WorldWideScience

Sample records for additive hazards model

  1. A ¤flexible additive multiplicative hazard model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinussen, T.; Scheike, T. H.

    2002-01-01

    Aalen's additive model; Counting process; Cox regression; Hazard model; Proportional excess harzard model; Time-varying effect......Aalen's additive model; Counting process; Cox regression; Hazard model; Proportional excess harzard model; Time-varying effect...

  2. Further Results on Dynamic Additive Hazard Rate Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhengcheng Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In the past, the proportional and additive hazard rate models have been investigated in the works. Nanda and Das (2011 introduced and studied the dynamic proportional (reversed hazard rate model. In this paper we study the dynamic additive hazard rate model, and investigate its aging properties for different aging classes. The closure of the model under some stochastic orders has also been investigated. Some examples are also given to illustrate different aging properties and stochastic comparisons of the model.

  3. Analyzing Right-Censored Length-Biased Data with Additive Hazards Model

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Mu ZHAO; Cun-jie LIN; Yong ZHOU

    2017-01-01

    Length-biased data are often encountered in observational studies,when the survival times are left-truncated and right-censored and the truncation times follow a uniform distribution.In this article,we propose to analyze such data with the additive hazards model,which specifies that the hazard function is the sum of an arbitrary baseline hazard function and a regression function of covariates.We develop estimating equation approaches to estimate the regression parameters.The resultant estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal.Some simulation studies and a real data example are used to evaluate the finite sample properties of the proposed estimators.

  4. The additive hazards model with high-dimensional regressors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinussen, Torben; Scheike, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    This paper considers estimation and prediction in the Aalen additive hazards model in the case where the covariate vector is high-dimensional such as gene expression measurements. Some form of dimension reduction of the covariate space is needed to obtain useful statistical analyses. We study...... model. A standard PLS algorithm can also be constructed, but it turns out that the resulting predictor can only be related to the original covariates via time-dependent coefficients. The methods are applied to a breast cancer data set with gene expression recordings and to the well known primary biliary...

  5. Estimation of direct effects for survival data by using the Aalen additive hazards model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinussen, Torben; Vansteelandt, Stijn; Gerster, Mette

    2011-01-01

    We extend the definition of the controlled direct effect of a point exposure on a survival outcome, other than through some given, time-fixed intermediate variable, to the additive hazard scale. We propose two-stage estimators for this effect when the exposure is dichotomous and randomly assigned...... Aalen's additive regression for the event time, given exposure, intermediate variable and confounders. The second stage involves applying Aalen's additive model, given the exposure alone, to a modified stochastic process (i.e. a modification of the observed counting process based on the first...

  6. On adjustment for auxiliary covariates in additive hazard models for the analysis of randomized experiments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vansteelandt, S.; Martinussen, Torben; Tchetgen, E. J Tchetgen

    2014-01-01

    We consider additive hazard models (Aalen, 1989) for the effect of a randomized treatment on a survival outcome, adjusting for auxiliary baseline covariates. We demonstrate that the Aalen least-squares estimator of the treatment effect parameter is asymptotically unbiased, even when the hazard...... that, in view of its robustness against model misspecification, Aalen least-squares estimation is attractive for evaluating treatment effects on a survival outcome in randomized experiments, and the primary reasons to consider baseline covariate adjustment in such settings could be interest in subgroup......'s dependence on time or on the auxiliary covariates is misspecified, and even away from the null hypothesis of no treatment effect. We furthermore show that adjustment for auxiliary baseline covariates does not change the asymptotic variance of the estimator of the effect of a randomized treatment. We conclude...

  7. Regression analysis of informative current status data with the additive hazards model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Shishun; Hu, Tao; Ma, Ling; Wang, Peijie; Sun, Jianguo

    2015-04-01

    This paper discusses regression analysis of current status failure time data arising from the additive hazards model in the presence of informative censoring. Many methods have been developed for regression analysis of current status data under various regression models if the censoring is noninformative, and also there exists a large literature on parametric analysis of informative current status data in the context of tumorgenicity experiments. In this paper, a semiparametric maximum likelihood estimation procedure is presented and in the method, the copula model is employed to describe the relationship between the failure time of interest and the censoring time. Furthermore, I-splines are used to approximate the nonparametric functions involved and the asymptotic consistency and normality of the proposed estimators are established. A simulation study is conducted and indicates that the proposed approach works well for practical situations. An illustrative example is also provided.

  8. Education and risk of coronary heart disease: Assessment of mediation by behavioural risk factors using the additive hazards model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordahl, H; Rod, NH; Frederiksen, BL

    2013-01-01

    seven Danish cohort studies were linked to registry data on education and incidence of CHD. Mediation by smoking, low physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) on the association between education and CHD were estimated by applying newly proposed methods for mediation based on the additive hazards...... % CI: 12, 22) for women and 37 (95 % CI: 28, 46) for men could be ascribed to the pathway through smoking. Further, 39 (95 % CI: 30, 49) cases for women and 94 (95 % CI: 79, 110) cases for men could be ascribed to the pathway through BMI. The effects of low physical activity were negligible. Using...... contemporary methods, the additive hazards model, for mediation we indicated the absolute numbers of CHD cases prevented when modifying smoking and BMI. This study confirms previous claims based on the Cox proportional hazards model that behavioral risk factors partially mediates the effect of education on CHD...

  9. Statistical inference for the additive hazards model under outcome-dependent sampling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Jichang; Liu, Yanyan; Sandler, Dale P; Zhou, Haibo

    2015-09-01

    Cost-effective study design and proper inference procedures for data from such designs are always of particular interests to study investigators. In this article, we propose a biased sampling scheme, an outcome-dependent sampling (ODS) design for survival data with right censoring under the additive hazards model. We develop a weighted pseudo-score estimator for the regression parameters for the proposed design and derive the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator. We also provide some suggestions for using the proposed method by evaluating the relative efficiency of the proposed method against simple random sampling design and derive the optimal allocation of the subsamples for the proposed design. Simulation studies show that the proposed ODS design is more powerful than other existing designs and the proposed estimator is more efficient than other estimators. We apply our method to analyze a cancer study conducted at NIEHS, the Cancer Incidence and Mortality of Uranium Miners Study, to study the risk of radon exposure to cancer.

  10. The discrete additive Weibull distribution: A bathtub-shaped hazard for discontinuous failure data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bebbington, Mark; Lai, Chin-Diew; Wellington, Morgan; Zitikis, Ričardas

    2012-01-01

    Although failure data are usually treated as being continuous, they may have been collected in a discrete manner, or in fact be discrete in nature. Reliability models with bathtub-shaped hazard rate are fundamental to the concepts of burn-in and maintenance, but how well do they incorporate discrete data? We explore discrete versions of the additive Weibull distribution, which has the twin virtues of mathematical tractability and the ability to produce bathtub-shaped hazard rate functions. We derive conditions on the parameters for the hazard rate function to be increasing, decreasing, or bathtub shaped. While discrete versions may have the same shaped hazard rate for the same parameter values, we find that when fitted to data the fitted hazard rate shapes can vary between versions. Our results are illustrated using several real-life data sets, and the implications of using continuous models for discrete data discussed.

  11. An estimating equation for parametric shared frailty models with marginal additive hazards

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pipper, Christian Bressen; Martinussen, Torben

    2004-01-01

    Multivariate failure time data arise when data consist of clusters in which the failure times may be dependent. A popular approach to such data is the marginal proportional hazards model with estimation under the working independence assumption. In some contexts, however, it may be more reasonable...

  12. Conceptual Development of a National Volcanic Hazard Model for New Zealand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stirling, Mark; Bebbington, Mark; Brenna, Marco; Cronin, Shane; Christophersen, Annemarie; Deligne, Natalia; Hurst, Tony; Jolly, Art; Jolly, Gill; Kennedy, Ben; Kereszturi, Gabor; Lindsay, Jan; Neall, Vince; Procter, Jonathan; Rhoades, David; Scott, Brad; Shane, Phil; Smith, Ian; Smith, Richard; Wang, Ting; White, James D. L.; Wilson, Colin J. N.; Wilson, Tom

    2017-06-01

    We provide a synthesis of a workshop held in February 2016 to define the goals, challenges and next steps for developing a national probabilistic volcanic hazard model for New Zealand. The workshop involved volcanologists, statisticians, and hazards scientists from GNS Science, Massey University, University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Auckland, and University of Canterbury. We also outline key activities that will develop the model components, define procedures for periodic update of the model, and effectively articulate the model to end-users and stakeholders. The development of a National Volcanic Hazard Model is a formidable task that will require long-term stability in terms of team effort, collaboration and resources. Development of the model in stages or editions that are modular will make the process a manageable one that progressively incorporates additional volcanic hazards over time, and additional functionalities (e.g. short-term forecasting). The first edition is likely to be limited to updating and incorporating existing ashfall hazard models, with the other hazards associated with lahar, pyroclastic density currents, lava flow, ballistics, debris avalanche, and gases/aerosols being considered in subsequent updates.

  13. Conceptual Development of a National Volcanic Hazard Model for New Zealand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Stirling

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available We provide a synthesis of a workshop held in February 2016 to define the goals, challenges and next steps for developing a national probabilistic volcanic hazard model for New Zealand. The workshop involved volcanologists, statisticians, and hazards scientists from GNS Science, Massey University, University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Auckland, and University of Canterbury. We also outline key activities that will develop the model components, define procedures for periodic update of the model, and effectively articulate the model to end-users and stakeholders. The development of a National Volcanic Hazard Model is a formidable task that will require long-term stability in terms of team effort, collaboration, and resources. Development of the model in stages or editions that are modular will make the process a manageable one that progressively incorporates additional volcanic hazards over time, and additional functionalities (e.g., short-term forecasting. The first edition is likely to be limited to updating and incorporating existing ashfall hazard models, with the other hazards associated with lahar, pyroclastic density currents, lava flow, ballistics, debris avalanche, and gases/aerosols being considered in subsequent updates.

  14. Covariate selection for the semiparametric additive risk model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinussen, Torben; Scheike, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    This paper considers covariate selection for the additive hazards model. This model is particularly simple to study theoretically and its practical implementation has several major advantages to the similar methodology for the proportional hazards model. One complication compared...... and study their large sample properties for the situation where the number of covariates p is smaller than the number of observations. We also show that the adaptive Lasso has the oracle property. In many practical situations, it is more relevant to tackle the situation with large p compared with the number...... of observations. We do this by studying the properties of the so-called Dantzig selector in the setting of the additive risk model. Specifically, we establish a bound on how close the solution is to a true sparse signal in the case where the number of covariates is large. In a simulation study, we also compare...

  15. The 2014 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Peter; Field, Edward H.

    2015-01-01

    The 2014 update to the U. S. Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model in California introduces a new earthquake rate model and new ground motion models (GMMs) that give rise to numerous changes to seismic hazard throughout the state. The updated earthquake rate model is the third version of the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3), wherein the rates of all ruptures are determined via a self-consistent inverse methodology. This approach accommodates multifault ruptures and reduces the overprediction of moderate earthquake rates exhibited by the previous model (UCERF2). UCERF3 introduces new faults, changes to slip or moment rates on existing faults, and adaptively smoothed gridded seismicity source models, all of which contribute to significant changes in hazard. New GMMs increase ground motion near large strike-slip faults and reduce hazard over dip-slip faults. The addition of very large strike-slip ruptures and decreased reverse fault rupture rates in UCERF3 further enhances these effects.

  16. A Model for Generating Multi-hazard Scenarios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo Jacomo, A.; Han, D.; Champneys, A.

    2017-12-01

    Communities in mountain areas are often subject to risk from multiple hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods. Each hazard has its own different rate of onset, duration, and return period. Multiple hazards tend to complicate the combined risk due to their interactions. Prioritising interventions for minimising risk in this context is challenging. We developed a probabilistic multi-hazard model to help inform decision making in multi-hazard areas. The model is applied to a case study region in the Sichuan province in China, using information from satellite imagery and in-situ data. The model is not intended as a predictive model, but rather as a tool which takes stakeholder input and can be used to explore plausible hazard scenarios over time. By using a Monte Carlo framework and varrying uncertain parameters for each of the hazards, the model can be used to explore the effect of different mitigation interventions aimed at reducing the disaster risk within an uncertain hazard context.

  17. Quantitative physical models of volcanic phenomena for hazards assessment of critical infrastructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Antonio

    2016-04-01

    Volcanic hazards may have destructive effects on economy, transport, and natural environments at both local and regional scale. Hazardous phenomena include pyroclastic density currents, tephra fall, gas emissions, lava flows, debris flows and avalanches, and lahars. Volcanic hazards assessment is based on available information to characterize potential volcanic sources in the region of interest and to determine whether specific volcanic phenomena might reach a given site. Volcanic hazards assessment is focussed on estimating the distances that volcanic phenomena could travel from potential sources and their intensity at the considered site. Epistemic and aleatory uncertainties strongly affect the resulting hazards assessment. Within the context of critical infrastructures, volcanic eruptions are rare natural events that can create severe hazards. In addition to being rare events, evidence of many past volcanic eruptions is poorly preserved in the geologic record. The models used for describing the impact of volcanic phenomena generally represent a range of model complexities, from simplified physics based conceptual models to highly coupled thermo fluid dynamical approaches. Modelling approaches represent a hierarchy of complexity, which reflects increasing requirements for well characterized data in order to produce a broader range of output information. In selecting models for the hazard analysis related to a specific phenomenon, questions that need to be answered by the models must be carefully considered. Independently of the model, the final hazards assessment strongly depends on input derived from detailed volcanological investigations, such as mapping and stratigraphic correlations. For each phenomenon, an overview of currently available approaches for the evaluation of future hazards will be presented with the aim to provide a foundation for future work in developing an international consensus on volcanic hazards assessment methods.

  18. A conflict model for the international hazardous waste disposal dispute

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Kaixian; Hipel, Keith W.; Fang, Liping

    2009-01-01

    A multi-stage conflict model is developed to analyze international hazardous waste disposal disputes. More specifically, the ongoing toxic waste conflicts are divided into two stages consisting of the dumping prevention and dispute resolution stages. The modeling and analyses, based on the methodology of graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR), are used in both stages in order to grasp the structure and implications of a given conflict from a strategic viewpoint. Furthermore, a specific case study is investigated for the Ivory Coast hazardous waste conflict. In addition to the stability analysis, sensitivity and attitude analyses are conducted to capture various strategic features of this type of complicated dispute.

  19. A conflict model for the international hazardous waste disposal dispute.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Kaixian; Hipel, Keith W; Fang, Liping

    2009-12-15

    A multi-stage conflict model is developed to analyze international hazardous waste disposal disputes. More specifically, the ongoing toxic waste conflicts are divided into two stages consisting of the dumping prevention and dispute resolution stages. The modeling and analyses, based on the methodology of graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR), are used in both stages in order to grasp the structure and implications of a given conflict from a strategic viewpoint. Furthermore, a specific case study is investigated for the Ivory Coast hazardous waste conflict. In addition to the stability analysis, sensitivity and attitude analyses are conducted to capture various strategic features of this type of complicated dispute.

  20. Comparative Distributions of Hazard Modeling Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rana Abdul Wajid

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present the comparison among the distributions used in hazard analysis. Simulation technique has been used to study the behavior of hazard distribution modules. The fundamentals of Hazard issues are discussed using failure criteria. We present the flexibility of the hazard modeling distribution that approaches to different distributions.

  1. Report 6: Guidance document. Man-made hazards and Accidental Aircraft Crash hazards modelling and implementation in extended PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kahia, S.; Brinkman, H.; Bareith, A.; Siklossy, T.; Vinot, T.; Mateescu, T.; Espargilliere, J.; Burgazzi, L.; Ivanov, I.; Bogdanov, D.; Groudev, P.; Ostapchuk, S.; Zhabin, O.; Stojka, T.; Alzbutas, R.; Kumar, M.; Nitoi, M.; Farcasiu, M.; Borysiewicz, M.; Kowal, K.; Potempski, S.

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this report is to provide guidance on practices to model man-made hazards (mainly external fires and explosions) and accidental aircraft crash hazards and implement them in extended Level 1 PSA. This report is a joint deliverable of work package 21 (WP21) and work package 22 (WP22). The general objective of WP21 is to provide guidance on all of the individual hazards selected at the first ASAMPSA-E End Users Workshop (May 2014, Uppsala, Sweden). The objective of WP22 is to provide the solutions for purposes of different parts of man-made hazards Level 1 PSA fulfilment. This guidance is focusing on man-made hazards, namely: external fires and explosions, and accidental aircraft crash hazards. Guidance developed refers to existing guidance whenever possible. The initial part of guidance (WP21 part) reflects current practices to assess the frequencies for each type of hazards or combination of hazards (including correlated hazards) as initiating event for PSAs. The sources and quality of hazard data, the elements of hazard assessment methodologies and relevant examples are discussed. Classification and criteria to properly assess hazard combinations as well as examples and methods for assessment of these combinations are included in this guidance. In appendixes additional material is presented with the examples of practical approaches to aircraft crash and man-made hazard. The following issues are addressed: 1) Hazard assessment methodologies, including issues related to hazard combinations. 2) Modelling equipment of safety related SSC, 3) HRA, 4) Emergency response, 5) Multi-unit issues. Recommendations and also limitations, gaps identified in the existing methodologies and a list of open issues are included. At all stages of this guidance and especially from an industrial end-user perspective, one must keep in mind that the development of man-made hazards probabilistic analysis must be conditioned to the ability to ultimately obtain a representative risk

  2. Modeling and Hazard Analysis Using STPA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishimatsu, Takuto; Leveson, Nancy; Thomas, John; Katahira, Masa; Miyamoto, Yuko; Nakao, Haruka

    2010-09-01

    A joint research project between MIT and JAXA/JAMSS is investigating the application of a new hazard analysis to the system and software in the HTV. Traditional hazard analysis focuses on component failures but software does not fail in this way. Software most often contributes to accidents by commanding the spacecraft into an unsafe state(e.g., turning off the descent engines prematurely) or by not issuing required commands. That makes the standard hazard analysis techniques of limited usefulness on software-intensive systems, which describes most spacecraft built today. STPA is a new hazard analysis technique based on systems theory rather than reliability theory. It treats safety as a control problem rather than a failure problem. The goal of STPA, which is to create a set of scenarios that can lead to a hazard, is the same as FTA but STPA includes a broader set of potential scenarios including those in which no failures occur but the problems arise due to unsafe and unintended interactions among the system components. STPA also provides more guidance to the analysts that traditional fault tree analysis. Functional control diagrams are used to guide the analysis. In addition, JAXA uses a model-based system engineering development environment(created originally by Leveson and called SpecTRM) which also assists in the hazard analysis. One of the advantages of STPA is that it can be applied early in the system engineering and development process in a safety-driven design process where hazard analysis drives the design decisions rather than waiting until reviews identify problems that are then costly or difficult to fix. It can also be applied in an after-the-fact analysis and hazard assessment, which is what we did in this case study. This paper describes the experimental application of STPA to the JAXA HTV in order to determine the feasibility and usefulness of the new hazard analysis technique. Because the HTV was originally developed using fault tree analysis

  3. Geodesy- and geology-based slip-rate models for the Western United States (excluding California) national seismic hazard maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Mark D.; Zeng, Yuehua; Haller, Kathleen M.; McCaffrey, Robert; Hammond, William C.; Bird, Peter; Moschetti, Morgan; Shen, Zhengkang; Bormann, Jayne; Thatcher, Wayne

    2014-01-01

    The 2014 National Seismic Hazard Maps for the conterminous United States incorporate additional uncertainty in fault slip-rate parameter that controls the earthquake-activity rates than was applied in previous versions of the hazard maps. This additional uncertainty is accounted for by new geodesy- and geology-based slip-rate models for the Western United States. Models that were considered include an updated geologic model based on expert opinion and four combined inversion models informed by both geologic and geodetic input. The two block models considered indicate significantly higher slip rates than the expert opinion and the two fault-based combined inversion models. For the hazard maps, we apply 20 percent weight with equal weighting for the two fault-based models. Off-fault geodetic-based models were not considered in this version of the maps. Resulting changes to the hazard maps are generally less than 0.05 g (acceleration of gravity). Future research will improve the maps and interpret differences between the new models.

  4. Analysis of time to event outcomes in randomized controlled trials by generalized additive models.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christos Argyropoulos

    Full Text Available Randomized Controlled Trials almost invariably utilize the hazard ratio calculated with a Cox proportional hazard model as a treatment efficacy measure. Despite the widespread adoption of HRs, these provide a limited understanding of the treatment effect and may even provide a biased estimate when the assumption of proportional hazards in the Cox model is not verified by the trial data. Additional treatment effect measures on the survival probability or the time scale may be used to supplement HRs but a framework for the simultaneous generation of these measures is lacking.By splitting follow-up time at the nodes of a Gauss Lobatto numerical quadrature rule, techniques for Poisson Generalized Additive Models (PGAM can be adopted for flexible hazard modeling. Straightforward simulation post-estimation transforms PGAM estimates for the log hazard into estimates of the survival function. These in turn were used to calculate relative and absolute risks or even differences in restricted mean survival time between treatment arms. We illustrate our approach with extensive simulations and in two trials: IPASS (in which the proportionality of hazards was violated and HEMO a long duration study conducted under evolving standards of care on a heterogeneous patient population.PGAM can generate estimates of the survival function and the hazard ratio that are essentially identical to those obtained by Kaplan Meier curve analysis and the Cox model. PGAMs can simultaneously provide multiple measures of treatment efficacy after a single data pass. Furthermore, supported unadjusted (overall treatment effect but also subgroup and adjusted analyses, while incorporating multiple time scales and accounting for non-proportional hazards in survival data.By augmenting the HR conventionally reported, PGAMs have the potential to support the inferential goals of multiple stakeholders involved in the evaluation and appraisal of clinical trial results under proportional and

  5. A high-resolution global flood hazard model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampson, Christopher C.; Smith, Andrew M.; Bates, Paul B.; Neal, Jeffrey C.; Alfieri, Lorenzo; Freer, Jim E.

    2015-09-01

    Floods are a natural hazard that affect communities worldwide, but to date the vast majority of flood hazard research and mapping has been undertaken by wealthy developed nations. As populations and economies have grown across the developing world, so too has demand from governments, businesses, and NGOs for modeled flood hazard data in these data-scarce regions. We identify six key challenges faced when developing a flood hazard model that can be applied globally and present a framework methodology that leverages recent cross-disciplinary advances to tackle each challenge. The model produces return period flood hazard maps at ˜90 m resolution for the whole terrestrial land surface between 56°S and 60°N, and results are validated against high-resolution government flood hazard data sets from the UK and Canada. The global model is shown to capture between two thirds and three quarters of the area determined to be at risk in the benchmark data without generating excessive false positive predictions. When aggregated to ˜1 km, mean absolute error in flooded fraction falls to ˜5%. The full complexity global model contains an automatically parameterized subgrid channel network, and comparison to both a simplified 2-D only variant and an independently developed pan-European model shows the explicit inclusion of channels to be a critical contributor to improved model performance. While careful processing of existing global terrain data sets enables reasonable model performance in urban areas, adoption of forthcoming next-generation global terrain data sets will offer the best prospect for a step-change improvement in model performance.

  6. The Framework of a Coastal Hazards Model - A Tool for Predicting the Impact of Severe Storms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnard, Patrick L.; O'Reilly, Bill; van Ormondt, Maarten; Elias, Edwin; Ruggiero, Peter; Erikson, Li H.; Hapke, Cheryl; Collins, Brian D.; Guza, Robert T.; Adams, Peter N.; Thomas, Julie

    2009-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California (Jones and others, 2007) is a five-year project (FY2007-FY2011) integrating multiple USGS research activities with the needs of external partners, such as emergency managers and land-use planners, to produce products and information that can be used to create more disaster-resilient communities. The hazards being evaluated include earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, wildfires, and coastal hazards. For the Coastal Hazards Task of the Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California, the USGS is leading the development of a modeling system for forecasting the impact of winter storms threatening the entire Southern California shoreline from Pt. Conception to the Mexican border. The modeling system, run in real-time or with prescribed scenarios, will incorporate atmospheric information (that is, wind and pressure fields) with a suite of state-of-the-art physical process models (that is, tide, surge, and wave) to enable detailed prediction of currents, wave height, wave runup, and total water levels. Additional research-grade predictions of coastal flooding, inundation, erosion, and cliff failure will also be performed. Initial model testing, performance evaluation, and product development will be focused on a severe winter-storm scenario developed in collaboration with the Winter Storm Working Group of the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California. Additional offline model runs and products will include coastal-hazard hindcasts of selected historical winter storms, as well as additional severe winter-storm simulations based on statistical analyses of historical wave and water-level data. The coastal-hazards model design will also be appropriate for simulating the impact of storms under various sea level rise and climate-change scenarios. The operational capabilities of this modeling system are designed to provide emergency planners with

  7. Ground-Level Ozone Following Astrophysical Ionizing Radiation Events: An Additional Biological Hazard?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Brian C; Goracke, Byron D

    2016-01-01

    Astrophysical ionizing radiation events such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and solar proton events have been recognized as a potential threat to life on Earth, primarily through depletion of stratospheric ozone and subsequent increase in solar UV radiation at Earth's surface and in the upper levels of the ocean. Other work has also considered the potential impact of nitric acid rainout, concluding that no significant threat is likely. Not yet studied to date is the potential impact of ozone produced in the lower atmosphere following an ionizing radiation event. Ozone is a known irritant to organisms on land and in water and therefore may be a significant additional hazard. Using previously completed atmospheric chemistry modeling, we examined the amount of ozone produced in the lower atmosphere for the case of a gamma-ray burst and found that the values are too small to pose a significant additional threat to the biosphere. These results may be extended to other ionizing radiation events, including supernovae and extreme solar proton events.

  8. Incident Duration Modeling Using Flexible Parametric Hazard-Based Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruimin Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Assessing and prioritizing the duration time and effects of traffic incidents on major roads present significant challenges for road network managers. This study examines the effect of numerous factors associated with various types of incidents on their duration and proposes an incident duration prediction model. Several parametric accelerated failure time hazard-based models were examined, including Weibull, log-logistic, log-normal, and generalized gamma, as well as all models with gamma heterogeneity and flexible parametric hazard-based models with freedom ranging from one to ten, by analyzing a traffic incident dataset obtained from the Incident Reporting and Dispatching System in Beijing in 2008. Results show that different factors significantly affect different incident time phases, whose best distributions were diverse. Given the best hazard-based models of each incident time phase, the prediction result can be reasonable for most incidents. The results of this study can aid traffic incident management agencies not only in implementing strategies that would reduce incident duration, and thus reduce congestion, secondary incidents, and the associated human and economic losses, but also in effectively predicting incident duration time.

  9. High-Dimensional Additive Hazards Regression for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Microarray Data: A Comparative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omid Hamidi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Microarray technology results in high-dimensional and low-sample size data sets. Therefore, fitting sparse models is substantial because only a small number of influential genes can reliably be identified. A number of variable selection approaches have been proposed for high-dimensional time-to-event data based on Cox proportional hazards where censoring is present. The present study applied three sparse variable selection techniques of Lasso, smoothly clipped absolute deviation and the smooth integration of counting, and absolute deviation for gene expression survival time data using the additive risk model which is adopted when the absolute effects of multiple predictors on the hazard function are of interest. The performances of used techniques were evaluated by time dependent ROC curve and bootstrap .632+ prediction error curves. The selected genes by all methods were highly significant (P<0.001. The Lasso showed maximum median of area under ROC curve over time (0.95 and smoothly clipped absolute deviation showed the lowest prediction error (0.105. It was observed that the selected genes by all methods improved the prediction of purely clinical model indicating the valuable information containing in the microarray features. So it was concluded that used approaches can satisfactorily predict survival based on selected gene expression measurements.

  10. An optimization model for transportation of hazardous materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seyed-Hosseini, M.; Kheirkhah, A. S.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, the optimal routing problem for transportation of hazardous materials is studied. Routing for the purpose of reducing the risk of transportation of hazardous materials has been studied and formulated by many researcher and several routing models have been presented up to now. These models can be classified into the categories: the models for routing a single movement and the models for routing multiple movements. In this paper, according to the current rules and regulations of road transportations of hazardous materials in Iran, a routing problem is designed. In this problem, the routs for several independent movements are simultaneously determined. To examine the model, the problem the transportations of two different dangerous materials in the road network of Mazandaran province in the north of Iran is formulated and solved by applying Integer programming model

  11. The New Italian Seismic Hazard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marzocchi, W.; Meletti, C.; Albarello, D.; D'Amico, V.; Luzi, L.; Martinelli, F.; Pace, B.; Pignone, M.; Rovida, A.; Visini, F.

    2017-12-01

    In 2015 the Seismic Hazard Center (Centro Pericolosità Sismica - CPS) of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology was commissioned of coordinating the national scientific community with the aim to elaborate a new reference seismic hazard model, mainly finalized to the update of seismic code. The CPS designed a roadmap for releasing within three years a significantly renewed PSHA model, with regard both to the updated input elements and to the strategies to be followed. The main requirements of the model were discussed in meetings with the experts on earthquake engineering that then will participate to the revision of the building code. The activities were organized in 6 tasks: program coordination, input data, seismicity models, ground motion predictive equations (GMPEs), computation and rendering, testing. The input data task has been selecting the most updated information about seismicity (historical and instrumental), seismogenic faults, and deformation (both from seismicity and geodetic data). The seismicity models have been elaborating in terms of classic source areas, fault sources and gridded seismicity based on different approaches. The GMPEs task has selected the most recent models accounting for their tectonic suitability and forecasting performance. The testing phase has been planned to design statistical procedures to test with the available data the whole seismic hazard models, and single components such as the seismicity models and the GMPEs. In this talk we show some preliminary results, summarize the overall strategy for building the new Italian PSHA model, and discuss in detail important novelties that we put forward. Specifically, we adopt a new formal probabilistic framework to interpret the outcomes of the model and to test it meaningfully; this requires a proper definition and characterization of both aleatory variability and epistemic uncertainty that we accomplish through an ensemble modeling strategy. We use a weighting scheme

  12. Reactive Additive Stabilization Process (RASP) for hazardous and mixed waste vitrification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jantzen, C.M.; Pickett, J.B.; Ramsey, W.G.

    1993-01-01

    Solidification of hazardous/mixed wastes into glass is being examined at the Savannah River Site (SRS) for (1) nickel plating line (F006) sludges and (2) incinerator wastes. Vitrification of these wastes using high surface area additives, the Reactive Additive Stabilization Process (RASP), has been determined to greatly enhance the dissolution and retention of hazardous, mixed, and heavy metal species in glass. RASP lowers melt temperatures (typically 1050-- 1150 degrees C), thereby minimizing volatility concerns during vitrification. RASP maximizes waste loading (typically 50--75 wt% on a dry oxide basis) by taking advantage of the glass forming potential of the waste. RASP vitrification thereby minimizes waste disposal volume (typically 86--97 vol. %), and maximizes cost savings. Solidification of the F006 plating line sludges containing depleted uranium has been achieved in both soda-lime-silica (SLS) and borosilicate glasses at 1150 degrees C up to waste loadings of 75 wt%. Solidification of incinerator blowdown and mixtures of incinerator blowdown and bottom kiln ash have been achieved in SLS glass at 1150 degrees C up to waste loadings of 50% using RASP. These waste loadings correspond to volume reductions of 86 and 94 volume %, respectively, with large associated savings in storage costs

  13. Automated economic analysis model for hazardous waste minimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dharmavaram, S.; Mount, J.B.; Donahue, B.A.

    1990-01-01

    The US Army has established a policy of achieving a 50 percent reduction in hazardous waste generation by the end of 1992. To assist the Army in reaching this goal, the Environmental Division of the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (USACERL) designed the Economic Analysis Model for Hazardous Waste Minimization (EAHWM). The EAHWM was designed to allow the user to evaluate the life cycle costs for various techniques used in hazardous waste minimization and to compare them to the life cycle costs of current operating practices. The program was developed in C language on an IBM compatible PC and is consistent with other pertinent models for performing economic analyses. The potential hierarchical minimization categories used in EAHWM include source reduction, recovery and/or reuse, and treatment. Although treatment is no longer an acceptable minimization option, its use is widespread and has therefore been addressed in the model. The model allows for economic analysis for minimization of the Army's six most important hazardous waste streams. These include, solvents, paint stripping wastes, metal plating wastes, industrial waste-sludges, used oils, and batteries and battery electrolytes. The EAHWM also includes a general application which can be used to calculate and compare the life cycle costs for minimization alternatives of any waste stream, hazardous or non-hazardous. The EAHWM has been fully tested and implemented in more than 60 Army installations in the United States

  14. Hazard identification based on plant functional modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rasmussen, B.; Whetton, C.

    1993-10-01

    A major objective of the present work is to provide means for representing a process plant as a socio-technical system, so as to allow hazard identification at a high level. The method includes technical, human and organisational aspects and is intended to be used for plant level hazard identification so as to identify critical areas and the need for further analysis using existing methods. The first part of the method is the preparation of a plant functional model where a set of plant functions link together hardware, software, operations, work organisation and other safety related aspects of the plant. The basic principle of the functional modelling is that any aspect of the plant can be represented by an object (in the sense that this term is used in computer science) based upon an Intent (or goal); associated with each Intent are Methods, by which the Intent is realized, and Constraints, which limit the Intent. The Methods and Constraints can themselves be treated as objects and decomposed into lower-level Intents (hence the procedure is known as functional decomposition) so giving rise to a hierarchical, object-oriented structure. The plant level hazard identification is carried out on the plant functional model using the Concept Hazard Analysis method. In this, the user will be supported by checklists and keywords and the analysis is structured by pre-defined worksheets. The preparation of the plant functional model and the performance of the hazard identification can be carried out manually or with computer support. (au) (4 tabs., 10 ills., 7 refs.)

  15. Modeling lahar behavior and hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manville, Vernon; Major, Jon J.; Fagents, Sarah A.

