Prediction of local scour depth at bridge piers under clear-water and live-bed conditions: comparison of literature formulae and artificial neural networks

The scouring effect of the flowing water around bridge piers may undermine the stability of the structure, leading to extremely high direct and indirect costs and, in extreme cases, the loss of human lives. The use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models has been recently proposed in the literature for estimating the maximum scour depth around bridge piers: this study aims at further investigating the potentiality of the ANN approach and, in particular, at analysing the influence of the experimental setting (laboratory or field data) and of the sediment transport mode (clear water or live bed) on the prediction performances. A large database of both field and laboratory observations has been collected from the literature for predicting the maximum local scour depth as a function of a parsimonious set of variables characterizing the flow, the sediments and the pier. Neural networks with an increasing degree of specialization have been implemented – using different subsets of the calibration data in the training phase – and validated over an external validation dataset. The results confirm that the ANN scour depths' predictions outperform the estimates obtained by empirical formulae conventionally used in the literature and in the current engineering practice, and demonstrate the importance of taking into account the differences in the type of available data – laboratory or field data – and the sediment transport mode – clear water or live bed conditions

ALCUNE CONSIDERAZIONI DELLA SOCIETÀ IDROLOGICA ITALIANA SULLA GRAVE SICCITÀ DELL’ESTATE 2022

La siccità che ha colpito il nostro Paese fin dall’inizio del 2022, ha posto all’attenzione della popolazione, at- traverso i media, un tema che i gestori delle risorse idriche, i tecnici e i ricercatori hanno ben presente, ma che non aveva ancora suscitato adeguato interesse nel dibattito politico. L’articolo del Ministro della Transizione Ecologica, Roberto Cingolani, pubblicato sul Corriere della Sera lo scorso 11 luglio, è un utile stimolo, per amministratori e politici, ad affrontare il tema della scarsità di risorse idriche e delle misure necessarie per mi- tigare l’impatto dei fenomeni siccitosi

Water–tourism nexus research in the Mediterranean in the past two decades: a systematic literature review

The water–tourism nexus requires better knowledge, management and governance to address environmental and societal challenges. This review takes stock of the approaches used to address this nexus in the Mediterranean from 2000 to 2020. Bibliometric and exploratory content analysis targeted tourism impacts on water supply, determinants of water consumption, and water-saving mechanisms and technologies. A fundamental insight is that the literature remains rather water centric and technical, paying little attention to behavioural change and stakeholder action. Promising avenues to reinforce sustainable water use include transdisciplinary approaches and integrated tools such as hydrosocial cycle analysis, concept mapping and agent-based modelling.The authors thank the European Commission, the Dutch Research Council, the State Investigation Agency (Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation) and the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research for funding in the frame of the collaborative international consortium (SIMTWIST) financed under the 2018 Joint Call of the WaterWorks 2017 ERA-NET Cofund. This ERA-NET is an integral part of the activities developed by the Water JPI

Structural and molecular rationale for the diversification of resistance mediated by the Antibiotic_NAT family

The environmental microbiome harbors a vast repertoire of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) which can serve as evolutionary predecessors for ARGs found in pathogenic bacteria, or can be directly mobilized to pathogens in the presence of selection pressures. Thus, ARGs from benign environmental bacteria are an important resource for understanding clinically relevant resistance. Here, we conduct a comprehensive functional analysis of the Antibiotic_NAT family of aminoglycoside acetyltransferases. We determined a pan-family antibiogram of 21 Antibiotic_NAT enzymes, including 8 derived from clinical isolates and 13 from environmental metagenomic samples. We find that environment-derived representatives confer high-level, broad-spectrum resistance, including against the atypical aminoglycoside apramycin, and that a metagenome-derived gene likely is ancestral to an aac(3) gene found in clinical isolates. Through crystallographic analysis, we rationalize the molecular basis for diversification of substrate specificity across the family. This work provides critical data on the molecular mechanism underpinning resistance to established and emergent aminoglycoside antibiotics and broadens our understanding of ARGs in the environment

Twenty-Three Unsolved Problems in Hydrology (UPH) – a Community Perspective

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused on the process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come

Review of global change pressures on Urban Water Cycle Systems. Assessment of TRUST Pilots

