1,720,967 research outputs found
Glacial risks monitoring and management
No full textThe executive PhD project that has been held between the Fondazione Montagna sicura (FMS) and the University of Pavia, carried out by myself as the principal investigator, has been conceived in order to pursue research and development activities on the topic of the monitoring and the understanding of the dynamics and processes leading to glacial instabilities and glacial risks (Faillettaz et al., 2016; Faillettaz et al., 2015). The involvement of the CNR IRPI Section of Turin, GMG “Geohazard Monitoring Group” was fundamental in the integration of historical monitoring data and experimental activities on specific monitoring sites as well as their great input coming from their expertise in the monitoring of natural hazards and the development of innovative monitoring solutions. The research topic of the project comes from a need: even tough in the last years great improvements have been made with the use of new technologies, many times when a road closure or houses have to be evacuated for a potential glacial instability, still large uncertainties are present in many steps of the monitoring and the subsequent decision-making process. Therefore, the need for a strong integration of research activity into risk management has become a priority. In this frame, the “monitoring” side (that is mainly represented as the private investor of the PhD project, the Fondazione Montagna sicura) represents the applied side of the scientific project, while the understanding of the processes resides more on the pure scientific side that is more affine to the academic part represented by the University. The joint efforts that were put together in this frame well represent the structure of the executive PhD that should join the industry and the academia in a pathway of research and development around a common subject of interest. In the field of glacial hazards, a great leap forward for both the scientific community and policy makers involved in the managing and monitoring of glacial risk situations, has been made in recent years by the intergovernmental study group Gaphaz, with its creation first, and later with the very relevant publication of: “Assessment of Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountain Regions, Technical guidance document” (Allen et al., 2022). This document, synthetises a large number of information related to destabilization phenomena in high mountain environment. A large part of the work analyses risks of glacial origin and cascading processes which will be the focus of the present work. Nonetheless, the Gaphaz document carefully describes phenomena and largely treats the early individuation of hazards and possible modelling approaches for the definition of risk scenarios. The scientifical community should refer worldwide to this document, for guidelines on an early hazard detection and a preliminary definition of risk scenarios, which represent the core of the Gaphaz work. Nonetheless, what is not comprised in this document refers to everything that happens when, on a specific site, a hazardous situation is detected, and highly destructive impacts are estimated by means of modelling approaches (Emmer et al., 2022; Mergili et al., 2020). Therefore, what comes into play is the “monitoring” phase of the phenomenon (Faillettaz et al., 2016; Pralong & Funk, 2006), and this part of the process represents the main topic of the present work. The final steps of the Gaphaz document give some indications and also some examples of what kind of approach could be used for further investigation (a general indication of possible approach is given, but not further developed) of specific sites, but this does not go into a critical analysis of existing approaches and methodologies, pros and cons, their limits, their cost and other important details. The relevance of the present work, I believe resides in the aim of screening the state of the art and deepening knowledge in this specific topic.The executive PhD project that has been held between the Fondazione Montagna sicura (FMS) and the University of Pavia, carried out by myself as the principal investigator, has been conceived in order to pursue research and development activities on the topic of the monitoring and the understanding of the dynamics and processes leading to glacial instabilities and glacial risks (Faillettaz et al., 2016; Faillettaz et al., 2015). The involvement of the CNR IRPI Section of Turin, GMG “Geohazard Monitoring Group” was fundamental in the integration of historical monitoring data and experimental activities on specific monitoring sites as well as their great input coming from their expertise in the monitoring of natural hazards and the development of innovative monitoring solutions. The research topic of the project comes from a need: even tough in the last years great improvements have been made with the use of new technologies, many times when a road closure or houses have to be evacuated for a potential glacial instability, still large uncertainties are present in many steps of the monitoring and the subsequent decision-making process. Therefore, the need for a strong integration of research activity into risk management has become a priority. In this frame, the “monitoring” side (that is mainly represented as the private investor of the PhD project, the Fondazione Montagna sicura) represents the applied side of the scientific