    2013-01-01

    Lahars are highly mobile mixtures of water and sediment of volcanic origin that are capable of traveling tens to > 100 km at speeds exceeding tens of km hr-1. Such flows are among the most serious ground-based hazards at many volcanoes because of their sudden onset, rapid advance rates, long runout distances, high energy, ability to transport large volumes of material, and tendency to flow along existing river channels where populations and infrastructure are commonly concentrated. They can grow in volume and peak discharge through erosion and incorporation of external sediment and/or water, inundate broad areas, and leave deposits many meters thick. Furthermore, lahars can recur for many years to decades after an initial volcanic eruption, as fresh pyroclastic material is eroded and redeposited during rainfall events, resulting in a spatially and temporally evolving hazard. Improving understanding of the behavior of these complex, gravitationally driven, multi-phase flows is key to mitigating the threat to communities at lahar-prone volcanoes. However, their complexity and evolving nature pose significant challenges to developing the models of flow behavior required for delineating their hazards and hazard zones.

  16. Modeling Compound Flood Hazards in Coastal Embayments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moftakhari, H.; Schubert, J. E.; AghaKouchak, A.; Luke, A.; Matthew, R.; Sanders, B. F.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal cities around the world are built on lowland topography adjacent to coastal embayments and river estuaries, where multiple factors threaten increasing flood hazards (e.g. sea level rise and river flooding). Quantitative risk assessment is required for administration of flood insurance programs and the design of cost-effective flood risk reduction measures. This demands a characterization of extreme water levels such as 100 and 500 year return period events. Furthermore, hydrodynamic flood models are routinely used to characterize localized flood level intensities (i.e., local depth and velocity) based on boundary forcing sampled from extreme value distributions. For example, extreme flood discharges in the U.S. are estimated from measured flood peaks using the Log-Pearson Type III distribution. However, configuring hydrodynamic models for coastal embayments is challenging because of compound extreme flood events: events caused by a combination of extreme sea levels, extreme river discharges, and possibly other factors such as extreme waves and precipitation causing pluvial flooding in urban developments. Here, we present an approach for flood risk assessment that coordinates multivariate extreme analysis with hydrodynamic modeling of coastal embayments. First, we evaluate the significance of correlation structure between terrestrial freshwater inflow and oceanic variables; second, this correlation structure is described using copula functions in unit joint probability domain; and third, we choose a series of compound design scenarios for hydrodynamic modeling based on their occurrence likelihood. The design scenarios include the most likely compound event (with the highest joint probability density), preferred marginal scenario and reproduced time series of ensembles based on Monte Carlo sampling of bivariate hazard domain. The comparison between resulting extreme water dynamics under the compound hazard scenarios explained above provides an insight to the

  17. Proportional hazards models of infrastructure system recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barker, Kash; Baroud, Hiba

    2014-01-01

    As emphasis is being placed on a system's ability to withstand and to recover from a disruptive event, collectively referred to as dynamic resilience, there exists a need to quantify a system's ability to bounce back after a disruptive event. This work applies a statistical technique from biostatistics, the proportional hazards model, to describe (i) the instantaneous rate of recovery of an infrastructure system and (ii) the likelihood that recovery occurs prior to a given point in time. A major benefit of the proportional hazards model is its ability to describe a recovery event as a function of time as well as covariates describing the infrastructure system or disruptive event, among others, which can also vary with time. The proportional hazards approach is illustrated with a publicly available electric power outage data set

  18. The 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Mark D.; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Powers, Peter; Mueller, Charles; Haller, Kathleen; Frankel, Arthur; Zeng, Yuehua; Rezaeian, Sanaz; Harmsen, Stephen; Boyd, Oliver; Field, Edward; Chen, Rui; Rukstales, Kenneth S.; Luco, Nicolas; Wheeler, Russell; Williams, Robert; Olsen, Anna H.

    2015-01-01

    New seismic hazard maps have been developed for the conterminous United States using the latest data, models, and methods available for assessing earthquake hazard. The hazard models incorporate new information on earthquake rupture behavior observed in recent earthquakes; fault studies that use both geologic and geodetic strain rate data; earthquake catalogs through 2012 that include new assessments of locations and magnitudes; earthquake adaptive smoothing models that more fully account for the spatial clustering of earthquakes; and 22 ground motion models, some of which consider more than double the shaking data applied previously. Alternative input models account for larger earthquakes, more complicated ruptures, and more varied ground shaking estimates than assumed in earlier models. The ground motions, for levels applied in building codes, differ from the previous version by less than ±10% over 60% of the country, but can differ by ±50% in localized areas. The models are incorporated in insurance rates, risk assessments, and as input into the U.S. building code provisions for earthquake ground shaking.

  19. Multiple Landslide-Hazard Scenarios Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pike, Richard J.; Graymer, Russell W.

    2008-01-01

    With the exception of Los Angeles, perhaps no urban area in the United States is more at risk from landsliding, triggered by either precipitation or earthquake, than the San Francisco Bay region of northern California. By January each year, seasonal winter storms usually bring moisture levels of San Francisco Bay region hillsides to the point of saturation, after which additional heavy rainfall may induce landslides of various types and levels of severity. In addition, movement at any time along one of several active faults in the area may generate an earthquake large enough to trigger landslides. The danger to life and property rises each year as local populations continue to expand and more hillsides are graded for development of residential housing and its supporting infrastructure. The chapters in the text consist of: *Introduction by Russell W. Graymer *Chapter 1 Rainfall Thresholds for Landslide Activity, San Francisco Bay Region, Northern California by Raymond C. Wilson *Chapter 2 Susceptibility to Deep-Seated Landsliding Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California by Richard J. Pike and Steven Sobieszczyk *Chapter 3 Susceptibility to Shallow Landsliding Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California by Kevin M. Schmidt and Steven Sobieszczyk *Chapter 4 Landslide Hazard Modeled for the Cities of Oakland, Piedmont, and Berkeley, Northern California, from a M=7.1 Scenario Earthquake on the Hayward Fault Zone by Scott B. Miles and David K. Keefer *Chapter 5 Synthesis of Landslide-Hazard Scenarios Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California by Richard J. Pike The plates consist of: *Plate 1 Susceptibility to Deep-Seated Landsliding Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California by Richard J. Pike, Russell W. Graymer, Sebastian Roberts, Naomi B. Kalman, and Steven Sobieszczyk *Plate 2 Susceptibility to Shallow Landsliding Modeled for the Oakland-Berkeley Area, Northern California by Kevin M. Schmidt and Steven

  20. Debris flow hazard modelling on medium scale: Valtellina di Tirano, Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Blahut

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Debris flow hazard modelling at medium (regional scale has been subject of various studies in recent years. In this study, hazard zonation was carried out, incorporating information about debris flow initiation probability (spatial and temporal, and the delimitation of the potential runout areas. Debris flow hazard zonation was carried out in the area of the Consortium of Mountain Municipalities of Valtellina di Tirano (Central Alps, Italy. The complexity of the phenomenon, the scale of the study, the variability of local conditioning factors, and the lacking data limited the use of process-based models for the runout zone delimitation. Firstly, a map of hazard initiation probabilities was prepared for the study area, based on the available susceptibility zoning information, and the analysis of two sets of aerial photographs for the temporal probability estimation. Afterwards, the hazard initiation map was used as one of the inputs for an empirical GIS-based model (Flow-R, developed at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland. An estimation of the debris flow magnitude was neglected as the main aim of the analysis was to prepare a debris flow hazard map at medium scale. A digital elevation model, with a 10 m resolution, was used together with landuse, geology and debris flow hazard initiation maps as inputs of the Flow-R model to restrict potential areas within each hazard initiation probability class to locations where debris flows are most likely to initiate. Afterwards, runout areas were calculated using multiple flow direction and energy based algorithms. Maximum probable runout zones were calibrated using documented past events and aerial photographs. Finally, two debris flow hazard maps were prepared. The first simply delimits five hazard zones, while the second incorporates the information about debris flow spreading direction probabilities, showing areas more likely to be affected by future debris flows. Limitations of the modelling arise

  1. Functional form diagnostics for Cox's proportional hazards model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    León, Larry F; Tsai, Chih-Ling

    2004-03-01

    We propose a new type of residual and an easily computed functional form test for the Cox proportional hazards model. The proposed test is a modification of the omnibus test for testing the overall fit of a parametric regression model, developed by Stute, González Manteiga, and Presedo Quindimil (1998, Journal of the American Statistical Association93, 141-149), and is based on what we call censoring consistent residuals. In addition, we develop residual plots that can be used to identify the correct functional forms of covariates. We compare our test with the functional form test of Lin, Wei, and Ying (1993, Biometrika80, 557-572) in a simulation study. The practical application of the proposed residuals and functional form test is illustrated using both a simulated data set and a real data set.

  2. Modeling emergency evacuation for major hazard industrial sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Georgiadou, Paraskevi S.; Papazoglou, Ioannis A.; Kiranoudis, Chris T.; Markatos, Nikolaos C.

    2007-01-01

    A model providing the temporal and spatial distribution of the population under evacuation around a major hazard facility is developed. A discrete state stochastic Markov process simulates the movement of the evacuees. The area around the hazardous facility is divided into nodes connected among themselves with links representing the road system of the area. Transition from node-to-node is simulated as a random process where the probability of transition depends on the dynamically changed states of the destination and origin nodes and on the link between them. Solution of the Markov process provides the expected distribution of the evacuees in the nodes of the area as a function of time. A Monte Carlo solution of the model provides in addition a sample of actual trajectories of the evacuees. This information coupled with an accident analysis which provides the spatial and temporal distribution of the extreme phenomenon following an accident, determines a sample of the actual doses received by the evacuees. Both the average dose and the actual distribution of doses are then used as measures in evaluating alternative emergency response strategies. It is shown that in some cases the estimation of the health consequences by the average dose might be either too conservative or too non-conservative relative to the one corresponding to the distribution of the received dose and hence not a suitable measure to evaluate alternative evacuation strategies

  3. Agent-based Modeling with MATSim for Hazards Evacuation Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, J. M.; Ng, P.; Henry, K.; Peters, J.; Wood, N. J.

    2015-12-01

    Hazard evacuation planning requires robust modeling tools and techniques, such as least cost distance or agent-based modeling, to gain an understanding of a community's potential to reach safety before event (e.g. tsunami) arrival. Least cost distance modeling provides a static view of the evacuation landscape with an estimate of travel times to safety from each location in the hazard space. With this information, practitioners can assess a community's overall ability for timely evacuation. More information may be needed if evacuee congestion creates bottlenecks in the flow patterns. Dynamic movement patterns are best explored with agent-based models that simulate movement of and interaction between individual agents as evacuees through the hazard space, reacting to potential congestion areas along the evacuation route. The multi-agent transport simulation model MATSim is an agent-based modeling framework that can be applied to hazard evacuation planning. Developed jointly by universities in Switzerland and Germany, MATSim is open-source software written in Java and freely available for modification or enhancement. We successfully used MATSim to illustrate tsunami evacuation challenges in two island communities in California, USA, that are impacted by limited escape routes. However, working with MATSim's data preparation, simulation, and visualization modules in an integrated development environment requires a significant investment of time to develop the software expertise to link the modules and run a simulation. To facilitate our evacuation research, we packaged the MATSim modules into a single application tailored to the needs of the hazards community. By exposing the modeling parameters of interest to researchers in an intuitive user interface and hiding the software complexities, we bring agent-based modeling closer to practitioners and provide access to the powerful visual and analytic information that this modeling can provide.

  4. A Bimodal Hybrid Model for Time-Dependent Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaghmaei-Sabegh, Saman; Shoaeifar, Nasser; Shoaeifar, Parva

    2018-03-01

    The evaluation of evidence provided by geological studies and historical catalogs indicates that in some seismic regions and faults, multiple large earthquakes occur in cluster. Then, the occurrences of large earthquakes confront with quiescence and only the small-to-moderate earthquakes take place. Clustering of large earthquakes is the most distinguishable departure from the assumption of constant hazard of random occurrence of earthquakes in conventional seismic hazard analysis. In the present study, a time-dependent recurrence model is proposed to consider a series of large earthquakes that occurs in clusters. The model is flexible enough to better reflect the quasi-periodic behavior of large earthquakes with long-term clustering, which can be used in time-dependent probabilistic seismic hazard analysis with engineering purposes. In this model, the time-dependent hazard results are estimated by a hazard function which comprises three parts. A decreasing hazard of last large earthquake cluster and an increasing hazard of the next large earthquake cluster, along with a constant hazard of random occurrence of small-to-moderate earthquakes. In the final part of the paper, the time-dependent seismic hazard of the New Madrid Seismic Zone at different time intervals has been calculated for illustrative purpose.

  5. A New Seismic Hazard Model for Mainland China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rong, Y.; Xu, X.; Chen, G.; Cheng, J.; Magistrale, H.; Shen, Z. K.

    2017-12-01

    We are developing a new seismic hazard model for Mainland China by integrating historical earthquake catalogs, geological faults, geodetic GPS data, and geology maps. To build the model, we construct an Mw-based homogeneous historical earthquake catalog spanning from 780 B.C. to present, create fault models from active fault data, and derive a strain rate model based on the most complete GPS measurements and a new strain derivation algorithm. We divide China and the surrounding regions into about 20 large seismic source zones. For each zone, a tapered Gutenberg-Richter (TGR) magnitude-frequency distribution is used to model the seismic activity rates. The a- and b-values of the TGR distribution are calculated using observed earthquake data, while the corner magnitude is constrained independently using the seismic moment rate inferred from the geodetically-based strain rate model. Small and medium sized earthquakes are distributed within the source zones following the location and magnitude patterns of historical earthquakes. Some of the larger earthquakes are distributed onto active faults, based on their geological characteristics such as slip rate, fault length, down-dip width, and various paleoseismic data. The remaining larger earthquakes are then placed into the background. A new set of magnitude-rupture scaling relationships is developed based on earthquake data from China and vicinity. We evaluate and select appropriate ground motion prediction equations by comparing them with observed ground motion data and performing residual analysis. To implement the modeling workflow, we develop a tool that builds upon the functionalities of GEM's Hazard Modeler's Toolkit. The GEM OpenQuake software is used to calculate seismic hazard at various ground motion periods and various return periods. To account for site amplification, we construct a site condition map based on geology. The resulting new seismic hazard maps can be used for seismic risk analysis and management.

  6. Evaluation of MEDALUS model for desertification hazard zonation using GIS; study area: Iyzad Khast plain, Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farajzadeh, Manuchehr; Egbal, Mahbobeh Nik

    2007-08-15

    In this study, the MEDALUS model along with GIS mapping techniques are used to determine desertification hazards for a province of Iran to determine the desertification hazard. After creating a desertification database including 20 parameters, the first steps consisted of developing maps of four indices for the MEDALUS model including climate, soil, vegetation and land use were prepared. Since these parameters have mostly been presented for the Mediterranean region in the past, the next step included the addition of other indicators such as ground water and wind erosion. Then all of the layers weighted by environmental conditions present in the area were used (following the same MEDALUS framework) before a desertification map was prepared. The comparison of two maps based on the original and modified MEDALUS models indicates that the addition of more regionally-specific parameters into the model allows for a more accurate representation of desertification processes across the Iyzad Khast plain. The major factors affecting desertification in the area are climate, wind erosion and low land quality management, vegetation degradation and the salinization of soil and water resources.

  7. Quantitative occupational risk model: Single hazard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Papazoglou, I.A.; Aneziris, O.N.; Bellamy, L.J.; Ale, B.J.M.; Oh, J.

    2017-01-01

    A model for the quantification of occupational risk of a worker exposed to a single hazard is presented. The model connects the working conditions and worker behaviour to the probability of an accident resulting into one of three types of consequence: recoverable injury, permanent injury and death. Working conditions and safety barriers in place to reduce the likelihood of an accident are included. Logical connections are modelled through an influence diagram. Quantification of the model is based on two sources of information: a) number of accidents observed over a period of time and b) assessment of exposure data of activities and working conditions over the same period of time and the same working population. Effectiveness of risk reducing measures affecting the working conditions, worker behaviour and/or safety barriers can be quantified through the effect of these measures on occupational risk. - Highlights: • Quantification of occupational risk from a single hazard. • Influence diagram connects working conditions, worker behaviour and safety barriers. • Necessary data include the number of accidents and the total exposure of worker • Effectiveness of risk reducing measures is quantified through the impact on the risk • An example illustrates the methodology.

  8. Causal Mediation Analysis for the Cox Proportional Hazards Model with a Smooth Baseline Hazard Estimator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wei; Albert, Jeffrey M

    2017-08-01

    An important problem within the social, behavioral, and health sciences is how to partition an exposure effect (e.g. treatment or risk factor) among specific pathway effects and to quantify the importance of each pathway. Mediation analysis based on the potential outcomes framework is an important tool to address this problem and we consider the estimation of mediation effects for the proportional hazards model in this paper. We give precise definitions of the total effect, natural indirect effect, and natural direct effect in terms of the survival probability, hazard function, and restricted mean survival time within the standard two-stage mediation framework. To estimate the mediation effects on different scales, we propose a mediation formula approach in which simple parametric models (fractional polynomials or restricted cubic splines) are utilized to approximate the baseline log cumulative hazard function. Simulation study results demonstrate low bias of the mediation effect estimators and close-to-nominal coverage probability of the confidence intervals for a wide range of complex hazard shapes. We apply this method to the Jackson Heart Study data and conduct sensitivity analysis to assess the impact on the mediation effects inference when the no unmeasured mediator-outcome confounding assumption is violated.

  9. Seismic source characterization for the 2014 update of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moschetti, Morgan P.; Powers, Peter; Petersen, Mark D.; Boyd, Oliver; Chen, Rui; Field, Edward H.; Frankel, Arthur; Haller, Kathleen; Harmsen, Stephen; Mueller, Charles S.; Wheeler, Russell; Zeng, Yuehua

    2015-01-01

    We present the updated seismic source characterization (SSC) for the 2014 update of the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for the conterminous United States. Construction of the seismic source models employs the methodology that was developed for the 1996 NSHM but includes new and updated data, data types, source models, and source parameters that reflect the current state of knowledge of earthquake occurrence and state of practice for seismic hazard analyses. We review the SSC parameterization and describe the methods used to estimate earthquake rates, magnitudes, locations, and geometries for all seismic source models, with an emphasis on new source model components. We highlight the effects that two new model components—incorporation of slip rates from combined geodetic-geologic inversions and the incorporation of adaptively smoothed seismicity models—have on probabilistic ground motions, because these sources span multiple regions of the conterminous United States and provide important additional epistemic uncertainty for the 2014 NSHM.

  10. Integrate urban‐scale seismic hazard analyses with the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moschetti, Morgan P.; Luco, Nicolas; Frankel, Arthur; Petersen, Mark D.; Aagaard, Brad T.; Baltay, Annemarie S.; Blanpied, Michael; Boyd, Oliver; Briggs, Richard; Gold, Ryan D.; Graves, Robert; Hartzell, Stephen; Rezaeian, Sanaz; Stephenson, William J.; Wald, David J.; Williams, Robert A.; Withers, Kyle

    2018-01-01

    For more than 20 yrs, damage patterns and instrumental recordings have highlighted the influence of the local 3D geologic structure on earthquake ground motions (e.g., M">M 6.7 Northridge, California, Gao et al., 1996; M">M 6.9 Kobe, Japan, Kawase, 1996; M">M 6.8 Nisqually, Washington, Frankel, Carver, and Williams, 2002). Although this and other local‐scale features are critical to improving seismic hazard forecasts, historically they have not been explicitly incorporated into the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM, national model and maps), primarily because the necessary basin maps and methodologies were not available at the national scale. Instead,...

  11. Earthquake hazard assessment in the Zagros Orogenic Belt of Iran using a fuzzy rule-based model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farahi Ghasre Aboonasr, Sedigheh; Zamani, Ahmad; Razavipour, Fatemeh; Boostani, Reza

    2017-08-01

    Producing accurate seismic hazard map and predicting hazardous areas is necessary for risk mitigation strategies. In this paper, a fuzzy logic inference system is utilized to estimate the earthquake potential and seismic zoning of Zagros Orogenic Belt. In addition to the interpretability, fuzzy predictors can capture both nonlinearity and chaotic behavior of data, where the number of data is limited. In this paper, earthquake pattern in the Zagros has been assessed for the intervals of 10 and 50 years using fuzzy rule-based model. The Molchan statistical procedure has been used to show that our forecasting model is reliable. The earthquake hazard maps for this area reveal some remarkable features that cannot be observed on the conventional maps. Regarding our achievements, some areas in the southern (Bandar Abbas), southwestern (Bandar Kangan) and western (Kermanshah) parts of Iran display high earthquake severity even though they are geographically far apart.

  12. Opinion: The use of natural hazard modeling for decision making under uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    David E. Calkin; Mike Mentis

    2015-01-01

    Decision making to mitigate the effects of natural hazards is a complex undertaking fraught with uncertainty. Models to describe risks associated with natural hazards have proliferated in recent years. Concurrently, there is a growing body of work focused on developing best practices for natural hazard modeling and to create structured evaluation criteria for complex...

  13. Report 2: Guidance document on practices to model and implement external flooding hazards in extended PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rebour, V.; Georgescu, G.; Leteinturier, D.; Raimond, E.; La Rovere, S.; Bernadara, P.; Vasseur, D.; Brinkman, H.; Groudev, P.; Ivanov, I.; Turschmann, M.; Sperbeck, S.; Potempski, S.; Hirata, K.; Kumar, Manorma

    2016-01-01

    This report provides a review of existing practices to model and implement external flooding hazards in existing level 1 PSA. The objective is to identify good practices on the modelling of initiating events (internal and external hazards) with a perspective of development of extended PSA and implementation of external events modelling in extended L1 PSA, its limitations/difficulties as far as possible. The views presented in this report are based on the ASAMPSA-E partners' experience and available publications. The report includes discussions on the following issues: - how to structure a L1 PSA for external flooding events, - information needed from geosciences in terms of hazards modelling and to build relevant modelling for PSA, - how to define and model the impact of each flooding event on SSCs with distinction between the flooding protective structures and devices and the effect of protection failures on other SSCs, - how to identify and model the common cause failures in one reactor or between several reactors, - how to apply HRA methodology for external flooding events, - how to credit additional emergency response (post-Fukushima measures like mobile equipment), - how to address the specific issues of L2 PSA, - how to perform and present risk quantification. (authors)

  14. CyberShake: A Physics-Based Seismic Hazard Model for Southern California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graves, R.; Jordan, T.H.; Callaghan, S.; Deelman, E.; Field, E.; Juve, G.; Kesselman, C.; Maechling, P.; Mehta, G.; Milner, K.; Okaya, D.; Small, P.; Vahi, K.

    2011-01-01

    CyberShake, as part of the Southern California Earthquake Center's (SCEC) Community Modeling Environment, is developing a methodology that explicitly incorporates deterministic source and wave propagation effects within seismic hazard calculations through the use of physics-based 3D ground motion simulations. To calculate a waveform-based seismic hazard estimate for a site of interest, we begin with Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, Version 2.0 (UCERF2.0) and identify all ruptures within 200 km of the site of interest. We convert the UCERF2.0 rupture definition into multiple rupture variations with differing hypocenter locations and slip distributions, resulting in about 415,000 rupture variations per site. Strain Green Tensors are calculated for the site of interest using the SCEC Community Velocity Model, Version 4 (CVM4), and then, using reciprocity, we calculate synthetic seismograms for each rupture variation. Peak intensity measures are then extracted from these synthetics and combined with the original rupture probabilities to produce probabilistic seismic hazard curves for the site. Being explicitly site-based, CyberShake directly samples the ground motion variability at that site over many earthquake cycles (i. e., rupture scenarios) and alleviates the need for the ergodic assumption that is implicitly included in traditional empirically based calculations. Thus far, we have simulated ruptures at over 200 sites in the Los Angeles region for ground shaking periods of 2 s and longer, providing the basis for the first generation CyberShake hazard maps. Our results indicate that the combination of rupture directivity and basin response effects can lead to an increase in the hazard level for some sites, relative to that given by a conventional Ground Motion Prediction Equation (GMPE). Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, we find that the physics-based hazard results are much more sensitive to the assumed magnitude-area relations and

  15. Modelling Active Faults in Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) with OpenQuake: Definition, Design and Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weatherill, Graeme; Garcia, Julio; Poggi, Valerio; Chen, Yen-Shin; Pagani, Marco

    2016-04-01

    hanging wall and directivity effects) within modern ground motion prediction equations, can have an influence on the seismic hazard at a site. Yet we also illustrate the conditions under which these effects may be partially tempered when considering the full uncertainty in rupture behaviour within the fault system. The third challenge is the development of efficient means for representing both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties from active fault models in PSHA. In implementing state-of-the-art seismic hazard models into OpenQuake, such as those recently undertaken in California and Japan, new modeling techniques are needed that redefine how we treat interdependence of ruptures within the model (such as mutual exclusivity), and the propagation of uncertainties emerging from geology. Finally, we illustrate how OpenQuake, and GEM's additional toolkits for model preparation, can be applied to address long-standing issues in active fault modeling in PSHA. These include constraining the seismogenic coupling of a fault and the partitioning of seismic moment between the active fault surfaces and the surrounding seismogenic crust. We illustrate some of the possible roles that geodesy can play in the process, but highlight where this may introduce new uncertainties and potential biases into the seismic hazard process, and how these can be addressed.

  16. Bayes estimation of the general hazard rate model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarhan, A.

    1999-01-01

    In reliability theory and life testing models, the life time distributions are often specified by choosing a relevant hazard rate function. Here a general hazard rate function h(t)=a+bt c-1 , where c, a, b are constants greater than zero, is considered. The parameter c is assumed to be known. The Bayes estimators of (a,b) based on the data of type II/item-censored testing without replacement are obtained. A large simulation study using Monte Carlo Method is done to compare the performance of Bayes with regression estimators of (a,b). The criterion for comparison is made based on the Bayes risk associated with the respective estimator. Also, the influence of the number of failed items on the accuracy of the estimators (Bayes and regression) is investigated. Estimations for the parameters (a,b) of the linearly increasing hazard rate model h(t)=a+bt, where a, b are greater than zero, can be obtained as the special case, letting c=2

  17. Modelling Multi Hazard Mapping in Semarang City Using GIS-Fuzzy Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nugraha, A. L.; Awaluddin, M.; Sasmito, B.

    2018-02-01

    One important aspect of disaster mitigation planning is hazard mapping. Hazard mapping can provide spatial information on the distribution of locations that are threatened by disaster. Semarang City as the capital of Central Java Province is one of the cities with high natural disaster intensity. Frequent natural disasters Semarang city is tidal flood, floods, landslides, and droughts. Therefore, Semarang City needs spatial information by doing multi hazard mapping to support disaster mitigation planning in Semarang City. Multi Hazards map modelling can be derived from parameters such as slope maps, rainfall, land use, and soil types. This modelling is done by using GIS method with scoring and overlay technique. However, the accuracy of modelling would be better if the GIS method is combined with Fuzzy Logic techniques to provide a good classification in determining disaster threats. The Fuzzy-GIS method will build a multi hazards map of Semarang city can deliver results with good accuracy and with appropriate threat class spread so as to provide disaster information for disaster mitigation planning of Semarang city. from the multi-hazard modelling using GIS-Fuzzy can be known type of membership that has a good accuracy is the type of membership Gauss with RMSE of 0.404 the smallest of the other membership and VAF value of 72.909% of the largest of the other membership.

  18. Global river flood hazard maps: hydraulic modelling methods and appropriate uses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townend, Samuel; Smith, Helen; Molloy, James

    2014-05-01

    Flood hazard is not well understood or documented in many parts of the world. Consequently, the (re-)insurance sector now needs to better understand where the potential for considerable river flooding aligns with significant exposure. For example, international manufacturing companies are often attracted to countries with emerging economies, meaning that events such as the 2011 Thailand floods have resulted in many multinational businesses with assets in these regions incurring large, unexpected losses. This contribution addresses and critically evaluates the hydraulic methods employed to develop a consistent global scale set of river flood hazard maps, used to fill the knowledge gap outlined above. The basis of the modelling approach is an innovative, bespoke 1D/2D hydraulic model (RFlow) which has been used to model a global river network of over 5.3 million kilometres. Estimated flood peaks at each of these model nodes are determined using an empirically based rainfall-runoff approach linking design rainfall to design river flood magnitudes. The hydraulic model is used to determine extents and depths of floodplain inundation following river bank overflow. From this, deterministic flood hazard maps are calculated for several design return periods between 20-years and 1,500-years. Firstly, we will discuss the rationale behind the appropriate hydraulic modelling methods and inputs chosen to produce a consistent global scaled river flood hazard map. This will highlight how a model designed to work with global datasets can be more favourable for hydraulic modelling at the global scale and why using innovative techniques customised for broad scale use are preferable to modifying existing hydraulic models. Similarly, the advantages and disadvantages of both 1D and 2D modelling will be explored and balanced against the time, computer and human resources available, particularly when using a Digital Surface Model at 30m resolution. Finally, we will suggest some

  19. A modeling framework for investment planning in interdependent infrastructures in multi-hazard environments.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, Nathanael J. K.; Gearhart, Jared Lee; Jones, Dean A.; Nozick, Linda Karen; Prince, Michael

    2013-09-01

    Currently, much of protection planning is conducted separately for each infrastructure and hazard. Limited funding requires a balance of expenditures between terrorism and natural hazards based on potential impacts. This report documents the results of a Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) project that created a modeling framework for investment planning in interdependent infrastructures focused on multiple hazards, including terrorism. To develop this framework, three modeling elements were integrated: natural hazards, terrorism, and interdependent infrastructures. For natural hazards, a methodology was created for specifying events consistent with regional hazards. For terrorism, we modeled the terrorists actions based on assumptions regarding their knowledge, goals, and target identification strategy. For infrastructures, we focused on predicting post-event performance due to specific terrorist attacks and natural hazard events, tempered by appropriate infrastructure investments. We demonstrate the utility of this framework with various examples, including protection of electric power, roadway, and hospital networks.

  20. Religiousness and hazardous alcohol use: a conditional indirect effects model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jankowski, Peter J; Hardy, Sam A; Zamboanga, Byron L; Ham, Lindsay S

    2013-08-01

    The current study examined a conditional indirect effects model of the association between religiousness and adolescents' hazardous alcohol use. In doing so, we responded to the need to include both mediators and moderators, and the need for theoretically informed models when examining religiousness and adolescents' alcohol use. The sample consisted of 383 adolescents, aged 15-18, who completed an online questionnaire. Results of structural equation modeling supported the proposed model. Religiousness was indirectly associated with hazardous alcohol use through both positive alcohol expectancy outcomes and negative alcohol expectancy valuations. Significant moderating effects for alcohol expectancy valuations on the association between alcohol expectancies and alcohol use were also found. The effects for alcohol expectancy valuations confirm valuations as a distinct construct to that of alcohol expectancy outcomes, and offer support for the protective role of internalized religiousness on adolescents' hazardous alcohol use as a function of expectancy valuations. Copyright © 2013 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Rockfall hazard analysis using LiDAR and spatial modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lan, Hengxing; Martin, C. Derek; Zhou, Chenghu; Lim, Chang Ho

    2010-05-01

    Rockfalls have been significant geohazards along the Canadian Class 1 Railways (CN Rail and CP Rail) since their construction in the late 1800s. These rockfalls cause damage to infrastructure, interruption of business, and environmental impacts, and their occurrence varies both spatially and temporally. The proactive management of these rockfall hazards requires enabling technologies. This paper discusses a hazard assessment strategy for rockfalls along a section of a Canadian railway using LiDAR and spatial modeling. LiDAR provides accurate topographical information of the source area of rockfalls and along their paths. Spatial modeling was conducted using Rockfall Analyst, a three dimensional extension to GIS, to determine the characteristics of the rockfalls in terms of travel distance, velocity and energy. Historical rockfall records were used to calibrate the physical characteristics of the rockfall processes. The results based on a high-resolution digital elevation model from a LiDAR dataset were compared with those based on a coarse digital elevation model. A comprehensive methodology for rockfall hazard assessment is proposed which takes into account the characteristics of source areas, the physical processes of rockfalls and the spatial attribution of their frequency and energy.

  2. VHub - Cyberinfrastructure for volcano eruption and hazards modeling and simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valentine, G. A.; Jones, M. D.; Bursik, M. I.; Calder, E. S.; Gallo, S. M.; Connor, C.; Carn, S. A.; Rose, W. I.; Moore-Russo, D. A.; Renschler, C. S.; Pitman, B.; Sheridan, M. F.

