Coastal flood risks and seasonal tourism

Since coastal tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of tourism industry, coastal areas have become increasingly vulnerable in case of flooding. Yet, coastal tourism is a seasonal phenomenon, with variations according to climate, holiday seasons and seasonal traditions. Despite its relevance in environmental issues, the effects of seasonal tourism have only scarcely been studied in coastal flood risk management. In this study, GIS and detailed tourist census data are used to analyze the temporal effects of seasonal tourism on flood risks at the Belgian coast. Different time settings are considered as well as tourist behaviour with respect to storm situations. The results of this study give new insights in the effects of seasonal tourism on coastal flood risks which may be useful in the context of early warning systems

Analysis, perception and communication of coastal flood risks: Examining objective and subjective risk assessment = Analyse, perceptie en communicatie van overstromingsrisico’s in kustgebieden: onderzoek naar objectieve en subjectieve risicobeoordeling

Recent hazards have demonstrated the catastrophic potential of coastal floods worldwide. Expectations regarding climate change (sea level rise) and economic development (coastal urbanization) further underline the need to study these risks. While flood risks have been predominantly approached from a technical, objective perspective, recent years have witnessed a growing concern to consider subjective aspects of these risks as well. This dissertation examines both approaches through literature reviews and analyses. In addition, insights are acquired to improve flood risk communication. Area of study is the Belgian coast, which is on the verge of improving its defence structures to assure protection against future storm surges

Communicating flood risk to the public by cartography

Flood risk communication plays an important role in risk management, because it can strengthen people’s risk awareness and can motivate them to take precautionary actions. To inform the public about flood risks, the use of flood maps is encouraged by the recent EU Flood Directive (2007/60/EC). Mapping flood risks deals with the challenges of representing risks in a way people can understand and interpret them correctly. In this contribution, the use of flood maps is discussed within risk communication. Attention is further given to the cartographic principles of flood mapping and to the role of the Internet in communicating flood risks via web cartography. Eventually, the state of the flood risk mapping in Flanders (Belgium) is discussed, considering the theoretical aspects previously handled

A GIS for flood risk management in Flanders

In the past decades, Flanders, a region of north Belgium that extends from the coastline inland (in northwest Europe), has suffered several serious riverine floods that caused substantial property damage. As Flanders is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, a solid water management policy is needed in order to mitigate the effects of this type of calamity. In the past, Flemish water managers chose to drain off river water as quickly as possible by heightening the dikes along the rivers. However, this method leads to a higher flood probability further downstream. Moreover, water defence infrastructure can always suffer from technical failures (e.g., breaching) creating even more damage than would have occurred if no defences were in place. In a search for a better solution to this recurring problem, the Flemish administration proposed a new approach in the 1990 s. This approach focuses on minimizing the consequences of flooding instead of attempting to prevent floods. To implement this approach, large amounts of data were gathered for the Flemish Region. Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), a risk-based methodology was created to quantitatively assess flood risk based on hydrologic models, land use information and socio-economic data. Recently, this methodology was implemented in a specifically designed GIS-based flood risk assessment tool called LATIS. By estimating the potential damage and number of casualties during a flood event, LATIS offers the possibility to perform risk analysis quickly and effectively. This chapter presents a concise overview of LATIS’ methodology and its implementation for flood risk management in Flanders

A GIS tool for flood risk analysis in Flanders (Belgium)

In the past decades, the low-lying region Flanders (Belgium) has fall victim to numerous flood events, causing substantial damage to buildings and infrastructure. In response to this, the Flemish government proposed a new approach which considers the level of risk as a way for safety measurement. Using geographical information systems, this evolution has lead to a comprehensive risk methodology, and more recently to the development of a flood risk assessment tool called LATIS. By estimating the potential damage and the number of casualties during a flood event, LATIS offers the possibility to perform risk analysis in a fast and effective way. This paper presents a brief overview of the currently used methodology for flood risk management in Flanders and its implementation in the LATIS tool. The usefulness of this new tool is demonstrated by a sequence of risk calculations, performed in the framework of climate change impacts on flood risk in Flanders

SAFECoast: Comparison between different flood risk methodologies. Action 3B report - SAFECOAST Interreg IIIb North Sea Project