project, while the understanding of the processes resides more on the pure scientific side that is more affine to the academic part represented by the University. The joint efforts that were put together in this frame well represent the structure of the executive PhD that should join the industry and the academia in a pathway of research and development around a common subject of interest. In the field of glacial hazards, a great leap forward for both the scientific community and policy makers involved in the managing and monitoring of glacial risk situations, has been made in recent years by the intergovernmental study group Gaphaz, with its creation first, and later with the very relevant publication of: “Assessment of Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountain Regions, Technical guidance document” (Allen et al., 2022). This document, synthetises a large number of information related to destabilization phenomena in high mountain environment. A large part of the work analyses risks of glacial origin and cascading processes which will be the focus of the present work. Nonetheless, the Gaphaz document carefully describes phenomena and largely treats the early individuation of hazards and possible modelling approaches for the definition of risk scenarios. The scientifical community should refer worldwide to this document, for guidelines on an early hazard detection and a preliminary definition of risk scenarios, which represent the core of the Gaphaz work. Nonetheless, what is not comprised in this document refers to everything that happens when, on a specific site, a hazardous situation is detected, and highly destructive impacts are estimated by means of modelling approaches (Emmer et al., 2022; Mergili et al., 2020). Therefore, what comes into play is the “monitoring” phase of the phenomenon (Faillettaz et al., 2016; Pralong & Funk, 2006), and this part of the process represents the main topic of the present work. The final steps of the Gaphaz document give some indications and also some examples of what kind of approach could be used for further investigation (a general indication of possible approach is given, but not further developed) of specific sites, but this does not go into a critical analysis of existing approaches and methodologies, pros and cons, their limits, their cost and other important details. The relevance of the present work, I believe resides in the aim of screening the state of the art and deepening knowledge in this specific topic
Glacier thickness modelling and monitoring with geophysical data constraints: A case study on the Indren Glacier (NW Italy)
Full text linkThe ongoing global temperature increase has accelerated the mass loss of glaciers worldwide, with Italian alpine glaciers being particularly vulnerable due to their small size, complex geometries and exposition that implies a fast reaction to thermal and hydrological modifications. In such a frame, the Indren Glacier (Aosta Valley, north-western Italian Alps) provides a valid test site to check the thickness evolution over the last two decades (1999–2020), through an integrated approach combining historical data, on-site geophysical measurements, remote sensing surveys, modelling and temperature analysis. Using a 2018 helicopter-based photogrammetric survey and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey campaigns of 2020, we obtained new input data and constraints to build up an updated thickness model for the whole glacier through the Glacier Thickness Estimation algorithm (GlaTE). Ice thickness is indeed a key parameter to estimate the ice volume and use it as further input in evolutionary models forecasting future scenarios. As a part of this integrated approach, we also analysed remote sensing and temperature data, finding a major modification in the glacier conditions over the last decade. Further comparing these results with previous studies, we identified a significant decrease in ice thickness, and we confirmed the presence of an over-deepening in the glacier central widest part. This integrated methodology enhances our understanding of glacier dynamics and improves predictions of future changes, offering crucial insights for managing water resources and mitigating natural hazards in the alpine region
PERIGLACIAL CASCADING PROCESS IN AN ALPINE ENVIRONMENT: AN EXAMPLE OF AN ICE AVALANCHE-INDUCED DEBRIS FLOW IN FERRET VALLEY (COURMAYEUR, ITALY)
No full textOn 23 June, 2022, a debris flow occurred in the Montitaz Stream (Mont Blanc area), which flows off the Planpincieux Glacier snout. destroyed the bridge that links the hamlets of Planpincieux and chefort. Using a multi-source dataset from UAV, satellite and terrestrial sensors belonging to the Planpincieux Glacier monitoring network, reconstructed the series of events that led to the debris flow. We found evidence that this resulted from a cascading process which started an ice avalanche of 4200 m3 falling over a reformed glacieret that 500 m downstream from the glacier front. Subsequently, the deposited ice avalanche formed an unstable ice dam along the Montitaz Stream riverbed, causing a mixed accumulation of water and ice debris. Finally, the dam collapsed, originating a debris flow consisting of ice, water debris from the glacial fan. DEM differencing showed that approximate- ly 14,000 m3 of material were
mobilised overall
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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