    2009-12-01

    Volcanic risk is increasing as populations grow in active volcanic regions, and as national economies become increasingly intertwined. In addition to their significance to risk, volcanic eruption processes form a class of multiphase fluid dynamics with rich physics on many length and time scales. Risk significance, physics complexity, and the coupling of models to complex dynamic spatial datasets all demand the development of advanced computational techniques and interdisciplinary approaches to understand and forecast eruption dynamics. Innovative cyberinfrastructure is needed to enable global collaboration and novel scientific creativity, while simultaneously enabling computational thinking in real-world risk mitigation decisions - an environment where quality control, documentation, and traceability are key factors. Supported by NSF, we are developing a virtual organization, referred to as VHub, to address this need. Overarching goals of the VHub project are: Dissemination. Make advanced modeling and simulation capabilities and key data sets readily available to researchers, students, and practitioners around the world. Collaboration. Provide a mechanism for participants not only to be users but also co-developers of modeling capabilities, and contributors of experimental and observational data sets for use in modeling and simulation, in a collaborative environment that reaches far beyond local work groups. Comparison. Facilitate comparison between different models in order to provide the practitioners with guidance for choosing the "right" model, depending upon the intended use, and provide a platform for multi-model analysis of specific problems and incorporation into probabilistic assessments. Application. Greatly accelerate access and application of a wide range of modeling tools and related data sets to agencies around the world that are charged with hazard planning, mitigation, and response. Education. Provide resources that will promote the training of the

  3. Modeling of Marine Natural Hazards in the Lesser Antilles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahibo, Narcisse; Nikolkina, Irina; Pelinovsky, Efim

    2010-05-01

    The Caribbean Sea countries are often affected by various marine natural hazards: hurricanes and cyclones, tsunamis and flooding. The historical data of marine natural hazards for the Lesser Antilles and specially, for Guadeloupe are presented briefly. Numerical simulation of several historical tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea (1755 Lisbon trans-Atlantic tsunami, 1867 Virgin Island earthquake tsunami, 2003 Montserrat volcano tsunami) are performed within the framework of the nonlinear-shallow theory. Numerical results demonstrate the importance of the real bathymetry variability with respect to the direction of propagation of tsunami wave and its characteristics. The prognostic tsunami wave height distribution along the Caribbean Coast is computed using various forms of seismic and hydrodynamics sources. These results are used to estimate the far-field potential for tsunami hazards at coastal locations in the Caribbean Sea. The nonlinear shallow-water theory is also applied to model storm surges induced by tropical cyclones, in particular, cyclones "Lilli" in 2002 and "Dean" in 2007. Obtained results are compared with observed data. The numerical models have been tested against known analytical solutions of the nonlinear shallow-water wave equations. Obtained results are described in details in [1-7]. References [1] N. Zahibo and E. Pelinovsky, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 1, 221 (2001). [2] N. Zahibo, E. Pelinovsky, A. Yalciner, A. Kurkin, A. Koselkov and A. Zaitsev, Oceanologica Acta, 26, 609 (2003). [3] N. Zahibo, E. Pelinovsky, A. Kurkin and A. Kozelkov, Science Tsunami Hazards. 21, 202 (2003). [4] E. Pelinovsky, N. Zahibo, P. Dunkley, M. Edmonds, R. Herd, T. Talipova, A. Kozelkov and I. Nikolkina, Science of Tsunami Hazards, 22, 44 (2004). [5] N. Zahibo, E. Pelinovsky, E. Okal, A. Yalciner, C. Kharif, T. Talipova and A. Kozelkov, Science of Tsunami Hazards, 23, 25 (2005). [6] N. Zahibo, E. Pelinovsky, T. Talipova, A. Rabinovich, A. Kurkin and I

  4. Measurements and models for hazardous chemical and mixed wastes. 1998 annual progress report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holcomb, C.; Louie, B.; Mullins, M.E.; Outcalt, S.L.; Rogers, T.N.; Watts, L.

    1998-01-01

    'Aqueous waste of various chemical compositions constitutes a significant fraction of the total waste produced by industry in the US. A large quantity of the waste generated by the US chemical process industry is waste water. In addition, the majority of the waste inventory at DoE sites previously used for nuclear weapons production is aqueous waste. Large quantities of additional aqueous waste are expected to be generated during the clean-up of those sites. In order to effectively treat, safely handle, and properly dispose of these wastes, accurate and comprehensive knowledge of basic thermophysical property information is paramount. This knowledge will lead to huge savings by aiding in the design and optimization of treatment and disposal processes. The main objectives of this project are: Develop and validate models that accurately predict the phase equilibria and thermodynamic properties of hazardous aqueous systems necessary for the safe handling and successful design of separation and treatment processes for hazardous chemical and mixed wastes. Accurately measure the phase equilibria and thermodynamic properties of a representative system (water + acetone + isopropyl alcohol + sodium nitrate) over the applicable ranges of temperature, pressure, and composition to provide the pure component, binary, ternary, and quaternary experimental data required for model development. As of May, 1998, nine months into the first year of a three year project, the authors have made significant progress in the database development, have begun testing the models, and have been performance testing the apparatus on the pure components.'

  5. Geospatial subsidence hazard modelling at Sterkfontein Caves ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The geo-hazard subsidence model includes historic subsidence occurrances, terrain (water flow) and water accumulation. Water accumulating on the surface will percolate and reduce the strength of the soil mass, possibly inducing subsidence. Areas for further geotechnical investigation are identified, demonstrating that a ...

  6. Teamwork tools and activities within the hazard component of the Global Earthquake Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagani, M.; Weatherill, G.; Monelli, D.; Danciu, L.

    2013-05-01

    The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) is a public-private partnership aimed at supporting and fostering a global community of scientists and engineers working in the fields of seismic hazard and risk assessment. In the hazard sector, in particular, GEM recognizes the importance of local ownership and leadership in the creation of seismic hazard models. For this reason, over the last few years, GEM has been promoting different activities in the context of seismic hazard analysis ranging, for example, from regional projects targeted at the creation of updated seismic hazard studies to the development of a new open-source seismic hazard and risk calculation software called OpenQuake-engine (http://globalquakemodel.org). In this communication we'll provide a tour of the various activities completed, such as the new ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Catalogue, and of currently on-going initiatives like the creation of a suite of tools for the creation of PSHA input models. Discussion, comments and criticism by the colleagues in the audience will be highly appreciated.

  7. Probabilistic disaggregation model with application to natural hazard risk assessment of portfolios

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Custer, Rocco; Nishijima, Kazuyoshi

    In natural hazard risk assessment, a resolution mismatch between hazard data and aggregated exposure data is often observed. A possible solution to this issue is the disaggregation of exposure data to match the spatial resolution of hazard data. Disaggregation models available in literature...... disaggregation model that considers the uncertainty in the disaggregation, taking basis in the scaled Dirichlet distribution. The proposed probabilistic disaggregation model is applied to a portfolio of residential buildings in the Canton Bern, Switzerland, subject to flood risk. Thereby, the model is verified...... are usually deterministic and make use of auxiliary indicator, such as land cover, to spatially distribute exposures. As the dependence between auxiliary indicator and disaggregated number of exposures is generally imperfect, uncertainty arises in disaggregation. This paper therefore proposes a probabilistic...

  8. Multivariate Models for Prediction of Human Skin Sensitization Hazard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strickland, Judy; Zang, Qingda; Paris, Michael; Lehmann, David M.; Allen, David; Choksi, Neepa; Matheson, Joanna; Jacobs, Abigail; Casey, Warren; Kleinstreuer, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    One of ICCVAM’s top priorities is the development and evaluation of non-animal approaches to identify potential skin sensitizers. The complexity of biological events necessary to produce skin sensitization suggests that no single alternative method will replace the currently accepted animal tests. ICCVAM is evaluating an integrated approach to testing and assessment based on the adverse outcome pathway for skin sensitization that uses machine learning approaches to predict human skin sensitization hazard. We combined data from three in chemico or in vitro assays—the direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA), human cell line activation test (h-CLAT), and KeratinoSens™ assay—six physicochemical properties, and an in silico read-across prediction of skin sensitization hazard into 12 variable groups. The variable groups were evaluated using two machine learning approaches, logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM), to predict human skin sensitization hazard. Models were trained on 72 substances and tested on an external set of 24 substances. The six models (three LR and three SVM) with the highest accuracy (92%) used: (1) DPRA, h-CLAT, and read-across; (2) DPRA, h-CLAT, read-across, and KeratinoSens; or (3) DPRA, h-CLAT, read-across, KeratinoSens, and log P. The models performed better at predicting human skin sensitization hazard than the murine local lymph node assay (accuracy = 88%), any of the alternative methods alone (accuracy = 63–79%), or test batteries combining data from the individual methods (accuracy = 75%). These results suggest that computational methods are promising tools to effectively identify potential human skin sensitizers without animal testing. PMID:27480324

  9. Time-predictable model application in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of faults in Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Wen Chang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Given the probability distribution function relating to the recurrence interval and the occurrence time of the previous occurrence of a fault, a time-dependent model of a particular fault for seismic hazard assessment was developed that takes into account the active fault rupture cyclic characteristics during a particular lifetime up to the present time. The Gutenberg and Richter (1944 exponential frequency-magnitude relation uses to describe the earthquake recurrence rate for a regional source. It is a reference for developing a composite procedure modelled the occurrence rate for the large earthquake of a fault when the activity information is shortage. The time-dependent model was used to describe the fault characteristic behavior. The seismic hazards contribution from all sources, including both time-dependent and time-independent models, were then added together to obtain the annual total lifetime hazard curves. The effects of time-dependent and time-independent models of fault [e.g., Brownian passage time (BPT and Poisson, respectively] in hazard calculations are also discussed. The proposed fault model result shows that the seismic demands of near fault areas are lower than the current hazard estimation where the time-dependent model was used on those faults, particularly, the elapsed time since the last event of the faults (such as the Chelungpu fault are short.

  10. COMPARISON of FUZZY-BASED MODELS in LANDSLIDE HAZARD MAPPING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Mijani

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Landslide is one of the main geomorphic processes which effects on the development of prospect in mountainous areas and causes disastrous accidents. Landslide is an event which has different uncertain criteria such as altitude, slope, aspect, land use, vegetation density, precipitation, distance from the river and distance from the road network. This research aims to compare and evaluate different fuzzy-based models including Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP, Fuzzy Gamma and Fuzzy-OR. The main contribution of this paper reveals to the comprehensive criteria causing landslide hazard considering their uncertainties and comparison of different fuzzy-based models. The quantify of evaluation process are calculated by Density Ratio (DR and Quality Sum (QS. The proposed methodology implemented in Sari, one of the city of Iran which has faced multiple landslide accidents in recent years due to the particular environmental conditions. The achieved results of accuracy assessment based on the quantifier strated that Fuzzy-AHP model has higher accuracy compared to other two models in landslide hazard zonation. Accuracy of zoning obtained from Fuzzy-AHP model is respectively 0.92 and 0.45 based on method Precision (P and QS indicators. Based on obtained landslide hazard maps, Fuzzy-AHP, Fuzzy Gamma and Fuzzy-OR respectively cover 13, 26 and 35 percent of the study area with a very high risk level. Based on these findings, fuzzy-AHP model has been selected as the most appropriate method of zoning landslide in the city of Sari and the Fuzzy-gamma method with a minor difference is in the second order.

  11. Modelling human interactions in the assessment of man-made hazards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nitoi, M.; Farcasiu, M.; Apostol, M.

    2016-01-01

    The human reliability assessment tools are not currently capable to model adequately the human ability to adapt, to innovate and to manage under extreme situations. The paper presents the results obtained by ICN PSA team in the frame of FP7 Advanced Safety Assessment Methodologies: extended PSA (ASAMPSA_E) project regarding the investigation of conducting HRA in human-made hazards. The paper proposes to use a 4-steps methodology for the assessment of human interactions in the external events (Definition and modelling of human interactions; Quantification of human failure events; Recovery analysis; Review). The most relevant factors with respect to HRA for man-made hazards (response execution complexity; existence of procedures with respect to the scenario in question; time available for action; timing of cues; accessibility of equipment; harsh environmental conditions) are presented and discussed thoroughly. The challenges identified in relation to man-made hazards HRA are highlighted. (authors)

  12. Computer models used to support cleanup decision-making at hazardous and radioactive waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moskowitz, P.D.; Pardi, R.; DePhillips, M.P.; Meinhold, A.F.

    1992-07-01

    Massive efforts are underway to cleanup hazardous and radioactive waste sites located throughout the US To help determine cleanup priorities, computer models are being used to characterize the source, transport, fate and effects of hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials found at these sites. Although, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have provided preliminary guidance to promote the use of computer models for remediation purposes, no Agency has produced directed guidance on models that must be used in these efforts. To identify what models are actually being used to support decision-making at hazardous and radioactive waste sites, a project jointly funded by EPA, DOE and NRC was initiated. The purpose of this project was to: (1) Identify models being used for hazardous and radioactive waste site assessment purposes; and (2) describe and classify these models. This report presents the results of this study

  13. Computer models used to support cleanup decision-making at hazardous and radioactive waste sites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moskowitz, P.D.; Pardi, R.; DePhillips, M.P.; Meinhold, A.F.

    1992-07-01

    Massive efforts are underway to cleanup hazardous and radioactive waste sites located throughout the US To help determine cleanup priorities, computer models are being used to characterize the source, transport, fate and effects of hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials found at these sites. Although, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have provided preliminary guidance to promote the use of computer models for remediation purposes, no Agency has produced directed guidance on models that must be used in these efforts. To identify what models are actually being used to support decision-making at hazardous and radioactive waste sites, a project jointly funded by EPA, DOE and NRC was initiated. The purpose of this project was to: (1) Identify models being used for hazardous and radioactive waste site assessment purposes; and (2) describe and classify these models. This report presents the results of this study.

  14. Use of agent-based modelling in emergency management under a range of flood hazards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tagg Andrew

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Life Safety Model (LSM was developed some 15 years ago, originally for dam break assessments and for informing reservoir evacuation and emergency plans. Alongside other technological developments, the model has evolved into a very useful agent-based tool, with many applications for a range of hazards and receptor behaviour. HR Wallingford became involved in its use in 2006, and is now responsible for its technical development and commercialisation. Over the past 10 years the model has been applied to a range of flood hazards, including coastal surge, river flood, dam failure and tsunami, and has been verified against historical events. Commercial software licences are being used in Canada, Italy, Malaysia and Australia. A core group of LSM users and analysts has been specifying and delivering a programme of model enhancements. These include improvements to traffic behaviour at intersections, new algorithms for sheltering in high-rise buildings, and the addition of monitoring points to allow detailed analysis of vehicle and pedestrian movement. Following user feedback, the ability of LSM to handle large model ‘worlds’ and hydrodynamic meshes has been improved. Recent developments include new documentation, performance enhancements, better logging of run-time events and bug fixes. This paper describes some of the recent developments and summarises some of the case study applications, including dam failure analysis in Japan and mass evacuation simulation in England.

  15. Flood hazard mapping of Palembang City by using 2D model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farid, Mohammad; Marlina, Ayu; Kusuma, Muhammad Syahril Badri

    2017-11-01

    Palembang as the capital city of South Sumatera Province is one of the metropolitan cities in Indonesia that flooded almost every year. Flood in the city is highly related to Musi River Basin. Based on Indonesia National Agency of Disaster Management (BNPB), the level of flood hazard is high. Many natural factors caused flood in the city such as high intensity of rainfall, inadequate drainage capacity, and also backwater flow due to spring tide. Furthermore, anthropogenic factors such as population increase, land cover/use change, and garbage problem make flood problem become worse. The objective of this study is to develop flood hazard map of Palembang City by using two dimensional model. HEC-RAS 5.0 is used as modelling tool which is verified with field observation data. There are 21 sub catchments of Musi River Basin in the flood simulation. The level of flood hazard refers to Head Regulation of BNPB number 2 in 2012 regarding general guideline of disaster risk assessment. The result for 25 year return per iod of flood shows that with 112.47 km2 area of inundation, 14 sub catchments are categorized in high hazard level. It is expected that the hazard map can be used for risk assessment.

  16. A new approach to hazardous materials transportation risk analysis: decision modeling to identify critical variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Renee M; Besterfield-Sacre, Mary E

    2009-03-01

    We take a novel approach to analyzing hazardous materials transportation risk in this research. Previous studies analyzed this risk from an operations research (OR) or quantitative risk assessment (QRA) perspective by minimizing or calculating risk along a transport route. Further, even though the majority of incidents occur when containers are unloaded, the research has not focused on transportation-related activities, including container loading and unloading. In this work, we developed a decision model of a hazardous materials release during unloading using actual data and an exploratory data modeling approach. Previous studies have had a theoretical perspective in terms of identifying and advancing the key variables related to this risk, and there has not been a focus on probability and statistics-based approaches for doing this. Our decision model empirically identifies the critical variables using an exploratory methodology for a large, highly categorical database involving latent class analysis (LCA), loglinear modeling, and Bayesian networking. Our model identified the most influential variables and countermeasures for two consequences of a hazmat incident, dollar loss and release quantity, and is one of the first models to do this. The most influential variables were found to be related to the failure of the container. In addition to analyzing hazmat risk, our methodology can be used to develop data-driven models for strategic decision making in other domains involving risk.

  17. Traffic Incident Clearance Time and Arrival Time Prediction Based on Hazard Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang beibei Ji

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Accurate prediction of incident duration is not only important information of Traffic Incident Management System, but also an effective input for travel time prediction. In this paper, the hazard based prediction models are developed for both incident clearance time and arrival time. The data are obtained from the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads’ STREAMS Incident Management System (SIMS for one year ending in November 2010. The best fitting distributions are drawn for both clearance and arrival time for 3 types of incident: crash, stationary vehicle, and hazard. The results show that Gamma, Log-logistic, and Weibull are the best fit for crash, stationary vehicle, and hazard incident, respectively. The obvious impact factors are given for crash clearance time and arrival time. The quantitative influences for crash and hazard incident are presented for both clearance and arrival. The model accuracy is analyzed at the end.

  18. Probabilistic disaggregation model with application to natural hazard risk assessment of portfolios

    OpenAIRE

    Custer, Rocco; Nishijima, Kazuyoshi

    2012-01-01

    In natural hazard risk assessment, a resolution mismatch between hazard data and aggregated exposure data is often observed. A possible solution to this issue is the disaggregation of exposure data to match the spatial resolution of hazard data. Disaggregation models available in literature are usually deterministic and make use of auxiliary indicator, such as land cover, to spatially distribute exposures. As the dependence between auxiliary indicator and disaggregated number of exposures is ...

  19. Hazard function theory for nonstationary natural hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Read, L.; Vogel, R. M.

    2015-12-01

    Studies from the natural hazards literature indicate that many natural processes, including wind speeds, landslides, wildfires, precipitation, streamflow and earthquakes, show evidence of nonstationary behavior such as trends in magnitudes through time. Traditional probabilistic analysis of natural hazards based on partial duration series (PDS) generally assumes stationarity in the magnitudes and arrivals of events, i.e. that the probability of exceedance is constant through time. Given evidence of trends and the consequent expected growth in devastating impacts from natural hazards across the world, new methods are needed to characterize their probabilistic behavior. The field of hazard function analysis (HFA) is ideally suited to this problem because its primary goal is to describe changes in the exceedance probability of an event over time. HFA is widely used in medicine, manufacturing, actuarial statistics, reliability engineering, economics, and elsewhere. HFA provides a rich theory to relate the natural hazard event series (x) with its failure time series (t), enabling computation of corresponding average return periods and reliabilities associated with nonstationary event series. This work investigates the suitability of HFA to characterize nonstationary natural hazards whose PDS magnitudes are assumed to follow the widely applied Poisson-GP model. We derive a 2-parameter Generalized Pareto hazard model and demonstrate how metrics such as reliability and average return period are impacted by nonstationarity and discuss the implications for planning and design. Our theoretical analysis linking hazard event series x, with corresponding failure time series t, should have application to a wide class of natural hazards.

  20. Considerations in comparing the U.S. Geological Survey one‐year induced‐seismicity hazard models with “Did You Feel It?” and instrumental data

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Isabel; Liu, Taojun; Luco, Nicolas; Liel, Abbie

    2017-01-01

    The recent steep increase in seismicity rates in Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and other parts of the central United States led the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop, for the first time, a probabilistic seismic hazard forecast for one year (2016) that incorporates induced seismicity. In this study, we explore a process to ground‐truth the hazard model by comparing it with two databases of observations: modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) data from the “Did You Feel It?” (DYFI) system and peak ground acceleration (PGA) values from instrumental data. Because the 2016 hazard model was heavily based on earthquake catalogs from 2014 to 2015, this initial comparison utilized observations from these years. Annualized exceedance rates were calculated with the DYFI and instrumental data for direct comparison with the model. These comparisons required assessment of the options for converting hazard model results and instrumental data from PGA to MMI for comparison with the DYFI data. In addition, to account for known differences that affect the comparisons, the instrumental PGA and DYFI data were declustered, and the hazard model was adjusted for local site conditions. With these adjustments, examples at sites with the most data show reasonable agreement in the exceedance rates. However, the comparisons were complicated by the spatial and temporal completeness of the instrumental and DYFI observations. Furthermore, most of the DYFI responses are in the MMI II–IV range, whereas the hazard model is oriented toward forecasts at higher ground‐motion intensities, usually above about MMI IV. Nevertheless, the study demonstrates some of the issues that arise in making these comparisons, thereby informing future efforts to ground‐truth and improve hazard modeling for induced‐seismicity applications.

  1. Modelling multi-hazard hurricane damages on an urbanized coast with a Bayesian Network approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Verseveld, H.C.W.; Van Dongeren, A. R.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Jäger, W.S.; den Heijer, C.

    2015-01-01

    Hurricane flood impacts to residential buildings in coastal zones are caused by a number of hazards, such as inundation, overflow currents, erosion, and wave attack. However, traditional hurricane damage models typically make use of stage-damage functions, where the stage is related to flooding depth only. Moreover, these models are deterministic and do not consider the large amount of uncertainty associated with both the processes themselves and with the predictions. This uncertainty becomes increasingly important when multiple hazards (flooding, wave attack, erosion, etc.) are considered simultaneously. This paper focusses on establishing relationships between observed damage and multiple hazard indicators in order to make better probabilistic predictions. The concept consists of (1) determining Local Hazard Indicators (LHIs) from a hindcasted storm with use of a nearshore morphodynamic model, XBeach, and (2) coupling these LHIs and building characteristics to the observed damages. We chose a Bayesian Network approach in order to make this coupling and used the LHIs ‘Inundation depth’, ‘Flow velocity’, ‘Wave attack’, and ‘Scour depth’ to represent flooding, current, wave impacts, and erosion related hazards.The coupled hazard model was tested against four thousand damage observations from a case site at the Rockaway Peninsula, NY, that was impacted by Hurricane Sandy in late October, 2012. The model was able to accurately distinguish ‘Minor damage’ from all other outcomes 95% of the time and could distinguish areas that were affected by the storm, but not severely damaged, 68% of the time. For the most heavily damaged buildings (‘Major Damage’ and ‘Destroyed’), projections of the expected damage underestimated the observed damage. The model demonstrated that including multiple hazards doubled the prediction skill, with Log-Likelihood Ratio test (a measure of improved accuracy and reduction in uncertainty) scores between 0.02 and 0

  2. Ground motion models used in the 2014 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaeian, Sanaz; Petersen, Mark D.; Moschetti, Morgan P.

    2015-01-01

    The National Seismic Hazard Maps (NSHMs) are an important component of seismic design regulations in the United States. This paper compares hazard using the new suite of ground motion models (GMMs) relative to hazard using the suite of GMMs applied in the previous version of the maps. The new source characterization models are used for both cases. A previous paper (Rezaeian et al. 2014) discussed the five NGA-West2 GMMs used for shallow crustal earthquakes in the Western United States (WUS), which are also summarized here. Our focus in this paper is on GMMs for earthquakes in stable continental regions in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS), as well as subduction interface and deep intraslab earthquakes. We consider building code hazard levels for peak ground acceleration (PGA), 0.2-s, and 1.0-s spectral accelerations (SAs) on uniform firm-rock site conditions. The GMM modifications in the updated version of the maps created changes in hazard within 5% to 20% in WUS; decreases within 5% to 20% in CEUS; changes within 5% to 15% for subduction interface earthquakes; and changes involving decreases of up to 50% and increases of up to 30% for deep intraslab earthquakes for most U.S. sites. These modifications were combined with changes resulting from modifications in the source characterization models to obtain the new hazard maps.

  3. The 2018 and 2020 Updates of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, M. D.

    2017-12-01

    During 2018 the USGS will update the 2014 National Seismic Hazard Models by incorporating new seismicity models, ground motion models, site factors, fault inputs, and by improving weights to ground motion models using empirical and other data. We will update the earthquake catalog for the U.S. and introduce new rate models. Additional fault data will be used to improve rate estimates on active faults. New ground motion models (GMMs) and site factors for Vs30 have been released by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and we will consider these in assessing ground motions in craton and extended margin regions of the central and eastern U.S. The USGS will also include basin-depth terms for selected urban areas of the western United States to improve long-period shaking assessments using published depth estimates to 1.0 and 2.5 km/s shear wave velocities. We will produce hazard maps for input into the building codes that span a broad range of periods (0.1 to 5 s) and site classes (shear wave velocity from 2000 m/s to 200 m/s in the upper 30 m of the crust, Vs30). In the 2020 update we plan on including: a new national crustal model that defines basin depths required in the latest GMMs, new 3-D ground motion simulations for several urban areas, new magnitude-area equations, and new fault geodetic and geologic strain rate models. The USGS will also consider including new 3-D ground motion simulations for inclusion in these long-period maps. These new models are being evaluated and will be discussed at one or more regional and topical workshops held at the beginning of 2018.

  4. Time-aggregation effects on the baseline of continuous-time and discrete-time hazard models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    ter Hofstede, F.; Wedel, M.

    In this study we reinvestigate the effect of time-aggregation for discrete- and continuous-time hazard models. We reanalyze the results of a previous Monte Carlo study by ter Hofstede and Wedel (1998), in which the effects of time-aggregation on the parameter estimates of hazard models were

  5. Efficient pan-European river flood hazard modelling through a combination of statistical and physical models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Paprotny, D.; Morales Napoles, O.; Jonkman, S.N.

    2017-01-01

    Flood hazard is currently being researched on continental and global scales, using models of increasing complexity. In this paper we investigate a different, simplified approach, which combines statistical and physical models in place of conventional rainfall-run-off models to carry out flood

  6. Taxonomic analysis of perceived risk: modeling individual and group perceptions within homogeneous hazard domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraus, N.N.; Slovic, P.

    1988-01-01

    Previous studies of risk perception have typically focused on the mean judgments of a group of people regarding the riskiness (or safety) of a diverse set of hazardous activities, substances, and technologies. This paper reports the results of two studies that take a different path. Study 1 investigated whether models within a single technological domain were similar to previous models based on group means and diverse hazards. Study 2 created a group taxonomy of perceived risk for only one technological domain, railroads, and examined whether the structure of that taxonomy corresponded with taxonomies derived from prior studies of diverse hazards. Results from Study 1 indicated that the importance of various risk characteristics in determining perceived risk differed across individuals and across hazards, but not so much as to invalidate the results of earlier studies based on group means and diverse hazards. In Study 2, the detailed analysis of railroad hazards produced a structure that had both important similarities to, and dissimilarities from, the structure obtained in prior research with diverse hazard domains. The data also indicated that railroad hazards are really quite diverse, with some approaching nuclear reactors in their perceived seriousness. These results suggest that information about the diversity of perceptions within a single domain of hazards could provide valuable input to risk-management decisions

  7. Seismic hazard studies in Egypt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abuo El-Ela A. Mohamed

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The study of earthquake activity and seismic hazard assessment of Egypt is very important due to the great and rapid spreading of large investments in national projects, especially the nuclear power plant that will be held in the northern part of Egypt. Although Egypt is characterized by low seismicity, it has experienced occurring of damaging earthquake effect through its history. The seismotectonic sitting of Egypt suggests that large earthquakes are possible particularly along the Gulf of Aqaba–Dead Sea transform, the Subduction zone along the Hellenic and Cyprean Arcs, and the Northern Red Sea triple junction point. In addition some inland significant sources at Aswan, Dahshour, and Cairo-Suez District should be considered. The seismic hazard for Egypt is calculated utilizing a probabilistic approach (for a grid of 0.5° × 0.5° within a logic-tree framework. Alternative seismogenic models and ground motion scaling relationships are selected to account for the epistemic uncertainty. Seismic hazard values on rock were calculated to create contour maps for four ground motion spectral periods and for different return periods. In addition, the uniform hazard spectra for rock sites for different 25 periods, and the probabilistic hazard curves for Cairo, and Alexandria cities are graphed. The peak ground acceleration (PGA values were found close to the Gulf of Aqaba and it was about 220 gal for 475 year return period. While the lowest (PGA values were detected in the western part of the western desert and it is less than 25 gal.

  8. An Overview of GIS-Based Modeling and Assessment of Mining-Induced Hazards: Soil, Water, and Forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suh, Jangwon; Kim, Sung-Min; Yi, Huiuk; Choi, Yosoon

    2017-11-27

    In this study, current geographic information system (GIS)-based methods and their application for the modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards were reviewed. Various types of mining-induced hazard, including soil contamination, soil erosion, water pollution, and deforestation were considered in the discussion of the strength and role of GIS as a viable problem-solving tool in relation to mining-induced hazards. The various types of mining-induced hazard were classified into two or three subtopics according to the steps involved in the reclamation procedure, or elements of the hazard of interest. Because GIS is appropriated for the handling of geospatial data in relation to mining-induced hazards, the application and feasibility of exploiting GIS-based modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards within the mining industry could be expanded further.

  9. An Overview of GIS-Based Modeling and Assessment of Mining-Induced Hazards: Soil, Water, and Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sung-Min; Yi, Huiuk; Choi, Yosoon

    2017-01-01

    In this study, current geographic information system (GIS)-based methods and their application for the modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards were reviewed. Various types of mining-induced hazard, including soil contamination, soil erosion, water pollution, and deforestation were considered in the discussion of the strength and role of GIS as a viable problem-solving tool in relation to mining-induced hazards. The various types of mining-induced hazard were classified into two or three subtopics according to the steps involved in the reclamation procedure, or elements of the hazard of interest. Because GIS is appropriated for the handling of geospatial data in relation to mining-induced hazards, the application and feasibility of exploiting GIS-based modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards within the mining industry could be expanded further. PMID:29186922

  10. An Overview of GIS-Based Modeling and Assessment of Mining-Induced Hazards: Soil, Water, and Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jangwon Suh

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In this study, current geographic information system (GIS-based methods and their application for the modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards were reviewed. Various types of mining-induced hazard, including soil contamination, soil erosion, water pollution, and deforestation were considered in the discussion of the strength and role of GIS as a viable problem-solving tool in relation to mining-induced hazards. The various types of mining-induced hazard were classified into two or three subtopics according to the steps involved in the reclamation procedure, or elements of the hazard of interest. Because GIS is appropriated for the handling of geospatial data in relation to mining-induced hazards, the application and feasibility of exploiting GIS-based modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards within the mining industry could be expanded further.

  11. Model Additional Protocol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rockwood, Laura

    2001-01-01

    Since the end of the cold war a series of events has changed the circumstances and requirements of the safeguards system. The discovery of a clandestine nuclear weapons program in Iraq, the continuing difficulty in verifying the initial report of Democratic People's Republic of Korea upon entry into force of their safeguards agreement, and the decision of the South African Government to give up its nuclear weapons program and join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons have all played a role in an ambitious effort by IAEA Member States and the Secretariat to strengthen the safeguards system. A major milestone in this effort was reached in May 1997 when the IAEA Board of Governors approved a Model Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreements. The Model Additional Protocol was negotiated over a period of less than a year by an open-ended committee of the Board involving some 70 Member States and two regional inspectorates. The IAEA is now in the process of negotiating additional protocols, State by State, and implementing them. These additional protocols will provide the IAEA with rights of access to information about all activities related to the use of nuclear material in States with comprehensive safeguards agreements and greatly expanded physical access for IAEA inspectors to confirm or verify this information. In conjunction with this, the IAEA is working on the integration of these measures with those provided for in comprehensive safeguards agreements, with a view to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency, within available resources, the implementation of safeguards. Details concerning the Model Additional Protocol are given. (author)

  12. [Hazard evaluation modeling of particulate matters emitted by coal-fired boilers and case analysis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yan-Ting; Du, Qian; Gao, Jian-Min; Bian, Xin; Wang, Zhi-Pu; Dong, He-Ming; Han, Qiang; Cao, Yang

    2014-02-01

    In order to evaluate the hazard of PM2.5 emitted by various boilers, in this paper, segmentation of particulate matters with sizes of below 2. 5 microm was performed based on their formation mechanisms and hazard level to human beings and environment. Meanwhile, taking into account the mass concentration, number concentration, enrichment factor of Hg, and content of Hg element in different coal ashes, a comprehensive model aimed at evaluating hazard of PM2.5 emitted by coal-fired boilers was established in this paper. Finally, through utilizing filed experimental data of previous literatures, a case analysis of the evaluation model was conducted, and the concept of hazard reduction coefficient was proposed, which can be used to evaluate the performance of dust removers.

  13. Building a risk-targeted regional seismic hazard model for South-East Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woessner, J.; Nyst, M.; Seyhan, E.

    2015-12-01

    The last decade has tragically shown the social and economic vulnerability of countries in South-East Asia to earthquake hazard and risk. While many disaster mitigation programs and initiatives to improve societal earthquake resilience are under way with the focus on saving lives and livelihoods, the risk management sector is challenged to develop appropriate models to cope with the economic consequences and impact on the insurance business. We present the source model and ground motions model components suitable for a South-East Asia earthquake risk model covering Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indochine countries. The source model builds upon refined modelling approaches to characterize 1) seismic activity from geologic and geodetic data on crustal faults and 2) along the interface of subduction zones and within the slabs and 3) earthquakes not occurring on mapped fault structures. We elaborate on building a self-consistent rate model for the hazardous crustal fault systems (e.g. Sumatra fault zone, Philippine fault zone) as well as the subduction zones, showcase some characteristics and sensitivities due to existing uncertainties in the rate and hazard space using a well selected suite of ground motion prediction equations. Finally, we analyze the source model by quantifying the contribution by source type (e.g., subduction zone, crustal fault) to typical risk metrics (e.g.,return period losses, average annual loss) and reviewing their relative impact on various lines of businesses.

  14. A Mathematical Model for the Industrial Hazardous Waste Location-Routing Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omid Boyer

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Technology progress is a cause of industrial hazardous wastes increasing in the whole world . Management of hazardous waste is a significant issue due to the imposed risk on environment and human life. This risk can be a result of location of undesirable facilities and also routing hazardous waste. In this paper a biobjective mixed integer programing model for location-routing industrial hazardous waste with two objectives is developed. First objective is total cost minimization including transportation cost, operation cost, initial investment cost, and cost saving from selling recycled waste. Second objective is minimization of transportation risk. Risk of population exposure within bandwidth along route is used to measure transportation risk. This model can help decision makers to locate treatment, recycling, and disposal centers simultaneously and also to route waste between these facilities considering risk and cost criteria. The results of the solved problem prove conflict between two objectives. Hence, it is possible to decrease the cost value by marginally increasing the transportation risk value and vice versa. A weighted sum method is utilized to combine two objectives function into one objective function. To solve the problem GAMS software with CPLEX solver is used. The problem is applied in Markazi province in Iran.

  15. Modeling the bathtub shape hazard rate function in terms of reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, K.S.; Hsu, F.S.; Liu, P.P.

