Flood Early Warning and Risk Modelling

Extreme hydrological phenomena are one of the most common causes of human life loss and material damage as a result of the manifestation of natural hazards around human communities. Climatic changes have directly impacted the temporal distribution of previously known flood events, inducing significantly increased frequency rates as well as manifestation intensities. Understanding the occurrence and manifestation behavior of flood risk as well as identifying the most common time intervals during which there is a greater probability of flood occurrence should be a subject of social priority, given the potential casualties and damage involved. However, considering the numerous flood analysis models that have been currently developed, this phenomenon has not yet been fully comprehended due to the numerous technical challenges that have arisen. These challenges can range from lack of measured field data to difficulties in integrating spatial layers of different scales as well as other potential digital restrictions.The aim of the current book is to promote publications that address flood analysis and apply some of the most novel inundation prediction models, as well as various hydrological risk simulations related to floods, that will enhance the current state of knowledge in the field as well as lead toward a better understanding of flood risk modeling. Furthermore, in the current book, the temporal aspect of flood propagation, including alert times, warning systems, flood time distribution cartographic material, and the numerous parameters involved in flood risk modeling, are discussed

Sustainable social housing, natural cycles and climate change in the city of Mompox : the sustainable house as an example of resilience alongside nature

The social interest housing has always been a delicate and important subject in Colombia, according to the national government (artículo 91 de la ley 388 de 1997); the social interest houses are those developed to guarantee the right of having a house to the families with the lowest income. In every Development National Plan (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo) the national government will establish the type and peak price of the houses for the families. Bolivar is one of Colombia’s regions with more government’s help. This region mostly warm and humid is periodically affected by floods. Mompox represents the cultural confluence between the Spanish and the indigenous tribes, working as a catalyst for the region. Water bodies in Mompox are the 32.1% of the municipality’s surface, the periodically affected areas by floods are the 38.5%, this is equivalent to 24.662 ha. The last flloding by “La niña” phenomenon in 2011 affected the 29% of the municipality’s surfaces, about 18.888 ha. More than the 60 % of the population was affected. The sustainability subject plays also an important role. There are different approaches and definitions about the relationship between architecture, sustainability, development and environment. To understand where we are now we have to go back and look for definitions, concepts and approaches that have been written since us, as global population began to worry about the environment and our relationship with it. The sustainability concept regards the construction in every aspect: design, construction, use, management and disposal; and in every scale: materials, building, community, city, territory and planet. Otherwise are inherent the “living” aspects: psychological well-being, production, work, mobility, etc. We can rely on many aspects to explain the demand of social interest housing in Colombia, from the more than fifty years civil war leading to forced displacement, to corruption, poverty, poor economy models and so on. However, in this thesis what is conceived as the problem is the current way the social houses are built, their design from the architecture to the urbanism, not taking into account important issues such as environmental, social and economics, making them minor aspects. The only thing that actually matters apparently is just to give a house to the people and finish the work there. We cannot undervalue the work of the government with the National planning Department (Departamento Nacional de Planeacion) and the private associates that are developing these houses, but we can do better, with better professionals and with and interdisciplinary teams that, from a holistic approach they can create a sustainable social interest housing. However, not everything is lost. There are entities(public and private) concerned about the future of the country, its communities and its sustainable development, and more important, they are committed to generate community. Also students, professionals, thinkers, from every field of action, young people that are able to think and to dream a better tomorrow. The project’s aim is to regenerate the community, by re-locating the new inhabitants, understanding the natural cycles and to live with theme, taking advantage in the best way possible, of resources according to the needs generates in every season. With this, words like sense of ownership and identity come into context. Using low-tech techniques that have been