The seismic vulnerability index(Kg) is a parameter that depends on the dynamic properties of soil. With this parameter, it is possible to evaluate the vulnerability of a point-based site under strong ground motion. Si...The seismic vulnerability index(Kg) is a parameter that depends on the dynamic properties of soil. With this parameter, it is possible to evaluate the vulnerability of a point-based site under strong ground motion. Since it is related to the natural vibration period and amplification factor, the parameter can be calculated for both soil and structure. In this study, HVSR microtremor measurements are recorded at more than 200 points in the Van region to generate a seismic vulnerability index map. After generating the map, it is determined that the hazard potential and seismic vulnerability index is high at the sites close to Van Lake and at the densely populated city center. Damage information of the buildings investigated after the 2011 Van earthquakes(Mw = 7.1) are placed on the seismic vulnerability index map and it is realized that there may be a correlation between the damage and the seismic vulnerability index. There is a high correlation, approximately 80 percent, between the damage rate map based on the damaged building data and the K_g values. In addition, vulnerability indexes of buildings are calculated and the effect of local soil conditions and building properties on the damage levels are determined. From the results of this study and the site observations after the 2011 Van earthquakes, it is found that structural damage is not only structure-dependent but is also related to the dynamic behavior of soil layers and local soil conditions.展开更多
An Giang province in the Mekong Delta is the most vulnerable province the impact of flooding and climate variability. Thousand of households are at risk due to severe annual floods. This study applied the LVI （liveli...An Giang province in the Mekong Delta is the most vulnerable province the impact of flooding and climate variability. Thousand of households are at risk due to severe annual floods. This study applied the LVI （livelihood vulnerability index） to estimate flood vulnerability of Phu Huu and Ta Danh villages in An Giang province. Data on socio-demographics, livelihoods, health, social networks, physical, financial and natural resources, natural disasters and climate variability were collected from a survey of 120 households in each village. From these data the LVI of each village was calculated. Results show that the overall LV1 of Phu Huu village, located in the early flooded zone, is higher than that of Ta Danh village, located in the late flooded zone. The analysis also indicated that this practical method can be applied for other purposes such as to monitor vulnerability, evaluate development programs or policy effectiveness by incorporating with scenario comparison.展开更多
The CVI （coastal vulnerability index） was developed and used to assess the vulnerability of the coastline of the Kingdom of Bahrain main islands to future SLR （sea level rise）. A total of 717 km of the coastline w...The CVI （coastal vulnerability index） was developed and used to assess the vulnerability of the coastline of the Kingdom of Bahrain main islands to future SLR （sea level rise）. A total of 717 km of the coastline was evaluated. Six spatial factors acting on the coastal area： erosion/accretion patterns （shoreline change）, topography （elevation above mean sea level）, geology, geomorphology, slope, and mean sea level rise were incorporated and ranked to develop the CVI. This index was classified into four levels of vulnerability： low, moderate, high, and very high. Vulnerable hotspots are located along the central portions of the western and eastern coastlines. The vulnerability of these areas is mostly driven by their characteristically shallow coastal slopes, low elevations, and erosion-prone nature of the sandy soils presents, comprising about 54 km of the studied shoreline. Another 33 km of coastline were classified as highly vulnerable and located along the eastern coast. In addition, the western coast of the southern tip of the main island （Bahrain） was also classified as a highly vulnerable shoreline. Twenty-two km was classified as the moderate vulnerable. The remaining coastal areas were classified as low to moderately vulnerable comprising about 608 km of the total length of the coastline. Identifying those hotspots susceptible to SLR is essential for more effective coastal zone management and to help in reducing the impacts of SLR on both infrastructure and human beings.展开更多
The objective of the present study is to define two important aspects of the computer operating system concerning the number of its vulnerabilities behavior. We identify the Vulnerability Intensity Function (VIF), and...The objective of the present study is to define two important aspects of the computer operating system concerning the number of its vulnerabilities behavior. We identify the Vulnerability Intensity Function (VIF), and the Vulnerability Index Indicator (VII) of a computer operating network. Both of these functions, VIF and VII are entities of the stochastic process that we have identified, which characterizes the probabilistic behavior of the number of vulnerabilities of a computer operating network. The VIF identifies the rate at which the number of vulnerabilities changes with respect to time. The VII is an important index indicator that conveys the following information about the number of vulnerabilities of Desktop Operating Systems: the numbers are increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same at a particular time of interest. This decision type of index indicator is crucial in every strategic planning and decision-making. The proposed VIF and VII illustrate their importance by using real data for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems 10, 8, 7, and Apple MacOS. The results of the actual data attest to the importance of VIF and VII in the cybersecurity problem we are currently facing.展开更多
This study assesses the vulnerable state of the 566-km Ivorian coastal area using the physical (geomorphology, coastal slope, coastal retreat rate, relative sea level rise and wave/Tide energy) and socio-economic (coa...This study assesses the vulnerable state of the 566-km Ivorian coastal area using the physical (geomorphology, coastal slope, coastal retreat rate, relative sea level rise and wave/Tide energy) and socio-economic (coastal population density, harbor, airport, road, land use and protected area) factors as indicators. This enabled an Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index to be determined for the Ivorian coastal zone. This Index could be defined as the weighted average of indexes based on physical and socio-economic factors. The study revealed that vulnerability of the western and the eastern coastlines of Cote d’Ivoire are strongly influenced by human activities, while physical forcing affects significantly the vulnerability of the central section. The relative vulnerability of the different sections depends also strongly on the geomorphology, wave energy, coastal population density and land use factors. The west and central sections of the coastline are more resilient than the eastern section when integrating physical and socio-economic factors. The Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index, based on physical and socio-economic factors, appears to be more appropriate for coastal vulnerability assessment. These results could be useful in the development of adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of this coastal area and then extended for West Africa Coastal Areas Management.展开更多