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, a general form of bathtub shape hazard rate function is proposed in terms of reliability. The degradation of system reliability comes from different failure mechanisms, in particular those related to (1) random failures, (2) cumulative damage, (3) man-machine interference, and (4) adaptation. The first item is referred to the modeling of unpredictable failures in a Poisson process, i.e. it is shown by a constant. Cumulative damage emphasizes the failures owing to strength deterioration and therefore the possibility of system sustaining the normal operation load decreases with time. It depends on the failure probability, 1-R. This representation denotes the memory characteristics of the second failure cause. Man-machine interference may lead to a positive effect in the failure rate due to learning and correction, or negative from the consequence of human inappropriate habit in system operations, etc. It is suggested that this item is correlated to the reliability, R, as well as the failure probability. Adaptation concerns with continuous adjusting between the mating subsystems. When a new system is set on duty, some hidden defects are explored and disappeared eventually. Therefore, the reliability decays combined with decreasing failure rate, which is expressed as a power of reliability. Each of these phenomena brings about the failures independently and is described by an additive term in the hazard rate function h(R), thus the overall failure behavior governed by a number of parameters is found by fitting the evidence data. The proposed model is meaningful in capturing the physical phenomena occurring during the system lifetime and provides for simpler and more effective parameter fitting than the usually adopted 'bathtub' procedures. Five examples of different type of failure mechanisms are taken in the validation of the proposed model. Satisfactory results are found from the comparisons

  16. Earthquake Hazard and Risk in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black Porto, N.; Nyst, M.

    2014-12-01

    Alaska is one of the most seismically active and tectonically diverse regions in the United States. To examine risk, we have updated the seismic hazard model in Alaska. The current RMS Alaska hazard model is based on the 2007 probabilistic seismic hazard maps for Alaska (Wesson et al., 2007; Boyd et al., 2007). The 2015 RMS model will update several key source parameters, including: extending the earthquake catalog, implementing a new set of crustal faults, updating the subduction zone geometry and reoccurrence rate. First, we extend the earthquake catalog to 2013; decluster the catalog, and compute new background rates. We then create a crustal fault model, based on the Alaska 2012 fault and fold database. This new model increased the number of crustal faults from ten in 2007, to 91 faults in the 2015 model. This includes the addition of: the western Denali, Cook Inlet folds near Anchorage, and thrust faults near Fairbanks. Previously the subduction zone was modeled at a uniform depth. In this update, we model the intraslab as a series of deep stepping events. We also use the best available data, such as Slab 1.0, to update the geometry of the subduction zone. The city of Anchorage represents 80% of the risk exposure in Alaska. In the 2007 model, the hazard in Alaska was dominated by the frequent rate of magnitude 7 to 8 events (Gutenberg-Richter distribution), and large magnitude 8+ events had a low reoccurrence rate (Characteristic) and therefore didn't contribute as highly to the overall risk. We will review these reoccurrence rates, and will present the results and impact to Anchorage. We will compare our hazard update to the 2007 USGS hazard map, and discuss the changes and drivers for these changes. Finally, we will examine the impact model changes have on Alaska earthquake risk. Consider risk metrics include average annual loss, an annualized expected loss level used by insurers to determine the costs of earthquake insurance (and premium levels), and the

  17. Methodologies for the assessment of earthquake-triggered landslides hazard. A comparison of Logistic Regression and Artificial Neural Network models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Rodríguez, M. J.; Malpica, J. A.; Benito, B.

    2009-04-01

    location data. These results show a high concordance between the landslide inventory and the high susceptibility estimated zone with an adjustment of 95.1 % for ANN model and 89.4% for LR model. In addition, we make a comparative analysis of both techniques using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, a graphical plot of the sensitivity vs. (1 - specificity) for a binary classifier system in function of its discrimination threshold, and calculating the Area Under the ROC (AUROC) value for each model. Finally, the previous models are used for the developing a new probabilistic landslide hazard map for future events. They are obtained combining the expected triggering factor (calculated earthquake ground motion) for a return period of 475 years with the susceptibility map.

  18. Earthquake Hazard and Risk in New Zealand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apel, E. V.; Nyst, M.; Fitzenz, D. D.; Molas, G.

    2014-12-01

    To quantify risk in New Zealand we examine the impact of updating the seismic hazard model. The previous RMS New Zealand hazard model is based on the 2002 probabilistic seismic hazard maps for New Zealand (Stirling et al., 2002). The 2015 RMS model, based on Stirling et al., (2012) will update several key source parameters. These updates include: implementation a new set of crustal faults including multi-segment ruptures, updating the subduction zone geometry and reccurrence rate and implementing new background rates and a robust methodology for modeling background earthquake sources. The number of crustal faults has increased by over 200 from the 2002 model, to the 2012 model which now includes over 500 individual fault sources. This includes the additions of many offshore faults in northern, east-central, and southwest regions. We also use the recent data to update the source geometry of the Hikurangi subduction zone (Wallace, 2009; Williams et al., 2013). We compare hazard changes in our updated model with those from the previous version. Changes between the two maps are discussed as well as the drivers for these changes. We examine the impact the hazard model changes have on New Zealand earthquake risk. Considered risk metrics include average annual loss, an annualized expected loss level used by insurers to determine the costs of earthquake insurance (and premium levels), and the loss exceedance probability curve used by insurers to address their solvency and manage their portfolio risk. We analyze risk profile changes in areas with large population density and for structures of economic and financial importance. New Zealand is interesting in that the city with the majority of the risk exposure in the country (Auckland) lies in the region of lowest hazard, where we don't have a lot of information about the location of faults and distributed seismicity is modeled by averaged Mw-frequency relationships on area sources. Thus small changes to the background rates

  19. Hydrothermal Liquefaction Treatment Preliminary Hazard Analysis Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lowry, Peter P.; Wagner, Katie A.

    2015-08-31

    A preliminary hazard assessment was completed during February 2015 to evaluate the conceptual design of the modular hydrothermal liquefaction treatment system. The hazard assessment was performed in 2 stages. An initial assessment utilizing Hazard Identification and Preliminary Hazards Analysis (PHA) techniques identified areas with significant or unique hazards (process safety-related hazards) that fall outside of the normal operating envelope of PNNL and warranted additional analysis. The subsequent assessment was based on a qualitative What-If analysis. This analysis was augmented, as necessary, by additional quantitative analysis for scenarios involving a release of hazardous material or energy with the potential for affecting the public.

  20. Seismic hazard assessment of the Hanford region, Eastern Washington State

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youngs, R.R.; Coppersmith, K.J.; Power, M.S.; Swan, F.H. III

    1985-01-01

    A probabilistic seismic hazard assessment was made for a site within the Hanford region of eastern Washington state, which is characterized as an intraplate region having a relatively low rate of seismic activity. Probabilistic procedures, such as logic trees, were utilized to account for the uncertainties in identifying and characterizing the potential seismic sources in the region. Logic trees provide a convenient, flexible means of assessing the values and relative likelihoods of input parameters to the hazard model that may be dependent upon each other. Uncertainties accounted for in this way include the tectonic model, segmentation, capability, fault geometry, maximum earthquake magnitude, and earthquake recurrence rate. The computed hazard results are expressed as a distribution from which confidence levels are assessed. Analysis of the results show the contributions to the total hazard from various seismic sources and due to various earthquake magnitudes. In addition, the contributions of uncertainties in the various source parameters to the uncertainty in the computed hazard are assessed. For this study, the major contribution to uncertainty in the computed hazard are due to uncertainties in the applicable tectonic model and the earthquake recurrence rate. This analysis serves to illustrate some of the probabilistic tools that are available for conducting seismic hazard assessments and for analyzing the results of these studies. 5 references, 7 figures

  1. Additive interaction in survival analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rod, Naja Hulvej; Lange, Theis; Andersen, Ingelise

    2012-01-01

    It is a widely held belief in public health and clinical decision-making that interventions or preventive strategies should be aimed at patients or population subgroups where most cases could potentially be prevented. To identify such subgroups, deviation from additivity of absolute effects...... an empirical example of interaction between education and smoking on risk of lung cancer. We argue that deviations from additivity of effects are important for public health interventions and clinical decision-making, and such estimations should be encouraged in prospective studies on health. A detailed...... is the relevant measure of interest. Multiplicative survival models, such as the Cox proportional hazards model, are often used to estimate the association between exposure and risk of disease in prospective studies. In Cox models, deviations from additivity have usually been assessed by surrogate measures...

  2. Assessment of groundwater contamination risk using hazard quantification, a modified DRASTIC model and groundwater value, Beijing Plain, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Junjie; He, Jiangtao; Chen, Honghan

    2012-08-15

    Groundwater contamination risk assessment is an effective tool for groundwater management. Most existing risk assessment methods only consider the basic contamination process based upon evaluations of hazards and aquifer vulnerability. In view of groundwater exploitation potentiality, including the value of contamination-threatened groundwater could provide relatively objective and targeted results to aid in decision making. This study describes a groundwater contamination risk assessment method that integrates hazards, intrinsic vulnerability and groundwater value. The hazard harmfulness was evaluated by quantifying contaminant properties and infiltrating contaminant load, the intrinsic aquifer vulnerability was evaluated using a modified DRASTIC model and the groundwater value was evaluated based on groundwater quality and aquifer storage. Two groundwater contamination risk maps were produced by combining the above factors: a basic risk map and a value-weighted risk map. The basic risk map was produced by overlaying the hazard map and the intrinsic vulnerability map. The value-weighted risk map was produced by overlaying the basic risk map and the groundwater value map. Relevant validation was completed by contaminant distributions and site investigation. Using Beijing Plain, China, as an example, thematic maps of the three factors and the two risks were generated. The thematic maps suggested that landfills, gas stations and oil depots, and industrial areas were the most harmful potential contamination sources. The western and northern parts of the plain were the most vulnerable areas and had the highest groundwater value. Additionally, both the basic and value-weighted risk classes in the western and northern parts of the plain were the highest, indicating that these regions should deserve the priority of concern. Thematic maps should be updated regularly because of the dynamic characteristics of hazards. Subjectivity and validation means in assessing the

  3. Report 3: Guidance document on practices to model and implement Extreme Weather hazards in extended PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alzbutas, R.; Ostapchuk, S.; Borysiewicz, M.; Decker, K.; Kumar, Manorma; Haeggstroem, A.; Nitoi, M.; Groudev, P.; Parey, S.; Potempski, S.; Raimond, E.; Siklossy, T.

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this report is to provide guidance on practices to model Extreme Weather hazards and implement them in extended level 1 PSA. This report is a joint deliverable of work package 21 (WP21) and work package 22 (WP22). The general objective of WP21 is to provide guidance on all of the individual hazards selected at the End Users Workshop. This guidance is focusing on extreme weather hazards, namely: extreme wind, extreme temperature and snow pack. Other hazards, however, are considered in cases where they are correlated/ associated with the hazard under discussion. Guidance developed refers to existing guidance whenever possible. As it was recommended by end users this guidance covers questions of developing integrated and/or separated extreme weathers PSA models. (authors)

  4. Recent Progress in Understanding Natural-Hazards-Generated TEC Perturbations: Measurements and Modeling Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komjathy, A.; Yang, Y. M.; Meng, X.; Verkhoglyadova, O. P.; Mannucci, A. J.; Langley, R. B.

    2015-12-01

    Natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, have been significant threats to humans throughout recorded history. The Global Positioning System satellites have become primary sensors to measure signatures associated with such natural hazards. These signatures typically include GPS-derived seismic deformation measurements, co-seismic vertical displacements, and real-time GPS-derived ocean buoy positioning estimates. Another way to use GPS observables is to compute the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) to measure and monitor post-seismic ionospheric disturbances caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. Research at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) laid the foundations to model the three-dimensional ionosphere at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory by ingesting ground- and space-based GPS measurements into the state-of-the-art Global Assimilative Ionosphere Modeling (GAIM) software. As an outcome of the UNB and NASA research, new and innovative GPS applications have been invented including the use of ionospheric measurements to detect tiny fluctuations in the GPS signals between the spacecraft and GPS receivers caused by natural hazards occurring on or near the Earth's surface.We will show examples for early detection of natural hazards generated ionospheric signatures using ground-based and space-borne GPS receivers. We will also discuss recent results from the U.S. Real-time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster Mitigation Network (READI) exercises utilizing our algorithms. By studying the propagation properties of ionospheric perturbations generated by natural hazards along with applying sophisticated first-principles physics-based modeling, we are on track to develop new technologies that can potentially save human lives and minimize property damage. It is also expected that ionospheric monitoring of TEC perturbations might become an integral part of existing natural hazards warning systems.

  5. Defaultable Game Options in a Hazard Process Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomasz R. Bielecki

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The valuation and hedging of defaultable game options is studied in a hazard process model of credit risk. A convenient pricing formula with respect to a reference filteration is derived. A connection of arbitrage prices with a suitable notion of hedging is obtained. The main result shows that the arbitrage prices are the minimal superhedging prices with sigma martingale cost under a risk neutral measure.

  6. ''Hazardous'' terminology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Powers, J.

    1991-01-01

    A number of terms (e.g., ''hazardous chemicals,'' ''hazardous materials,'' ''hazardous waste,'' and similar nomenclature) refer to substances that are subject to regulation under one or more federal environmental laws. State laws and regulations also provide additional, similar, or identical terminology that may be confused with the federally defined terms. Many of these terms appear synonymous, and it easy to use them interchangeably. However, in a regulatory context, inappropriate use of narrowly defined terms can lead to confusion about the substances referred to, the statutory provisions that apply, and the regulatory requirements for compliance under the applicable federal statutes. This information Brief provides regulatory definitions, a brief discussion of compliance requirements, and references for the precise terminology that should be used when referring to ''hazardous'' substances regulated under federal environmental laws. A companion CERCLA Information Brief (EH-231-004/0191) addresses ''toxic'' nomenclature

  7. Bank Bailouts and Moral Hazard : Evidence from Germany

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dam, L.; Koetter, M.

    We use a structural econometric model to provide empirical evidence that safety nets in the banking industry lead to additional risk taking. To identify the moral hazard effect of bailout expectations on bank risk, we exploit the fact that regional political factors explain bank bailouts but not

  8. Introduction: Hazard mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, Rex L.; Miyagi, Toyohiko; Lee, Saro; Trofymchuk, Oleksandr M

    2014-01-01

    Twenty papers were accepted into the session on landslide hazard mapping for oral presentation. The papers presented susceptibility and hazard analysis based on approaches ranging from field-based assessments to statistically based models to assessments that combined hydromechanical and probabilistic components. Many of the studies have taken advantage of increasing availability of remotely sensed data and nearly all relied on Geographic Information Systems to organize and analyze spatial data. The studies used a range of methods for assessing performance and validating hazard and susceptibility models. A few of the studies presented in this session also included some element of landslide risk assessment. This collection of papers clearly demonstrates that a wide range of approaches can lead to useful assessments of landslide susceptibility and hazard.

  9. An evaluation of three representative multimedia models used to support cleanup decision-making at hazardous, mixed, and radioactive waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moskowitz, P.D.; Pardi, R.; Fthenakis, V.M.; Holtzman, S.

    1996-01-01

    The decision process involved in cleaning sites contaminated with hazardous, mixed, and radioactive materials is supported often by results obtained from computer models. These results provide limits within which a decision-maker can judge the importance of individual transport and fate processes, and the likely outcome of alternative cleanup strategies. The transport of hazardous materials may occur predominately through one particular pathway but, more often, actual or potential transport must be evaluated across several pathways and media. Multimedia models are designed to simulate the transport of contaminants from a source to a receptor through more than one environmental pathway. Three such multimedia models are reviewed here: MEPAS, MMSOILS, and PRESTO-EPA-CPG. The reviews are based on documentation provided with the software, on published reviews, on personal interviews with the model developers, and on model summaries extracted from computer databases and expert systems. The three models are reviewed within the context of specific media components: air, surface water, ground water, and food chain. Additional sections evaluate the way that these three models calculate human exposure and dose and how they report uncertainty. Special emphasis is placed on how each model handles radionuclide transport within specific media. For the purpose of simulating the transport, fate and effects of radioactive contaminants through more than one pathway, both MEPAS and PRESTO-EPA-CPG are adequate for screening studies; MMSOILS only handles nonradioactive substances and must be modified before it can be used in these same applications. Of the three models, MEPAS is the most versatile, especially if the user needs to model the transport, fate, and effects of hazardous and radioactive contaminants. 44 refs., 2 tabs

  10. Evaluation of seismic hazard at the northwestern part of Egypt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ezzelarab, M.; Shokry, M. M. F.; Mohamed, A. M. E.; Helal, A. M. A.; Mohamed, Abuoelela A.; El-Hadidy, M. S.

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this study is to evaluate the seismic hazard at the northwestern Egypt using the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment approach. The Probabilistic approach was carried out based on a recent data set to take into account the historic seismicity and updated instrumental seismicity. A homogenous earthquake catalogue was compiled and a proposed seismic sources model was presented. The doubly-truncated exponential model was adopted for calculations of the recurrence parameters. Ground-motion prediction equations that recently recommended by experts and developed based upon earthquake data obtained from tectonic environments similar to those in and around the studied area were weighted and used for assessment of seismic hazard in the frame of logic tree approach. Considering a grid of 0.2° × 0.2° covering the study area, seismic hazard curves for every node were calculated. Hazard maps at bedrock conditions were produced for peak ground acceleration, in addition to six spectral periods (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 s) for return periods of 72, 475 and 2475 years. The unified hazard spectra of two selected rock sites at Alexandria and Mersa Matruh Cities were provided. Finally, the hazard curves were de-aggregated to determine the sources that contribute most of hazard level of 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years for the mentioned selected sites.

  11. SRS BEDROCK PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC HAZARD ANALYSIS (PSHA) DESIGN BASIS JUSTIFICATION (U)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    (NOEMAIL), R

    2005-12-14

    This represents an assessment of the available Savannah River Site (SRS) hard-rock probabilistic seismic hazard assessments (PSHAs), including PSHAs recently completed, for incorporation in the SRS seismic hazard update. The prior assessment of the SRS seismic design basis (WSRC, 1997) incorporated the results from two PSHAs that were published in 1988 and 1993. Because of the vintage of these studies, an assessment is necessary to establish the value of these PSHAs considering more recently collected data affecting seismic hazards and the availability of more recent PSHAs. This task is consistent with the Department of Energy (DOE) order, DOE O 420.1B and DOE guidance document DOE G 420.1-2. Following DOE guidance, the National Map Hazard was reviewed and incorporated in this assessment. In addition to the National Map hazard, alternative ground motion attenuation models (GMAMs) are used with the National Map source model to produce alternate hazard assessments for the SRS. These hazard assessments are the basis for the updated hard-rock hazard recommendation made in this report. The development and comparison of hazard based on the National Map models and PSHAs completed using alternate GMAMs provides increased confidence in this hazard recommendation. The alternate GMAMs are the EPRI (2004), USGS (2002) and a regional specific model (Silva et al., 2004). Weights of 0.6, 0.3 and 0.1 are recommended for EPRI (2004), USGS (2002) and Silva et al. (2004) respectively. This weighting gives cluster weights of .39, .29, .15, .17 for the 1-corner, 2-corner, hybrid, and Greens-function models, respectively. This assessment is judged to be conservative as compared to WSRC (1997) and incorporates the range of prevailing expert opinion pertinent to the development of seismic hazard at the SRS. The corresponding SRS hard-rock uniform hazard spectra are greater than the design spectra developed in WSRC (1997) that were based on the LLNL (1993) and EPRI (1988) PSHAs. The

  12. Hydrothermal Liquefaction Treatment Hazard Analysis Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lowry, Peter P. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wagner, Katie A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2016-09-12

    Hazard analyses were performed to evaluate the modular hydrothermal liquefaction treatment system. The hazard assessment process was performed in 2 stages. An initial assessment utilizing Hazard Identification and Preliminary Hazards Analysis (PHA) techniques identified areas with significant or unique hazards (process safety-related hazards) that fall outside of the normal operating envelope of PNNL and warranted additional analysis. The subsequent assessment was based on a qualitative What-If analysis. The analysis was augmented, as necessary, by additional quantitative analysis for scenarios involving a release of hazardous material or energy with the potential for affecting the public. The following selected hazardous scenarios received increased attention: •Scenarios involving a release of hazardous material or energy, controls were identified in the What-If analysis table that prevent the occurrence or mitigate the effects of the release. •Scenarios with significant consequences that could impact personnel outside the immediate operations area, quantitative analyses were performed to determine the potential magnitude of the scenario. The set of “critical controls” were identified for these scenarios (see Section 4) which prevent the occurrence or mitigate the effects of the release of events with significant consequences.

  13. Hazard function theory for nonstationary natural hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Read, Laura K.; Vogel, Richard M.

    2016-04-01

    Impact from natural hazards is a shared global problem that causes tremendous loss of life and property, economic cost, and damage to the environment. Increasingly, many natural processes show evidence of nonstationary behavior including wind speeds, landslides, wildfires, precipitation, streamflow, sea levels, and earthquakes. Traditional probabilistic analysis of natural hazards based on peaks over threshold (POT) generally assumes stationarity in the magnitudes and arrivals of events, i.e., that the probability of exceedance of some critical event is constant through time. Given increasing evidence of trends in natural hazards, new methods are needed to characterize their probabilistic behavior. The well-developed field of hazard function analysis (HFA) is ideally suited to this problem because its primary goal is to describe changes in the exceedance probability of an event over time. HFA is widely used in medicine, manufacturing, actuarial statistics, reliability engineering, economics, and elsewhere. HFA provides a rich theory to relate the natural hazard event series (X) with its failure time series (T), enabling computation of corresponding average return periods, risk, and reliabilities associated with nonstationary event series. This work investigates the suitability of HFA to characterize nonstationary natural hazards whose POT magnitudes are assumed to follow the widely applied generalized Pareto model. We derive the hazard function for this case and demonstrate how metrics such as reliability and average return period are impacted by nonstationarity and discuss the implications for planning and design. Our theoretical analysis linking hazard random variable X with corresponding failure time series T should have application to a wide class of natural hazards with opportunities for future extensions.

  14. Comparison of additive (absolute) risk projection models and multiplicative (relative) risk projection models in estimating radiation-induced lifetime cancer risk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kai, Michiaki; Kusama, Tomoko

    1990-01-01

    Lifetime cancer risk estimates depend on risk projection models. While the increasing lengths of follow-up observation periods of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring about changes in cancer risk estimates, the validity of the two risk projection models, the additive risk projection model (AR) and multiplicative risk projection model (MR), comes into question. This paper compares the lifetime risk or loss of life-expectancy between the two projection models on the basis of BEIR-III report or recently published RERF report. With Japanese cancer statistics the estimates of MR were greater than those of AR, but a reversal of these results was seen when the cancer hazard function for India was used. When we investigated the validity of the two projection models using epidemiological human data and animal data, the results suggested that MR was superior to AR with respect to temporal change, but there was little evidence to support its validity. (author)

  15. Developments in consequence modelling of accidental releases of hazardous materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boot, H.

    2012-01-01

    The modelling of consequences of releases of hazardous materials in the Netherlands has mainly been based on the “Yellow Book”. Although there is no updated version of this official publication, new insights have been developed during the last decades. This article will give an overview of new

  16. An Overview of GIS-Based Modeling and Assessment of Mining-Induced Hazards: Soil, Water, and Forest

    OpenAIRE

    Suh, Jangwon; Kim, Sung-Min; Yi, Huiuk; Choi, Yosoon

    2017-01-01

    In this study, current geographic information system (GIS)-based methods and their application for the modeling and assessment of mining-induced hazards were reviewed. Various types of mining-induced hazard, including soil contamination, soil erosion, water pollution, and deforestation were considered in the discussion of the strength and role of GIS as a viable problem-solving tool in relation to mining-induced hazards. The various types of mining-induced hazard were classified into two or t...

  17. The costs of hazardous alcohol consumption in Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Effertz, Tobias; Verheyen, Frank; Linder, Roland

    2017-07-01

    Hazardous alcohol consumption in Germany is a main threat to health. By using insurance claim data from the German Statutory Health Insurance and a classification strategy based on ICD10 diagnoses-codes we analyzed a sample of 146,000 subjects with more than 19,000 hazardous alcohol consumers. Employing different regression models with a control function approach, we calculate life years lost due to alcohol consumption, annual direct and indirect health costs, and the burden of pain and suffering measured by the Charlson-Index and assessed pain diagnoses. Additionally, we simulate the net accumulated premium payments over expenses in the German Statutory Health Insurance and the Statutory Pension Fund for hazardous alcohol consumers from a lifecycle perspective. In total, €39.3 billion each year result from hazardous alcohol consumption with an average loss of 7 years in life expectancy. Hazardous alcohol consumers clearly do not "pay their way" in the two main German social security systems and also display a higher intangible burden according to our definitions of pain and suffering.

  18. Contribution of physical modelling to climate-driven landslide hazard mapping: an alpine test site

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandromme, R.; Desramaut, N.; Baills, A.; Hohmann, A.; Grandjean, G.; Sedan, O.; Mallet, J. P.

    2012-04-01

    The aim of this work is to develop a methodology for integrating climate change scenarios into quantitative hazard assessment and especially their precipitation component. The effects of climate change will be different depending on both the location of the site and the type of landslide considered. Indeed, mass movements can be triggered by different factors. This paper describes a methodology to address this issue and shows an application on an alpine test site. Mechanical approaches represent a solution for quantitative landslide susceptibility and hazard modeling. However, as the quantity and the quality of data are generally very heterogeneous at a regional scale, it is necessary to take into account the uncertainty in the analysis. In this perspective, a new hazard modeling method is developed and integrated in a program named ALICE. This program integrates mechanical stability analysis through a GIS software taking into account data uncertainty. This method proposes a quantitative classification of landslide hazard and offers a useful tool to gain time and efficiency in hazard mapping. However, an expertise approach is still necessary to finalize the maps. Indeed it is the only way to take into account some influent factors in slope stability such as heterogeneity of the geological formations or effects of anthropic interventions. To go further, the alpine test site (Barcelonnette area, France) is being used to integrate climate change scenarios into ALICE program, and especially their precipitation component with the help of a hydrological model (GARDENIA) and the regional climate model REMO (Jacob, 2001). From a DEM, land-cover map, geology, geotechnical data and so forth the program classifies hazard zones depending on geotechnics and different hydrological contexts varying in time. This communication, realized within the framework of Safeland project, is supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological

  19. A generalized additive regression model for survival times

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scheike, Thomas H.

    2001-01-01

    Additive Aalen model; counting process; disability model; illness-death model; generalized additive models; multiple time-scales; non-parametric estimation; survival data; varying-coefficient models......Additive Aalen model; counting process; disability model; illness-death model; generalized additive models; multiple time-scales; non-parametric estimation; survival data; varying-coefficient models...

  20. Advancing the citizen scientist's contributions to documenting and understanding natural hazards: a proof of concept for linking crowdsourced and remotely sensed data on landslide hazards in El Salvador

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, E. R.; Griffin, R.; Markert, K. N.

    2017-12-01

    Scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and citizen groups, share a role in ensuring "that all sectors have access to, understand and can use scientific information for better informed decision-making" (Sendai Framework 2015-2030). When it comes to understanding hazards and exposure, inventories on disaster events are often limited. Thus, there are many opportunities for citizen scientists to engage in improving the collective understanding—and ultimately reduction—of disaster risk. Landslides are very difficult to forecast on spatial and temporal scales meaningful for early warning and evacuation. Heuristic hazard mapping methods are very common in regional hazard zonation and rely on expert knowledge of previous events and local conditions, but they often lack a temporal component. As new data analysis packages are becoming more open and accessible, probabilistic approaches that consider high resolution spatial and temporal dimensions are becoming more common, but this is only possible when rich inventories of landslide events exist. The work presented offers a proof of concept on incorporating crowd-sourced data to improve landslide hazard model performance. Starting with a national inventory of 90 catalogued landslides in El Salvador for a study period of 1998 to 2011, we simulate the addition of over 600 additional crowd-sourced landslide events that would have been identified through human interpretation of high resolution imagery in the Google Earth time slider feature. There is a noticeable improvement in performance statistics between static heuristic hazard models and probabilistic models that incorporate the events identified by the "crowd." Such a dynamic incorporation of crowd-sourced data on hazard events is not so far-fetched. Given the engagement of "local observers" in El Salvador who augment in situ hydro-meteorological measurements, the growing access to Earth observation data to the lay person, and immense interest behind connecting citizen

  1. Hazard interactions and interaction networks (cascades) within multi-hazard methodologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, Joel C.; Malamud, Bruce D.

    2016-08-01

    This paper combines research and commentary to reinforce the importance of integrating hazard interactions and interaction networks (cascades) into multi-hazard methodologies. We present a synthesis of the differences between multi-layer single-hazard approaches and multi-hazard approaches that integrate such interactions. This synthesis suggests that ignoring interactions between important environmental and anthropogenic processes could distort management priorities, increase vulnerability to other spatially relevant hazards or underestimate disaster risk. In this paper we proceed to present an enhanced multi-hazard framework through the following steps: (i) description and definition of three groups (natural hazards, anthropogenic processes and technological hazards/disasters) as relevant components of a multi-hazard environment, (ii) outlining of three types of interaction relationship (triggering, increased probability, and catalysis/impedance), and (iii) assessment of the importance of networks of interactions (cascades) through case study examples (based on the literature, field observations and semi-structured interviews). We further propose two visualisation frameworks to represent these networks of interactions: hazard interaction matrices and hazard/process flow diagrams. Our approach reinforces the importance of integrating interactions between different aspects of the Earth system, together with human activity, into enhanced multi-hazard methodologies. Multi-hazard approaches support the holistic assessment of hazard potential and consequently disaster risk. We conclude by describing three ways by which understanding networks of interactions contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of hazards, disaster risk reduction and Earth system management. Understanding interactions and interaction networks helps us to better (i) model the observed reality of disaster events, (ii) constrain potential changes in physical and social vulnerability

  2. Implications of different digital elevation models and preprocessing techniques to delineate debris flow inundation hazard zones in El Salvador

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, E. R.; Griffin, R.; Irwin, D.

    2013-12-01

    . Optimized pit filling techniques use both cut and fill operations to minimize modifications of the original DEM. Satellite image interpretation and field surveying provide the baseline upon which to test the accuracy of each model simulation. By outlining areas that could potentially be inundated by debris flows, these efforts can be used to more accurately identify the places and assets immediately exposed to landslide hazards. We contextualize the results of the previous and ongoing efforts into how they may be incorporated into decision support systems. We also discuss if and how these analyses would have provided additional knowledge in the past, and identify specific recommendations as to how they could contribute to a more robust decision support system in the future.

  3. Hazard Models From Periodic Dike Intrusions at Kı¯lauea Volcano, Hawai`i

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery-Brown, E. K.; Miklius, A.

    2016-12-01

    The persistence and regular recurrence intervals of dike intrusions in the East Rift Zone (ERZ) of Kı¯lauea Volcano lead to the possibility of constructing a time-dependent intrusion hazard model. Dike intrusions are commonly observed in Kı¯lauea Volcano's ERZ and can occur repeatedly in regions that correlate with seismic segments (sections of rift seismicity with persistent definitive lateral boundaries) proposed by Wright and Klein (USGS PP1806, 2014). Five such ERZ intrusions have occurred since 1983 with inferred locations downrift of the bend in Kı¯lauea's ERZ, with the first (1983) being the start of the ongoing ERZ eruption. The ERZ intrusions occur on one of two segments that are spatially coincident with seismic segments: Makaopuhi (1993 and 2007) and Nāpau (1983, 1997, and 2011). During each intrusion, the amount of inferred dike opening was between 2 and 3 meters. The times between ERZ intrusions for same-segment pairs are all close to 14 years: 14.07 (1983-1997), 14.09 (1997-2011), and 13.95 (1993-2007) years, with the Nāpau segment becoming active about 3.5 years after the Makaopuhi segment in each case. Four additional upper ERZ intrusions are also considered here. Dikes in the upper ERZ have much smaller opening ( 10 cm), and have shorter recurrence intervals of 8 years with more variability. The amount of modeled dike opening during each of these events roughly corresponds to the amount of seaward south flank motion and deep rift opening accumulated in the time between events. Additionally, the recurrence interval of 14 years appears to be unaffected by the magma surge of 2003-2007, suggesting that flank motion, rather than magma supply, could be a controlling factor in the timing and periodicity of intrusions. Flank control over the timing of magma intrusions runs counter to the historical research suggesting that dike intrusions at Kı¯lauea are driven by magma overpressure. This relatively free sliding may have resulted from decreased

  4. Guidance document on practices to model and implement Earthquake hazards in extended PSA (final version). Volume 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Decker, K.; Hirata, K.; Groudev, P.

    2016-01-01

    The current report provides guidance for the assessment of seismo-tectonic hazards in level 1 and 2 PSA. The objective is to review existing guidance, identify methodological challenges, and to propose novel guidance on key issues. Guidance for the assessment of vibratory ground motion and fault capability comprises the following: - listings of data required for the hazard assessment and methods to estimate data quality and completeness; - in-depth discussion of key input parameters required for hazard models; - discussions on commonly applied hazard assessment methodologies; - references to recent advances of science and technology. Guidance on the assessment of correlated or coincident hazards comprises of chapters on: - screening of correlated hazards; - assessment of correlated hazards (natural and man-made); - assessment of coincident hazards. (authors)

  5. Determining the Financial Impact of Flood Hazards in Ungaged Basins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotterman, K. A.; Gutenson, J. L.; Pradhan, N. R.; Byrd, A.

    2017-12-01

    Many portions of the Earth lack adequate authoritative or in situ data that is of great value in determining natural hazard vulnerability from both anthropogenic and physical perspective. Such locations include the majority of developing nations, which do not possess adequate warning systems and protective infrastructure. The lack of warning and protection from natural hazards make these nations vulnerable to the destructive power of events such as floods. The goal of this research is to demonstrate an initial workflow with which to characterize flood financial hazards with global datasets and crowd-sourced, non-authoritative data in ungagged river basins. This workflow includes the hydrologic and hydraulic response of the watershed to precipitation, characterized by the physics-based modeling application Gridded Surface-Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA) model. In addition, data infrastructure and resources are available to approximate the human impact of flooding. Open source, volunteer geographic information (VGI) data can provide global coverage of elements at risk of flooding. Additional valuation mechanisms can then translate flood exposure into percentage and financial damage to each building. The combinations of these tools allow the authors to remotely assess flood hazards with minimal computational, temporal, and financial overhead. This combination of deterministic and stochastic modeling provides the means to quickly characterize watershed flood vulnerability and will allow emergency responders and planners to better understand the implications of flooding, both spatially and financially. In either a planning, real-time, or forecasting scenario, the system will assist the user in understanding basin flood vulnerability and increasing community resiliency and preparedness.

