81 research outputs found

    Investigation on Farmland Abandonment of Terraced Slopes Using Multitemporal Data Sources Comparison and Its Implication on Hydro-Geomorphological Processes

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    This paper presents a quantitative multi\u2010temporal analysis performed in a GIS environment and based on different spatial information sources. The research is aimed at investigating the land use transformations that occurred in a small coastal terraced basin of Eastern Liguria from the early 1950s to 2011. The degree of abandonment of cultivated terraced slopes together with its influence on the distribution, abundance, and magnitude of rainfall\u2010induced shallow landslides were accurately analysed. The analysis showed that a large portion of terraced area (77.4%) has been abandoned over approximately sixty years. This land use transformation has played a crucial role in influencing the hydro\u2010geomorphological processes triggered by a very intense rainstorm that occurred in 2011. The outcomes of the analysis revealed that terraces abandoned for a short time showed the highest landslide susceptibility and that slope failures affecting cultivated zones were characterized by a lower magnitude than those which occurred on abandoned terraced slopes. Furthermore, this study highlights the usefulness of cadastral data in understanding the impact of rainfall\u2010induced landslides due to both a high spatial and thematic accuracy. The obtained results represent a solid basis for the investigation of erosion and the shallow landslide susceptibility of terraced slopes by means of a simulation of land use change scenarios

    Preliminary analysis of the November 10, 2014 rainstorm and related landslides in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria)

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    On the evening of November 10, 2014, eight rainfall-induced shallow landslides were triggered on a slope in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria, Italy). Most of the shallow landslides were channelled as flows into steep hollows and reached the toe of the slope, where some sparse houses were built. One of these landslides impacted and destroyed a building located just at a steep channel outlet, causing two fatalities. Damage affected also agricultural terracing as well as some other buildings and a road running at the toe of the slope, which was buried for long tracts by landslide deposits. Since a few days after the landslides occurrence, various activities were carried out, with the aim of better understanding both the triggering and predisposing factors of landslides. These activities included field surveys, rainfall data analysis, topographic/thematic maps, DEM and aerial photo analyses, preliminary laboratory tests on soil samples. From the analyses performed, it seems that, in addition to the rainfall characteristics of the November 10, 2014 event, the antecedent rainfall may have played an important role as landslides predisposing factor. Other relevant predisposing factors can be referred to slope steepness, presence of hollows, stratigraphic and structural settings at the source areas and lack of maintenance of terracing. Investigations are still in progress to achieve a complete geotechnical and hydraulic characterization of soils. Furthermore, it is also expected to extend the analyses performed to the whole area affected by shallow landslides. However, we believe the results of this study can be helpful in shallow landslide modelling, hazard assessment and planning of appropriate risk mitigation measures

    Preliminary analysis of the November 10, 2014 rainstorm and related landslides in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria)

    Get PDF
    On the evening of November 10, 2014, eight rainfall-induced shallow landslides were triggered on a slope in the lower Lavagna valley (eastern Liguria, Italy). Most of the shallow landslides were channelled as flows into steep hollows and reached the toe of the slope, where some sparse houses were built. One of these landslides impacted and destroyed a building located just at a steep channel outlet, causing two fatalities. Damage affected also agricultural terracing as well as some other buildings and a road running at the toe of the slope, which was buried for long tracts by landslide deposits. Since a few days after the landslides occurrence, various activities were carried out, with the aim of better understanding both the triggering and predisposing factors of landslides. These activities included field surveys, rainfall data analysis, topographic/thematic maps, DEM and aerial photo analyses, preliminary laboratory tests on soil samples. From the analyses performed, it seems that, in addition to the rainfall characteristics of the November 10, 2014 event, the antecedent rainfall may have played an important role as landslides predisposing factor. Other relevant predisposing factors can be referred to slope steepness, presence of hollows, stratigraphic and structural settings at the source areas and lack of maintenance of terracing. Investigations are still in progress to achieve a complete geotechnical and hydraulic characterization of soils. Furthermore, it is also expected to extend the analyses performed to the whole area affected by shallow landslides. However, we believe the results of this study can be helpful in shallow landslide modelling, hazard assessment and planning of appropriate risk mitigation measures

    REAL-TIME ELASTOGRAPHY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LIVER FIBROSIS: A REVIEW OF QUALITATIVE AND SEMI-QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR ELASTOGRAM ANALYSIS