The flood hazard management is one of the major challenges in the floodplain regions worldwide.With the rise in population growth and the spread of infrastructural development,the level of risk has increased over time...The flood hazard management is one of the major challenges in the floodplain regions worldwide.With the rise in population growth and the spread of infrastructural development,the level of risk has increased over time.Therefore,the prediction of flood susceptible area is a key challenge for the adoption of management plans.Flood susceptibility modeling is technically a common work,but it is still a very tough job to validate flood susceptible models in a very rigorous and scientific manner.Therefore,the present work in the Atreyee River Basin of India and Bangladesh was planned to establish artificial neural network(ANN),radial basis function(RBF),random forest(RF)and their ensemble-based flood susceptibility models.The flood susceptible models were constructed based on nine flood conditioning parameters.The flood susceptibility models were validated in a conventional way using the receiver operating curve(ROC).To validate the flood-susceptible models,a two dimensional(2D)hydraulic flood simulation model was developed.Also,the index of flood vulnerability model was developed and applied for validating the flood susceptible models,which was a very unique way to validate the predictive models.Friedman test and Wilcoxon Signed rank test were employed to compare the generated flood susceptible models.Results showed that 11.95%-12.99%of the entire basin area(10188.4 km^(2))comes under very high flood-susceptible zones.Accuracy evaluation results have shown that the performance of ensemble flood susceptible models outperforms other standalone machine learning models.The flood simulation model and IFV model were also spatially adjusted with the flood susceptibility models.Therefore,the present study recommended for the ensemble flood susceptibility prediction and IFV based validation along with conventional ways.展开更多
The single-station microtremor method is one of the fastest,most reliable,and cheapest methods used to identify dynamic soil properties.This study utilizes 49 single-station microtremor measurements to identify the dy...The single-station microtremor method is one of the fastest,most reliable,and cheapest methods used to identify dynamic soil properties.This study utilizes 49 single-station microtremor measurements to identify the dynamic soil properties of the Hilalkent quarter of the Yakutiye district in Erzurum.Soil dominant frequency and the amplification factor were calculated by using the Nakamura horizontal/vertical spectral ratio(H/V)method.While the soil dominant frequency values varied between 0.4 Hz and 10 Hz,the soil amplification factor changed between 1 and 10.Higher H/V values were acquired with lower frequency values.The vulnerability index(K_(g))and shear strain parameters that are utilized to estimate the damage that may be caused by an earthquake were mapped.Especially in the west side of the study area,higher K_(g) values were observed.The shear strain map was created with 0.25 g,0.50 g and 0.75 g bedrock accelerations,and soil types that lost elasticity during an earthquake were identified.The average shear wave velocity for the first 30 m(V_(s30))was calculated.Finally,it was observed that the western part of the study area,which resulted in a higher period and higher H/V,higher K_(g) and lower V_(s30) values,presents a higher risk of damage during an earthquake.展开更多
Social vulnerability assessments are largely ignored when compared with biophysical vulnerability assessments. This is mainly due to the fact that there are more difficulties in quantifying them. Aiming at several pit...Social vulnerability assessments are largely ignored when compared with biophysical vulnerability assessments. This is mainly due to the fact that there are more difficulties in quantifying them. Aiming at several pitfalls still existing in the Hoovering approach which is widely accepted, a suitable modified model is provided. In this modified model, the integrated vulnerability is made an analogy to the elasticity coefficient of a spring, and an objective evaluation criterion is established. With the evaluation criterion, the assessment indicators of social vulnerability are filtered and their weight assignments are accomplished. There is an application in the city of Changsha where floods occur often. With the relative data from the PICC Hunan Province Branch, a generalized regression neural network model is established in Matlab 7.0 and used to evaluate a company's flood social vulnerability index (SoVI). The results show that the average flood social vulnerability in Yuhua district is the highest, while Yuelu district is the lowest. It is good for disaster risk management and decision-making of insurance companies.展开更多
DRASTIC is a very simple and common model used for the assessment of groundwater to contamination.This model is widely used across the world in various hydrogeological environments for groundwater vulnerability assess...DRASTIC is a very simple and common model used for the assessment of groundwater to contamination.This model is widely used across the world in various hydrogeological environments for groundwater vulnerability assessment.The Ohio Water Well Association(OWWA)developed DRASTIC model in 1987.Over the years,several modifications have been made in this model as per the need of the regional assessment of groundwater to contamination.This model has fixed weights for its parameters and fixed ratings for the sub-parameters under the main parameters.The weights and ratings of DRASTIC parameters were fixed on the basis of Delphi network technique,which is the best technique for the consensus-building of experts,but it lacks scientific explanations.Over the years,several optimization techniques have been used to optimize these weights and ratings.This work intends to present a critical analysis of decision optimization techniques used to get the optimum values of weights and ratings.The inherent pros and cons and the optimization challenges associated with these techniques have also been discussed.The finding of this study is that the application of MCDA optimization techniques used to optimize the weights and ratings of DRASTIC model to assess the vulnerability of groundwater depend on the availability of hydrogeological data,the pilot study area and the level of required accuracy for earmarking the vulnerable regions.It is recommended that one must choose the appropriate MCDA technique for the particular region because unnecessary complex structure for optimization process takes more time,efforts,resources,and implementation costs.展开更多
Building construction site plays an important role in the economic aspect of a region. So any disruption due to hazard event like earthquake can cause several direct and indirect damages. Direct damages can lead to th...Building construction site plays an important role in the economic aspect of a region. So any disruption due to hazard event like earthquake can cause several direct and indirect damages. Direct damages can lead to the loss of equipments and qualified persons. Indirect damages can lead to inflation and loss of purchasing power. To deal with that situation, parameters that govern the vulnerability of building construction site have been identified. Using a MCDM （multiple criteria decision making） method, the priority order of these parameters has been set. Then a PVI （partial vulnerability index） and a GVI （global vulnerability index） are proposed. These indexes allow the classification of building construction sites according to their intrinsic vulnerability and seismic vulnerability respectively that is through the use of a given classification. Several Algerian building construction sites belonging to different seismic zones were considered in order to show the applicability of the method.展开更多
In this study,we set out to develop a new social vulnerability index(SVI).In doing so,we suggest some conceptual improvements that can be made to existing methodical approaches to assessing social vulnerability.To mak...In this study,we set out to develop a new social vulnerability index(SVI).In doing so,we suggest some conceptual improvements that can be made to existing methodical approaches to assessing social vulnerability.To make the entanglement of socio-spatial inequalities visible,we are conducting a small-scale study on heterogeneous urban development in the city of Hamburg,Germany.This kind of high-resolution analysis was not previously available,but is increasingly requested by political decision makers.We can thus show hot spots of social vulnerability(SV)in Hamburg,considering the effects of social welfare,education,and age.In doing so,we defined SV as a contextual concept that follows the recent shift in discourse in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s(IPCC)concepts of risk and vulnerability.Our SVI consists of two subcomponents:sensitivity and coping capacity.Populated areas of Hamburg were identified using satellite information and merged with the social data units of the city.Areas with high SVI are distributed over the entire city,notably in the district of Harburg and the Reiherstieg quarter in Wilhelmsburg near the Elbe,as well as in the densely populated inner city areas of Eimsbüttel and St.Pauli.As a map at a detailed scale,our SVI can be a useful tool to identify areas where the population is most vulnerable to climate-related hazards.We conclude that an enhanced understanding of urban social vulnerability is a prerequisite for urban risk management and urban resilience planning.展开更多