  6. St. Louis area earthquake hazards mapping project; seismic and liquefaction hazard maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, Chris H.; Bauer, Robert A.; Chung, Jae-won; Rogers, David; Pierce, Larry; Voigt, Vicki; Mitchell, Brad; Gaunt, David; Williams, Robert; Hoffman, David; Hempen, Gregory L.; Steckel, Phyllis; Boyd, Oliver; Watkins, Connor M.; Tucker, Kathleen; McCallister, Natasha

    2016-01-01

    We present probabilistic and deterministic seismic and liquefaction hazard maps for the densely populated St. Louis metropolitan area that account for the expected effects of surficial geology on earthquake ground shaking. Hazard calculations were based on a map grid of 0.005°, or about every 500 m, and are thus higher in resolution than any earlier studies. To estimate ground motions at the surface of the model (e.g., site amplification), we used a new detailed near‐surface shear‐wave velocity model in a 1D equivalent‐linear response analysis. When compared with the 2014 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Model, which uses a uniform firm‐rock‐site condition, the new probabilistic seismic‐hazard estimates document much more variability. Hazard levels for upland sites (consisting of bedrock and weathered bedrock overlain by loess‐covered till and drift deposits), show up to twice the ground‐motion values for peak ground acceleration (PGA), and similar ground‐motion values for 1.0 s spectral acceleration (SA). Probabilistic ground‐motion levels for lowland alluvial floodplain sites (generally the 20–40‐m‐thick modern Mississippi and Missouri River floodplain deposits overlying bedrock) exhibit up to twice the ground‐motion levels for PGA, and up to three times the ground‐motion levels for 1.0 s SA. Liquefaction probability curves were developed from available standard penetration test data assuming typical lowland and upland water table levels. A simplified liquefaction hazard map was created from the 5%‐in‐50‐year probabilistic ground‐shaking model. The liquefaction hazard ranges from low (60% of area expected to liquefy) in the lowlands. Because many transportation routes, power and gas transmission lines, and population centers exist in or on the highly susceptible lowland alluvium, these areas in the St. Louis region are at significant potential risk from seismically induced liquefaction and associated

  7. An Additive-Multiplicative Cox-Aalen Regression Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scheike, Thomas H.; Zhang, Mei-Jie

    2002-01-01

    Aalen model; additive risk model; counting processes; Cox regression; survival analysis; time-varying effects......Aalen model; additive risk model; counting processes; Cox regression; survival analysis; time-varying effects...

  8. A Conceptual Model of Future Volcanism at Medicine Lake Volcano, California - With an Emphasis on Understanding Local Volcanic Hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molisee, D. D.; Germa, A.; Charbonnier, S. J.; Connor, C.

    2017-12-01

    Medicine Lake Volcano (MLV) is most voluminous of all the Cascade Volcanoes ( 600 km3), and has the highest eruption frequency after Mount St. Helens. Detailed mapping by USGS colleagues has shown that during the last 500,000 years MLV erupted >200 lava flows ranging from basalt to rhyolite, produced at least one ash-flow tuff, one caldera forming event, and at least 17 scoria cones. Underlying these units are 23 additional volcanic units that are considered to be pre-MLV in age. Despite the very high likelihood of future eruptions, fewer than 60 of 250 mapped volcanic units (MLV and pre-MLV) have been dated reliably. A robust set of eruptive ages is key to understanding the history of the MLV system and to forecasting the future behavior of the volcano. The goals of this study are to 1) obtain additional radiometric ages from stratigraphically strategic units; 2) recalculate recurrence rate of eruptions based on an augmented set of radiometric dates; and 3) use lava flow, PDC, ash fall-out, and lahar computational simulation models to assess the potential effects of discrete volcanic hazards locally and regionally. We identify undated target units (units in key stratigraphic positions to provide maximum chronological insight) and obtain field samples for radiometric dating (40Ar/39Ar and K/Ar) and petrology. Stratigraphic and radiometric data are then used together in the Volcano Event Age Model (VEAM) to identify changes in the rate and type of volcanic eruptions through time, with statistical uncertainty. These newly obtained datasets will be added to published data to build a conceptual model of volcanic hazards at MLV. Alternative conceptual models, for example, may be that the rate of MLV lava flow eruptions are nonstationary in time and/or space and/or volume. We explore the consequences of these alternative models on forecasting future eruptions. As different styles of activity have different impacts, we estimate these potential effects using simulation

  9. GIS and RS-based modelling of potential natural hazard areas in Pehchevo municipality, Republic of Macedonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milevski Ivica

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, one approach of Geographic Information System (GIS and Remote Sensing (RS assessment of potential natural hazard areas (excess erosion, landslides, flash floods and fires is presented. For that purpose Pehchevo Municipality in the easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia is selected as a case study area because of high local impact of natural hazards on the environment, social-demographic situation and local economy. First of all, most relevant static factors for each type of natural hazard are selected (topography, land cover, anthropogenic objects and infrastructure. With GIS and satellite imagery, multi-layer calculation is performed based on available traditional equations, clustering or discreditation procedures. In such way suitable relatively “static” natural hazard maps (models are produced. Then, dynamic (mostly climate related factors are included in previous models resulting in appropriate scenarios correlated with different amounts of precipitation, temperature, wind direction etc. Finally, GIS based scenarios are evaluated and tested with field check or very fine resolution Google Earth imagery showing good accuracy. Further development of such GIS models in connection with automatic remote meteorological stations and dynamic satellite imagery (like MODIS will provide on-time warning for coming natural hazard avoiding potential damages or even causalities.

  10. Uncertainty on shallow landslide hazard assessment: from field data to hazard mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trefolini, Emanuele; Tolo, Silvia; Patelli, Eduardo; Broggi, Matteo; Disperati, Leonardo; Le Tuan, Hai

    2015-04-01

    Shallow landsliding that involve Hillslope Deposits (HD), the surficial soil that cover the bedrock, is an important process of erosion, transport and deposition of sediment along hillslopes. Despite Shallow landslides generally mobilize relatively small volume of material, they represent the most hazardous factor in mountain regions due to their high velocity and the common absence of warning signs. Moreover, increasing urbanization and likely climate change make shallow landslides a source of widespread risk, therefore the interest of scientific community about this process grown in the last three decades. One of the main aims of research projects involved on this topic, is to perform robust shallow landslides hazard assessment for wide areas (regional assessment), in order to support sustainable spatial planning. Currently, three main methodologies may be implemented to assess regional shallow landslides hazard: expert evaluation, probabilistic (or data mining) methods and physical models based methods. The aim of this work is evaluate the uncertainty of shallow landslides hazard assessment based on physical models taking into account spatial variables such as: geotechnical and hydrogeologic parameters as well as hillslope morphometry. To achieve this goal a wide dataset of geotechnical properties (shear strength, permeability, depth and unit weight) of HD was gathered by integrating field survey, in situ and laboratory tests. This spatial database was collected from a study area of about 350 km2 including different bedrock lithotypes and geomorphological features. The uncertainty associated to each step of the hazard assessment process (e.g. field data collection, regionalization of site specific information and numerical modelling of hillslope stability) was carefully characterized. The most appropriate probability density function (PDF) was chosen for each numerical variable and we assessed the uncertainty propagation on HD strength parameters obtained by

  11. The comparison of proportional hazards and accelerated failure time models in analyzing the first birth interval survival data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faruk, Alfensi

    2018-03-01

    Survival analysis is a branch of statistics, which is focussed on the analysis of time- to-event data. In multivariate survival analysis, the proportional hazards (PH) is the most popular model in order to analyze the effects of several covariates on the survival time. However, the assumption of constant hazards in PH model is not always satisfied by the data. The violation of the PH assumption leads to the misinterpretation of the estimation results and decreasing the power of the related statistical tests. On the other hand, the accelerated failure time (AFT) models do not assume the constant hazards in the survival data as in PH model. The AFT models, moreover, can be used as the alternative to PH model if the constant hazards assumption is violated. The objective of this research was to compare the performance of PH model and the AFT models in analyzing the significant factors affecting the first birth interval (FBI) data in Indonesia. In this work, the discussion was limited to three AFT models which were based on Weibull, exponential, and log-normal distribution. The analysis by using graphical approach and a statistical test showed that the non-proportional hazards exist in the FBI data set. Based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC), the log-normal AFT model was the most appropriate model among the other considered models. Results of the best fitted model (log-normal AFT model) showed that the covariates such as women’s educational level, husband’s educational level, contraceptive knowledge, access to mass media, wealth index, and employment status were among factors affecting the FBI in Indonesia.

  12. A decision model for the risk management of hazardous processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holmberg, J.E.

    1997-03-01

    A decision model for risk management of hazardous processes as an optimisation problem of a point process is formulated in the study. In the approach, the decisions made by the management are divided into three categories: (1) planned process lifetime, (2) selection of the design and, (3) operational decisions. These three controlling methods play quite different roles in the practical risk management, which is also reflected in our approach. The optimisation of the process lifetime is related to the licensing problem of the process. It provides a boundary condition for a feasible utility function that is used as the actual objective function, i.e., maximizing the process lifetime utility. By design modifications, the management can affect the inherent accident hazard rate of the process. This is usually a discrete optimisation task. The study particularly concentrates upon the optimisation of the operational strategies given a certain design and licensing time. This is done by a dynamic risk model (marked point process model) representing the stochastic process of events observable or unobservable to the decision maker. An optimal long term control variable guiding the selection of operational alternatives in short term problems is studied. The optimisation problem is solved by the stochastic quasi-gradient procedure. The approach is illustrated by a case study. (23 refs.)

  13. Dynamic modelling of a forward osmosis-nanofiltration integrated process for treating hazardous wastewater.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pal, Parimal; Das, Pallabi; Chakrabortty, Sankha; Thakura, Ritwik

    2016-11-01

    Dynamic modelling and simulation of a nanofiltration-forward osmosis integrated complete system was done along with economic evaluation to pave the way for scale up of such a system for treating hazardous pharmaceutical wastes. The system operated in a closed loop not only protects surface water from the onslaught of hazardous industrial wastewater but also saves on cost of fresh water by turning wastewater recyclable at affordable price. The success of dynamic modelling in capturing the relevant transport phenomena is well reflected in high overall correlation coefficient value (R 2  > 0.98), low relative error (osmosis loop at a reasonably high flux of 56-58 l per square meter per hour.

  14. Measures to assess the prognostic ability of the stratified Cox proportional hazards model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    (Tybjaerg-Hansen, A.) The Fibrinogen Studies Collaboration.The Copenhagen City Heart Study; Tybjærg-Hansen, Anne

    2009-01-01

    Many measures have been proposed to summarize the prognostic ability of the Cox proportional hazards (CPH) survival model, although none is universally accepted for general use. By contrast, little work has been done to summarize the prognostic ability of the stratified CPH model; such measures...

  15. Modeling of seismic hazards for dynamic reliability analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mizutani, M.; Fukushima, S.; Akao, Y.; Katukura, H.

    1993-01-01

    This paper investigates the appropriate indices of seismic hazard curves (SHCs) for seismic reliability analysis. In the most seismic reliability analyses of structures, the seismic hazards are defined in the form of the SHCs of peak ground accelerations (PGAs). Usually PGAs play a significant role in characterizing ground motions. However, PGA is not always a suitable index of seismic motions. When random vibration theory developed in the frequency domain is employed to obtain statistics of responses, it is more convenient for the implementation of dynamic reliability analysis (DRA) to utilize an index which can be determined in the frequency domain. In this paper, we summarize relationships among the indices which characterize ground motions. The relationships between the indices and the magnitude M are arranged as well. In this consideration, duration time plays an important role in relating two distinct class, i.e. energy class and power class. Fourier and energy spectra are involved in the energy class, and power and response spectra and PGAs are involved in the power class. These relationships are also investigated by using ground motion records. Through these investigations, we have shown the efficiency of employing the total energy as an index of SHCs, which can be determined in the time and frequency domains and has less variance than the other indices. In addition, we have proposed the procedure of DRA based on total energy. (author)

  16. Conceptual geoinformation model of natural hazards risk assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulygin, Valerii

    2016-04-01

    Natural hazards are the major threat to safe interactions between nature and society. The assessment of the natural hazards impacts and their consequences is important in spatial planning and resource management. Today there is a challenge to advance our understanding of how socio-economical and climate changes will affect the frequency and magnitude of hydro-meteorological hazards and associated risks. However, the impacts from different types of natural hazards on various marine and coastal economic activities are not of the same type. In this study, the conceptual geomodel of risk assessment is presented to highlight the differentiation by the type of economic activities in extreme events risk assessment. The marine and coastal ecosystems are considered as the objects of management, on the one hand, and as the place of natural hazards' origin, on the other hand. One of the key elements in describing of such systems is the spatial characterization of their components. Assessment of ecosystem state is based on ecosystem indicators (indexes). They are used to identify the changes in time. The scenario approach is utilized to account for the spatio-temporal dynamics and uncertainty factors. Two types of scenarios are considered: scenarios of using ecosystem services by economic activities and scenarios of extreme events and related hazards. The reported study was funded by RFBR, according to the research project No. 16-35-60043 mol_a_dk.

  17. Advancement of the methodology for automated integration of external hazards into level 1 PSA modeling. Technical report; Weiterentwicklung der Methodik zur automatisierten Integration uebergreifender Einwirkungen in PSA-Modelle der Stufe 1. Technischer Fachbericht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berner, Nadine; Herb, Joachim

    2017-03-15

    In the course of the research and development project RS1539 funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy (BMWi) the methodology for the automated integration of hazards in Level 1 PSA models has been enhanced. Thereby, the analysis tool pyRiskRobot provides the methodological framework for mapping a generic spectrum of internal and external hazards onto complex PSA plant models. The reimplementation of the software tool via the programming language python extends the applicability and facilitates the handling of pyRiskRobot in comparison to the previous Ruby-based version RiskRobot. Moreover, the development of functions to perform the topological modelling of fault trees and the probabilistic specification of modified fault tree elements have been continued. Due to the reimplementation and further developments, the tool enables to systematically generate fault trees of varying complexity, to flexibly integrate fault trees in existing PSA models and to automatically duplicate interconnected topologies. Thus, pyRiskRobot allows the efficient and traceable realization of hazard specific, usually laborious modifications of PSA models. In addition, pyRiskRobot has been extended to serve as a functional interface between the data compilations comprising the potential influences of hazards on PSA relevant components and the data base of a PSA plant model. Based on this conceptual design, additional analyses of the data can be carried out prior to the integration within the PSA model topology. The reimplemented functionalities of pyRiskRobot have been validated with respect to reference applications, such as the modelling of an internal fire scenario, against the previous version RiskRobot. The existing method collection for the automated modification of fault tree topologies has been extended based on the requirements for further applications, among others the modelling of an external flooding scenario. The deduced hazard specific modelling approaches

  18. Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Model Volcanic Hazard Risk Levels in Areas Surrounding the Copahue Volcano in the Andes Mountains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith, A. M.; Weigel, A. M.; Rivas, J.

    2014-12-01

    Copahue is a stratovolcano located along the rim of the Caviahue Caldera near the Chile-Argentina border in the Andes Mountain Range. There are several small towns located in proximity of the volcano with the two largest being Banos Copahue and Caviahue. During its eruptive history, it has produced numerous lava flows, pyroclastic flows, ash deposits, and lahars. This isolated region has steep topography and little vegetation, rendering it poorly monitored. The need to model volcanic hazard risk has been reinforced by recent volcanic activity that intermittently released several ash plumes from December 2012 through May 2013. Exposure to volcanic ash is currently the main threat for the surrounding populations as the volcano becomes more active. The goal of this project was to study Copahue and determine areas that have the highest potential of being affected in the event of an eruption. Remote sensing techniques were used to examine and identify volcanic activity and areas vulnerable to experiencing volcanic hazards including volcanic ash, SO2 gas, lava flow, pyroclastic density currents and lahars. Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), EO-1 Advanced Land Imager (ALI), Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), ISS ISERV Pathfinder, and Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) products were used to analyze volcanic hazards. These datasets were used to create a historic lava flow map of the Copahue volcano by identifying historic lava flows, tephra, and lahars both visually and spectrally. Additionally, a volcanic risk and hazard map for the surrounding area was created by modeling the possible extent of ash fallout, lahars, lava flow, and pyroclastic density currents (PDC) for future eruptions. These model results were then used to identify areas that should be prioritized for disaster relief and evacuation orders.

  19. Use of raster-based data layers to model spatial variation of seismotectonic data in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zolfaghari, Mohammad R.

    2009-07-01

    Recent achievements in computer and information technology have provided the necessary tools to extend the application of probabilistic seismic hazard mapping from its traditional engineering use to many other applications. Examples for such applications are risk mitigation, disaster management, post disaster recovery planning and catastrophe loss estimation and risk management. Due to the lack of proper knowledge with regard to factors controlling seismic hazards, there are always uncertainties associated with all steps involved in developing and using seismic hazard models. While some of these uncertainties can be controlled by more accurate and reliable input data, the majority of the data and assumptions used in seismic hazard studies remain with high uncertainties that contribute to the uncertainty of the final results. In this paper a new methodology for the assessment of seismic hazard is described. The proposed approach provides practical facility for better capture of spatial variations of seismological and tectonic characteristics, which allows better treatment of their uncertainties. In the proposed approach, GIS raster-based data models are used in order to model geographical features in a cell-based system. The cell-based source model proposed in this paper provides a framework for implementing many geographically referenced seismotectonic factors into seismic hazard modelling. Examples for such components are seismic source boundaries, rupture geometry, seismic activity rate, focal depth and the choice of attenuation functions. The proposed methodology provides improvements in several aspects of the standard analytical tools currently being used for assessment and mapping of regional seismic hazard. The proposed methodology makes the best use of the recent advancements in computer technology in both software and hardware. The proposed approach is well structured to be implemented using conventional GIS tools.

  20. The unconvincing product - Consumer versus expert hazard identification: A mental models study of novel foods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hagemann, Kit; Scholderer, Joachim

    and experts understanding of benefits and risks associated with three Novel foods (a potato, rice and functional food ingredients) using a relatively new methodology for the study of risk perception called Mental models. Mental models focus on the way people conceptualise hazardous processes and allows...... researchers to pit a normative analysis (expert mental models) against a descriptive analysis (consumer mental models). Expert models were elicited by means of a three-wave Delphi procedure from altogether 24 international experts and consumers models from in-dept interviews with Danish consumers. The results...... revealed that consumers´ and experts' mental models differed in connection to scope. Experts focused on the types of hazards for which risk assessments can be conducted under current legal frameworks whereas consumers were concerned about issues that lay outside the scope of current legislation. Experts...

  1. ASCHFLOW - A dynamic landslide run-out model for medium scale hazard analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Quan Luna, B.; Blahůt, Jan; van Asch, T.W.J.; van Westen, C.J.; Kappes, M.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 3, 12 December (2016), č. článku 29. E-ISSN 2197-8670 Institutional support: RVO:67985891 Keywords : landslides * run-out models * medium scale hazard analysis * quantitative risk assessment Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography

  2. SHC, Seismic Hazard Assessment for Eastern US

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savy, J.; Davis, B.

    2001-01-01

    magnitude-recurrence relationship. The seismic hazard methodology is based on a probability model of the occurrence and distribution of earthquakes and the attenuation of the ground motion from a source to a site. It also includes modeling of local site effects, such as soil types. The earthquake location is assumed to be uniformly distributed throughout the zone, and the ground-motion model expresses the decay with distance of the median value of a ground-motion parameter. In addition, the methodology incorporates the uncertainty in all parameters into the results. The uncertainty in the hazard is estimated by a Monte Carlo simulation process in which all levels of confidence are normalized and treated as probability values. It includes a probability distribution of the maps for each seismicity expert, distributions for the uncertainty in each of the seismicity parameters, and distribution of the ground-motion models for each of the ground-motion experts. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: Maxima of: 150 zones per combination; 100 combinations; 96 zones; 50 simulations per attenuation expert; 50 zone clusters for alternative boundaries; 35 zones per cluster; 30 maps; 30 zones per map; 21 distances per distribution of a zone; 20 zones in a circle of influence; 20 coefficients per attenuation model; 11 seismic experts; 10 accelerations; 9 frequencies; 7 attenuation models per expert; 6 attenuation experts for ALEAS; 5 attenuation experts for COMBS; 5 return periods; 4 regions

  3. SRL process hazards review manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-08-01

    The principal objective of the Process Hazards Management Program is to provide a regular, systematic review of each process at the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) to eliminate injuries and to minimize property damage resulting from process hazards of catastrophic potential. Management effort is directed, through the Du Pont Safety Program, toward those controls and practices that ensure this objective. The Process Hazards Management Program provides an additional dimension to further ensure the health and safety of employees and the public. Du Pont has concluded that an organized approach is essential to obtain an effective and efficient process hazards review. The intent of this manual is to provide guidance in creating such an organized approach to performing process hazards reviews on a continuing basis

  4. Agent-based simulation for human-induced hazard analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bulleit, William M; Drewek, Matthew W

    2011-02-01

    Terrorism could be treated as a hazard for design purposes. For instance, the terrorist hazard could be analyzed in a manner similar to the way that seismic hazard is handled. No matter how terrorism is dealt with in the design of systems, the need for predictions of the frequency and magnitude of the hazard will be required. And, if the human-induced hazard is to be designed for in a manner analogous to natural hazards, then the predictions should be probabilistic in nature. The model described in this article is a prototype model that used agent-based modeling (ABM) to analyze terrorist attacks. The basic approach in this article of using ABM to model human-induced hazards has been preliminarily validated in the sense that the attack magnitudes seem to be power-law distributed and attacks occur mostly in regions where high levels of wealth pass through, such as transit routes and markets. The model developed in this study indicates that ABM is a viable approach to modeling socioeconomic-based infrastructure systems for engineering design to deal with human-induced hazards. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

  5. Seismic hazard in the Intermountain West

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haller, Kathleen; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Mueller, Charles; Rezaeian, Sanaz; Petersen, Mark D.; Zeng, Yuehua

    2015-01-01

    The 2014 national seismic-hazard model for the conterminous United States incorporates new scientific results and important model adjustments. The current model includes updates to the historical catalog, which is spatially smoothed using both fixed-length and adaptive-length smoothing kernels. Fault-source characterization improved by adding faults, revising rates of activity, and incorporating new results from combined inversions of geologic and geodetic data. The update also includes a new suite of published ground motion models. Changes in probabilistic ground motion are generally less than 10% in most of the Intermountain West compared to the prior assessment, and ground-motion hazard in four Intermountain West cities illustrates the range and magnitude of change in the region. Seismic hazard at reference sites in Boise and Reno increased as much as 10%, whereas hazard in Salt Lake City decreased 5–6%. The largest change was in Las Vegas, where hazard increased 32–35%.

  6. Large scale debris-flow hazard assessment: a geotechnical approach and GIS modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Delmonaco

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available A deterministic distributed model has been developed for large-scale debris-flow hazard analysis in the basin of River Vezza (Tuscany Region – Italy. This area (51.6 km 2 was affected by over 250 landslides. These were classified as debris/earth flow mainly involving the metamorphic geological formations outcropping in the area, triggered by the pluviometric event of 19 June 1996. In the last decades landslide hazard and risk analysis have been favoured by the development of GIS techniques permitting the generalisation, synthesis and modelling of stability conditions on a large scale investigation (>1:10 000. In this work, the main results derived by the application of a geotechnical model coupled with a hydrological model for the assessment of debris flows hazard analysis, are reported. This analysis has been developed starting by the following steps: landslide inventory map derived by aerial photo interpretation, direct field survey, generation of a database and digital maps, elaboration of a DTM and derived themes (i.e. slope angle map, definition of a superficial soil thickness map, geotechnical soil characterisation through implementation of a backanalysis on test slopes, laboratory test analysis, inference of the influence of precipitation, for distinct return times, on ponding time and pore pressure generation, implementation of a slope stability model (infinite slope model and generalisation of the safety factor for estimated rainfall events with different return times. Such an approach has allowed the identification of potential source areas of debris flow triggering. This is used to detected precipitation events with estimated return time of 10, 50, 75 and 100 years. The model shows a dramatic decrease of safety conditions for the simulation when is related to a 75 years return time rainfall event. It corresponds to an estimated cumulated daily intensity of 280–330 mm. This value can be considered the hydrological triggering

  7. The Volcanic Hazards Assessment Support System for the Online Hazard Assessment and Risk Mitigation of Quaternary Volcanoes in the World

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shinji Takarada

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Volcanic hazards assessment tools are essential for risk mitigation of volcanic activities. A number of offline volcanic hazard assessment tools have been provided, but in most cases, they require relatively complex installation procedure and usage. This situation causes limited usage of volcanic hazard assessment tools among volcanologists and volcanic hazards communities. In addition, volcanic eruption chronology and detailed database of each volcano in the world are essential key information for volcanic hazard assessment, but most of them are isolated and not connected to and with each other. The Volcanic Hazard Assessment Support System aims to implement a user-friendly, WebGIS-based, open-access online system for potential hazards assessment and risk-mitigation of Quaternary volcanoes in the world. The users can get up-to-date information such as eruption chronology and geophysical monitoring data of a specific volcano using the direct link system to major volcano databases on the system. Currently, the system provides 3 simple, powerful and notable deterministic modeling simulation codes of volcanic processes, such as Energy Cone, Titan2D and Tephra2. The system provides deterministic tools because probabilistic assessment tools are normally much more computationally demanding. By using the volcano hazard assessment system, the area that would be affected by volcanic eruptions in any location near the volcano can be estimated using numerical simulations. The system is being implemented using the ASTER Global DEM covering 2790 Quaternary volcanoes in the world. The system can be used to evaluate volcanic hazards and move this toward risk-potential by overlaying the estimated distribution of volcanic gravity flows or tephra falls on major roads, houses and evacuation areas using the GIS-enabled systems. The system is developed for all users in the world who need volcanic hazards assessment tools.

  8. Preliminary Hazard Classification for the 105-B Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerr, N.R.

    1997-08-01

    This document summarizes the inventories of radioactive and hazardous materials present within the 105-B Reactor and uses the inventory information to determine the preliminary hazard classification for the surveillance and maintenance activities of the facility. The result of this effort was the preliminary hazard classification for the 105-B Building surveillance and maintenance activities. The preliminary hazard classification was determined to be Nuclear Category 3. Additional hazard and accident analysis will be documented in a separate report to define the hazard controls and final hazard classification

  9. Risk-based consequences of extreme natural hazard processes in mountain regions - Multi-hazard analysis in Tyrol (Austria)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huttenlau, Matthias; Stötter, Johann

    2010-05-01

    weighting within the risk concept, this has sufficient implications on the results of risk analyses. Thus, an equal and scale appropriated balance of those risk components is a fundamental key factor for effective natural hazard risk analyses. The results of such analyses inform especially decision makers in the insurance industry, the administration, and politicians on potential consequences and are the basis for appropriate risk management strategies. Thereby, results (i) on an annual or probabilistic risk comprehension have to be distinguished from (ii) scenario-based analyses. The first analyses are based on statistics of periodically or episodically occurring events whereas the latter approach is especially applied for extreme, non-linear, stochastic events. Focusing on the needs especially of insurance companies, the first approaches are appropriate for premium pricing and reinsurance strategies with an annual perspective, whereas the latter is focusing on events with extreme loss burdens under worst-case criteria to guarantee accordant reinsurance coverage. Moreover, the demand of adequate loss model approaches and methods is strengthened by the risk-based requirements of the upcoming capital requirement directive Solvency II. The present study estimates the potential elements at risk, their corresponding damage potentials and the Probable Maximum Losses (PMLs) of extreme natural hazards events in Tyrol (Austria) and considers adequatly the scale dependency and balanced application of the introduced risk components. Beside the introduced analysis an additionally portfolio analysis of a regional insurance company was executed. The geocoded insurance contracts of this portfolio analysis were the basis to estimate spatial, socio-economical and functional differentiated mean insurance values for the different risk categories of (i) buildings, (ii) contents or inventory, (iii) vehicles, and (iv) persons in the study area. The estimated mean insurance values were

  10. Development of a Probabilistic Tornado Wind Hazard Model for the Continental United States Volume I: Main Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boissonnade, A; Hossain, Q; Kimball, J

    2000-01-01

    Since the mid-l980's, assessment of the wind and tornado risks at the Department of Energy (DOE) high and moderate hazard facilities has been based on the straight wind/tornado hazard curves given in UCRL-53526 (Coats, 1985). These curves were developed using a methodology that utilized a model, developed by McDonald, for severe winds at sub-tornado wind speeds and a separate model, developed by Fujita, for tornado wind speeds. For DOE sites not covered in UCRL-53526, wind and tornado hazard assessments are based on the criteria outlined in DOE-STD-1023-95 (DOE, 1996), utilizing the methodology in UCRL-53526; Subsequent to the publication of UCRL53526, in a study sponsored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Pacific Northwest Laboratory developed tornado wind hazard curves for the contiguous United States, NUREG/CR-4461 (Ramsdell, 1986). Because of the different modeling assumptions and underlying data used to develop the tornado wind information, the wind speeds at specified exceedance levels, at a given location, based on the methodology in UCRL-53526, are different than those based on the methodology in NUREG/CR-4461. In 1997, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was funded by the DOE to review the current methodologies for characterizing tornado wind hazards and to develop a state-of-the-art wind/tornado characterization methodology based on probabilistic hazard assessment techniques and current historical wind data. This report describes the process of developing the methodology and the database of relevant tornado information needed to implement the methodology. It also presents the tornado wind hazard curves obtained from the application of the method to DOE sites throughout the contiguous United States

  11. Identification and screening of hazards for the external event PRA - External hazard identification, screening and studies for a new plant site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hellander, Juho

    2014-01-01

    Fennovoima is constructing a new nuclear power plant on a greenfield site in Northern Finland. Various evaluations for site-specific hazards are needed to ensure sufficient plant design basis values, proper design solutions and to provide input for the PRA model. This paper presents the general process used in identifying the relevant site-specific external hazards. The applicable legislative requirements, guides and standards regarding external hazards and external event PRA shall be identified. Based on these, an initial comprehensive list of events should be compiled. The initial list shall be filtered to exclude irrelevant events. Events can be screened out if the probability is very low or if the consequences are only mild. Events with similar consequences should be combined. Events can be grouped in several ways, and in this paper the risks are categorized into events related to air, water bodies, ground and human behaviour. In addition, the simultaneously occurring combinations of events should be identified. The paper also summarizes some hazard studies already performed and required in the future in Fennovoima's project. A comprehensive study is ongoing related to earthquake risks. The study aims at identifying all relevant seismic sources and taking into account various expert opinions in seismic modelling. Also frazil ice and anchor ice studies are being performed to eliminate the risk of cooling water intake blockage due to ice. In addition, some other study areas are mentioned. This paper presented a list of Finnish and international guides and standards useful in evaluating external hazards. Also a methodology was presented to identify and screen site-specific hazards in a new nuclear power plant project. The screened list of relevant events for the Hanhikivi site requiring further studies was presented. Also the studies needed in different phases of a new nuclear power plant project were discussed. Some specific studies regarding earthquakes and

  12. Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. Gentilly 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-03-01

    Results of this probabilistic seismic hazard assessment were determined using a suite of conservative assumptions. The intent of this study was to perform a limited hazard assessment that incorporated a range of technically defensible input parameters. To best achieve this goal, input selected for the hazard assessment tended to be conservative with respect to selection of attenuation modes, and seismicity parameters. Seismic hazard estimates at Gentilly 2 were most affected by selection of the attenuation model. Alternative definitions of seismic source zones had a relatively small impact on seismic hazard. A St. Lawrence Rift model including a maximum magnitude of 7.2 m b in the zone containing the site had little effect on the hazard estimate relative to other seismic source zonation models. Mean annual probabilities of exceeding the design peak ground acceleration, and the design response spectrum for the Gentilly 2 site were computed to lie in the range of 0.001 to 0.0001. This hazard result falls well within the range determined to be acceptable for nuclear reactor sites located throughout the eastern United States. (author) 34 refs., 6 tabs., 28 figs

  13. [Application of occupational hazard risk index model in occupational health risk assessment in a decorative coating manufacturing enterprises].

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, P L; Zhao, C X; Dong, Q Y; Hao, S B; Xu, P; Zhang, J; Li, J G

    2018-01-20

    Objective: To evaluate the occupational health risk of decorative coating manufacturing enterprises and to explore the applicability of occupational hazard risk index model in the health risk assessment, so as to provide basis for the health management of enterprises. Methods: A decorative coating manufacturing enterprise in Hebei Province was chosen as research object, following the types of occupational hazards and contact patterns, the occupational hazard risk index model was used to evaluate occupational health risk factors of occupational hazards in the key positions of the decorative coating manufacturing enterprise, and measured with workplace test results and occupational health examination. Results: The positions of oily painters, water-borne painters, filling workers and packers who contacted noise were moderate harm. And positions of color workers who contacted chromic acid salts, oily painters who contacted butyl acetate were mild harm. Other positions were harmless. The abnormal rate of contacting noise in physical examination results was 6.25%, and the abnormality was not checked by other risk factors. Conclusion: The occupational hazard risk index model can be used in the occupational health risk assessment of decorative coating manufacturing enterprises, and noise was the key harzard among occupational harzards in this enterprise.

  14. Independent screening for single-index hazard rate models with ultrahigh dimensional features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gorst-Rasmussen, Anders; Scheike, Thomas

    2013-01-01

    can be viewed as the natural survival equivalent of correlation screening. We state conditions under which the method admits the sure screening property within a class of single-index hazard rate models with ultrahigh dimensional features and describe the generally detrimental effect of censoring...