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    Despite its invasiveness, liver biopsy is still considered the gold standard for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis. Non-invasive ultrasound-based techniques are increasingly employed to assess parenchymal stiffness and the progression of chronic diffuse liver diseases. Real-time elastography is a rapidly evolving technique that can reveal the elastic properties of tissues. This review examines qualitative and semi-quantitative methods developed for analysis of real-time liver elastograms, to estimate parenchymal stiffness and, indirectly, the stage of fibrosis. Qualitative analysis is the most immediate approach for elastogram analysis, but this method increases intra- and inter-observervariability,whichisseenasamajorlimitationofreal-timeelastography.Semi-quantitativemethods include analysis of the histogram derived from color-coded maps, as well as calculation of the elastic ratio and fibrosis index. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2014 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology

    A new procedure for an effective management of geo-hydrological risks across the "Sentiero Verde-Azzurro" trail, Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria (North-Western Italy)

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    In recent years, Cinque Terre National Park, one of the most famous UNESCO sites in Italy, experienced a significant increase in tourist visits. This unique landscape is the result of the rough morphology of a small coastal basin with a very steep slope and a long-term human impact, mainly represented by anthropic terraces. This setting promotes the activation of numerous geo-hydrological instabilities, primarily related to heavy rainfall events that often affect this area. Currently, the main challenge for the administrators of Cinque Terre National Park is the correct maintenance of this environment along with the functional management of the hiking trail to ensure the safety of tourists. The definition of a methodology for effective management is mandatory for the sustainable administration of this unique site. We implement a new codified procedure based on the combined use of the Operative Monography and the Survey Form, focusing on the "Sentiero Verde-Azzurro" trail, for a proper description of the known landslides affecting the trail and the identification of damage and/or landslides activated by critical meteorological events. This guarantees effective geo-hydrological risk management, which is also applicable to other similar sites in a unique environmental and cultural heritage site such as Cinque Terre Park

    shallow landslides susceptibility assessment in different environments

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    The spatial distribution of shallow landslides is strongly influenced by different climatic conditions and environmental settings. This makes difficult the implementation of an exhaustive monitoring technique for correctly assessing the landslide susceptibility in different environmental contexts. In this work, a unique methodological strategy, based on the statistical implementation of the generalized additive model (GAM), was performed. This method was used to investigate the shallow landslide predisposition of four sites with different geological, geomorphological and land-use characteristics: the Rio Frate and the Versa catchments (Southern Lombardy) and the Vernazza and the Pogliaschina catchments (Eastern Liguria). A good predictive overall accuracy was evaluated computing by the area under the ROC curve (AUROC), with values ranging from 0.76 to 0.82 and estimating the mean accuracy of the model (0.70–0.75). The method showed a high flexibility, which led to a good identification of the most significant predisposing factors for shallow landslide occurrence in the different investigated areas. In particular, detailed susceptibility maps were obtained, allowing to identify the shallow landslide prone areas. This methodology combined with the use of the rainfall thresholds for triggering shallow landslides may provide an innovative tool useful for the improvement of spatial planning and early warning systems

    On the estimation of landslide intensity, hazard and density via data-driven models

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    Maps that attempt to predict landslide occurrences have essentially stayed the same since 1972. In fact, most of the geo-scientific efforts have been dedicated to improve the landslide prediction ability with models that have largely increased their complexity but still have addressed the same binary classification task. In other words, even though the tools have certainly changed and improved in 50 years, the geomorphological community addressed and still mostly addresses landslide prediction via data-driven solutions by estimating whether a given slope is potentially stable or unstable. This concept corresponds to the landslide susceptibility, a paradigm that neglects how many landslides may trigger within a given slope, how large these landslides may be and what proportion of the given slope they may disrupt. The landslide intensity concept summarized how threatening a landslide or a population of landslide in a study area may be. Recently, landslide intensity has been spatially modeled as a function of how many landslides may occur per mapping unit, something, which has later been shown to closely correlate to the planimetric extent of landslides per mapping unit. In this work, we take this observation a step further, as we use the relation between landslide count and planimetric extent to generate maps that predict the aggregated size of landslides per slope, and the proportion of the slope they may affect. Our findings suggest that it may be time for the geoscientific community as a whole, to expand the research efforts beyond the use of susceptibility assessment, in favor of more informative analytical schemes. In fact, our results show that landslide susceptibility can be also reliably estimated (AUC of 0.92 and 0.91 for the goodness-of-fit and prediction skill, respectively) as part of a Log-Gaussian Cox Process model, from which the intensity expressed as count per unit (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.91 and 0.90 for the goodness-of-fit and prediction skill, respectively) can also be derived and then converted into how large a landslide or several coalescing ones may become, once they trigger and propagate downhill. This chain of landslide intensity, hazard and density may lead to substantially improve decision-making processes related to landslide risk

    Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

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    It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations
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