Objective:To observe the effects of moxibustion or moxa smoke on serum lipids,aorta and liver pathology,and carotid plaque stability in atherosclerosis.Methods:Fifty-four 8-week-old ApoE^-/- mice were randomly divided...Objective:To observe the effects of moxibustion or moxa smoke on serum lipids,aorta and liver pathology,and carotid plaque stability in atherosclerosis.Methods:Fifty-four 8-week-old ApoE^-/- mice were randomly divided into three groups(untreated,moxibustion,and moxa smoke)and received a high-fat diet.Eighteen wild-type C57 BL/6 mice of the same age were used as controls.The intervention(none,moxibustion between the nipples,or 10 e15 mg/m^3 moxa smoke)was applied to restrained mice 20 min per day,six days per week,for 12 weeks.At the end of the experimental period,we measured serum lipids and apolipoprotein,stained thoracic aortas and livers to observe pathological changes,and used immunohistochemical staining to assess the levels of a-smooth muscle actin,CD68,tumor necrosis factor-α,nuclear transcription factor-κB,and P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.We also measured the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9 and tissue metalloproteinase inhibitor-1.Results:After 12 weeks,lipid metabolism disorder and atherosclerotic plaques were observed in the ApoE^-/- mice.Moxibustion or moxa smoke reduced the levels of serum total cholesterol,triglycerides,low density lipoprotein,and very low density lipoprotein but did not affect the levels of high density lipoprotein,apolipoprotein A1,or oxidized low density lipoprotein.Moxibustion or moxa smoke suppressed pathological changes in thoracic aortas and livers,increased fiber cap thickness,the fiber cap thickness/intimal medial thickness ratio,and collagen area percentage,and reduced extracellular lipids.Treatment with moxibustion or moxa smoke increased a-smooth muscle actin and reduced CD68 and the vulnerability index,suppressed tumor necrosis factor-α and nuclear transcription factor-κB expression,and did not affect P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase expression.Treatment lowered the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9 and increased those of tissue metalloproteinase inhibitor-1.Conclusion:Moxibustion or moxa smoke exert protective effects in serum lipid profiles and carotid plaque stability in atherosclerotic mice by regulating plaque stability,inflammatory factors,and matrix metalloproteinases.展开更多
The present study aims mainly at investigat</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:...The present study aims mainly at investigat</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ing</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> the site effect at the new Luxor city, Egypt, using microtremor measurements. Accordingly, 41</span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family:""> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ambient noise recording</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> were implemented covering the investigated area in a reasonable manner with spacing nearly 1 km between each measurement station. The data were analyzed using Nakamura</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">’</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s technique. The results show that;the investigated area exhibits low fundamental frequency values ranging between 0.28 - 0.47 Hz and its corresponding amplification factor values var</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">y</span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> between 2.3 and 6.8. Consequently, the studied site is characterized by the presence of thick soft sediments overlying a hard bed rock. The seismic vulnerability index (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">) was estimated, relying on the estimated fundamental frequency (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">F</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">) and amplification factor (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">A</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">), through the range between 11 and 95 across the mapped area. The obtained </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> values were noticed to be compatible with amplification level results. The central part of the investigated area reflects the higher </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> and </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">A</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> values.展开更多
Vulnerability assessment and mapping play a crucial role in disaster risk reduction and planning for adaptation to a future earthquake.Turkey is one of the most at-risk countries for earthquake disasters worldwide.The...Vulnerability assessment and mapping play a crucial role in disaster risk reduction and planning for adaptation to a future earthquake.Turkey is one of the most at-risk countries for earthquake disasters worldwide.Therefore,it is imperative to develop effective earthquake vulnerability assessment and mapping at practically relevant scales.In this study,a holistic earthquake vulnerability index that addresses the multidimensional nature of earthquake vulnerability was constructed.With the aim of representing the vulnerability as a continuum across space,buildings were set as the smallest unit of analysis.The study area is in İzmit City of Turkey,with the exposed human and structural elements falling inside the most hazardous zone of seismicity.The index was represented by the building vulnerability,socioeconomic vulnerability,and vulnerability of the built environment.To minimize the subjectivity and uncertainty that the vulnerability indices based on expert knowledge are suffering from,an extension of the catastrophe progression method for the objective weighing of indicators was proposed.Earthquake vulnerability index and components were mapped,a local spatial autocorrelation metric was employed where the hotspot maps demarcated the earthquake vulnerability,and the study quantitatively revealed an estimate of people at risk.With its objectivity and straightforward implementation,the method can aid decision support for disaster risk reduction and emergency management.展开更多
Although social vulnerability has recently gained attention in academic studies, Brazil lacks frameworks and indicators to assess it for the entire country.Social vulnerability highlights differences in the human capa...Although social vulnerability has recently gained attention in academic studies, Brazil lacks frameworks and indicators to assess it for the entire country.Social vulnerability highlights differences in the human capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. It varies over space and time, and among and between social groups, largely due to differences in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This article provides a social vulnerability index(SoVI~) replication study for Brazil and shows how SoVI~concepts and indicators were adapted to the country. SoVI~Brazil follows the place-based framework adopted in the Social Vulnerability Index initially developed for the United States. Using a principal component analysis(PCA), 45city-level indicators were reduced to 10 factors that explain about 67 % of the variance in the data. Clearly identified spatial patterns showed a concentration of the most socially vulnerable cities in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, as well as the social vulnerability of metropolitan areas and state capitals in the South and Southeast regions.The least vulnerable cities are mainly concentrated in the inland regions of the Southeast. Although different factors contribute to the social vulnerability in each city, the overall results confirm the social and economic disparities among Brazilian’s regions and reflect a differential vulnerability to natural hazards at local to regional scales.展开更多