  15. Statistical power to detect violation of the proportional hazards assumption when using the Cox regression model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Austin, Peter C

    2018-01-01

    The use of the Cox proportional hazards regression model is widespread. A key assumption of the model is that of proportional hazards. Analysts frequently test the validity of this assumption using statistical significance testing. However, the statistical power of such assessments is frequently unknown. We used Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the statistical power of two different methods for detecting violations of this assumption. When the covariate was binary, we found that a model-based method had greater power than a method based on cumulative sums of martingale residuals. Furthermore, the parametric nature of the distribution of event times had an impact on power when the covariate was binary. Statistical power to detect a strong violation of the proportional hazards assumption was low to moderate even when the number of observed events was high. In many data sets, power to detect a violation of this assumption is likely to be low to modest.

  16. Seismic hazard in the eastern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Charles; Boyd, Oliver; Petersen, Mark D.; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Rezaeian, Sanaz; Shumway, Allison

    2015-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey seismic hazard maps for the central and eastern United States were updated in 2014. We analyze results and changes for the eastern part of the region. Ratio maps are presented, along with tables of ground motions and deaggregations for selected cities. The Charleston fault model was revised, and a new fault source for Charlevoix was added. Background seismicity sources utilized an updated catalog, revised completeness and recurrence models, and a new adaptive smoothing procedure. Maximum-magnitude models and ground motion models were also updated. Broad, regional hazard reductions of 5%–20% are mostly attributed to new ground motion models with stronger near-source attenuation. The revised Charleston fault geometry redistributes local hazard, and the new Charlevoix source increases hazard in northern New England. Strong increases in mid- to high-frequency hazard at some locations—for example, southern New Hampshire, central Virginia, and eastern Tennessee—are attributed to updated catalogs and/or smoothing.

  17. An Uncertain Wage Contract Model with Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiulan Wang

    2014-01-01

    it can be characterized as an uncertain variable. Moreover, the employee's effort is unobservable to the employer, and the employee can select her effort level to maximize her utility. Thus, an uncertain wage contract model with adverse selection and moral hazard is established to maximize the employer's expected profit. And the model analysis mainly focuses on the equivalent form of the proposed wage contract model and the optimal solution to this form. The optimal solution indicates that both the employee's effort level and the wage increase with the employee's ability. Lastly, a numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

  18. Linear non-threshold (LNT) radiation hazards model and its evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Min Rui

    2011-01-01

    In order to introduce linear non-threshold (LNT) model used in study on the dose effect of radiation hazards and to evaluate its application, the analysis of comprehensive literatures was made. The results show that LNT model is more suitable to describe the biological effects in accuracy for high dose than that for low dose. Repairable-conditionally repairable model of cell radiation effects can be well taken into account on cell survival curve in the all conditions of high, medium and low absorbed dose range. There are still many uncertainties in assessment model of effective dose of internal radiation based on the LNT assumptions and individual mean organ equivalent, and it is necessary to establish gender-specific voxel human model, taking gender differences into account. From above, the advantages and disadvantages of various models coexist. Before the setting of the new theory and new model, LNT model is still the most scientific attitude. (author)

  19. Tornado hazard model with the variation effects of tornado intensity along the path length

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirakuchi, Hiromaru; Nohara, Daisuke; Sugimoto, Soichiro; Eguchi, Yuzuru; Hattori, Yasuo

    2015-01-01

    Most of Japanese tornados have been reported near the coast line, where all of Japanese nuclear power plants are located. It is necessary for Japanese electric power companies to assess tornado risks on the plants according to a new regulation in 2013. The new regulatory guide exemplifies a tornado hazard model, which cannot consider the variation of tornado intensity along the path length and consequently produces conservative risk estimates. The guide also recommends the long narrow strip area along the coast line with the width of 5-10 km as a region of interest, although the model tends to estimate inadequate wind speeds due to the limit of application. The purpose of this study is to propose a new tornado hazard model which can be apply to the long narrow strip area. The new model can also consider the variation of tornado intensity along the path length and across the path width. (author)

  20. Preparing a seismic hazard model for Switzerland: the view from PEGASOS Expert Group 3 (EG1c)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Musson, R. M. W. [British Geological Survey, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA (United Kingdom); Sellami, S. [Swiss Seismological Service, ETH-Hoenggerberg, Zuerich (Switzerland); Bruestle, W. [Regierungspraesidium Freiburg, Abt. 9: Landesamt fuer Geologie, Rohstoffe und Bergbau, Ref. 98: Landeserdbebendienst, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany)

    2009-05-15

    The seismic hazard model used in the PEGASOS project for assessing earth-quake hazard at four NPP sites was a composite of four sub-models, each produced by a team of three experts. In this paper, one of these models is described in detail by the authors. A criticism sometimes levelled at probabilistic seismic hazard studies is that the process by which seismic source zones are arrived at is obscure, subjective and inconsistent. Here, we attempt to recount the stages by which the model evolved, and the decisions made along the way. In particular, a macro-to-micro approach was used, in which three main stages can be described. The first was the characterisation of the overall kinematic model, the 'big picture' of regional seismo-genesis. Secondly, this was refined to a more detailed seismotectonic model. Lastly, this was used as the basis of individual sources, for which parameters can be assessed. Some basic questions had also to be answered about aspects of the approach to modelling to be used: for instance, is spatial smoothing an appropriate tool to apply? Should individual fault sources be modelled in an intra-plate environment? Also, the extent to which alternative modelling decisions should be expressed in a logic tree structure has to be considered. (author)

  1. Preparing a seismic hazard model for Switzerland: the view from PEGASOS Expert Group 3 (EG1c)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Musson, R. M. W.; Sellami, S.; Bruestle, W.

    2009-01-01

    The seismic hazard model used in the PEGASOS project for assessing earth-quake hazard at four NPP sites was a composite of four sub-models, each produced by a team of three experts. In this paper, one of these models is described in detail by the authors. A criticism sometimes levelled at probabilistic seismic hazard studies is that the process by which seismic source zones are arrived at is obscure, subjective and inconsistent. Here, we attempt to recount the stages by which the model evolved, and the decisions made along the way. In particular, a macro-to-micro approach was used, in which three main stages can be described. The first was the characterisation of the overall kinematic model, the 'big picture' of regional seismo-genesis. Secondly, this was refined to a more detailed seismotectonic model. Lastly, this was used as the basis of individual sources, for which parameters can be assessed. Some basic questions had also to be answered about aspects of the approach to modelling to be used: for instance, is spatial smoothing an appropriate tool to apply? Should individual fault sources be modelled in an intra-plate environment? Also, the extent to which alternative modelling decisions should be expressed in a logic tree structure has to be considered. (author)

  2. Using remotely sensed data and stochastic models to simulate realistic flood hazard footprints across the continental US

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, P. D.; Quinn, N.; Sampson, C. C.; Smith, A.; Wing, O.; Neal, J. C.

    2017-12-01

    Remotely sensed data has transformed the field of large scale hydraulic modelling. New digital elevation, hydrography and river width data has allowed such models to be created for the first time, and remotely sensed observations of water height, slope and water extent has allowed them to be calibrated and tested. As a result, we are now able to conduct flood risk analyses at national, continental or even global scales. However, continental scale analyses have significant additional complexity compared to typical flood risk modelling approaches. Traditional flood risk assessment uses frequency curves to define the magnitude of extreme flows at gauging stations. The flow values for given design events, such as the 1 in 100 year return period flow, are then used to drive hydraulic models in order to produce maps of flood hazard. Such an approach works well for single gauge locations and local models because over relatively short river reaches (say 10-60km) one can assume that the return period of an event does not vary. At regional to national scales and across multiple river catchments this assumption breaks down, and for a given flood event the return period will be different at different gauging stations, a pattern known as the event `footprint'. Despite this, many national scale risk analyses still use `constant in space' return period hazard layers (e.g. the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas) in their calculations. Such an approach can estimate potential exposure, but will over-estimate risk and cannot determine likely flood losses over a whole region or country. We address this problem by using a stochastic model to simulate many realistic extreme event footprints based on observed gauged flows and the statistics of gauge to gauge correlations. We take the entire USGS gauge data catalogue for sites with > 45 years of record and use a conditional approach for multivariate extreme values to generate sets of flood events with realistic return period variation in

  3. Comparative hazard analysis and toxicological modeling of diverse nanomaterials using the embryonic zebrafish (EZ) metric of toxicity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harper, Bryan; Thomas, Dennis; Chikkagoudar, Satish; Baker, Nathan; Tang, Kaizhi; Heredia-Langner, Alejandro; Lins, Roberto; Harper, Stacey

    2015-01-01

    The integration of rapid assays, large datasets, informatics, and modeling can overcome current barriers in understanding nanomaterial structure–toxicity relationships by providing a weight-of-the-evidence mechanism to generate hazard rankings for nanomaterials. Here, we present the use of a rapid, low-cost assay to perform screening-level toxicity evaluations of nanomaterials in vivo. Calculated EZ Metric scores, a combined measure of morbidity and mortality in developing embryonic zebrafish, were established at realistic exposure levels and used to develop a hazard ranking of diverse nanomaterial toxicity. Hazard ranking and clustering analysis of 68 diverse nanomaterials revealed distinct patterns of toxicity related to both the core composition and outermost surface chemistry of nanomaterials. The resulting clusters guided the development of a surface chemistry-based model of gold nanoparticle toxicity. Our findings suggest that risk assessments based on the size and core composition of nanomaterials alone may be wholly inappropriate, especially when considering complex engineered nanomaterials. Research should continue to focus on methodologies for determining nanomaterial hazard based on multiple sub-lethal responses following realistic, low-dose exposures, thus increasing the availability of quantitative measures of nanomaterial hazard to support the development of nanoparticle structure–activity relationships

  4. Comparative hazard analysis and toxicological modeling of diverse nanomaterials using the embryonic zebrafish (EZ) metric of toxicity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harper, Bryan [Oregon State University (United States); Thomas, Dennis; Chikkagoudar, Satish; Baker, Nathan [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (United States); Tang, Kaizhi [Intelligent Automation, Inc. (United States); Heredia-Langner, Alejandro [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (United States); Lins, Roberto [CPqAM, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ-PE (Brazil); Harper, Stacey, E-mail: stacey.harper@oregonstate.edu [Oregon State University (United States)

    2015-06-15

    The integration of rapid assays, large datasets, informatics, and modeling can overcome current barriers in understanding nanomaterial structure–toxicity relationships by providing a weight-of-the-evidence mechanism to generate hazard rankings for nanomaterials. Here, we present the use of a rapid, low-cost assay to perform screening-level toxicity evaluations of nanomaterials in vivo. Calculated EZ Metric scores, a combined measure of morbidity and mortality in developing embryonic zebrafish, were established at realistic exposure levels and used to develop a hazard ranking of diverse nanomaterial toxicity. Hazard ranking and clustering analysis of 68 diverse nanomaterials revealed distinct patterns of toxicity related to both the core composition and outermost surface chemistry of nanomaterials. The resulting clusters guided the development of a surface chemistry-based model of gold nanoparticle toxicity. Our findings suggest that risk assessments based on the size and core composition of nanomaterials alone may be wholly inappropriate, especially when considering complex engineered nanomaterials. Research should continue to focus on methodologies for determining nanomaterial hazard based on multiple sub-lethal responses following realistic, low-dose exposures, thus increasing the availability of quantitative measures of nanomaterial hazard to support the development of nanoparticle structure–activity relationships.

  5. Seismic Hazard Assessment at Esfaraen‒Bojnurd Railway, North‒East of Iran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haerifard, S.; Jarahi, H.; Pourkermani, M.; Almasian, M.

    2018-01-01

    The objective of this study is to evaluate the seismic hazard at the Esfarayen-Bojnurd railway using the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) method. This method was carried out based on a recent data set to take into account the historic seismicity and updated instrumental seismicity. A homogenous earthquake catalogue was compiled and a proposed seismic sources model was presented. Attenuation equations that recently recommended by experts and developed based upon earthquake data obtained from tectonic environments similar to those in and around the studied area were weighted and used for assessment of seismic hazard in the frame of logic tree approach. Considering a grid of 1.2 × 1.2 km covering the study area, ground acceleration for every node was calculated. Hazard maps at bedrock conditions were produced for peak ground acceleration, in addition to return periods of 74, 475 and 2475 years.

  6. Integrated approach for coastal hazards and risks in Sri Lanka

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcin, M.; Desprats, J. F.; Fontaine, M.; Pedreros, R.; Attanayake, N.; Fernando, S.; Siriwardana, C. H. E. R.; de Silva, U.; Poisson, B.

    2008-06-01

    The devastating impact of the tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the shores of the Indian Ocean recalled the importance of knowledge and the taking into account of coastal hazards. Sri Lanka was one of the countries most affected by this tsunami (e.g. 30 000 dead, 1 million people homeless and 70% of the fishing fleet destroyed). Following this tsunami, as part of the French post-tsunami aid, a project to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS) on coastal hazards and risks was funded. This project aims to define, at a pilot site, a methodology for multiple coastal hazards assessment that might be useful for the post-tsunami reconstruction and for development planning. This methodology could be applied to the whole coastline of Sri Lanka. The multi-hazard approach deals with very different coastal processes in terms of dynamics as well as in terms of return period. The first elements of this study are presented here. We used a set of tools integrating a GIS, numerical simulations and risk scenario modelling. While this action occurred in response to the crisis caused by the tsunami, it was decided to integrate other coastal hazards into the study. Although less dramatic than the tsunami these remain responsible for loss of life and damage. Furthermore, the establishment of such a system could not ignore the longer-term effects of climate change on coastal hazards in Sri Lanka. This GIS integrates the physical and demographic data available in Sri Lanka that is useful for assessing the coastal hazards and risks. In addition, these data have been used in numerical modelling of the waves generated during periods of monsoon as well as for the December 2004 tsunami. Risk scenarios have also been assessed for test areas and validated by field data acquired during the project. The results obtained from the models can be further integrated into the GIS and contribute to its enrichment and to help in better assessment and mitigation of these risks. The coastal-hazards

  7. Integrated approach for coastal hazards and risks in Sri Lanka

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Garcin

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The devastating impact of the tsunami of 26 December 2004 on the shores of the Indian Ocean recalled the importance of knowledge and the taking into account of coastal hazards. Sri Lanka was one of the countries most affected by this tsunami (e.g. 30 000 dead, 1 million people homeless and 70% of the fishing fleet destroyed. Following this tsunami, as part of the French post-tsunami aid, a project to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS on coastal hazards and risks was funded. This project aims to define, at a pilot site, a methodology for multiple coastal hazards assessment that might be useful for the post-tsunami reconstruction and for development planning. This methodology could be applied to the whole coastline of Sri Lanka.

    The multi-hazard approach deals with very different coastal processes in terms of dynamics as well as in terms of return period. The first elements of this study are presented here. We used a set of tools integrating a GIS, numerical simulations and risk scenario modelling. While this action occurred in response to the crisis caused by the tsunami, it was decided to integrate other coastal hazards into the study. Although less dramatic than the tsunami these remain responsible for loss of life and damage. Furthermore, the establishment of such a system could not ignore the longer-term effects of climate change on coastal hazards in Sri Lanka.

    This GIS integrates the physical and demographic data available in Sri Lanka that is useful for assessing the coastal hazards and risks. In addition, these data have been used in numerical modelling of the waves generated during periods of monsoon as well as for the December 2004 tsunami. Risk scenarios have also been assessed for test areas and validated by field data acquired during the project. The results obtained from the models can be further integrated into the GIS and contribute to its enrichment and to help in better assessment and mitigation

  8. User's manual of a computer code for seismic hazard evaluation for assessing the threat to a facility by fault model. SHEAT-FM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugino, Hideharu; Onizawa, Kunio; Suzuki, Masahide

    2005-09-01

    To establish the reliability evaluation method for aged structural component, we developed a probabilistic seismic hazard evaluation code SHEAT-FM (Seismic Hazard Evaluation for Assessing the Threat to a facility site - Fault Model) using a seismic motion prediction method based on fault model. In order to improve the seismic hazard evaluation, this code takes the latest knowledge in the field of earthquake engineering into account. For example, the code involves a group delay time of observed records and an update process model of active fault. This report describes the user's guide of SHEAT-FM, including the outline of the seismic hazard evaluation, specification of input data, sample problem for a model site, system information and execution method. (author)

  9. Hazardous waste management in the Pacific basin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cirillo, R.R.; Chiu, S.; Chun, K.C.; Conzelmann, G. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States); Carpenter, R.A.; Indriyanto, S.H. [East-West Center, Honolulu, HI (United States)

    1994-11-01

    Hazardous waste control activities in Asia and the Pacific have been reviewed. The review includes China (mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. It covers the sources of hazardous waste, the government structure for dealing with hazardous waste, and current hazardous waste control activities in each country. In addition, the hazardous waste program activities of US government agencies, US private-sector organizations, and international organizations are reviewed. The objective of these reviews is to provide a comprehensive picture of the current hazardous waste problems and the waste management approaches being used to address them so that new program activities can be designed more efficiently.

  10. Intelligent systems for remote decommissioning in hazardous environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drotning, W.D.; Bennett, P.C.

    1991-01-01

    Investigation of advanced technologies utilizing intelligent machines is being supported jointly by the US Department of Energy Offices of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (DOE/RW) and Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (DOE/EM) for automation of transportation package handling operations at nuclear facilities and of nuclear waste site remediation efforts. Handling operation requirements include identification, location, and health physics operation, followed by bolting/unbolting operations and package disassembly. To accommodate these operations and the diversity of packages, fast model-based automated programming and force feedback control of a robotic cask handling system were developed. In addition, sensor-directed model-based robotic control has been demonstrated for application to hazardous material cleanup. In this application, a graphical interface is used to simulate and evaluate operator-controlled motions and provide telerobotic control of the system. Remote automated handling technologies developed through these programs have the potential to decrease worker exposure and increase efficiency during decommissioning activities in hazardous environments. 8 refs., 4 figs

  11. Applying the Land Use Portfolio Model with Hazus to analyse risk from natural hazard events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinitz, Laura B.; Taketa, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes and demonstrates the integration of two geospatial decision-support systems for natural-hazard risk assessment and management. Hazus is a risk-assessment tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to identify risks and estimate the severity of risk from natural hazards. The Land Use Portfolio Model (LUPM) is a risk-management tool developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to evaluate plans or actions intended to reduce risk from natural hazards. We analysed three mitigation policies for one earthquake scenario in the San Francisco Bay area to demonstrate the added value of using Hazus and the LUPM together. The demonstration showed that Hazus loss estimates can be input to the LUPM to obtain estimates of losses avoided through mitigation, rates of return on mitigation investment, and measures of uncertainty. Together, they offer a more comprehensive approach to help with decisions for reducing risk from natural hazards.

  12. Checking Fine and Gray subdistribution hazards model with cumulative sums of residuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Jianing; Scheike, Thomas; Zhang, Mei Jie

    2015-01-01

    Recently, Fine and Gray (J Am Stat Assoc 94:496–509, 1999) proposed a semi-parametric proportional regression model for the subdistribution hazard function which has been used extensively for analyzing competing risks data. However, failure of model adequacy could lead to severe bias in parameter...... estimation, and only a limited contribution has been made to check the model assumptions. In this paper, we present a class of analytical methods and graphical approaches for checking the assumptions of Fine and Gray’s model. The proposed goodness-of-fit test procedures are based on the cumulative sums...

  13. More About Hazard-Response Robot For Combustible Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Henry W.; Ohm, Timothy R.

    1995-01-01

    Report presents additional information about design and capabilities of mobile hazard-response robot called "Hazbot III." Designed to operate safely in combustible and/or toxic atmosphere. Includes cameras and chemical sensors helping human technicians determine location and nature of hazard so human emergency team can decide how to eliminate hazard without approaching themselves.

  14. 49 CFR 172.555 - POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard. 172.555 Section... REQUIREMENTS, AND SECURITY PLANS Placarding § 172.555 POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard. (a) Except for size and color, the POISON INHALATION HAZARD placard must be as follows: ER22JY97.025 (b) In addition to...

  15. LAV@HAZARD: a Web-GIS Framework for Real-Time Forecasting of Lava Flow Hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Negro, C.; Bilotta, G.; Cappello, A.; Ganci, G.; Herault, A.

    2014-12-01

    Crucial to lava flow hazard assessment is the development of tools for real-time prediction of flow paths, flow advance rates, and final flow lengths. Accurate prediction of flow paths and advance rates requires not only rapid assessment of eruption conditions (especially effusion rate) but also improved models of lava flow emplacement. Here we present the LAV@HAZARD web-GIS framework, which combines spaceborne remote sensing techniques and numerical simulations for real-time forecasting of lava flow hazards. By using satellite-derived discharge rates to drive a lava flow emplacement model, LAV@HAZARD allows timely definition of parameters and maps essential for hazard assessment, including the propagation time of lava flows and the maximum run-out distance. We take advantage of the flexibility of the HOTSAT thermal monitoring system to process satellite images coming from sensors with different spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions. HOTSAT was designed to ingest infrared satellite data acquired by the MODIS and SEVIRI sensors to output hot spot location, lava thermal flux and discharge rate. We use LAV@HAZARD to merge this output with the MAGFLOW physics-based model to simulate lava flow paths and to update, in a timely manner, flow simulations. Thus, any significant changes in lava discharge rate are included in the predictions. A significant benefit in terms of computational speed was obtained thanks to the parallel implementation of MAGFLOW on graphic processing units (GPUs). All this useful information has been gathered into the LAV@HAZARD platform which, due to the high degree of interactivity, allows generation of easily readable maps and a fast way to explore alternative scenarios. We will describe and demonstrate the operation of this framework using a variety of case studies pertaining to Mt Etna, Sicily. Although this study was conducted on Mt Etna, the approach used is designed to be applicable to other volcanic areas around the world.

  16. 49 CFR 172.429 - POISON INHALATION HAZARD label.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false POISON INHALATION HAZARD label. 172.429 Section... REQUIREMENTS, AND SECURITY PLANS Labeling § 172.429 POISON INHALATION HAZARD label. (a) Except for size and color, the POISON INHALATION HAZARD label must be as follows: ER22JY97.023 (b) In addition to complying...

  17. Staff technical position on investigations to identify fault displacement hazards and seismic hazards at a geologic repository

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McConnell, K.I.; Blackford, M.E.; Ibrahim, A.K.

    1992-07-01

    The purpose of this Staff Technical Position (STP) is to provide guidance to the US Department of Energy (DOE) on acceptable geologic repository investigations that can be used to identify fault displacement hazards and seismic hazards. ne staff considers that the approach this STP takes to investigations of fault displacement and seismic phenomena is appropriate for the collection of sufficient data for input to analyses of fault displacement hazards and seismic hazards, both for the preclosure and postclosure performance periods. However, detailed analyses of fault displacement and seismic data, such as those required for comprehensive assessments of repository performance, may identify the need for additional investigations. Section 2.0 of this STP describes the 10 CFR Part 60 requirements that form the basis for investigations to describe fault displacement hazards and seismic hazards at a geologic repository. Technical position statements and corresponding discussions are presented in Sections 3.0 and 4.0, respectively. Technical position topics in this STP are categorized thusly: (1) investigation considerations, (2) investigations for fault-displacement hazards, and (3) investigations for seismic hazards

  18. BEHAVIORAL HAZARD IN HEALTH INSURANCE*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baicker, Katherine; Mullainathan, Sendhil; Schwartzstein, Joshua

    2015-01-01

    A fundamental implication of standard moral hazard models is overuse of low-value medical care because copays are lower than costs. In these models, the demand curve alone can be used to make welfare statements, a fact relied on by much empirical work. There is ample evidence, though, that people misuse care for a different reason: mistakes, or “behavioral hazard.” Much high-value care is underused even when patient costs are low, and some useless care is bought even when patients face the full cost. In the presence of behavioral hazard, welfare calculations using only the demand curve can be off by orders of magnitude or even be the wrong sign. We derive optimal copay formulas that incorporate both moral and behavioral hazard, providing a theoretical foundation for value-based insurance design and a way to interpret behavioral “nudges.” Once behavioral hazard is taken into account, health insurance can do more than just provide financial protection—it can also improve health care efficiency. PMID:23930294

  19. Engineering Applications Using Probabilistic Aftershock Hazard Analyses: Aftershock Hazard Map and Load Combination of Aftershocks and Tsunamis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byunghyun Choi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, we observed that aftershocks tended to occur in a wide region after such a large earthquake. These aftershocks resulted in secondary damage or delayed rescue and recovery activities. In addition, it has been reported that there are regions where the intensity of the vibrations owing to the aftershocks was much stronger than those associated with the main shock. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the seismic risk associated with aftershocks. We used the data regarding aftershocks that was obtained from the Tohoku earthquake and various other historically large earthquakes. We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of the aftershocks using the Gutenberg–Richter law and the modified Omori law. Subsequently, we previously proposed a probabilistic aftershock occurrence model that is expected to be useful to develop plans for recovery activities after future large earthquakes. In this study, the probabilistic aftershock hazard analysis is used to create aftershock hazard maps. We propose a hazard map focusing on the probability of aftershocks on the scale of the main shock for use with a recovery activity plan. Following the lessons learned from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, we focus on the simultaneous occurrence of tsunamis and aftershocks just after a great subduction earthquake. The probabilistic aftershock hazard analysis is used to derive load combination equations of the load and resistance factor design. This design is intended to simultaneously consider tsunamis and aftershocks for tsunami-resistant designs of tsunami evacuation buildings.

  20. Probabilistic Volcanic Multi-Hazard Assessment at Somma-Vesuvius (Italy): coupling Bayesian Belief Networks with a physical model for lahar propagation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tierz, Pablo; Woodhouse, Mark; Phillips, Jeremy; Sandri, Laura; Selva, Jacopo; Marzocchi, Warner; Odbert, Henry

    2017-04-01

    Volcanoes are extremely complex physico-chemical systems where magma formed at depth breaks into the planet's surface resulting in major hazards from local to global scales. Volcano physics are dominated by non-linearities, and complicated spatio-temporal interrelationships which make volcanic hazards stochastic (i.e. not deterministic) by nature. In this context, probabilistic assessments are required to quantify the large uncertainties related to volcanic hazards. Moreover, volcanoes are typically multi-hazard environments where different hazardous processes can occur whether simultaneously or in succession. In particular, explosive volcanoes are able to accumulate, through tephra fallout and Pyroclastic Density Currents (PDCs), large amounts of pyroclastic material into the drainage basins surrounding the volcano. This addition of fresh particulate material alters the local/regional hydrogeological equilibrium and increases the frequency and magnitude of sediment-rich aqueous flows, commonly known as lahars. The initiation and volume of rain-triggered lahars may depend on: rainfall intensity and duration; antecedent rainfall; terrain slope; thickness, permeability and hydraulic diffusivity of the tephra deposit; etc. Quantifying these complex interrelationships (and their uncertainties), in a tractable manner, requires a structured but flexible probabilistic approach. A Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) is a directed acyclic graph that allows the representation of the joint probability distribution for a set of uncertain variables in a compact and efficient way, by exploiting unconditional and conditional independences between these variables. Once constructed and parametrized, the BBN uses Bayesian inference to perform causal (e.g. forecast) and/or evidential reasoning (e.g. explanation) about query variables, given some evidence. In this work, we illustrate how BBNs can be used to model the influence of several variables on the generation of rain-triggered lahars

  1. Impact of earthquake source complexity and land elevation data resolution on tsunami hazard assessment and fatality estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhammad, Ario; Goda, Katsuichiro

    2018-03-01

    This study investigates the impact of model complexity in source characterization and digital elevation model (DEM) resolution on the accuracy of tsunami hazard assessment and fatality estimation through a case study in Padang, Indonesia. Two types of earthquake source models, i.e. complex and uniform slip models, are adopted by considering three resolutions of DEMs, i.e. 150 m, 50 m, and 10 m. For each of the three grid resolutions, 300 complex source models are generated using new statistical prediction models of earthquake source parameters developed from extensive finite-fault models of past subduction earthquakes, whilst 100 uniform slip models are constructed with variable fault geometry without slip heterogeneity. The results highlight that significant changes to tsunami hazard and fatality estimates are observed with regard to earthquake source complexity and grid resolution. Coarse resolution (i.e. 150 m) leads to inaccurate tsunami hazard prediction and fatality estimation, whilst 50-m and 10-m resolutions produce similar results. However, velocity and momentum flux are sensitive to the grid resolution and hence, at least 10-m grid resolution needs to be implemented when considering flow-based parameters for tsunami hazard and risk assessments. In addition, the results indicate that the tsunami hazard parameters and fatality number are more sensitive to the complexity of earthquake source characterization than the grid resolution. Thus, the uniform models are not recommended for probabilistic tsunami hazard and risk assessments. Finally, the findings confirm that uncertainties of tsunami hazard level and fatality in terms of depth, velocity and momentum flux can be captured and visualized through the complex source modeling approach. From tsunami risk management perspectives, this indeed creates big data, which are useful for making effective and robust decisions.

  2. A structure for models of hazardous materials with complex behavior

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodean, H.C.

    1991-01-01

    Most atmospheric dispersion models used to assess the environmental consequences of accidental releases of hazardous chemicals do not have the capability to simulate the pertinent chemical and physical processes associated with the release of the material and its mixing with the atmosphere. The purpose of this paper is to present a materials sub-model with the flexibility to simulate the chemical and physical behaviour of a variety of materials released into the atmosphere. The model, which is based on thermodynamic equilibrium, incorporates the ideal gas law, temperature-dependent vapor pressure equations, temperature-dependent dissociation reactions, and reactions with atmospheric water vapor. The model equations, written in terms of pressure ratios and dimensionless parameters, are used to construct equilibrium diagrams with temperature and the mass fraction of the material in the mixture as coordinates. The model's versatility is demonstrated by its application to the release of UF 6 and N 2 O 4 , two materials with very different physical and chemical properties. (author)

  3. Afghanistan Multi-Risk Assessment to Natural Hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diermanse, Ferdinand; Daniell, James; Pollino, Maurizio; Glover, James; Bouwer, Laurens; de Bel, Mark; Schaefer, Andreas; Puglisi, Claudio; Winsemius, Hessel; Burzel, Andreas; Ammann, Walter; Aliparast, Mojtaba; Jongman, Brenden; Ranghieri, Federica; Fallesen, Ditte

    2017-04-01

    The geographical location of Afghanistan and years of environmental degradation in the country make Afghanistan highly prone to intense and recurring natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, snow avalanches, landslides, and droughts. These occur in addition to man-made disasters resulting in the frequent loss of live, livelihoods, and property. Since 1980, disasters caused by natural hazards have affected 9 million people and caused over 20,000 fatalities in Afghanistan. The creation, understanding and accessibility of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk information is key for effective management of disaster risk. This is especially true in Afghanistan, where reconstruction after recent natural disasters and military conflicts is on-going and will continue over the coming years. So far, there has been limited disaster risk information produced in Afghanistan, and information that does exist typically lacks standard methodology and does not have uniform geo-spatial coverage. There are currently no available risk assessment studies that cover all major natural hazards in Afghanistan, which can be used to assess the costs and benefits of different resilient reconstruction and disaster risk reduction strategies. As a result, the Government of Afghanistan has limited information regarding current and future disaster risk and the effectiveness of policy options on which to base their reconstruction and risk reduction decisions. To better understand natural hazard and disaster risk, the World Bank and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) are supporting the development of new fluvial flood, flash flood, drought, landslide, avalanche and seismic risk information in Afghanistan, as well as a first-order analysis of the costs and benefits of resilient reconstruction and risk reduction strategies undertaken by the authors. The hazard component is the combination of probability and magnitude of natural hazards. Hazard analyses were carried out

  4. A novel concurrent pictorial choice model of mood-induced relapse in hazardous drinkers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardy, Lorna; Hogarth, Lee

    2017-12-01

    This study tested whether a novel concurrent pictorial choice procedure, inspired by animal self-administration models, is sensitive to the motivational effect of negative mood induction on alcohol-seeking in hazardous drinkers. Forty-eight hazardous drinkers (scoring ≥7 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Inventory) recruited from the community completed measures of alcohol dependence, depression, and drinking coping motives. Baseline alcohol-seeking was measured by percent choice to enlarge alcohol- versus food-related thumbnail images in two alternative forced-choice trials. Negative and positive mood was then induced in succession by means of self-referential affective statements and music, and percent alcohol choice was measured after each induction in the same way as baseline. Baseline alcohol choice correlated with alcohol dependence severity, r = .42, p = .003, drinking coping motives (in two questionnaires, r = .33, p = .02 and r = .46, p = .001), and depression symptoms, r = .31, p = .03. Alcohol choice was increased by negative mood over baseline (p choice was not related to gender, alcohol dependence, drinking to cope, or depression symptoms (ps ≥ .37). The concurrent pictorial choice measure is a sensitive index of the relative value of alcohol, and provides an accessible experimental model to study negative mood-induced relapse mechanisms in hazardous drinkers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Hazardous waste disposal sites: Report 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-12-01

    Arkansas, like virtually every other state, is faced with a deluge of hazardous waste. There is a critical need for increased hazardous waste disposal capacity to insure continued industrial development. Additionally, perpetual maintenance of closed hazardous waste disposal sites is essential for the protection of the environment and human health. Brief descriptions of legislative and regulatory action in six other states are provided in this report. A report prepared for the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. outlines three broad approaches states may take in dealing with their hazardous waste disposal problems. These are described. State assistance in siting and post-closure maintenance, with private ownership of site and facility, appears to be the most advantageous option

  6. Additive gamma frailty models with applications to competing risks in related individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Frank; Scheike, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Epidemiological studies of related individuals are often complicated by the fact that follow-up on the event type of interest is incomplete due to the occurrence of other events. We suggest a class of frailty models with cause-specific hazards for correlated competing events in related individual...