used since the indigenous tribes settled in the region. Vernacular architecture in these particular regions of Colombia stands for native techniques, born in the place and developed by its people through hundreds of years, failing and succeeding, experimenting, always in harmony with nature. We have also the colonial architecture, techniques brought and adapted to the place and its climate. The use of raw earth and materials such as wood, straw, and clay is nothing new, is not something “alternative”. We have always used it and now is the time to appreciate what a precious heritage our ancestor have given us. Bringing together the indigenous architectural heritage and the knowledge of the XXI century, we can re-think how the cities like Mompox could work in the future, and not necessarily made entirely of concrete and steel.The social interest housing has always been a delicate and important subject in Colombia, according to the national government (artículo 91 de la ley 388 de 1997); the social interest houses are those developed to guarantee the right of having a house to the families with the lowest income. In every Development National Plan (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo) the national government will establish the type and peak price of the houses for the families. Bolivar is one of Colombia’s regions with more government’s help. This region mostly warm and humid is periodically affected by floods. Mompox represents the cultural confluence between the Spanish and the indigenous tribes, working as a catalyst for the region. Water bodies in Mompox are the 32.1% of the municipality’s surface, the periodically affected areas by floods are the 38.5%, this is equivalent to 24.662 ha. The last flloding by “La niña” phenomenon in 2011 affected the 29% of the municipality’s surfaces, about 18.888 ha. More than the 60 % of the population was affected. The sustainability subject plays also an important role. There are different approaches and definitions about the relationship between architecture, sustainability, development and environment. To understand where we are now we have to go back and look for definitions, concepts and approaches that have been written since us, as global population began to worry about the environment and our relationship with it. The sustainability concept regards the construction in every aspect: design, construction, use, management and disposal; and in every scale: materials, building, community, city, territory and planet. Otherwise are inherent the “living” aspects: psychological well-being, production, work, mobility, etc. We can rely on many aspects to explain the demand of social interest housing in Colombia, from the more than fifty years civil war leading to forced displacement, to corruption, poverty, poor economy models and so on. However, in this thesis what is conceived as the problem is the current way the social houses are built, their design from the architecture to the urbanism, not taking into account important issues such as environmental, social and economics, making them minor aspects. The only thing that actually matters apparently is just to give a house to the people and finish the work there. We cannot undervalue the work of the government with the National planning Department (Departamento Nacional de Planeacion) and the private associates that are developing these houses, but we can do better, with better professionals and with and interdisciplinary teams that, from a holistic approach they can create a sustainable social interest housing. However, not everything is lost. There are entities(public and private) concerned about the future of the country, its communities and its sustainable development, and more important, they are committed to generate community. Also students, professionals, thinkers, from every field of action, young people that are able to think and to dream a better tomorrow. The project’s aim is to regenerate the community, by re-locating the new inhabitants, understanding the natural cycles and to live with theme, taking advantage in the best way possible, of resources according to the needs generates in every season. With this, words like sense of ownership and identity come into context. Using low-tech techniques that have been used since the indigenous tribes settled in the region. Vernacular architecture in these particular regions of Colombia stands for native techniques, born in the place and developed by its people through hundreds of years, failing and succeeding, experimenting, always in harmony with nature. We have also the colonial architecture, techniques brought and adapted to the place and its climate. The use of raw earth and materials such as wood, straw, and clay is nothing new, is not something “alternative”. We have always used it and now is the time to appreciate what a precious heritage our ancestor have given us. Bringing together the indigenous architectural heritage and the knowledge of the XXI century, we can re-think how the cities like Mompox could work in the future, and not necessarily made entirely of concrete and steel.Arquitecto (a)Pregrad

Actors and institutions in water management policy: A case study of the Everglades restudy process 1992-2000.