Background:Ethiopia is frequently cited as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change.The country’s high vulnerability arises mostly from climate-sensitive agricultural sector that suffers ...Background:Ethiopia is frequently cited as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change.The country’s high vulnerability arises mostly from climate-sensitive agricultural sector that suffers a lot from risks associated with rainfall variability.The vulnerability factors(exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity)of the agricultural livelihoods to climate variability and change differ across agro-ecological systems(AESs).Therefore,the aim of this study was to analyze AES-specific vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate variability and change in the Fincha’a sub-basin.We surveyed 380 respondents from 4 AESs(highland,midland,wetland,and lowland)randomly selected.Furthermore,focus group discussion and key informant interviews were also performed to supplement and substantiate the quantitative data.Livelihood vulnerability index was employed to analyze the levels of smallholders’agriculture vulnerability to climate variability and change.Data on socioeconomic and biophysical attribute were collected and combined into the indices and vulnerability score was calculated for each agro-ecological system.Results:Considerable variation was observed across the agro-ecological systems in profile,indicator,and the three livelihood vulnerability indices-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dimensions(exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity)of vulnerability.The lowland AES exhibited higher exposure,low adaptive capacity,and high vulnerability,while the midland AES demonstrated lower exposure,higher adaptive capacity,and lower vulnerability.The wetland and highland AESs scored intermediate results.Conclusion:Our results suggest that resilience-building adaptation strategies are vital to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers.The measures taken should consider site-specific agro-ecological system requirements to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder mixed crop-livestock agriculture system.Since the approach based on the long-term realization of the community,any strategy designed based on such assessments is applicable to local condition.展开更多
Recent seismic events show that urban areas are increasingly vulnerable to seismic damage,which leads to unprecedented levels of risk.Cities are complex systems and as such their analysis requires a good understanding...Recent seismic events show that urban areas are increasingly vulnerable to seismic damage,which leads to unprecedented levels of risk.Cities are complex systems and as such their analysis requires a good understanding of the interactions between space and the socioeconomic variables characteristic of the inhabitants of urban space.There is a clear need to develop and test detailed models that describe the behavior of these interactions under seismic impact.This article develops an overall vulnerability index to seismic hazard based on a spatial approach applied to Bucharest,Romania,the most earthquake-prone capital in the European Union.The methodology relies on:(1) spatial post-processed socioeconomic data from the2011 Romanian census through multicriteria analysis;and(2) analytical methods(the Improved Displacement Coefficient Method and custom-defined vulnerability functions)for estimating damage patterns,incorporated in a GIS environment.We computed vulnerability indices for the128 census tracts of the city.Model sensitivity assessment tested the robustness of spatially identified patterns of building vulnerability in the face of uncertainty in model inputs.The results show that useful seismic vulnerability indices can be obtained through interdisciplinaryapproaches that enhance less detailed datasets,which leads lead to better targeted mitigation efforts.展开更多
Background:The adverse effects of climate variability and extremes exert increasing pressure on rural farm households whose livelihoods are dependent on nature.However,integrated and area-specific vulnerability assess...Background:The adverse effects of climate variability and extremes exert increasing pressure on rural farm households whose livelihoods are dependent on nature.However,integrated and area-specific vulnerability assessments in Ethiopia in general and the study area,in particular,are scarce and insufficient for policy implications.Therefore,this study aims to quantify,map,classify,and prioritize the level of vulnerability in terms of the components of exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity in the Northeastern Highlands of Ethiopia.The study area is divided into six livelihood zones,namely,Abay-Beshilo Basin(ABB),South Wollo and Oromia eastern lowland sorghum and cattle(SWS),Chefa Valley(CHV),Meher-Belg,Belg,and Meher.A total of 361 sample households were selected using proportional probability sampling techniques.Survey questionnaire,key informant interview,and focus group discussions were used to collect the necessary data.Rainfall and temperature data were also used.Following the IPCC’s climate change vulnerability assessment approach,the climate vulnerability index(CVI)framework of Sullivan and Meigh’s model was used to assess the relative vulnerability of livelihoods of rural households.Twenty-four vulnerability indicators were identified for exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity components.In this regard,Iyengar and Sudarshan’s unequal weighting system was applied to assign a weight to indicators.Results:The results revealed that Belg and Meher were found to be the highest exposure livelihood zones to vulnerability with an aggregated value of 0.71.Equally,SWS,ABB,Belg,and CHV livelihood zones showed moderate level of sensitivity to vulnerability with an aggregated value between 0.45 and 0.60.The study noted that livelihood zone of Belg(0.75)was found to be at high level of livelihood vulnerability.ABB(0.57)and CHV(0.45)were at a moderate level of livelihood vulnerability while Meher-Belg(0.22)was the least vulnerable livelihood zone due to a high level of adaptive capacity such as infrastructure,asset accumulation,and social networks Conclusion:It was identified that disparities of livelihood vulnerability levels of rural households were detected across the study livelihood zones due to differences in the interaction of exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity components.The highest levels of exposure and sensitivity combined with low level of adaptive capacity have increased households’livelihood vulnerability.More importantly,the biophysical and socioeconomic sensitivity to livelihood vulnerability were exacerbated by slope/topography,soil erodibility,and population pressure.Therefore,designing livelihood zone-based identifiable adaptation strategies are essential to reduce the exposure and sensitivity of crop-livestock mixed agricultural systems to climate calamity.展开更多
Ecological vulnerability refers to the degree of ecosystem disturbance,system damage,and the ability of system restoration.Although case-specific evaluations of ecological vulnerability are progressing rapidly,they ha...Ecological vulnerability refers to the degree of ecosystem disturbance,system damage,and the ability of system restoration.Although case-specific evaluations of ecological vulnerability are progressing rapidly,they have been carried out mainly in areas with intensive human activities or in harsh natural environments.Using the Web of ScienceTM core collection,this review paper summarized studies on ecological vulnerability published from 2000 to 2022 and analyzed in depth major case studies.It was found that traditional ecological vulnerability research has been addressed largely in terms of assessment models,data processing models,and analysis of influencing factors,however there was a lack of research on the process of vulnerability transformation.Because the vulnerability transformation in a hierarchical vulnerability index system is regulated by multiple factors in a heterogeneous region,it is urgent to understand how the ecological vulnerability in a region evolves from one level to another over time.Therefore this paper put forward the new perspective of research,i.e.,applying quantitative analysis to identification of regulating factors and exploring the mechanisms of ecological vulnerability transformation.This new perspective could assist in monitoring the complex spatiotemporal changes in ecological vulnerability and taking necessary measures to prevent from decline of ecological stability.展开更多