  7. Household hazardous waste disposal to landfill: Using LandSim to model leachate migration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slack, Rebecca J.; Gronow, Jan R.; Hall, David H.; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos

    2007-01-01

    Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachate contains a number of aquatic pollutants. A specific MSW stream often referred to as household hazardous waste (HHW) can be considered to contribute a large proportion of these pollutants. This paper describes the use of the LandSim (Landfill Performance Simulation) modelling program to assess the environmental consequences of leachate release from a generic MSW landfill in receipt of co-disposed HHW. Heavy metals and organic pollutants were found to migrate into the zones beneath a model landfill site over a 20,000-year period. Arsenic and chromium were found to exceed European Union and US-EPA drinking water standards at the unsaturated zone/aquifer interface, with levels of mercury and cadmium exceeding minimum reporting values (MRVs). The findings demonstrate the pollution potential arising from HHW disposal with MSW. - Aquatic pollutants linked to the disposal of household hazardous waste in municipal landfills have the potential to exist in soil and groundwater for many years

  8. Application of decision tree model for the ground subsidence hazard mapping near abandoned underground coal mines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Saro; Park, Inhye

    2013-09-30

    Subsidence of ground caused by underground mines poses hazards to human life and property. This study analyzed the hazard to ground subsidence using factors that can affect ground subsidence and a decision tree approach in a geographic information system (GIS). The study area was Taebaek, Gangwon-do, Korea, where many abandoned underground coal mines exist. Spatial data, topography, geology, and various ground-engineering data for the subsidence area were collected and compiled in a database for mapping ground-subsidence hazard (GSH). The subsidence area was randomly split 50/50 for training and validation of the models. A data-mining classification technique was applied to the GSH mapping, and decision trees were constructed using the chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID) and the quick, unbiased, and efficient statistical tree (QUEST) algorithms. The frequency ratio model was also applied to the GSH mapping for comparing with probabilistic model. The resulting GSH maps were validated using area-under-the-curve (AUC) analysis with the subsidence area data that had not been used for training the model. The highest accuracy was achieved by the decision tree model using CHAID algorithm (94.01%) comparing with QUEST algorithms (90.37%) and frequency ratio model (86.70%). These accuracies are higher than previously reported results for decision tree. Decision tree methods can therefore be used efficiently for GSH analysis and might be widely used for prediction of various spatial events. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  9. Hazard assessment for small torrent catchments - lessons learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisl, Julia; Huebl, Johannes

    2013-04-01

    The documentation of extreme events as a part of the integral risk management cycle is an important basis for the analysis and assessment of natural hazards. In July 2011 a flood event occurred in the Wölzer-valley in the province of Styria, Austria. For this event at the "Wölzerbach" a detailed event documentation was carried out, gathering data about rainfall, runoff and sediment transport as well as information on damaged objects, infrastructure or crops using various sources. The flood was triggered by heavy rainfalls in two tributaries of the Wölzer-river. Though a rain as well as a discharge gaging station exists for the Wölzer-river, the torrents affected by the high intensity rainfalls are ungaged. For these ungaged torrent catchments the common methods for hazard assessment were evaluated. The back-calculation of the rainfall event was done using a new approach for precipitation analysis. In torrent catchments especially small-scale and high-intensity rainfall events are mainly responsible for extreme events. Austria's weather surveillance radar is operated by the air traffic service "AustroControl". The usually available dataset is interpreted and shows divergences especially when it comes to high intensity rainfalls. For this study the raw data of the radar were requested and analysed. Further on the event was back-calculated with different rainfall-runoff models, hydraulic models and sediment transport models to obtain calibration parameters for future use in hazard assessment for this region. Since there are often problems with woody debris different scenarios were simulated. The calibrated and plausible results from the runoff models were used for the comparison with empirical approaches used in the practical sector. For the planning of mitigation measures of the Schöttl-torrent, which is one of the affected tributaries of the Wölzer-river, a physical scale model was used in addition to the insights of the event analysis to design a check dam

  10. Rapid SAR and GPS Measurements and Models for Hazard Science and Situational Awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, S. E.; Yun, S. H.; Hua, H.; Agram, P. S.; Liu, Z.; Moore, A. W.; Rosen, P. A.; Simons, M.; Webb, F.; Linick, J.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Sacco, G. F.; Polet, J.; Manipon, G.

    2016-12-01

    The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project for Natural Hazards is focused on rapidly generating higher level geodetic imaging products and placing them in the hands of the solid earth science and local, national, and international natural hazard communities by providing science product generation, exploration, and delivery capabilities at an operational level. Space-based geodetic measurement techniques such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), SAR-based change detection, and image pixel tracking have recently become critical additions to our toolset for understanding and mapping the damage caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods. Analyses of these data sets are still largely handcrafted following each event and are not generated rapidly and reliably enough for response to natural disasters or for timely analysis of large data sets. The ARIA project, a joint venture co-sponsored by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has been capturing the knowledge applied to these responses and building it into an automated infrastructure to generate imaging products in near real-time that can improve situational awareness for disaster response. In addition, the ARIA project is developing the capabilities to provide automated imaging and analysis capabilities necessary to keep up with the imminent increase in raw data from geodetic imaging missions planned for launch by NASA, as well as international space agencies. We will present the progress we have made on automating the analysis of SAR data for hazard monitoring and response using data from Sentinel 1a/b as well as continuous GPS stations. Since the beginning of our project, our team has imaged events and generated response products for events around the world. These response products have enabled many conversations with those in the disaster response community

  11. A model used to derive hazardous waste concentration limits aiming at the reduction of toxic and hazardous wastes. Applications to illustrate the discharge of secondary categories types B and C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paris, P.

    1989-11-01

    This report describes a model which may be used to derive hazardous waste concentration limits in order to prevent ground water pollution from a landfill disposal. First the leachate concentration limits are determined taking into account the attenuation capacity of the landfill-site as a whole; waste concentrations are then derived by an elution model which assumes a constant ratio between liquid-solid concentrations. In the example two types of landfill have been considered and in each case concentration limits have been calculated for some hazardous substances and compared with the corresponding regulatory limits. (author)

  12. Combining computational models for landslide hazard assessment of Guantánamo province, Cuba

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castellanos Abella, E.A.

    2008-01-01

    As part of the Cuban system for landslide disaster management, a methodology was developed for regional scale landslide hazard assessment, which is a combination of different models. The method was applied in Guantánamo province at 1:100 000 scale. The analysis started with an extensive aerial

  13. Three-dimensional displays for natural hazards analysis, using classified Landsat Thematic Mapper digital data and large-scale digital elevation models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butler, David R.; Walsh, Stephen J.; Brown, Daniel G.

    1991-01-01

    Methods are described for using Landsat Thematic Mapper digital data and digital elevation models for the display of natural hazard sites in a mountainous region of northwestern Montana, USA. Hazard zones can be easily identified on the three-dimensional images. Proximity of facilities such as highways and building locations to hazard sites can also be easily displayed. A temporal sequence of Landsat TM (or similar) satellite data sets could also be used to display landscape changes associated with dynamic natural hazard processes.

  14. TRENT2D WG: a smart web infrastructure for debris-flow modelling and hazard assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zorzi, Nadia; Rosatti, Giorgio; Zugliani, Daniel; Rizzi, Alessandro; Piffer, Stefano

    2016-04-01

    Mountain regions are naturally exposed to geomorphic flows, which involve large amounts of sediments and induce significant morphological modifications. The physical complexity of this class of phenomena represents a challenging issue for modelling, leading to elaborate theoretical frameworks and sophisticated numerical techniques. In general, geomorphic-flows models proved to be valid tools in hazard assessment and management. However, model complexity seems to represent one of the main obstacles to the diffusion of advanced modelling tools between practitioners and stakeholders, although the UE Flood Directive (2007/60/EC) requires risk management and assessment to be based on "best practices and best available technologies". Furthermore, several cutting-edge models are not particularly user-friendly and multiple stand-alone software are needed to pre- and post-process modelling data. For all these reasons, users often resort to quicker and rougher approaches, leading possibly to unreliable results. Therefore, some effort seems to be necessary to overcome these drawbacks, with the purpose of supporting and encouraging a widespread diffusion of the most reliable, although sophisticated, modelling tools. With this aim, this work presents TRENT2D WG, a new smart modelling solution for the state-of-the-art model TRENT2D (Armanini et al., 2009, Rosatti and Begnudelli, 2013), which simulates debris flows and hyperconcentrated flows adopting a two-phase description over a mobile bed. TRENT2D WG is a web infrastructure joining advantages offered by the software-delivering model SaaS (Software as a Service) and by WebGIS technology and hosting a complete and user-friendly working environment for modelling. In order to develop TRENT2D WG, the model TRENT2D was converted into a service and exposed on a cloud server, transferring computational burdens from the user hardware to a high-performing server and reducing computational time. Then, the system was equipped with an

  15. Exploring the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception via real-time hazard identification, hazard classification, and rating tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borowsky, Avinoam; Oron-Gilad, Tal

    2013-10-01

    This study investigated the effects of driving experience on hazard awareness and risk perception skills. These topics have previously been investigated separately, yet a novel approach is suggested where hazard awareness and risk perception are examined concurrently. Young, newly qualified drivers, experienced drivers, and a group of commercial drivers, namely, taxi drivers performed three consecutive tasks: (1) observed 10 short movies of real-world driving situations and were asked to press a button each time they identified a hazardous situation; (2) observed one of three possible sub-sets of 8 movies (out of the 10 they have seen earlier) for the second time, and were asked to categorize them into an arbitrary number of clusters according to the similarity in their hazardous situation; and (3) observed the same sub-set for a third time and following each movie were asked to rate its level of hazardousness. The first task is considered a real-time identification task while the other two are performed using hindsight. During it participants' eye movements were recorded. Results showed that taxi drivers were more sensitive to hidden hazards than the other driver groups and that young-novices were the least sensitive. Young-novice drivers also relied heavily on materialized hazards in their categorization structure. In addition, it emerged that risk perception was derived from two major components: the likelihood of a crash and the severity of its outcome. Yet, the outcome was rarely considered under time pressure (i.e., in real-time hazard identification tasks). Using hindsight, when drivers were provided with the opportunity to rate the movies' hazardousness more freely (rating task) they considered both components. Otherwise, in the categorization task, they usually chose the severity of the crash outcome as their dominant criterion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. PHAZE, Parametric Hazard Function Estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    1 - Description of program or function: Phaze performs statistical inference calculations on a hazard function (also called a failure rate or intensity function) based on reported failure times of components that are repaired and restored to service. Three parametric models are allowed: the exponential, linear, and Weibull hazard models. The inference includes estimation (maximum likelihood estimators and confidence regions) of the parameters and of the hazard function itself, testing of hypotheses such as increasing failure rate, and checking of the model assumptions. 2 - Methods: PHAZE assumes that the failures of a component follow a time-dependent (or non-homogenous) Poisson process and that the failure counts in non-overlapping time intervals are independent. Implicit in the independence property is the assumption that the component is restored to service immediately after any failure, with negligible repair time. The failures of one component are assumed to be independent of those of another component; a proportional hazards model is used. Data for a component are called time censored if the component is observed for a fixed time-period, or plant records covering a fixed time-period are examined, and the failure times are recorded. The number of these failures is random. Data are called failure censored if the component is kept in service until a predetermined number of failures has occurred, at which time the component is removed from service. In this case, the number of failures is fixed, but the end of the observation period equals the final failure time and is random. A typical PHAZE session consists of reading failure data from a file prepared previously, selecting one of the three models, and performing data analysis (i.e., performing the usual statistical inference about the parameters of the model, with special emphasis on the parameter(s) that determine whether the hazard function is increasing). The final goals of the inference are a point estimate

  17. 77 FR 59675 - Compliance With Information Request, Flooding Hazard Reevaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-28

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2012-0222] Compliance With Information Request, Flooding Hazard... was needed in the areas of seismic and flooding design, and emergency preparedness. In addition to... licensees reevaluate flooding hazards at nuclear power plant sites using updated flooding hazard information...

  18. An Additive-Multiplicative Restricted Mean Residual Life Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mansourvar, Zahra; Martinussen, Torben; Scheike, Thomas H.

    2016-01-01

    mean residual life model to study the association between the restricted mean residual life function and potential regression covariates in the presence of right censoring. This model extends the proportional mean residual life model using an additive model as its covariate dependent baseline....... For the suggested model, some covariate effects are allowed to be time-varying. To estimate the model parameters, martingale estimating equations are developed, and the large sample properties of the resulting estimators are established. In addition, to assess the adequacy of the model, we investigate a goodness...

  19. Cox proportional hazards models have more statistical power than logistic regression models in cross-sectional genetic association studies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Net, Jeroen B.; Janssens, A. Cecile J. W.; Eijkemans, Marinus J. C.; Kastelein, John J. P.; Sijbrands, Eric J. G.; Steyerberg, Ewout W.

    2008-01-01

    Cross-sectional genetic association studies can be analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models with age as time scale, if age at onset of disease is known for the cases and age at data collection is known for the controls. We assessed to what degree and under what conditions Cox proportional

  20. A "mental models" approach to the communication of subsurface hydrology and hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Hazel; Stewart, Iain S.; Pahl, Sabine; Stokes, Alison

    2016-05-01

    Communicating information about geological and hydrological hazards relies on appropriately worded communications targeted at the needs of the audience. But what are these needs, and how does the geoscientist discern them? This paper adopts a psychological "mental models" approach to assess the public perception of the geological subsurface, presenting the results of attitudinal studies and surveys in three communities in the south-west of England. The findings reveal important preconceptions and misconceptions regarding the impact of hydrological systems and hazards on the geological subsurface, notably in terms of the persistent conceptualisation of underground rivers and the inferred relations between flooding and human activity. The study demonstrates how such mental models can provide geoscientists with empirical, detailed and generalised data of perceptions surrounding an issue, as well reveal unexpected outliers in perception that they may not have considered relevant, but which nevertheless may locally influence communication. Using this approach, geoscientists can develop information messages that more directly engage local concerns and create open engagement pathways based on dialogue, which in turn allow both geoscience "experts" and local "non-experts" to come together and understand each other more effectively.

  1. Controlling organic chemical hazards in food manufacturing: a hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ropkins, K; Beck, A J

    2002-08-01

    Hazard analysis by critical control points (HACCP) is a systematic approach to the identification, assessment and control of hazards. Effective HACCP requires the consideration of all hazards, i.e., chemical, microbiological and physical. However, to-date most 'in-place' HACCP procedures have tended to focus on the control of microbiological and physical food hazards. In general, the chemical component of HACCP procedures is either ignored or limited to applied chemicals, e.g., food additives and pesticides. In this paper we discuss the application of HACCP to a broader range of chemical hazards, using organic chemical contaminants as examples, and the problems that are likely to arise in the food manufacturing sector. Chemical HACCP procedures are likely to result in many of the advantages previously identified for microbiological HACCP procedures: more effective, efficient and economical than conventional end-point-testing methods. However, the high costs of analytical monitoring of chemical contaminants and a limited understanding of formulation and process optimisation as means of controlling chemical contamination of foods are likely to prevent chemical HACCP becoming as effective as microbiological HACCP.

  2. Integrating expert opinion with modelling for quantitative multi-hazard risk assessment in the Eastern Italian Alps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lixia; van Westen, Cees J.; Hussin, Haydar; Ciurean, Roxana L.; Turkington, Thea; Chavarro-Rincon, Diana; Shrestha, Dhruba P.

    2016-11-01

    Extreme rainfall events are the main triggering causes for hydro-meteorological hazards in mountainous areas, where development is often constrained by the limited space suitable for construction. In these areas, hazard and risk assessments are fundamental for risk mitigation, especially for preventive planning, risk communication and emergency preparedness. Multi-hazard risk assessment in mountainous areas at local and regional scales remain a major challenge because of lack of data related to past events and causal factors, and the interactions between different types of hazards. The lack of data leads to a high level of uncertainty in the application of quantitative methods for hazard and risk assessment. Therefore, a systematic approach is required to combine these quantitative methods with expert-based assumptions and decisions. In this study, a quantitative multi-hazard risk assessment was carried out in the Fella River valley, prone to debris flows and flood in the north-eastern Italian Alps. The main steps include data collection and development of inventory maps, definition of hazard scenarios, hazard assessment in terms of temporal and spatial probability calculation and intensity modelling, elements-at-risk mapping, estimation of asset values and the number of people, physical vulnerability assessment, the generation of risk curves and annual risk calculation. To compare the risk for each type of hazard, risk curves were generated for debris flows, river floods and flash floods. Uncertainties were expressed as minimum, average and maximum values of temporal and spatial probability, replacement costs of assets, population numbers, and physical vulnerability. These result in minimum, average and maximum risk curves. To validate this approach, a back analysis was conducted using the extreme hydro-meteorological event that occurred in August 2003 in the Fella River valley. The results show a good performance when compared to the historical damage reports.

  3. Modeling Flood Hazard Zones at the Sub-District Level with the Rational Model Integrated with GIS and Remote Sensing Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Asare-Kyei

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Robust risk assessment requires accurate flood intensity area mapping to allow for the identification of populations and elements at risk. However, available flood maps in West Africa lack spatial variability while global datasets have resolutions too coarse to be relevant for local scale risk assessment. Consequently, local disaster managers are forced to use traditional methods such as watermarks on buildings and media reports to identify flood hazard areas. In this study, remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS techniques were combined with hydrological and statistical models to delineate the spatial limits of flood hazard zones in selected communities in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin. The approach involves estimating peak runoff concentrations at different elevations and then applying statistical methods to develop a Flood Hazard Index (FHI. Results show that about half of the study areas fall into high intensity flood zones. Empirical validation using statistical confusion matrix and the principles of Participatory GIS show that flood hazard areas could be mapped at an accuracy ranging from 77% to 81%. This was supported with local expert knowledge which accurately classified 79% of communities deemed to be highly susceptible to flood hazard. The results will assist disaster managers to reduce the risk to flood disasters at the community level where risk outcomes are first materialized.

  4. An analysis of candidates for addition to the Clean Air Act list of hazardous air pollutants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sonya Lunder; Tracey J. Woodruff; Daniel A. Axelrad [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). School of Public Health

    2004-02-01

    There are 188 air toxics listed as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the Clean Air Act (CAA), based on their potential to adversely impact public health. This paper presents several analyses performed to screen potential candidates for addition to the HAPs list. We analyzed 1086 HAPs and potential HAPs, including chemicals regulated by the state of California or with emissions reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). HAPs and potential HAPs were ranked by their emissions to air, and by toxicity-weighted (tox-wtd) emissions for cancer and noncancer, using emissions information from the TRI and toxicity information from state and federal agencies. Separate consideration was given for persistent, bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs), reproductive or developmental toxins, and chemicals under evaluation for regulation as toxic air contaminants in California. Forty-four pollutants were identified as candidate HAPs based on three ranking analyses and whether they were a PBT or a reproductive or developmental toxin. Of these, nine qualified in two or three different rankings (ammonia (NH{sub 3}), copper (Cu), Cu compounds, nitric acid (HNO{sub 3}), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, sulfuric acid (H{sub 2}SO{sub 4}), vanadium (V) compounds, zinc (Zn), and Zn compounds). This analysis suggests further evaluation of several pollutants for possible addition to the CAA list of HAPs. 28 refs., 2 figs., 11 tabs.

  5. Landslides Hazard Assessment Using Different Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Coman Cristina

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Romania represents one of Europe’s countries with high landslides occurrence frequency. Landslide hazard maps are designed by considering the interaction of several factors which, by their joint action may affect the equilibrium state of the natural slopes. The aim of this paper is landslides hazard assessment using the methodology provided by the Romanian national legislation and a very largely used statistical method. The final results of these two analyses are quantitative or semi-quantitative landslides hazard maps, created in geographic information system environment. The data base used for this purpose includes: geological and hydrogeological data, digital terrain model, hydrological data, land use, seismic action, anthropic action and an inventory of active landslides. The GIS landslides hazard models were built for the geographical area of the Iasi city, located in the north-east side of Romania.

  6. Multi-hazard risk analysis related to hurricanes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Ning

    Hurricanes present major hazards to the United States. Associated with extreme winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surge, landfalling hurricanes often cause enormous structural damage to coastal regions. Hurricane damage risk assessment provides the basis for loss mitigation and related policy-making. Current hurricane risk models, however, often oversimplify the complex processes of hurricane damage. This dissertation aims to improve existing hurricane risk assessment methodology by coherently modeling the spatial-temporal processes of storm landfall, hazards, and damage. Numerical modeling technologies are used to investigate the multiplicity of hazards associated with landfalling hurricanes. The application and effectiveness of current weather forecasting technologies to predict hurricane hazards is investigated. In particular, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), with Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL)'s hurricane initialization scheme, is applied to the simulation of the wind and rainfall environment during hurricane landfall. The WRF model is further coupled with the Advanced Circulation (AD-CIRC) model to simulate storm surge in coastal regions. A case study examines the multiple hazards associated with Hurricane Isabel (2003). Also, a risk assessment methodology is developed to estimate the probability distribution of hurricane storm surge heights along the coast, particularly for data-scarce regions, such as New York City. This methodology makes use of relatively simple models, specifically a statistical/deterministic hurricane model and the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model, to simulate large numbers of synthetic surge events, and conducts statistical analysis. The estimation of hurricane landfall probability and hazards are combined with structural vulnerability models to estimate hurricane damage risk. Wind-induced damage mechanisms are extensively studied. An innovative windborne debris risk model is

  7. Seismic hazard, risk, and design for South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Mark D.; Harmsen, Stephen; Jaiswal, Kishor; Rukstales, Kenneth S.; Luco, Nicolas; Haller, Kathleen; Mueller, Charles; Shumway, Allison

    2018-01-01

    We calculate seismic hazard, risk, and design criteria across South America using the latest data, models, and methods to support public officials, scientists, and engineers in earthquake risk mitigation efforts. Updated continental scale seismic hazard models are based on a new seismicity catalog, seismicity rate models, evaluation of earthquake sizes, fault geometry and rate parameters, and ground‐motion models. Resulting probabilistic seismic hazard maps show peak ground acceleration, modified Mercalli intensity, and spectral accelerations at 0.2 and 1 s periods for 2%, 10%, and 50% probabilities of exceedance in 50 yrs. Ground shaking soil amplification at each site is calculated by considering uniform soil that is applied in modern building codes or by applying site‐specific factors based on VS30">VS30 shear‐wave velocities determined through a simple topographic proxy technique. We use these hazard models in conjunction with the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) model to calculate economic and casualty risk. Risk is computed by incorporating the new hazard values amplified by soil, PAGER fragility/vulnerability equations, and LandScan 2012 estimates of population exposure. We also calculate building design values using the guidelines established in the building code provisions. Resulting hazard and associated risk is high along the northern and western coasts of South America, reaching damaging levels of ground shaking in Chile, western Argentina, western Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and in localized areas distributed across the rest of the continent where historical earthquakes have occurred. Constructing buildings and other structures to account for strong shaking in these regions of high hazard and risk should mitigate losses and reduce casualties from effects of future earthquake strong ground shaking. National models should be developed by scientists and engineers in each country using the best

  8. Assessment of Debris Flow Potential Hazardous Zones Using Numerical Models in the Mountain Foothills of Santiago, Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celis, C.; Sepulveda, S. A.; Castruccio, A.; Lara, M.

    2017-12-01

    Debris and mudflows are some of the main geological hazards in the mountain foothills of Central Chile. The risk of flows triggered in the basins of ravines that drain the Andean frontal range into the capital city, Santiago, increases with time due to accelerated urban expansion. Susceptibility assessments were made by several authors to detect the main active ravines in the area. Macul and San Ramon ravines have a high to medium debris flow susceptibility, whereas Lo Cañas, Apoquindo and Las Vizcachas ravines have a medium to low debris flow susceptibility. This study emphasizes in delimiting the potential hazardous zones using the numerical simulation program RAMMS-Debris Flows with the Voellmy model approach, and the debris-flow model LAHARZ. This is carried out by back-calculating the frictional parameters in the depositional zone with a known event as the debris and mudflows in Macul and San Ramon ravines, on May 3rd, 1993, for the RAMMS approach. In the same scenario, we calibrate the coefficients to match conditions of the mountain foothills of Santiago for the LAHARZ model. We use the information obtained for every main ravine in the study area, mainly for the similarity in slopes and material transported. Simulations were made for the worst-case scenario, caused by the combination of intense rainfall storms, a high 0°C isotherm level and material availability in the basins where the flows are triggered. The results show that the runout distances are well simulated, therefore a debris-flow hazard map could be developed with these models. Correlation issues concerning the run-up, deposit thickness and transversal areas are reported. Hence, the models do not represent entirely the complexity of the phenomenon, but they are a reliable approximation for preliminary hazard maps.

  9. Seismic hazard analysis. A methodology for the Eastern United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernreuter, D L

    1980-08-01

    This report presents a probabilistic approach for estimating the seismic hazard in the Central and Eastern United States. The probabilistic model (Uniform Hazard Methodology) systematically incorporates the subjective opinion of several experts in the evaluation of seismic hazard. Subjective input, assumptions and associated hazard are kept separate for each expert so as to allow review and preserve diversity of opinion. The report is organized into five sections: Introduction, Methodology Comparison, Subjective Input, Uniform Hazard Methodology (UHM), and Uniform Hazard Spectrum. Section 2 Methodology Comparison, briefly describes the present approach and compares it with other available procedures. The remainder of the report focuses on the UHM. Specifically, Section 3 describes the elicitation of subjective input; Section 4 gives details of various mathematical models (earthquake source geometry, magnitude distribution, attenuation relationship) and how these models re combined to calculate seismic hazard. The lost section, Uniform Hazard Spectrum, highlights the main features of typical results. Specific results and sensitivity analyses are not presented in this report. (author)

  10. Tsunami-hazard assessment based on subaquatic slope-failure susceptibility and tsunami-inundation modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anselmetti, Flavio; Hilbe, Michael; Strupler, Michael; Baumgartner, Christoph; Bolz, Markus; Braschler, Urs; Eberli, Josef; Liniger, Markus; Scheiwiller, Peter; Strasser, Michael

    2015-04-01

    Due to their smaller dimensions and confined bathymetry, lakes act as model oceans that may be used as analogues for the much larger oceans and their margins. Numerous studies in the perialpine lakes of Central Europe have shown that their shores were repeatedly struck by several-meters-high tsunami waves, which were caused by subaquatic slides usually triggered by earthquake shaking. A profound knowledge of these hazards, their intensities and recurrence rates is needed in order to perform thorough tsunami-hazard assessment for the usually densely populated lake shores. In this context, we present results of a study combining i) basinwide slope-stability analysis of subaquatic sediment-charged slopes with ii) identification of scenarios for subaquatic slides triggered by seismic shaking, iii) forward modeling of resulting tsunami waves and iv) mapping of intensity of onshore inundation in populated areas. Sedimentological, stratigraphical and geotechnical knowledge of the potentially unstable sediment drape on the slopes is required for slope-stability assessment. Together with critical ground accelerations calculated from already failed slopes and paleoseismic recurrence rates, scenarios for subaquatic sediment slides are established. Following a previously used approach, the slides are modeled as a Bingham plastic on a 2D grid. The effect on the water column and wave propagation are simulated using the shallow-water equations (GeoClaw code), which also provide data for tsunami inundation, including flow depth, flow velocity and momentum as key variables. Combining these parameters leads to so called «intensity maps» for flooding that provide a link to the established hazard mapping framework, which so far does not include these phenomena. The current versions of these maps consider a 'worst case' deterministic earthquake scenario, however, similar maps can be calculated using probabilistic earthquake recurrence rates, which are expressed in variable amounts of

  11. Toward risk assessment 2.0: Safety supervisory control and model-based hazard monitoring for risk-informed safety interventions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Favarò, Francesca M.; Saleh, Joseph H.

    2016-01-01

    Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a staple in the engineering risk community, and it has become to some extent synonymous with the entire quantitative risk assessment undertaking. Limitations of PRA continue to occupy researchers, and workarounds are often proposed. After a brief review of this literature, we propose to address some of PRA's limitations by developing a novel framework and analytical tools for model-based system safety, or safety supervisory control, to guide safety interventions and support a dynamic approach to risk assessment and accident prevention. Our work shifts the emphasis from the pervading probabilistic mindset in risk assessment toward the notions of danger indices and hazard temporal contingency. The framework and tools here developed are grounded in Control Theory and make use of the state-space formalism in modeling dynamical systems. We show that the use of state variables enables the definition of metrics for accident escalation, termed hazard levels or danger indices, which measure the “proximity” of the system state to adverse events, and we illustrate the development of such indices. Monitoring of the hazard levels provides diagnostic information to support both on-line and off-line safety interventions. For example, we show how the application of the proposed tools to a rejected takeoff scenario provides new insight to support pilots’ go/no-go decisions. Furthermore, we augment the traditional state-space equations with a hazard equation and use the latter to estimate the times at which critical thresholds for the hazard level are (b)reached. This estimation process provides important prognostic information and produces a proxy for a time-to-accident metric or advance notice for an impending adverse event. The ability to estimate these two hazard coordinates, danger index and time-to-accident, offers many possibilities for informing system control strategies and improving accident prevention and risk mitigation

  12. Simple estimation procedures for regression analysis of interval-censored failure time data under the proportional hazards model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Jianguo; Feng, Yanqin; Zhao, Hui

    2015-01-01

    Interval-censored failure time data occur in many fields including epidemiological and medical studies as well as financial and sociological studies, and many authors have investigated their analysis (Sun, The statistical analysis of interval-censored failure time data, 2006; Zhang, Stat Modeling 9:321-343, 2009). In particular, a number of procedures have been developed for regression analysis of interval-censored data arising from the proportional hazards model (Finkelstein, Biometrics 42:845-854, 1986; Huang, Ann Stat 24:540-568, 1996; Pan, Biometrics 56:199-203, 2000). For most of these procedures, however, one drawback is that they involve estimation of both regression parameters and baseline cumulative hazard function. In this paper, we propose two simple estimation approaches that do not need estimation of the baseline cumulative hazard function. The asymptotic properties of the resulting estimates are given, and an extensive simulation study is conducted and indicates that they work well for practical situations.

  13. Radar image and data fusion for natural hazards characterisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Zhong; Dzurisin, Daniel; Jung, Hyung-Sup; Zhang, Jixian; Zhang, Yonghong

    2010-01-01

    Fusion of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images through interferometric, polarimetric and tomographic processing provides an all - weather imaging capability to characterise and monitor various natural hazards. This article outlines interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) processing and products and their utility for natural hazards characterisation, provides an overview of the techniques and applications related to fusion of SAR/InSAR images with optical and other images and highlights the emerging SAR fusion technologies. In addition to providing precise land - surface digital elevation maps, SAR - derived imaging products can map millimetre - scale elevation changes driven by volcanic, seismic and hydrogeologic processes, by landslides and wildfires and other natural hazards. With products derived from the fusion of SAR and other images, scientists can monitor the progress of flooding, estimate water storage changes in wetlands for improved hydrological modelling predictions and assessments of future flood impacts and map vegetation structure on a global scale and monitor its changes due to such processes as fire, volcanic eruption and deforestation. With the availability of SAR images in near real - time from multiple satellites in the near future, the fusion of SAR images with other images and data is playing an increasingly important role in understanding and forecasting natural hazards.

  14. A methodology for physically based rockfall hazard assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. B. Crosta

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Rockfall hazard assessment is not simple to achieve in practice and sound, physically based assessment methodologies are still missing. The mobility of rockfalls implies a more difficult hazard definition with respect to other slope instabilities with minimal runout. Rockfall hazard assessment involves complex definitions for "occurrence probability" and "intensity". This paper is an attempt to evaluate rockfall hazard using the results of 3-D numerical modelling on a topography described by a DEM. Maps portraying the maximum frequency of passages, velocity and height of blocks at each model cell, are easily combined in a GIS in order to produce physically based rockfall hazard maps. Different methods are suggested and discussed for rockfall hazard mapping at a regional and local scale both along linear features or within exposed areas. An objective approach based on three-dimensional matrixes providing both a positional "Rockfall Hazard Index" and a "Rockfall Hazard Vector" is presented. The opportunity of combining different parameters in the 3-D matrixes has been evaluated to better express the relative increase in hazard. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the hazard index with respect to the included variables and their combinations is preliminarily discussed in order to constrain as objective as possible assessment criteria.

  15. Natural phenomena hazards project for Department of Energy sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coats, D.W.

    1985-01-01

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed seismic and wind hazard models for the Office of Nuclear Safety (ONS), Department of Energy (DOE). The work is part of a three-phase effort aimed at establishing uniform building design criteria for seismic and wind hazards at DOE sites throughout the United States. In Phase 1, LLNL gathered information on the sites and their critical facilities, including nuclear reactors, fuel-reprocessing plants, high-level waste storage and treatment facilities, and special nuclear material facilities. In Phase 2, development of seismic and wind hazard models, was initiated. These hazard models express the annual probability that the site will experience an earthquake or wind speed greater than some specified magnitude. In the final phase, it is anticipated that the DOE will use the hazard models to establish uniform criteria for the design and evaluation of critical facilities. 13 references, 2 figures, 1 table

  16. Comparison of hypertabastic survival model with other unimodal hazard rate functions using a goodness-of-fit test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tahir, M Ramzan; Tran, Quang X; Nikulin, Mikhail S

    2017-05-30

    We studied the problem of testing a hypothesized distribution in survival regression models when the data is right censored and survival times are influenced by covariates. A modified chi-squared type test, known as Nikulin-Rao-Robson statistic, is applied for the comparison of accelerated failure time models. This statistic is used to test the goodness-of-fit for hypertabastic survival model and four other unimodal hazard rate functions. The results of simulation study showed that the hypertabastic distribution can be used as an alternative to log-logistic and log-normal distribution. In statistical modeling, because of its flexible shape of hazard functions, this distribution can also be used as a competitor of Birnbaum-Saunders and inverse Gaussian distributions. The results for the real data application are shown. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. An advanced model for spreading and evaporation of accidentally released hazardous liquids on land

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trijssenaar-Buhre, I.J.M.; Sterkenburg, R.P.; Wijnant-Timmerman, S.I.

    2009-01-01

    Pool evaporation modelling is an important element in consequence assessment of accidentally released hazardous liquids. The evaporation rate determines the amount of toxic or flammable gas released into the atmosphere and is an important factor for the size of a pool fire. In this paper a

  18. An advanced model for spreading and evaporation of accidentally released hazardous liquids on land

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trijssenaar-Buhre, I.J.M.; Wijnant-Timmerman, S.L.

