Real Time Threat Assessment of Truck Cargos Carrying Dangerous Goods for Preventing Terrorism Attacks on Neighboring Critical Infrastructures

Critical infrastructures are assets of invaluable importance, essential for the whole world. Since they serve core functions of our societies, they often become targets of terrorists. Many critical infrastructures are vulnerable, due to their short distance from public roads and in the past years, several vehicle-bomb incidents have been recorded. This paper focuses on the case of truck-bombs, which can either be created from scratch, or terrorists can easily hijack truck cargos carrying dangerous goods and turn them into bombs. The latter are typically called ADR truck cargos, according to the respective agreement of the 30th of September 1957, concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road. The proposed scheme performs threat assessment of neighboring critical infrastructures, aiming at preventing explosions of truck-bombs. To do so, each crucial point of a critical infrastructure is initially associated with a level of importance. Next, three scenarios are analyzed: (a) single-attack single-infrastructure, (b) multiple-attack single-infrastructure, and (c) multiple-attack multiple-infrastructure. To reduce computational complexity, the third scenario is simplified to one of the two other scenarios, by introducing a novel fusion technique for the non-overlapping segments of the Voronoi tessellation. By this way, an area of threat assessment is estimated for each critical infrastructure. Then, the threat level is assessed in real time by an innovative algorithm, which: (a) estimates the impact of multiple consecutive explosions, (b) uses five adapted threat levels and (c) introduces multiple criteria and minimum classification conditions based on the number of crucial points and their levels of importance. Extensive real world experimental results and comparisons to other works, exhibit the pros and cons of the proposed scheme. In particular, compared to related work, the proposed scheme improves: (a) computational time by 74.5%, (b) threat notification time by 86.9% and (c) estimated surveillance cost by 98.6%

A Detailed Liquefaction Susceptibility Map of Nestos River Delta, Thrace, Greece Based on Surficial Geology and Geomorphology

The existence of high potential onshore and offshore active faults capable to trigger large earthquakes in the broader area of Thrace, Greece in correlation with the critical infrastructures constructed on the recent and Holocene sediments of Nestos river delta plain, was the motivation for this research. The goal of this study is twofold; compilation of a new geomorphological map of the study area and the assessment of the liquefaction susceptibility of the surficial geological units. Liquefaction susceptibility at regional scale is assessed by taking into account information dealing with the depositional environment and age of the surficial geological units. In our case, available geological mapping shows a deficient depiction of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. Taking into consideration the heterogeneously behavior of active floodplains and deltas in terms of liquefaction, a detailed classification of geological units was mandatory. Using data provided by satellite and aerial imagery, and topographic maps, dated before the 1970’s when extensive modifications and land reclamation occurred in the area, we were able to trace fluvial and coastal geomorphological features like abandoned stream/meanders, estuaries, dunes, lagoons and ox-bow lakes. This geomorphological-oriented approach clearly classified the geological units according to their depositional environment and resulted in a more reliable liquefaction susceptibility map of 4 classes of susceptibility; Low, Moderate, High and Very High. The sediments classified as very high liquefaction susceptibility are related to fluvial landforms, the high to moderate liquefaction susceptibility ones in coastal and floodplain landforms, and low susceptibility in zones of marshes. The sediments classified in the highest group of liquefaction susceptibility cover 85.56 km2 of the study area (16.6%). Particular attention was drawn to critical infrastructure (Kavala International Airport “Alexander the Great”) constructed on the most prone to liquefaction areas

A Detailed Liquefaction Susceptibility Map of Nestos River Delta, Thrace, Greece Based on Surficial Geology and Geomorphology

The existence of high potential onshore and offshore active faults capable to trigger large earthquakes in the broader area of Thrace, Greece in correlation with the critical infrastructures constructed on the recent and Holocene sediments of Nestos river delta plain, was the motivation for this research. The goal of this study is twofold; compilation of a new geomorphological map of the study area and the assessment of the liquefaction susceptibility of the surficial geological units. Liquefaction susceptibility at regional scale is assessed by taking into account information dealing with the depositional environment and age of the surficial geological units. In our case, available geological mapping shows a deficient depiction of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. Taking into consideration the heterogeneously behavior of active floodplains and deltas in terms of liquefaction, a detailed classification of geological units was mandatory. Using data provided by satellite and aerial imagery, and topographic maps, dated before the 1970’s when extensive modifications and land reclamation occurred in the area, we were able to trace fluvial and coastal geomorphological features like abandoned stream/meanders, estuaries, dunes, lagoons and ox-bow lakes. This geomorphological-oriented approach clearly classified the geological units according to their depositional environment and resulted in a more reliable liquefaction susceptibility map of 4 classes of susceptibility; Low, Moderate, High and Very High. The sediments classified as very high liquefaction susceptibility are related to fluvial landforms, the high to moderate liquefaction susceptibility ones in coastal and floodplain landforms, and low susceptibility in zones of marshes. The sediments classified in the highest group of liquefaction susceptibility cover 85.56 km2 of the study area (16.6%). Particular attention was drawn to critical infrastructure (Kavala International Airport “Alexander the Great”) constructed on the most prone to liquefaction areas

Energy retrofit assessment through automated valuation models: An Italian case study

With reference to the current issue of energy efficiency of residential buildings, the aim of this research is to analyze the possible influence of the energy performance component on the property prices formation. The study sample consists of two hundred residential units recently sold and located in the city of Bari (Italy). The implemented methodology is represented by a data-driven technique that employs a genetic algorithm to identify the functional expressions. The elaborations carried out have allowed the identification of a statistically reliable and easily interpretable model, which denotes an appreciable contribution of the energy component on housing prices