Soil loss tolerance （/） is the maximum rate of annual soil erosion that is tolerated and still allows a high level of crop productivity to be sustained economically and indefinitely. In the black soil region of Nort...Soil loss tolerance （/） is the maximum rate of annual soil erosion that is tolerated and still allows a high level of crop productivity to be sustained economically and indefinitely. In the black soil region of Northeast China, an empirically determined, default Tvalue of 200 （t/km2.a） is used for designing land restoration strategies for different types of soils. The ob- jective of this study was to provide a methodology to calculate a quantitative T for different black soil species. A field investigation was conducted to determine the typical soil profiles of 21 black soil species in the study area and a quantitative methodology based on a modified soil productivity index model was established to calculate the Tvalues. These values, which varied from 68 t/km2.a to 358 t/km2-a, yielded an average Tvalue of 141 t/km2.a for the 21 soil species. This is 29.5% lower than the current national standard T value. Two significant factors that influenced the T value were soil thickness and vulnerability to erosion. An acceptable reduction rate of soil productivity over a planned time period of 1% is recommended as necessary for maintaining long-term sustainable soil productivity. Compared with the cur- rently used of regional unified standard T value, the proposed method, which determines T using specific soil profile indices, has more practical implications for effective, sustainable management of soil and water conservation.展开更多
基金Supported by:Scientific Research Projects Office of Van YüzüncüYil University Project Number 2015-MIM-B259
文摘The seismic vulnerability index(Kg) is a parameter that depends on the dynamic properties of soil. With this parameter, it is possible to evaluate the vulnerability of a point-based site under strong ground motion. Since it is related to the natural vibration period and amplification factor, the parameter can be calculated for both soil and structure. In this study, HVSR microtremor measurements are recorded at more than 200 points in the Van region to generate a seismic vulnerability index map. After generating the map, it is determined that the hazard potential and seismic vulnerability index is high at the sites close to Van Lake and at the densely populated city center. Damage information of the buildings investigated after the 2011 Van earthquakes(Mw = 7.1) are placed on the seismic vulnerability index map and it is realized that there may be a correlation between the damage and the seismic vulnerability index. There is a high correlation, approximately 80 percent, between the damage rate map based on the damaged building data and the K_g values. In addition, vulnerability indexes of buildings are calculated and the effect of local soil conditions and building properties on the damage levels are determined. From the results of this study and the site observations after the 2011 Van earthquakes, it is found that structural damage is not only structure-dependent but is also related to the dynamic behavior of soil layers and local soil conditions.
文摘An Giang province in the Mekong Delta is the most vulnerable province the impact of flooding and climate variability. Thousand of households are at risk due to severe annual floods. This study applied the LVI （livelihood vulnerability index） to estimate flood vulnerability of Phu Huu and Ta Danh villages in An Giang province. Data on socio-demographics, livelihoods, health, social networks, physical, financial and natural resources, natural disasters and climate variability were collected from a survey of 120 households in each village. From these data the LVI of each village was calculated. Results show that the overall LV1 of Phu Huu village, located in the early flooded zone, is higher than that of Ta Danh village, located in the late flooded zone. The analysis also indicated that this practical method can be applied for other purposes such as to monitor vulnerability, evaluate development programs or policy effectiveness by incorporating with scenario comparison.
文摘The CVI （coastal vulnerability index） was developed and used to assess the vulnerability of the coastline of the Kingdom of Bahrain main islands to future SLR （sea level rise）. A total of 717 km of the coastline was evaluated. Six spatial factors acting on the coastal area： erosion/accretion patterns （shoreline change）, topography （elevation above mean sea level）, geology, geomorphology, slope, and mean sea level rise were incorporated and ranked to develop the CVI. This index was classified into four levels of vulnerability： low, moderate, high, and very high. Vulnerable hotspots are located along the central portions of the western and eastern coastlines. The vulnerability of these areas is mostly driven by their characteristically shallow coastal slopes, low elevations, and erosion-prone nature of the sandy soils presents, comprising about 54 km of the studied shoreline. Another 33 km of coastline were classified as highly vulnerable and located along the eastern coast. In addition, the western coast of the southern tip of the main island （Bahrain） was also classified as a highly vulnerable shoreline. Twenty-two km was classified as the moderate vulnerable. The remaining coastal areas were classified as low to moderately vulnerable comprising about 608 km of the total length of the coastline. Identifying those hotspots susceptible to SLR is essential for more effective coastal zone management and to help in reducing the impacts of SLR on both infrastructure and human beings.
文摘The objective of the present study is to define two important aspects of the computer operating system concerning the number of its vulnerabilities behavior. We identify the Vulnerability Intensity Function (VIF), and the Vulnerability Index Indicator (VII) of a computer operating network. Both of these functions, VIF and VII are entities of the stochastic process that we have identified, which characterizes the probabilistic behavior of the number of vulnerabilities of a computer operating network. The VIF identifies the rate at which the number of vulnerabilities changes with respect to time. The VII is an important index indicator that conveys the following information about the number of vulnerabilities of Desktop Operating Systems: the numbers are increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same at a particular time of interest. This decision type of index indicator is crucial in every strategic planning and decision-making. The proposed VIF and VII illustrate their importance by using real data for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems 10, 8, 7, and Apple MacOS. The results of the actual data attest to the importance of VIF and VII in the cybersecurity problem we are currently facing.
文摘This study assesses the vulnerable state of the 566-km Ivorian coastal area using the physical (geomorphology, coastal slope, coastal retreat rate, relative sea level rise and wave/Tide energy) and socio-economic (coastal population density, harbor, airport, road, land use and protected area) factors as indicators. This enabled an Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index to be determined for the Ivorian coastal zone. This Index could be defined as the weighted average of indexes based on physical and socio-economic factors. The study revealed that vulnerability of the western and the eastern coastlines of Cote d’Ivoire are strongly influenced by human activities, while physical forcing affects significantly the vulnerability of the central section. The relative vulnerability of the different sections depends also strongly on the geomorphology, wave energy, coastal population density and land use factors. The west and central sections of the coastline are more resilient than the eastern section when integrating physical and socio-economic factors. The Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index, based on physical and socio-economic factors, appears to be more appropriate for coastal vulnerability assessment. These results could be useful in the development of adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of this coastal area and then extended for West Africa Coastal Areas Management.