The Central and Southern Florida Comprehensive Review Study (Restudy, 1992-2000) is recognized for its innovative approach to water management planning. The Restudy is a policy development process for the greater Everglades ecosystem that integrates natural sciences, simulation models, and an unusually broad-based commitment to stakeholder engagement. It led to authorization of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) through the federal Water Resources Development Act of 2000, despite significant conflict between different stakeholder groups. The thesis deploys a grounded theoretical approach to analyze a range of empirical data. These data include transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 77 actors representing a spectrum of stakeholder interests that includes scientists, federal and state level public servants, environmentalists, farmers. Native Americans and local citizens. Interviews were conceptualized through participant observation at various public meetings over the period 1999-2001, and further supported through extensive archival research. The nature and quality of communications between actors, the building of new institutions, and the mobilization of different forms of scientific knowledge throughout the process are identified as critical factors in achieving an agreed outcome. The analysis highlights the profound importance of a small number of actors who had the capability and credibility to move between different policy arenas in brokering the process. The agency of these actors created a number of new institutional structures that enabled stakeholders to achieve a negotiated outcome that fell within the range socio-political acceptability. The CERP met the requirements of nature while accommodating anticipated growth in demand for water supply and flood control with the expansion of the South Florida population. The thesis contributes to a growing literature on questions of environmental governance for sustainability. It offers conclusions that may be relevant in many different geographical contexts where there is currently conflict about how to achieve more equitable allocation of water

The changing tides of port geography (1950–2012)

International audienceHuman geographers actively studied ports in past decades. However, the extent to which port geography constituted a specific research stream within human geography remained largely unanswered. By reviewing 399 port papers published in major geography journals, the authors critically investigated the trends and changing tides of port geography research. The findings point out the emergence of the core community shifting from mainstream geography research to increasing connection with other disciplines, notably transport studies. The paper offers a progressive view on human geographers’ abilities to form a research community on port development, while identifying opportunities in the pursuit of collaboration between different academic disciplines

A Review of the Macroscopic, Microscopic, and Ultramicroscopic Characteristics of Some Key Oocyte Developmental Processes in Fish Species

Studies involving the reproductive biology of fish have several possibilities of approach, such as the understanding of gonadal development, oocyte development, and the reproductive cycle of the species. In addition, analyses of gonadal morphology can be made at macro-, micro-, and ultramicroscopic levels. This knowledge helps to define factors that determine the different stages of gonadal development, as well as the “triggers” that initiate the reproductive process. In females, the growth and maturation of the ovarian follicles depend on a carefully elaborated communication between the follicular cells and the oocyte and a precisely organized contractile system. Changes in these systems appear to be related to apoptotic cells. This extensive remodeling of gonadal tissue, due to cell proliferation and differentiation, promotes also changes in the extracellular matrix. With this in mind, we provide herein a complementary and in-depth information on cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions related to the process of oocyte development in fish species. This information, together with the existing structural and ultrastructural descriptions of ovaries of different species, will enable a better understanding of the reproductive processes for the group of fish

Public participation in Integrated Water Management: A Wicked Process for a Complex Societal Problem

The meaning of both Integrated Water Management and Public Participation (PP) are subject to interpretation by stakeholders, because the concepts of uncertainty, risk management and construction of a societal project challenge scientific expertise, political power and democratic decisions concerning public good management. I do not study PP and IWM with a normative aspiration to identify the ‘true’ problem and participation, but to investigate constructions of reality of water management challenges (WMCs) and of participation from different perspectives: which type of participation is perceived as appropriate for which type of water management challenges? The study areas are river basins in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. The EU Water Framework Directive provides an analytical framework to study meanings of PP in River Basin Management Plan. Grounded Theory Methodology is used to elicit understandings of both PP and WMCs via qualitative and quantitative data (questionnaires, interviews, medium-scale survey). This thesis presents grounded typologies of objectives of PP, types of PP, of WMCs, of the roles of the competent authority and of hurdles to initiate PP. Even in countries where criteria characterising a democratic society are not all entirely satisfied there is a case for promoting PP in IWM. Although an uneducated public, with poor knowledge of the far reaching consequences of WMC is seen as a hurdle to initiate PP, the evidences show the contrary: a public aspiration, readiness and willingness to express ones’ voice. Conditions to foster PP require both political stability and an open society where opinions can be formed and exchanged; but also pressure on resources and services for the public to be interested and willing to take part in water management, and for the competent authority to be willing to engage with both stakeholders and the public in order to complement experts’ understandings of complex societal problems. Public Participation is not only about the pursuit of power over the final decision, but about defining what problems are about according to different constructs of reality. The newly developed grounded typologies of objectives of PP and of types for PP help identifying appropriate forms of participatory practices in relation to the contextual water management crisis