Assessment the flood hazard arising from land use change in a forested catchment in northern Iran

The provinces of northern Iran that border the Caspian Sea are forested and may be prone to increased risks of flooding due to deforestation and other land use changes, in addition to climate change effects. This research investigated changes in runoff from a small forested catchment in northern Iran for several land use change scenarios and the effects of higher rainfall and high antecedent soil moisture. Peak discharges and total runoff volumes from the catchment were estimated using the US Soil Conservation Service 'Curve Number' (SCS-CN) method and the SCS dimensionless unit hydrograph. This method was selected for reasons of data availability and operational simplicity for flood managers. A GIS was used to manipulate spatial data for use in the catchment runoff modelling. The results show that runoff is predicted to increase as a result of deforestation, which is dependent on the proportion of the catchment area affected. However, climate change presents a significant flood hazard even in the absence of deforestation. Other land use changes may reduce the peak discharges of all return period floods. Therefore a future ban on timber extraction, combined with agricultural utilisation of rangeland, could prove effective as 'nature-based' flood reduction measures throughout northern Iran

Business Ethics: The Promise of Neuroscience

Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research portend well for furthering understanding of many of the fundamental questions in the field of business ethics, both normative and empirical. This article provides an overview of neuroscience methodology and brain structures, and explores the areas in which neuroscience research has contributed findings of value to business ethics, as well as suggesting areas for future research. Neuroscience research is especially capable of providing insight into individual reactions to ethical issues, while also raising challenging normative questions about the nature of moral responsibility, autonomy, intent, and free will. This article also provides a brief summary of the papers included in this special issue, attesting to the richness of scholarly inquiry linking neuroscience and business ethics. We conclude that neuroscience offers considerable promise to the field of business ethics, but we caution against overpromise

Internalised Values and Fairness Perception: Ethics in Knowledge Management

This chapter argues for ethical consideration in knowledge management (KM). It explores the effect that internalised values and fairness perception have on individuals’ participation in KM practices. Knowledge is power, and organisations seek to manage knowledge through KM practices. For knowledge to be processed, individual employees—the source of all knowledge—need to be willing to participate in KM practices. As knowledge is power and a key constituent part of knowledge is ethics, individuals’ internalised values and fairness perception affect knowledge-processing. Where an organisation claims ownership over knowledge, an individual may perceive being treated unfairly, which may obstruct knowledge-processing. Through adopting ethical KM practices, individual needs are respected, enabling knowledge-processing. Implications point towards an ethical agenda in KM theory and practice

Characterization of Transient‐Large‐Amplitude Geomagnetic Perturbation Events

We present a characterization of transient‐large‐amplitude (TLA) geomagnetic disturbances that are relevant to geomagnetically induced currents (GIC). TLA events are defined as one or more short‐timescale (<60 s) dB/dt signature with magnitude ≥6 nT/s. The TLA events occurred at six stations of the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies throughout 2015. A semi‐automated dB/dt search algorithm was developed to identify 38 TLA events in the ground magnetometer data. While TLA dB/dts do not drive GICs directly, we show that second‐timescale dB/dts often occur in relation to or within larger impulsive geomagnetic disturbances. Sudden commencements are not the main driver, rather the events are more likely to occur 30 min after a substorm onset or within a nighttime magnetic perturbation event. The characteristics of TLA events suggest localized ionospheric source currents that may play a key role in generating some extreme geomagnetic impulses that can lead to GICs.Plain Language SummarySevere space weather events like geomagnetic storms and substorms cause geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in electrically conducting material on Earth that are capable of damaging transformers and causing large‐scale power grid failure. GICs are driven by large changes of the surface geomagnetic field, dB/dt, that have timescales of minutes to tens of minutes. Magnetic field variations with shorter‐timescales (<60 s) are not capable of driving large GICs directly, but we show here that they often occur in relation to or within larger storms, substorms and magnetic pulsation events that are capable of driving substantial GICs. In this study, we characterize these transient‐large‐amplitude (TLA) geomagnetic perturbation events and examine them in the context of other space weather events.Key PointsShort‐timescale (<60 s) geomagnetic perturbation events found at six high‐latitude Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies stations throughout 2015 are characterizedTransient‐large‐amplitude (TLA) magnetic perturbation events often occur in close relation to or within larger geomagnetic disturbancesTLA events suggest small‐scale ionospheric currents but exact source mechanisms are still unclearPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168513/1/grl62719_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168513/2/2021GL094076-sup-0001-Supporting_Information_SI-S01.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168513/3/grl62719.pd