文摘The flood hazard management is one of the major challenges in the floodplain regions worldwide.With the rise in population growth and the spread of infrastructural development,the level of risk has increased over time.Therefore,the prediction of flood susceptible area is a key challenge for the adoption of management plans.Flood susceptibility modeling is technically a common work,but it is still a very tough job to validate flood susceptible models in a very rigorous and scientific manner.Therefore,the present work in the Atreyee River Basin of India and Bangladesh was planned to establish artificial neural network(ANN),radial basis function(RBF),random forest(RF)and their ensemble-based flood susceptibility models.The flood susceptible models were constructed based on nine flood conditioning parameters.The flood susceptibility models were validated in a conventional way using the receiver operating curve(ROC).To validate the flood-susceptible models,a two dimensional(2D)hydraulic flood simulation model was developed.Also,the index of flood vulnerability model was developed and applied for validating the flood susceptible models,which was a very unique way to validate the predictive models.Friedman test and Wilcoxon Signed rank test were employed to compare the generated flood susceptible models.Results showed that 11.95%-12.99%of the entire basin area(10188.4 km^(2))comes under very high flood-susceptible zones.Accuracy evaluation results have shown that the performance of ensemble flood susceptible models outperforms other standalone machine learning models.The flood simulation model and IFV model were also spatially adjusted with the flood susceptibility models.Therefore,the present study recommended for the ensemble flood susceptibility prediction and IFV based validation along with conventional ways.
文摘The single-station microtremor method is one of the fastest,most reliable,and cheapest methods used to identify dynamic soil properties.This study utilizes 49 single-station microtremor measurements to identify the dynamic soil properties of the Hilalkent quarter of the Yakutiye district in Erzurum.Soil dominant frequency and the amplification factor were calculated by using the Nakamura horizontal/vertical spectral ratio(H/V)method.While the soil dominant frequency values varied between 0.4 Hz and 10 Hz,the soil amplification factor changed between 1 and 10.Higher H/V values were acquired with lower frequency values.The vulnerability index(K_(g))and shear strain parameters that are utilized to estimate the damage that may be caused by an earthquake were mapped.Especially in the west side of the study area,higher K_(g) values were observed.The shear strain map was created with 0.25 g,0.50 g and 0.75 g bedrock accelerations,and soil types that lost elasticity during an earthquake were identified.The average shear wave velocity for the first 30 m(V_(s30))was calculated.Finally,it was observed that the western part of the study area,which resulted in a higher period and higher H/V,higher K_(g) and lower V_(s30) values,presents a higher risk of damage during an earthquake.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40701005)the National Key Technology R& D Program of China during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (No.2006BAC02A15)
文摘Social vulnerability assessments are largely ignored when compared with biophysical vulnerability assessments. This is mainly due to the fact that there are more difficulties in quantifying them. Aiming at several pitfalls still existing in the Hoovering approach which is widely accepted, a suitable modified model is provided. In this modified model, the integrated vulnerability is made an analogy to the elasticity coefficient of a spring, and an objective evaluation criterion is established. With the evaluation criterion, the assessment indicators of social vulnerability are filtered and their weight assignments are accomplished. There is an application in the city of Changsha where floods occur often. With the relative data from the PICC Hunan Province Branch, a generalized regression neural network model is established in Matlab 7.0 and used to evaluate a company's flood social vulnerability index (SoVI). The results show that the average flood social vulnerability in Yuhua district is the highest, while Yuelu district is the lowest. It is good for disaster risk management and decision-making of insurance companies.
文摘DRASTIC is a very simple and common model used for the assessment of groundwater to contamination.This model is widely used across the world in various hydrogeological environments for groundwater vulnerability assessment.The Ohio Water Well Association(OWWA)developed DRASTIC model in 1987.Over the years,several modifications have been made in this model as per the need of the regional assessment of groundwater to contamination.This model has fixed weights for its parameters and fixed ratings for the sub-parameters under the main parameters.The weights and ratings of DRASTIC parameters were fixed on the basis of Delphi network technique,which is the best technique for the consensus-building of experts,but it lacks scientific explanations.Over the years,several optimization techniques have been used to optimize these weights and ratings.This work intends to present a critical analysis of decision optimization techniques used to get the optimum values of weights and ratings.The inherent pros and cons and the optimization challenges associated with these techniques have also been discussed.The finding of this study is that the application of MCDA optimization techniques used to optimize the weights and ratings of DRASTIC model to assess the vulnerability of groundwater depend on the availability of hydrogeological data,the pilot study area and the level of required accuracy for earmarking the vulnerable regions.It is recommended that one must choose the appropriate MCDA technique for the particular region because unnecessary complex structure for optimization process takes more time,efforts,resources,and implementation costs.
文摘Building construction site plays an important role in the economic aspect of a region. So any disruption due to hazard event like earthquake can cause several direct and indirect damages. Direct damages can lead to the loss of equipments and qualified persons. Indirect damages can lead to inflation and loss of purchasing power. To deal with that situation, parameters that govern the vulnerability of building construction site have been identified. Using a MCDM （multiple criteria decision making） method, the priority order of these parameters has been set. Then a PVI （partial vulnerability index） and a GVI （global vulnerability index） are proposed. These indexes allow the classification of building construction sites according to their intrinsic vulnerability and seismic vulnerability respectively that is through the use of a given classification. Several Algerian building construction sites belonging to different seismic zones were considered in order to show the applicability of the method.
基金funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft(DFG,German Research Foundation)under Germany’s Excellence Strategy—EXC 2037"CLICCS—Climate,Climatic Change,and Society"—Project No.390683824.
