Vs ratio (∼2.0) anomalies coinciding with the surface trace of the Main Marmara Fault (MMF) and extending near vertically from 8 km depth below the basins into the deeper part of the crust. We consider these shear zones to be the strike-slip deformation signature of the MMF at depth. The western shear zone imaged lies between the Western High and the eastern end of the Central Basin including the 60-km-long segment of the MMF and contains higher seismicity and is visible in the 8–22 km depth range. The eastern shear zone, coinciding with the NW–SE trending surface trace of the MMF, is imaged beneath the Çınarcık Basin with lower seismicity and tomographic resolution. Furthermore, these shear zones may contain fractures filled with deep crustal fluids allowing partial aseismic creep. Within these shear zones, we also identify small-scale, high Vp (6 km s–1) anomalies with low seismicity indicative of strong patches of the fault at depth that can be considered as asperities. Between these shear zones, our tomographic images clearly show a central zone that has homogenously high Vp (∼6.0–6.5 km s–1) and low Vp/Vs ratio (∼1.7) over a large area including the 50-km-long central segment of the MMF lying between the eastern end of the Central Basin and western end of the Çınarcık Basin. Thus, we infer that the central MMF is in a locked state based on its high shear strength, low seismicity and a lack of detectable geodetic slip. Furthermore, a large earthquake might not nucleate on the central MMF since it may be strongly locked at the current level of stress loading, and thus it may behave as a seismic barrier or anti-asperity. On the other hand, the central MMF is a good candidate for a supershear rupture because it has nearly uniform elastic properties and low background seismicity indicating the homogeneity of friction and pre-stress across the fault, which are presented as the main characteristics of supershear fault ruptures. From the seismic hazard perspective, we speculate that a large earthquake may be expected to nucleate within either of the imaged shear zones with the possibility of the central MMF acting as a seismic barrier to stop or to join the rupture in a supershear mode. The imaged features have important implications for various aspects of seismic hazard and crustal dynamics in the Sea of Marmara region.

Flash flood susceptibility assessment using the parameters of drainage basin morphometry in SE Bangladesh

Predicting the occurrence and spatial patterns of rainfall induced flash floods is still a challenge. Instant genesis and typically smaller areal coverage of the flash floods are the major impediments to their forecasting. Analysis of the morphometric parameters provides useful insight on hydrological response of the drainage basins to high intensity rainfall events. This information is valuable for understanding the flash flood potential of the drainage basins and for evading the destructions caused by the hazard. Here, we use eighteen morphometric parameters that influence the runoff volume, flow velocity, and inundation depth scenario of a flash flood. The analysis has been carried out for simulating the relative flash flood susceptibility of thirteen watersheds (B1 to B13) of variable sizes in southeastern Bangladesh. The morphometric parameters were derived from Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using Geographic Information System (GIS). The evaluated basin parameters include: area (A), perimeter (P), length (Lb), stream order (Su), stream number (Nu), stream length (Lu), stream frequency (Fs), drainage density (Dd), texture ratio (Rt), bifurcation ratio (Rb), basin relief (Hr), relief ratio (Rr), ruggedness number (Rn), time of concentration (Tc), infiltration number (If), and form factor (F). Two relative flash flood susceptibility scenarios were generated: (i) general watershed level, and (ii) more precise pixel level status. The watershed level comparison reveals that B4 and B6 watersheds constituting 72.61% of the total area are ‘very high’ susceptible, whereas the susceptibility of the other watersheds has been found as ‘high’ [B5 (6.95%)], ‘moderate’ [B8 and B13 (8.63%)], ‘low’ [B2, B10, B11 (4.64%)], and ‘very low’ [B1, B3, B7, B9, and B12 (7.18%)]. The derived watershed susceptibility map was subsequently integrated with two spatial analysis algorithms i.e., topographic wetness index (TWI) and topographic position index (TPI) through overlay analysis. The integration helped to understand the combined role of the general watershed morphometry and the in situ topography for determining the flash flood susceptibility of each spot (30 m × 30 m) within all the selected watersheds. The quantitative analysis and characterization of the watersheds from the perspective of flash flood hazard in this investigation is expected to be useful for implementing the site-specific mitigation measures and alleviating the effects of the hydrological hazard in the study area.