The Interreg IIIB project SAFECoast considers the question “How to manage our North Sea coasts in 2050?’ and focuses on the consequences of climate change and spatial developments with respect to safety from coastal flooding. Therefore, a team of coastal managers from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the UK are continuing their cooperation in SAFECoast which aims to build on each other’s experiences in, and understanding of coastal risk management. Flanders Hydraulics Research (FHR, located in Borgerhout, Belgium) has proposed a flood risk methodology in the past which makes it possible to compare different areas and different situations with a view to damage and risk calculations. In the past years, the methodology has been extended and improved, and meanwhile it is used in several studies in Flanders. This report is the contribution of Flanders Hydraulics Research to the SAFECoast project (action 3b). The goal is to compare basic parameters of the existing coastal risk methodologies and make an inventory of the strong and weak points of the different approaches. It is neither possible nor desirable to make a ranking of them. Because of data availability and case specific parameters and constraints, each methodology generally fits the best for the area they are made for. However we want to learn from them and incorporate good ideas to improve the existing methodologies. To improve coastal risk methodology means to make its results less uncertain, or more complete. In this study all the different sources of uncertainty are analysed and compared so it becomes possible to identify the weak links in the calculation chain

The syntax of ‘-cā’ (*-kwe) in Ahunavaiti Gāthā

This paper seeks to provide a full description of the syntactic behaviour of the enclitic co-ordinate conjunction -cā in the earliest stage of the Avestan language. By studying the occurrences of the particle in Ahunavaiti Gāthā, a distributive analysis is provided together with an interpretative hypothesis of its distributive dynamics. Two syntactic levels, phrase and sentence, are taken into consideration. Finally, a syntactic domain-based variation is argued and two clitic functional variants are identified as synchronically operating conjunction strategies

Array Formatting of the Heat-Transfer Method (HTM) for the Detection of Small Organic Molecules by Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

In this work we present the first steps towards a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based biomimetic sensor array for the detection of small organic molecules via the heat-transfer method (HTM). HTM relies on the change in thermal resistance upon binding of the target molecule to the MIP-type receptor. A flow-through sensor cell was developed, which is segmented into four quadrants with a volume of 2.5 μL each, allowing four measurements to be done simultaneously on a single substrate. Verification measurements were conducted, in which all quadrants received a uniform treatment and all four channels exhibited a similar response. Subsequently, measurements were performed in quadrants, which were functionalized with different MIP particles. Each of these quadrants was exposed to the same buffer solution, spiked with different molecules, according to the MIP under analysis. With the flow cell design we could discriminate between similar small organic molecules and observed no significant cross-selectivity. Therefore, the MIP array sensor platform with HTM as a readout technique, has the potential to become a low-cost analysis tool for bioanalytical applications

GalNAc/Gal-Binding Rhizoctonia solani Agglutinin Has Antiproliferative Activity in Drosophila melanogaster S2 Cells via MAPK and JAK/STAT Signaling

Rhizoctonia solani agglutinin, further referred to as RSA, is a lectin isolated from the plant pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani. Previously, we reported a high entomotoxic activity of RSA towards the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis. To better understand the mechanism of action of RSA, Drosophila melanogaster Schneider S2 cells were treated with different concentrations of the lectin and FITC-labeled RSA binding was examined using confocal fluorescence microscopy. RSA has antiproliferative activity with a median effect concentration (EC50) of 0.35 µM. In addition, the lectin was typically bound to the cell surface but not internalized. In contrast, the N-acetylglucosamine-binding lectin WGA and the galactose-binding lectin PNA, which were both also inhibitory for S2 cell proliferation, were internalized whereas the mannose-binding lectin GNA did not show any activity on these cells, although it was internalized. Extracted DNA and nuclei from S2 cells treated with RSA were not different from untreated cells, confirming inhibition of proliferation without apoptosis. Pre-incubation of RSA with N-acetylgalactosamine clearly inhibited the antiproliferative activity by RSA in S2 cells, demonstrating the importance of carbohydrate binding. Similarly, the use of MEK and JAK inhibitors reduced the activity of RSA. Finally, RSA affinity chromatography of membrane proteins from S2 cells allowed the identification of several cell surface receptors involved in both signaling transduction pathways