文摘In this study,we set out to develop a new social vulnerability index(SVI).In doing so,we suggest some conceptual improvements that can be made to existing methodical approaches to assessing social vulnerability.To make the entanglement of socio-spatial inequalities visible,we are conducting a small-scale study on heterogeneous urban development in the city of Hamburg,Germany.This kind of high-resolution analysis was not previously available,but is increasingly requested by political decision makers.We can thus show hot spots of social vulnerability(SV)in Hamburg,considering the effects of social welfare,education,and age.In doing so,we defined SV as a contextual concept that follows the recent shift in discourse in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s(IPCC)concepts of risk and vulnerability.Our SVI consists of two subcomponents:sensitivity and coping capacity.Populated areas of Hamburg were identified using satellite information and merged with the social data units of the city.Areas with high SVI are distributed over the entire city,notably in the district of Harburg and the Reiherstieg quarter in Wilhelmsburg near the Elbe,as well as in the densely populated inner city areas of Eimsbüttel and St.Pauli.As a map at a detailed scale,our SVI can be a useful tool to identify areas where the population is most vulnerable to climate-related hazards.We conclude that an enhanced understanding of urban social vulnerability is a prerequisite for urban risk management and urban resilience planning.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(numbers 81874503 and 81574068)。
文摘Objective:To observe the effects of moxibustion or moxa smoke on serum lipids,aorta and liver pathology,and carotid plaque stability in atherosclerosis.Methods:Fifty-four 8-week-old ApoE^-/- mice were randomly divided into three groups(untreated,moxibustion,and moxa smoke)and received a high-fat diet.Eighteen wild-type C57 BL/6 mice of the same age were used as controls.The intervention(none,moxibustion between the nipples,or 10 e15 mg/m^3 moxa smoke)was applied to restrained mice 20 min per day,six days per week,for 12 weeks.At the end of the experimental period,we measured serum lipids and apolipoprotein,stained thoracic aortas and livers to observe pathological changes,and used immunohistochemical staining to assess the levels of a-smooth muscle actin,CD68,tumor necrosis factor-α,nuclear transcription factor-κB,and P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.We also measured the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9 and tissue metalloproteinase inhibitor-1.Results:After 12 weeks,lipid metabolism disorder and atherosclerotic plaques were observed in the ApoE^-/- mice.Moxibustion or moxa smoke reduced the levels of serum total cholesterol,triglycerides,low density lipoprotein,and very low density lipoprotein but did not affect the levels of high density lipoprotein,apolipoprotein A1,or oxidized low density lipoprotein.Moxibustion or moxa smoke suppressed pathological changes in thoracic aortas and livers,increased fiber cap thickness,the fiber cap thickness/intimal medial thickness ratio,and collagen area percentage,and reduced extracellular lipids.Treatment with moxibustion or moxa smoke increased a-smooth muscle actin and reduced CD68 and the vulnerability index,suppressed tumor necrosis factor-α and nuclear transcription factor-κB expression,and did not affect P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase expression.Treatment lowered the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9 and increased those of tissue metalloproteinase inhibitor-1.Conclusion:Moxibustion or moxa smoke exert protective effects in serum lipid profiles and carotid plaque stability in atherosclerotic mice by regulating plaque stability,inflammatory factors,and matrix metalloproteinases.
文摘The present study aims mainly at investigat</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ing</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> the site effect at the new Luxor city, Egypt, using microtremor measurements. Accordingly, 41</span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family:""> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ambient noise recording</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> were implemented covering the investigated area in a reasonable manner with spacing nearly 1 km between each measurement station. The data were analyzed using Nakamura</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">’</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">s technique. The results show that;the investigated area exhibits low fundamental frequency values ranging between 0.28 - 0.47 Hz and its corresponding amplification factor values var</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">y</span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> between 2.3 and 6.8. Consequently, the studied site is characterized by the presence of thick soft sediments overlying a hard bed rock. The seismic vulnerability index (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">) was estimated, relying on the estimated fundamental frequency (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">F</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">) and amplification factor (</span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">A</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">), through the range between 11 and 95 across the mapped area. The obtained </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> values were noticed to be compatible with amplification level results. The central part of the investigated area reflects the higher </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Kg</span></i><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> and </span><i><span style="font-family:Verdana;">A</span></i><sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0</span></sub><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> values.
基金supported by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency under Project No.AFAD-UDAP-Ç-19-06.
文摘Vulnerability assessment and mapping play a crucial role in disaster risk reduction and planning for adaptation to a future earthquake.Turkey is one of the most at-risk countries for earthquake disasters worldwide.Therefore,it is imperative to develop effective earthquake vulnerability assessment and mapping at practically relevant scales.In this study,a holistic earthquake vulnerability index that addresses the multidimensional nature of earthquake vulnerability was constructed.With the aim of representing the vulnerability as a continuum across space,buildings were set as the smallest unit of analysis.The study area is in İzmit City of Turkey,with the exposed human and structural elements falling inside the most hazardous zone of seismicity.The index was represented by the building vulnerability,socioeconomic vulnerability,and vulnerability of the built environment.To minimize the subjectivity and uncertainty that the vulnerability indices based on expert knowledge are suffering from,an extension of the catastrophe progression method for the objective weighing of indicators was proposed.Earthquake vulnerability index and components were mapped,a local spatial autocorrelation metric was employed where the hotspot maps demarcated the earthquake vulnerability,and the study quantitatively revealed an estimate of people at risk.With its objectivity and straightforward implementation,the method can aid decision support for disaster risk reduction and emergency management.
文摘Although social vulnerability has recently gained attention in academic studies, Brazil lacks frameworks and indicators to assess it for the entire country.Social vulnerability highlights differences in the human capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. It varies over space and time, and among and between social groups, largely due to differences in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This article provides a social vulnerability index(SoVI~) replication study for Brazil and shows how SoVI~concepts and indicators were adapted to the country. SoVI~Brazil follows the place-based framework adopted in the Social Vulnerability Index initially developed for the United States. Using a principal component analysis(PCA), 45city-level indicators were reduced to 10 factors that explain about 67 % of the variance in the data. Clearly identified spatial patterns showed a concentration of the most socially vulnerable cities in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, as well as the social vulnerability of metropolitan areas and state capitals in the South and Southeast regions.The least vulnerable cities are mainly concentrated in the inland regions of the Southeast. Although different factors contribute to the social vulnerability in each city, the overall results confirm the social and economic disparities among Brazilian’s regions and reflect a differential vulnerability to natural hazards at local to regional scales.
文摘Background:Ethiopia is frequently cited as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change.The country’s high vulnerability arises mostly from climate-sensitive agricultural sector that suffers a lot from risks associated with rainfall variability.The vulnerability factors(exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity)of the agricultural livelihoods to climate variability and change differ across agro-ecological systems(AESs).Therefore,the aim of this study was to analyze AES-specific vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate variability and change in the Fincha’a sub-basin.We surveyed 380 respondents from 4 AESs(highland,midland,wetland,and lowland)randomly selected.Furthermore,focus group discussion and key informant interviews were also performed to supplement and substantiate the quantitative data.Livelihood vulnerability index was employed to analyze the levels of smallholders’agriculture vulnerability to climate variability and change.Data on socioeconomic and biophysical attribute were collected and combined into the indices and vulnerability score was calculated for each agro-ecological system.Results:Considerable variation was observed across the agro-ecological systems in profile,indicator,and the three livelihood vulnerability indices-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dimensions(exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity)of vulnerability.The lowland AES exhibited higher exposure,low adaptive capacity,and high vulnerability,while the midland AES demonstrated lower exposure,higher adaptive capacity,and lower vulnerability.The wetland and highland AESs scored intermediate results.Conclusion:Our results suggest that resilience-building adaptation strategies are vital to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers.The measures taken should consider site-specific agro-ecological system requirements to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder mixed crop-livestock agriculture system.Since the approach based on the long-term realization of the community,any strategy designed based on such assessments is applicable to local condition.