Disaster resilience assessment based on the spatial and temporal aggregation effects of earthquake-induced hazards

Since the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, frequent geologic hazards along the Longmenshan fault zone have had significant impacts on the socioeconomic conditions in the earthquake-stricken areas. Therefore, from the perspective of earthquake-induced hazards, this paper focuses on analyzing the change rules of disaster resilience under the spatial and temporal aggregation effects of earthquake-induced hazards, and this analysis provides an important basis for understanding the developmental characteristics of earthquake-induced hazards and disaster prevention, and mitigation after earthquakes. This paper takes Wenchuan County as an example. By collecting the 2008-2018 landslide geological hazards data, the global autocorrelation coefficient and local autocorrelation coefficient are adopted to analyze the temporal trends and spatial patterns of earthquake-induced hazards. At the same time, from the socioeconomic perspective, two disaster resilience indexes, the compatibility coefficient of industrial and employment structure and per capita GDP growth rate, were constructed to analyze the disaster resilience under the spatial and temporal aggregation effect of landslide geological hazards. The results show that, on the temporal trend, the temporal aggregation effect of earthquake-induced hazards has periodically decayed with time; in the spatial distribution, the spatial clustering effect as a whole increases first and then decreases, and the scope of the aggregation effect tends to narrow spatially. Disaster resilience (Hxy and RGDP) showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing, and could not recover to the level before the earthquake in 2017, indicating that Wenchuan County was greatly affected by earthquake-induced hazards in the post-earthquake reconstruction process.

Unemployment benefits and activation in federal welfare states: An institutional moral hazard perspective

ABSTRACT Subnational governments have become more involved in the ‘regulation of unemployment’ (the design, implementation and financing of unemployment-related benefits and activation), partly because they are thought to be better placed to activate the unemployed than federal governments. However, depending on its specific design, decentralization can reduce the incentives subnational governments have to implement effective activation. Such ‘institutional moral hazard’ is not yet systematically theorized. We examine how and to what extent it affects three federal countries. We distinguish three factors that influence whether institutional moral hazard is perceived as a problem and how it can be resolved. We identify two types of subnational challenges to federal control.

Mobility and adsorption of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) in soils – environmental hazard perspective

Investigation of the mobility of liquid organic hydrogen carriers in soils in relation to the environmental hazard assessment.

Analysis of vulnerability assessment frameworks and methodologies in urban areas

The occurrence of major natural disasters in recent years has impacted large cities worldwide and boosted the need of assessing urban resilience. As a key factor of resilience, vulnerability correlates attributes of communities with the level of damage caused by hazards. Although a large amount of studies has reviewed the assessment of vulnerability from the perspective of a particular hazard, the combined analysis involving all kind of hazards and vulnerability dimensions in the urban context is uncommon. This research provides a critical analysis of a selected sample of 72 contributions released from 1998 to 2018 and related to the appraisal of vulnerability, in order to determine their adequacy in the evaluation of urban vulnerability. The findings stemming from this process revealed that the social dimension was a priority, whilst qualitative components associated with risk awareness were slightly covered. Furthermore, multi-criteria decision analysis and weighting allocation were the most widely used techniques to address urban vulnerability, whilst 32 methodologies were bespoke built to be applied to particular locations. Most of the cases examined were oriented to specific hazards, with only 10 of them focused on multiple hazards. Hence, the results suggest the need for developing a new framework applicable to multiple hazards worldwide to bridge the identified gaps.

Fire Risk Mitigation at Urban Scale in Commercial Buildings of Kumbakonam Town

Urban growth in old south Indian traditional towns results in overcrowded and chaotic developments which compromises occupant’s safety especially from fire. The fire risk associated in built environment needs to be analyzed by understanding the changes in built form and built environment by a systematic procedure which can support fire mitigation strategies at urban scale. For the purpose of study, Kumbakonam which is a traditional south Indian town with rapid urbanization and change in urban fabric is identified as a case example. The methodology tries to identify problems in selected areas of kumbakonam town from the perspective of fire hazard by identifying commercial typologies in and around the core areas of old towns and analyzing them. This involves documentation of 4 commercial typology buildings selected in core area and analyzing for associated fire risk by comparing with norms outlined by NBC (2016). The purpose of the research is to highlight the presence of fire risks in commercial buildings of kumbakonam with minimum exit widths, increased occupancy load and maximum travel distance of means of egress. The findings can be a prologue to further research and decision making process for the safety of the occupants.