The design of appropriate tools to deal with future stresses requires an understanding of the potential pressures, either opportunities or threats. This report identifies and describes different pressures of critical importance for the water sector, taking into account that global trends often take diverse forms and have dissimilar impacts on a local scale. Chapter 1 introduces the UWCS components and the sustainability approach considered in this context. In Chapter 2 the different pressures affecting UWCS are framed according to the sustainability dimensions: environmental, social and economic. A general description of relevant pressures is presented in terms of context situation, geographic dependency and expected tendencies for the future. Chapter 3 identifies possible future trends on UWCS according to those pressures. Their consideration will allow many countries to undergo considerable changes and to define strategies to solve impending problems and exploit emerging opportunities. Based on the identified trends for the water sector, Chapter 4 presents the prediction of major global change pressures and its impacts on Pilots of TRUST. The two annexes of this report present the principal climatic drivers, in terms of the future projection of weather variables (precipitation and temperature) in the areas of the TRUST pilot citiesRamôa, AR.; Toth, E.; Proença De Oliveira, R.; Di Frederico, V.; Montanari, A.; Monteiro, AJ. (2015). Review of global change pressures on Urban Water Cycle Systems. Assessment of TRUST Pilots. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/5364

Forecast of Employment in Switzerland: The Macroeconomic View

Switzerland is a unique in its own way country which, although being located in the heart of Europe, is an independent state and non EU member. Its political structure and future development direction is very different from the rest of the Europe. Swiss economy, in comparison with others neighboring EU countries, is much stronger. Being inspired by highly competitive and successful economic performance of Switzerland, the aim of the present study is to conduct a macroeconomic analysis via observing and forecasting the employment/unemployment rates in Switzerland. Employing time series analysis and econometric calculations own forecast will be collated with the forecast published by the Federal Statistical Office of Switzerland. The practical importance of the obtained results will be, as expected, manifested in finding possible ways how to fight unemployment and achieve at least 70% employment rate in the Czech Republic. Keywords: Switzerland, unemployment, employment, forecast. JEL Classifications: E2; R1; R10

A Conceptual Framework for Vulnerability and Risk Assessment in the Context of Nature-Based Solutions to Hydro-Meteorological Risks

Various frameworks for vulnerability and risk assessment of social-ecological systems (SES) to natural hazards have been developed addressing different contexts. However, none were specifically developed in the context of implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) to hydro-meteorological risks. Since the basic concepts and principles of NBS are mainly focused on ensuring balance between ecological and social benefits, the entire vulnerability and risk assessment process should focus equally on various social and ecological components of a location where an NBS would be implemented. As a part of the OPEn-air laboRAtories for Nature baseD solUtions to Manage hydro-meteo risks (OPERANDUM) project, this research proposes a conceptual framework for vulnerability and risk assessment in the context of NBS to hydro-meteorological risks. This conceptual framework is developed mainly considering the major components of the existing Delta-SES risk assessment framework (Sebesvari et al. 2016) and other similar frameworks proposed in recent studies, as well as the proposed principles for NBS endorsed by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The major components of the framework include: (i) the exposure of SES to multiple hydro-meteorological hazards (e.g., flood, drought); (ii) vulnerability of SES that consists of ecosystem susceptibility, social susceptibility, ecosystem robustness, and coping and adaptive capacity of the social system; (iii) risks in the NBS project site determined by the combination of hazard exposure and vulnerability; and (iv) the impacts of hydro-meteorological hazards on the SES surrounding or within the NBS project site. While the basic space of risk assessment would be the NBS project site (usually at the local level within sub-catchments) with specific SES characteristics, this framework also reflects the interrelationships between ecosystem and social system as well as the effects of multiple hazards and risks at local up to the global scales. The framework also considers the changes over time that would capture the maturation time lag of the ecological components of an NBS, as well as the sustainability of the system with the intervention of NBS and other risk reduction measures. An indicator-based risk assessment approach can be used to operationalize the framework. To facilitate that, an indicator library has been developed comprising of indicators for different exposure and vulnerability components of the framework. The proposed framework can be applicable to any geographical conditions where an NBS project is to be implemented to reduce hydro-meteorological risks. The framework can also be tailored for other natural hazards (e.g. geological hazards like earthquake) and anthropogenic hazards (e.g. pollution). We will explain the conceptualisation process of the framework and of the indicator library and how these will be tested within the OPERANDUM project in the context of NBS implementation