基金supported by The Executive Unit for Financing the Higher Education and University Researches (UEFISCDI)the REVEAL Project No. 285/2011the NUCLEU CREATOR Programme, Project No. PN-1635-02-03
文摘Recent seismic events show that urban areas are increasingly vulnerable to seismic damage,which leads to unprecedented levels of risk.Cities are complex systems and as such their analysis requires a good understanding of the interactions between space and the socioeconomic variables characteristic of the inhabitants of urban space.There is a clear need to develop and test detailed models that describe the behavior of these interactions under seismic impact.This article develops an overall vulnerability index to seismic hazard based on a spatial approach applied to Bucharest,Romania,the most earthquake-prone capital in the European Union.The methodology relies on:(1) spatial post-processed socioeconomic data from the2011 Romanian census through multicriteria analysis;and(2) analytical methods(the Improved Displacement Coefficient Method and custom-defined vulnerability functions)for estimating damage patterns,incorporated in a GIS environment.We computed vulnerability indices for the128 census tracts of the city.Model sensitivity assessment tested the robustness of spatially identified patterns of building vulnerability in the face of uncertainty in model inputs.The results show that useful seismic vulnerability indices can be obtained through interdisciplinaryapproaches that enhance less detailed datasets,which leads lead to better targeted mitigation efforts.
文摘Background:The adverse effects of climate variability and extremes exert increasing pressure on rural farm households whose livelihoods are dependent on nature.However,integrated and area-specific vulnerability assessments in Ethiopia in general and the study area,in particular,are scarce and insufficient for policy implications.Therefore,this study aims to quantify,map,classify,and prioritize the level of vulnerability in terms of the components of exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity in the Northeastern Highlands of Ethiopia.The study area is divided into six livelihood zones,namely,Abay-Beshilo Basin(ABB),South Wollo and Oromia eastern lowland sorghum and cattle(SWS),Chefa Valley(CHV),Meher-Belg,Belg,and Meher.A total of 361 sample households were selected using proportional probability sampling techniques.Survey questionnaire,key informant interview,and focus group discussions were used to collect the necessary data.Rainfall and temperature data were also used.Following the IPCC’s climate change vulnerability assessment approach,the climate vulnerability index(CVI)framework of Sullivan and Meigh’s model was used to assess the relative vulnerability of livelihoods of rural households.Twenty-four vulnerability indicators were identified for exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity components.In this regard,Iyengar and Sudarshan’s unequal weighting system was applied to assign a weight to indicators.Results:The results revealed that Belg and Meher were found to be the highest exposure livelihood zones to vulnerability with an aggregated value of 0.71.Equally,SWS,ABB,Belg,and CHV livelihood zones showed moderate level of sensitivity to vulnerability with an aggregated value between 0.45 and 0.60.The study noted that livelihood zone of Belg(0.75)was found to be at high level of livelihood vulnerability.ABB(0.57)and CHV(0.45)were at a moderate level of livelihood vulnerability while Meher-Belg(0.22)was the least vulnerable livelihood zone due to a high level of adaptive capacity such as infrastructure,asset accumulation,and social networks Conclusion:It was identified that disparities of livelihood vulnerability levels of rural households were detected across the study livelihood zones due to differences in the interaction of exposure,sensitivity,and adaptive capacity components.The highest levels of exposure and sensitivity combined with low level of adaptive capacity have increased households’livelihood vulnerability.More importantly,the biophysical and socioeconomic sensitivity to livelihood vulnerability were exacerbated by slope/topography,soil erodibility,and population pressure.Therefore,designing livelihood zone-based identifiable adaptation strategies are essential to reduce the exposure and sensitivity of crop-livestock mixed agricultural systems to climate calamity.
基金This research was funded by Shaanxi Science and Technology Department(2022JQ-282)National Natural Science Foundation of China(42007415)。
文摘Ecological vulnerability refers to the degree of ecosystem disturbance,system damage,and the ability of system restoration.Although case-specific evaluations of ecological vulnerability are progressing rapidly,they have been carried out mainly in areas with intensive human activities or in harsh natural environments.Using the Web of ScienceTM core collection,this review paper summarized studies on ecological vulnerability published from 2000 to 2022 and analyzed in depth major case studies.It was found that traditional ecological vulnerability research has been addressed largely in terms of assessment models,data processing models,and analysis of influencing factors,however there was a lack of research on the process of vulnerability transformation.Because the vulnerability transformation in a hierarchical vulnerability index system is regulated by multiple factors in a heterogeneous region,it is urgent to understand how the ecological vulnerability in a region evolves from one level to another over time.Therefore this paper put forward the new perspective of research,i.e.,applying quantitative analysis to identification of regulating factors and exploring the mechanisms of ecological vulnerability transformation.This new perspective could assist in monitoring the complex spatiotemporal changes in ecological vulnerability and taking necessary measures to prevent from decline of ecological stability.
基金Foundation： National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40671111 No.41101267 Nonprofit Sector Special Funds of the Ministry of Water Resources of China, No.2010332030
文摘Soil loss tolerance （/） is the maximum rate of annual soil erosion that is tolerated and still allows a high level of crop productivity to be sustained economically and indefinitely. In the black soil region of Northeast China, an empirically determined, default Tvalue of 200 （t/km2.a） is used for designing land restoration strategies for different types of soils. The ob- jective of this study was to provide a methodology to calculate a quantitative T for different black soil species. A field investigation was conducted to determine the typical soil profiles of 21 black soil species in the study area and a quantitative methodology based on a modified soil productivity index model was established to calculate the Tvalues. These values, which varied from 68 t/km2.a to 358 t/km2-a, yielded an average Tvalue of 141 t/km2.a for the 21 soil species. This is 29.5% lower than the current national standard T value. Two significant factors that influenced the T value were soil thickness and vulnerability to erosion. An acceptable reduction rate of soil productivity over a planned time period of 1% is recommended as necessary for maintaining long-term sustainable soil productivity. Compared with the cur- rently used of regional unified standard T value, the proposed method, which determines T using specific soil profile indices, has more practical implications for effective, sustainable management of soil and water conservation.
