A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya

On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness videos reveals that ~27x106 m3 of rock and glacier ice collapsed from the steep north face of Ronti Peak. The rock and ice avalanche rapidly transformed into an extraordinarily large and mobile debris flow that transported boulders >20 m in diameter, and scoured the valley walls up to 220 m above the valley floor. The intersection of the hazard cascade with downvalley infrastructure resulted in a disaster, which highlights key questions about adequate monitoring and sustainable development in the Himalaya as well as other remote, high-mountain environments

Measuring personal networks and their relationship with scientific production

The analysis of social networks has remained a crucial and yet understudied aspect of the efforts to measure Triple Helix linkages. The Triple Helix model aims to explain, among other aspects of knowledge-based societies, ¿the current research system in its social context. This paper develops a novel approach to study the research system from the perspective of the individual, through the analysis of the relationships among researchers, and between them and other social actors. We develop a new set of techniques and show how they can be applied to the study of a specific case (a group of academics within a university department). We analyse their informal social networks and show how a relationship exists between the characteristics of an individual¿s network of social links and his or her research output

Competitive and Cooperative Degree in Supply Chain: Supplier Selection between Competitors and Third-Party Suppliers

Part 5: Modelling and SimulationInternational audienceThis work explores the firm’s supplier selection question that the competitor firm and the third-party supplier can supply the substitutable component. We consider a supply chain with two competing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and two third-party suppliers. The two OEMs produce the competing products which are comprised by two main components. Each OEM only can produce one component in-house and each third-party supplier only supplies one component. The OEMs must decide whether to outsource the other component to the competing OEM or to a third-party supplier. We discuss the different supplier selection strategies and compare the OEMs profits in different decision. We find that there are conditions where, while one of the OEMs should outsource to the competing firm, outsourcing to a third-party supplier is the optimal strategy for the other OEM even when the cost of the third-party supplier is more expensive and the competition is intense