    2008-01-01

    Pool evaporation modelling is an important element in consequence assessment of accidentally released hazardous liquids. The evaporation rate determines the amount of toxic or flammable gas released into the atmosphere and is an important factor for the size of a pool fire. In this paper a

  19. Level-Dependent Nonlinear Hearing Protector Model in the Auditory Hazard Assessment Algorithm for Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    HPD model. In an article on measuring HPD attenuation, Berger (1986) points out that Real Ear Attenuation at Threshold (REAT) tests are...men. Audiology . 1991;30:345–356. Fedele P, Binseel M, Kalb J, Price GR. Using the auditory hazard assessment algorithm for humans (AHAAH) with

  20. Eastern US seismic hazard characterization update

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savy, J.B.; Boissonnade, A.C.; Mensing, R.W.; Short, C.M.

    1993-06-01

    In January 1989, LLNL published the results of a multi-year project, funded by NRC, on estimating seismic hazard at nuclear plant sites east of the Rockies. The goal of this study was twofold: to develop a good central estimate (median) of the seismic hazard and to characterize the uncertainty in the estimates of this hazard. In 1989, LLNL was asked by DOE to develop site specific estimates of the seismic hazard at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina as part of the New Production Reactor (NPR) project. For the purpose of the NPR, a complete review of the methodology and of the data acquisition process was performed. Work done under the NPR project has shown that first order improvement in the estimates of the uncertainty (i.e., lower mean hazard values) could be easily achieved by updating the modeling of the seismicity and ground motion attenuation uncertainty. To this effect, NRC sponsored LLNL to perform a reelicitation to update the seismicity and ground motion experts' inputs and to revise methods to combine seismicity and ground motion inputs in the seismic hazard analysis for nuclear power plant sites east of the Rocky Mountains. The objective of the recent study was to include the first order improvements that reflect the latest knowledge in seismicity and ground motion modeling and produce an update of all the hazard results produced in the 1989 study. In particular, it had been demonstrated that eliciting seismicity information in terms of rates of earthquakes rather than a- and b-values, and changing the elicitation format to a one-on-one interview, improved our ability to express the uncertainty of earthquake rates of occurrence at large magnitudes. Thus, NRC sponsored this update study to refine the model of uncertainty, and to re-elicitate of the experts' interpretations of the zonation and seismicity, as well as to reelicitate the ground motion models, based on current state of knowledge

  1. A transparent and data-driven global tectonic regionalization model for seismic hazard assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yen-Shin; Weatherill, Graeme; Pagani, Marco; Cotton, Fabrice

    2018-05-01

    A key concept that is common to many assumptions inherent within seismic hazard assessment is that of tectonic similarity. This recognizes that certain regions of the globe may display similar geophysical characteristics, such as in the attenuation of seismic waves, the magnitude scaling properties of seismogenic sources or the seismic coupling of the lithosphere. Previous attempts at tectonic regionalization, particularly within a seismic hazard assessment context, have often been based on expert judgements; in most of these cases, the process for delineating tectonic regions is neither reproducible nor consistent from location to location. In this work, the regionalization process is implemented in a scheme that is reproducible, comprehensible from a geophysical rationale, and revisable when new relevant data are published. A spatial classification-scheme is developed based on fuzzy logic, enabling the quantification of concepts that are approximate rather than precise. Using the proposed methodology, we obtain a transparent and data-driven global tectonic regionalization model for seismic hazard applications as well as the subjective probabilities (e.g. degree of being active/degree of being cratonic) that indicate the degree to which a site belongs in a tectonic category.

  2. Models for estimating the radiation hazards of uranium mines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wise, K.N.

    1982-01-01

    Hazards to the health of workers in uranium mines derive from the decay products of radon and from uranium and its descendants. Radon daughters in mine atmospheres are either attached to aerosols or exist as free atoms and their physical state determines in which part of the lung the daughters deposit. The factors which influence the proportions of radon daughters attached to aerosols, their deposition in the lung and the dose received by the cells in lung tissue are discussed. The estimation of dose to tissue from inhalation or ingestion of uranium and daughters is based on a different set of models which have been applied in recent ICRP reports. The models used to describe the deposition of particulates, their movement in the gut and their uptake by organs, which form the basis for future limits on the concentration of uranium and daughters in air or on their intake with food, are outlined

  3. Models for estimating the radiation hazards of uranium mines

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wise, K.N.

    1990-01-01

    Hazards to the health of workers in uranium mines derive from the decay products of radon and from uranium and its descendants. Radon daughters in mine atmospheres are either attached to aerosols or exist as free atoms and their physical state determines in which part of the lung the daughters deposit. The factors which influence the proportions of radon daughters attached to aerosols, their deposition in the lung and the dose received by the cells in lung tissue are discussed. The estimation of dose to tissue from inhalation of ingestion or uranium and daughters is based on a different set of models which have been applied in recent ICRP reports. The models used to describe the deposition of particulates, their movement in the gut and their uptake by organs, which form the basis for future limits on the concentration of uranium and daughters in air or on their intake with food, are outlined. 34 refs., 12 tabs., 9 figs

  4. Hazards Analysis for the Spent Nuclear Fuel L-Experimental Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanchard, A.

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this Hazard Analysis (HA) is to identify and assess potential hazards associated with the operations of the Spent Nuclear Fuels (SNF) Treatment and Storage Facility LEF. Additionally, this HA will be used for identifying and assessing potential hazards and specifying functional attributes of SSCs for the LEF project

  5. Development and validation of a risk model for prediction of hazardous alcohol consumption in general practice attendees: the predictAL study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Michael; Marston, Louise; Švab, Igor; Maaroos, Heidi-Ingrid; Geerlings, Mirjam I; Xavier, Miguel; Benjamin, Vicente; Torres-Gonzalez, Francisco; Bellon-Saameno, Juan Angel; Rotar, Danica; Aluoja, Anu; Saldivia, Sandra; Correa, Bernardo; Nazareth, Irwin

    2011-01-01

    Little is known about the risk of progression to hazardous alcohol use in people currently drinking at safe limits. We aimed to develop a prediction model (predictAL) for the development of hazardous drinking in safe drinkers. A prospective cohort study of adult general practice attendees in six European countries and Chile followed up over 6 months. We recruited 10,045 attendees between April 2003 to February 2005. 6193 European and 2462 Chilean attendees recorded AUDIT scores below 8 in men and 5 in women at recruitment and were used in modelling risk. 38 risk factors were measured to construct a risk model for the development of hazardous drinking using stepwise logistic regression. The model was corrected for over fitting and tested in an external population. The main outcome was hazardous drinking defined by an AUDIT score ≥8 in men and ≥5 in women. 69.0% of attendees were recruited, of whom 89.5% participated again after six months. The risk factors in the final predictAL model were sex, age, country, baseline AUDIT score, panic syndrome and lifetime alcohol problem. The predictAL model's average c-index across all six European countries was 0.839 (95% CI 0.805, 0.873). The Hedge's g effect size for the difference in log odds of predicted probability between safe drinkers in Europe who subsequently developed hazardous alcohol use and those who did not was 1.38 (95% CI 1.25, 1.51). External validation of the algorithm in Chilean safe drinkers resulted in a c-index of 0.781 (95% CI 0.717, 0.846) and Hedge's g of 0.68 (95% CI 0.57, 0.78). The predictAL risk model for development of hazardous consumption in safe drinkers compares favourably with risk algorithms for disorders in other medical settings and can be a useful first step in prevention of alcohol misuse.

  6. Development and validation of a risk model for prediction of hazardous alcohol consumption in general practice attendees: the predictAL study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael King

    Full Text Available Little is known about the risk of progression to hazardous alcohol use in people currently drinking at safe limits. We aimed to develop a prediction model (predictAL for the development of hazardous drinking in safe drinkers.A prospective cohort study of adult general practice attendees in six European countries and Chile followed up over 6 months. We recruited 10,045 attendees between April 2003 to February 2005. 6193 European and 2462 Chilean attendees recorded AUDIT scores below 8 in men and 5 in women at recruitment and were used in modelling risk. 38 risk factors were measured to construct a risk model for the development of hazardous drinking using stepwise logistic regression. The model was corrected for over fitting and tested in an external population. The main outcome was hazardous drinking defined by an AUDIT score ≥8 in men and ≥5 in women.69.0% of attendees were recruited, of whom 89.5% participated again after six months. The risk factors in the final predictAL model were sex, age, country, baseline AUDIT score, panic syndrome and lifetime alcohol problem. The predictAL model's average c-index across all six European countries was 0.839 (95% CI 0.805, 0.873. The Hedge's g effect size for the difference in log odds of predicted probability between safe drinkers in Europe who subsequently developed hazardous alcohol use and those who did not was 1.38 (95% CI 1.25, 1.51. External validation of the algorithm in Chilean safe drinkers resulted in a c-index of 0.781 (95% CI 0.717, 0.846 and Hedge's g of 0.68 (95% CI 0.57, 0.78.The predictAL risk model for development of hazardous consumption in safe drinkers compares favourably with risk algorithms for disorders in other medical settings and can be a useful first step in prevention of alcohol misuse.

  7. Introducing Geoscience Students to Numerical Modeling of Volcanic Hazards: The example of Tephra2 on VHub.org

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leah M. Courtland

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The Tephra2 numerical model for tephra fallout from explosive volcanic eruptions is specifically designed to enable students to probe ideas in model literacy, including code validation and verification, the role of simplifying assumptions, and the concepts of uncertainty and forecasting. This numerical model is implemented on the VHub.org website, a venture in cyberinfrastructure that brings together volcanological models and educational materials. The VHub.org resource provides students with the ability to explore and execute sophisticated numerical models like Tephra2. We present a strategy for using this model to introduce university students to key concepts in the use and evaluation of Tephra2 for probabilistic forecasting of volcanic hazards. Through this critical examination students are encouraged to develop a deeper understanding of the applicability and limitations of hazard models. Although the model and applications are intended for use in both introductory and advanced geoscience courses, they could easily be adapted to work in other disciplines, such as astronomy, physics, computational methods, data analysis, or computer science.

  8. Challenges in understanding, modelling, and mitigating Lake Outburst Flood Hazard: experiences from Central Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mergili, Martin; Schneider, Demian; Andres, Norina; Worni, Raphael; Gruber, Fabian; Schneider, Jean F.

    2010-05-01

    the outburst of landslide-dammed lakes) remains a challenge: • The knowledge about the onset of the process is often limited (bathymetry of the lakes, subsurface water, properties of dam (content of ice), type of dam breach, understanding of process chains and interactions). • The size of glacial lakes may change rapidly but continuously, and many lakes break out within a short time after their development. Continuous monitoring is therefore required to keep updated on the existing hazards. • Also the outburst of small glacial lakes may lead to significant debris floods or even debris flows if there is plenty of erodible material available. • The available modeling software packages are of limited suitability for lake outburst floods: e.g. software developed by the hydrological community is specialized to simulate (debris) floods with input hydrographs on moderately steep flow channels and with lower sediment loads. In contrast to this, programs for rapid mass movements are better suited on steeper slopes and sudden onset of the movement. The typical characteristics of GLOFs are in between and vary for different channel sections. In summary, the major bottlenecks remain in deriving realistic or worst case scenarios and predicting their magnitude and area of impact. This mainly concerns uncertainties in the dam break process, involved volumes, erosion rates, changing rheologies, and the limited capabilities of available software packages to simulate process interactions and transformations such as the development of a hyperconcentrated flow into a debris flow. In addition, many areas prone to lake outburst floods are located in developing countries with a limited scope of the threatened population for decision-making and limited resources for mitigation.

  9. Long term volcanic hazard analysis in the Canary Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becerril, L.; Galindo, I.; Laín, L.; Llorente, M.; Mancebo, M. J.

    2009-04-01

    having enough quality information to map volcanic hazards and to run more reliable models of volcanic hazards, but in addition it aims to become a sharing system, improving communication between researchers, reducing redundant work and to be the reference for geological research in the Canary Islands.

  10. Seismic hazard assessment of Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Ghafory-Ashtiany

    1999-06-01

    Full Text Available The development of the new seismic hazard map of Iran is based on probabilistic seismic hazard computation using the historical earthquakes data, geology, tectonics, fault activity and seismic source models in Iran. These maps have been prepared to indicate the earthquake hazard of Iran in the form of iso-acceleration contour lines, and seismic hazard zoning, by using current probabilistic procedures. They display the probabilistic estimates of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA for the return periods of 75 and 475 years. The maps have been divided into intervals of 0.25 degrees in both latitudinal and longitudinal directions to calculate the peak ground acceleration values at each grid point and draw the seismic hazard curves. The results presented in this study will provide the basis for the preparation of seismic risk maps, the estimation of earthquake insurance premiums, and the preliminary site evaluation of critical facilities.

  11. Tsunami hazard map in eastern Bali

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Afif, Haunan; Cipta, Athanasius

    2015-01-01

    Bali is a popular tourist destination both for Indonesian and foreign visitors. However, Bali is located close to the collision zone between the Indo-Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate in the south and back-arc thrust off the northern coast of Bali resulted Bali prone to earthquake and tsunami. Tsunami hazard map is needed for better understanding of hazard level in a particular area and tsunami modeling is one of the most reliable techniques to produce hazard map. Tsunami modeling conducted using TUNAMI N2 and set for two tsunami sources scenarios which are subduction zone in the south of Bali and back thrust in the north of Bali. Tsunami hazard zone is divided into 3 zones, the first is a high hazard zones with inundation height of more than 3m. The second is a moderate hazard zone with inundation height 1 to 3m and the third is a low tsunami hazard zones with tsunami inundation heights less than 1m. Those 2 scenarios showed southern region has a greater potential of tsunami impact than the northern areas. This is obviously shown in the distribution of the inundated area in the south of Bali including the island of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan is wider than in the northern coast of Bali although the northern region of the Nusa Penida Island more inundated due to the coastal topography

  12. Tsunami hazard map in eastern Bali

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Afif, Haunan, E-mail: afif@vsi.esdm.go.id [Geological Agency, Bandung (Indonesia); Cipta, Athanasius [Geological Agency, Bandung (Indonesia); Australian National University, Canberra (Australia)

    2015-04-24

    Bali is a popular tourist destination both for Indonesian and foreign visitors. However, Bali is located close to the collision zone between the Indo-Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate in the south and back-arc thrust off the northern coast of Bali resulted Bali prone to earthquake and tsunami. Tsunami hazard map is needed for better understanding of hazard level in a particular area and tsunami modeling is one of the most reliable techniques to produce hazard map. Tsunami modeling conducted using TUNAMI N2 and set for two tsunami sources scenarios which are subduction zone in the south of Bali and back thrust in the north of Bali. Tsunami hazard zone is divided into 3 zones, the first is a high hazard zones with inundation height of more than 3m. The second is a moderate hazard zone with inundation height 1 to 3m and the third is a low tsunami hazard zones with tsunami inundation heights less than 1m. Those 2 scenarios showed southern region has a greater potential of tsunami impact than the northern areas. This is obviously shown in the distribution of the inundated area in the south of Bali including the island of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan is wider than in the northern coast of Bali although the northern region of the Nusa Penida Island more inundated due to the coastal topography.

  13. Tsunami hazard map in eastern Bali

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afif, Haunan; Cipta, Athanasius

    2015-04-01

    Bali is a popular tourist destination both for Indonesian and foreign visitors. However, Bali is located close to the collision zone between the Indo-Australian Plate and Eurasian Plate in the south and back-arc thrust off the northern coast of Bali resulted Bali prone to earthquake and tsunami. Tsunami hazard map is needed for better understanding of hazard level in a particular area and tsunami modeling is one of the most reliable techniques to produce hazard map. Tsunami modeling conducted using TUNAMI N2 and set for two tsunami sources scenarios which are subduction zone in the south of Bali and back thrust in the north of Bali. Tsunami hazard zone is divided into 3 zones, the first is a high hazard zones with inundation height of more than 3m. The second is a moderate hazard zone with inundation height 1 to 3m and the third is a low tsunami hazard zones with tsunami inundation heights less than 1m. Those 2 scenarios showed southern region has a greater potential of tsunami impact than the northern areas. This is obviously shown in the distribution of the inundated area in the south of Bali including the island of Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan is wider than in the northern coast of Bali although the northern region of the Nusa Penida Island more inundated due to the coastal topography.

  14. Estimating hurricane hazards using a GIS system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Taramelli

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper develops a GIS-based integrated approach to the Multi-Hazard model method, with reference to hurricanes. This approach has three components: data integration, hazard assessment and score calculation to estimate elements at risk such as affected area and affected population. First, spatial data integration issues within a GIS environment, such as geographical scales and data models, are addressed. Particularly, the integration of physical parameters and population data is achieved linking remotely sensed data with a high resolution population distribution in GIS. In order to assess the number of affected people, involving heterogeneous data sources, the selection of spatial analysis units is basic. Second, specific multi-hazard tasks, such as hazard behaviour simulation and elements at risk assessment, are composed in order to understand complex hazard and provide support for decision making. Finally, the paper concludes that the integrated approach herein presented can be used to assist emergency management of hurricane consequences, in theory and in practice.

  15. Modified Hazard Ranking System/Hazard Ranking System for sites with mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes: Software documentation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stenner, R.D.; Peloquin, R.A.; Hawley, K.A.

    1986-11-01

    The mHRS/HRS software package was developed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) under contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide a uniform method for DOE facilities to use in performing their Conservation Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Phase I Modified Hazard Ranking System or Hazard Ranking System evaluations. The program is designed to remove the tedium and potential for error associated with the performing of hand calculations and the interpreting of information on tables and in reference books when performing an evaluation. The software package is designed to operate on a microcomputer (IBM PC, PC/XT, or PC/AT, or a compatible system) using either a dual floppy disk drive or a hard disk storage system. It is written in the dBASE III language and operates using the dBASE III system. Although the mHRS/HRS software package was developed for use at DOE facilities, it has direct applicability to the performing of CERCLA Phase I evaluations for any facility contaminated by hazardous waste. The software can perform evaluations using either the modified hazard ranking system methodology developed by DOE/PNL, the hazard ranking system methodology developed by EPA/MITRE Corp., or a combination of the two. This document is a companion manual to the mHRS/HRS user manual. It is intended for the programmer who must maintain the software package and for those interested in the computer implementation. This manual documents the system logic, computer programs, and data files that comprise the package. Hardware and software implementation requirements are discussed. In addition, hand calculations of three sample situations (problems) with associated computer runs used for the verification of program calculations are included.

  16. Modified Hazard Ranking System/Hazard Ranking System for sites with mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes: Software documentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stenner, R.D.; Peloquin, R.A.; Hawley, K.A.

    1986-11-01

    The mHRS/HRS software package was developed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) under contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide a uniform method for DOE facilities to use in performing their Conservation Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Phase I Modified Hazard Ranking System or Hazard Ranking System evaluations. The program is designed to remove the tedium and potential for error associated with the performing of hand calculations and the interpreting of information on tables and in reference books when performing an evaluation. The software package is designed to operate on a microcomputer (IBM PC, PC/XT, or PC/AT, or a compatible system) using either a dual floppy disk drive or a hard disk storage system. It is written in the dBASE III language and operates using the dBASE III system. Although the mHRS/HRS software package was developed for use at DOE facilities, it has direct applicability to the performing of CERCLA Phase I evaluations for any facility contaminated by hazardous waste. The software can perform evaluations using either the modified hazard ranking system methodology developed by DOE/PNL, the hazard ranking system methodology developed by EPA/MITRE Corp., or a combination of the two. This document is a companion manual to the mHRS/HRS user manual. It is intended for the programmer who must maintain the software package and for those interested in the computer implementation. This manual documents the system logic, computer programs, and data files that comprise the package. Hardware and software implementation requirements are discussed. In addition, hand calculations of three sample situations (problems) with associated computer runs used for the verification of program calculations are included

  17. A Proportional Hazards Regression Model for the Subdistribution with Covariates-adjusted Censoring Weight for Competing Risks Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    He, Peng; Eriksson, Frank; Scheike, Thomas H.

    2016-01-01

    function by fitting the Cox model for the censoring distribution and using the predictive probability for each individual. Our simulation study shows that the covariate-adjusted weight estimator is basically unbiased when the censoring time depends on the covariates, and the covariate-adjusted weight......With competing risks data, one often needs to assess the treatment and covariate effects on the cumulative incidence function. Fine and Gray proposed a proportional hazards regression model for the subdistribution of a competing risk with the assumption that the censoring distribution...... and the covariates are independent. Covariate-dependent censoring sometimes occurs in medical studies. In this paper, we study the proportional hazards regression model for the subdistribution of a competing risk with proper adjustments for covariate-dependent censoring. We consider a covariate-adjusted weight...

  18. Business models for additive manufacturing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hadar, Ronen; Bilberg, Arne; Bogers, Marcel

    2015-01-01

    Digital fabrication — including additive manufacturing (AM), rapid prototyping and 3D printing — has the potential to revolutionize the way in which products are produced and delivered to the customer. Therefore, it challenges companies to reinvent their business model — describing the logic...... of creating and capturing value. In this paper, we explore the implications that AM technologies have for manufacturing systems in the new business models that they enable. In particular, we consider how a consumer goods manufacturer can organize the operations of a more open business model when moving from...... a manufacturer-centric to a consumer-centric value logic. A major shift includes a move from centralized to decentralized supply chains, where consumer goods manufacturers can implement a “hybrid” approach with a focus on localization and accessibility or develop a fully personalized model where the consumer...

  19. Going beyond the flood insurance rate map: insights from flood hazard map co-production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luke, Adam; Sanders, Brett F.; Goodrich, Kristen A.; Feldman, David L.; Boudreau, Danielle; Eguiarte, Ana; Serrano, Kimberly; Reyes, Abigail; Schubert, Jochen E.; AghaKouchak, Amir; Basolo, Victoria; Matthew, Richard A.

    2018-04-01

    Flood hazard mapping in the United States (US) is deeply tied to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Consequently, publicly available flood maps provide essential information for insurance purposes, but they do not necessarily provide relevant information for non-insurance aspects of flood risk management (FRM) such as public education and emergency planning. Recent calls for flood hazard maps that support a wider variety of FRM tasks highlight the need to deepen our understanding about the factors that make flood maps useful and understandable for local end users. In this study, social scientists and engineers explore opportunities for improving the utility and relevance of flood hazard maps through the co-production of maps responsive to end users' FRM needs. Specifically, two-dimensional flood modeling produced a set of baseline hazard maps for stakeholders of the Tijuana River valley, US, and Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana, Mexico. Focus groups with natural resource managers, city planners, emergency managers, academia, non-profit, and community leaders refined the baseline hazard maps by triggering additional modeling scenarios and map revisions. Several important end user preferences emerged, such as (1) legends that frame flood intensity both qualitatively and quantitatively, and (2) flood scenario descriptions that report flood magnitude in terms of rainfall, streamflow, and its relation to an historic event. Regarding desired hazard map content, end users' requests revealed general consistency with mapping needs reported in European studies and guidelines published in Australia. However, requested map content that is not commonly produced included (1) standing water depths following the flood, (2) the erosive potential of flowing water, and (3) pluvial flood hazards, or flooding caused directly by rainfall. We conclude that the relevance and utility of commonly produced flood hazard maps can be most improved by illustrating pluvial flood hazards

  20. Hazards to nuclear plants from surface traffic accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hornyik, K.

    1975-01-01

    Analytic models have been developed for evaluating hazards to nuclear plants from hazardous-materials accidents in the vicinity of the plant. In particular, these models permit the evaluation of hazards from such accidents occurring on surface traffic routes near the plant. The analysis uses statistical information on accident rates, traffic frequency, and cargo-size distribution along with parameters describing properties of the hazardous cargo, plant design, and atmospheric conditions, to arrive at a conservative estimate of the annual probability of a catastrophic event. Two of the major effects associated with hazardous-materials accidents, explosion and release of toxic vapors, are treated by a common formalism which can be readily applied to any given case by means of a graphic procedure. As an example, for a typical case it is found that railroad shipments of chlorine in 55-ton tank cars constitute a greater hazard to a nearby nuclear plant than equally frequent rail shipments of explosives in amounts of 10 tons. 11 references. (U.S.)

  1. Proportional hazards model with varying coefficients for length-biased data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Feipeng; Chen, Xuerong; Zhou, Yong

    2014-01-01

    Length-biased data arise in many important applications including epidemiological cohort studies, cancer prevention trials and studies of labor economics. Such data are also often subject to right censoring due to loss of follow-up or the end of study. In this paper, we consider a proportional hazards model with varying coefficients for right-censored and length-biased data, which is used to study the interact effect nonlinearly of covariates with an exposure variable. A local estimating equation method is proposed for the unknown coefficients and the intercept function in the model. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are established by using the martingale theory and kernel smoothing techniques. Our simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed estimators have an excellent finite-sample performance. The Channing House data is analyzed to demonstrate the applications of the proposed method.

  2. A New Method for Rating Hazard from Intense Sounds: Implications for Hearing Protection, Speech Intelligibility, and Situation Awareness

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Price, G. R

    2005-01-01

    .... The AHAAH model operates in a PC-level computer and analyzes hazard in the time domain. In addition to reproducing the conductive path from air to the cochlea accurately, it includes a nonlinear stapes...

  3. STakeholder-Objective Risk Model (STORM): Determiningthe aggregated risk of multiple contaminant hazards in groundwater well catchments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Enzenhoefer, R.; Binning, Philip John; Nowak, W.

    2015-01-01

    Risk is often defined as the product of probability, vulnerability and value. Drinking water supply from groundwater abstraction is often at risk due to multiple hazardous land use activities in the well catchment. Each hazard might or might not introduce contaminants into the subsurface at any......-pathway-receptor concept, mass-discharge-based aggregation of stochastically occuring spill events, accounts for uncertainties in the involved flow and transport models through Monte Carlo simulation, and can address different stakeholder objectives. We illustrate the application of STORM in a numerical test case inspired...

  4. Modeling retrospective attribution of responsibility to hazard-managing institutions: an example involving a food contamination incident.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Branden B; Hallman, William K; Cuite, Cara L

    2015-03-01

    Perceptions of institutions that manage hazards are important because they can affect how the public responds to hazard events. Antecedents of trust judgments have received far more attention than antecedents of attributions of responsibility for hazard events. We build upon a model of retrospective attribution of responsibility to individuals to examine these relationships regarding five classes of institutions that bear responsibility for food safety: producers (e.g., farmers), processors (e.g., packaging firms), watchdogs (e.g., government agencies), sellers (e.g., supermarkets), and preparers (e.g., restaurants). A nationally representative sample of 1,200 American adults completed an Internet-based survey in which a hypothetical scenario involving contamination of diverse foods with Salmonella served as the stimulus event. Perceived competence and good intentions of the institution moderately decreased attributions of responsibility. A stronger factor was whether an institution was deemed (potentially) aware of the contamination and free to act to prevent or mitigate it. Responsibility was rated higher the more aware and free the institution. This initial model for attributions of responsibility to impersonal institutions (as opposed to individual responsibility) merits further development. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

  5. Complete hazard ranking to analyze right-censored data: An ALS survival study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Zhengnan; Zhang, Hongjiu; Boss, Jonathan; Goutman, Stephen A; Mukherjee, Bhramar; Dinov, Ivo D; Guan, Yuanfang

    2017-12-01

    Survival analysis represents an important outcome measure in clinical research and clinical trials; further, survival ranking may offer additional advantages in clinical trials. In this study, we developed GuanRank, a non-parametric ranking-based technique to transform patients' survival data into a linear space of hazard ranks. The transformation enables the utilization of machine learning base-learners including Gaussian process regression, Lasso, and random forest on survival data. The method was submitted to the DREAM Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Stratification Challenge. Ranked first place, the model gave more accurate ranking predictions on the PRO-ACT ALS dataset in comparison to Cox proportional hazard model. By utilizing right-censored data in its training process, the method demonstrated its state-of-the-art predictive power in ALS survival ranking. Its feature selection identified multiple important factors, some of which conflicts with previous studies.

  6. Bibliography - Existing Guidance for External Hazard Modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Decker, Kurt

    2015-01-01

    The bibliography of deliverable D21.1 includes existing international and national guidance documents and standards on external hazard assessment together with a selection of recent scientific papers, which are regarded to provide useful information on the state of the art of external event modelling. The literature database is subdivided into International Standards, National Standards, and Science Papers. The deliverable is treated as a 'living document' which is regularly updated as necessary during the lifetime of ASAMPSA-E. The current content of the database is about 140 papers. Most of the articles are available as full-text versions in PDF format. The deliverable is available as an EndNote X4 database and as text files. The database includes the following information: Reference, Key words, Abstract (if available), PDF file of the original paper (if available), Notes (comments by the ASAMPSA-E consortium if available) The database is stored at the ASAMPSA-E FTP server hosted by IRSN. PDF files of original papers are accessible through the EndNote software

  7. Supplemental Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment - Hydrotreater

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lowry, Peter P. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Wagner, Katie A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2015-04-01

    A supplemental hazard analysis was conducted and quantitative risk assessment performed in response to an independent review comment received by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) from the U.S. Department of Energy Pacific Northwest Field Office (PNSO) against the Hydrotreater/Distillation Column Hazard Analysis Report issued in April 2013. The supplemental analysis used the hazardous conditions documented by the previous April 2013 report as a basis. The conditions were screened and grouped for the purpose of identifying whether additional prudent, practical hazard controls could be identified, using a quantitative risk evaluation to assess the adequacy of the controls and establish a lower level of concern for the likelihood of potential serious accidents. Calculations were performed to support conclusions where necessary.

  8. Overview of hazardous-waste regulation at federal facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanzman, E.; LaBrie, B.; Lerner, K.

    1982-05-01

    This report is organized in a fashion that is intended to explain the legal duties imposed on officials responsible for hazardous waste at each stage of its existence. Section 2 describes federal hazardous waste laws, explaining the legal meaning of hazardous waste and the protective measures that are required to be taken by its generators, transporters, and storers. In addition, penalties for violation of the standards are summarized, and a special discussion is presented of so-called imminent hazard provisions for handling hazardous waste that immediately threatens public health and safety. Although the focus of Sec. 2 is on RCRA, which is the principal federal law regulating hazardous waste, other federal statutes are discussed as appropriate. Section 3 covers state regulation of hazardous waste. First, Sec. 3 explains the system of state enforcement of the federal RCRA requirements on hazardous waste within their borders. Second, Sec. 3 discusses two peculiar provisions of RCRA that appear to permit states to regulate federal facilities more strictly than RCRA otherwise would require

  9. Overview of hazardous-waste regulation at federal facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanzman, E.; LaBrie, B.; Lerner, K.

    1982-05-01

    This report is organized in a fashion that is intended to explain the legal duties imposed on officials responsible for hazardous waste at each stage of its existence. Section 2 describes federal hazardous waste laws, explaining the legal meaning of hazardous waste and the protective measures that are required to be taken by its generators, transporters, and storers. In addition, penalties for violation of the standards are summarized, and a special discussion is presented of so-called imminent hazard provisions for handling hazardous waste that immediately threatens public health and safety. Although the focus of Sec. 2 is on RCRA, which is the principal federal law regulating hazardous waste, other federal statutes are discussed as appropriate. Section 3 covers state regulation of hazardous waste. First, Sec. 3 explains the system of state enforcement of the federal RCRA requirements on hazardous waste within their borders. Second, Sec. 3 discusses two peculiar provisions of RCRA that appear to permit states to regulate federal facilities more strictly than RCRA otherwise would require.

  10. Playing against nature: improving earthquake hazard mitigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, S. A.; Stein, J.

    2012-12-01

    The great 2011 Tohoku earthquake dramatically demonstrated the need to improve earthquake and tsunami hazard assessment and mitigation policies. The earthquake was much larger than predicted by hazard models, and the resulting tsunami overtopped coastal defenses, causing more than 15,000 deaths and $210 billion damage. Hence if and how such defenses should be rebuilt is a challenging question, because the defences fared poorly and building ones to withstand tsunamis as large as March's is too expensive,. A similar issue arises along the Nankai Trough to the south, where new estimates warning of tsunamis 2-5 times higher than in previous models raise the question of what to do, given that the timescale on which such events may occur is unknown. Thus in the words of economist H. Hori, "What should we do in face of uncertainty? Some say we should spend our resources on present problems instead of wasting them on things whose results are uncertain. Others say we should prepare for future unknown disasters precisely because they are uncertain". Thus society needs strategies to mitigate earthquake and tsunami hazards that make economic and societal sense, given that our ability to assess these hazards is poor, as illustrated by highly destructive earthquakes that often occur in areas predicted by hazard maps to be relatively safe. Conceptually, we are playing a game against nature "of which we still don't know all the rules" (Lomnitz, 1989). Nature chooses tsunami heights or ground shaking, and society selects the strategy to minimize the total costs of damage plus mitigation costs. As in any game of chance, we maximize our expectation value by selecting the best strategy, given our limited ability to estimate the occurrence and effects of future events. We thus outline a framework to find the optimal level of mitigation by balancing its cost against the expected damages, recognizing the uncertainties in the hazard estimates. This framework illustrates the role of the

  11. Tsunami Hazard Preventing Based Land Use Planning Model Using GIS Techniques in Muang Krabi, Thailand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Salam Soomro

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The terrible tsunami disaster, on 26 December 2004 hit Krabi, one of the ecotourist and very fascinating provinces of southern Thailand including its various regions e.g. Phangna and Phuket by devastating the human lives, coastal communications and the financially viable activities. This research study has been aimed to generate the tsunami hazard preventing based lands use planning model using GIS (Geographical Information Systems based on the hazard suitability analysis approach. The different triggering factors e.g. elevation, proximity to shore line, population density, mangrove, forest, stream and road have been used based on the land use zoning criteria. Those criteria have been used by using Saaty scale of importance one, of the mathematical techniques. This model has been classified according to the land suitability classification. The various techniques of GIS, namely subsetting, spatial analysis, map difference and data conversion have been used. The model has been generated with five categories such as high, moderate, low, very low and not suitable regions illustrating with their appropriate definition for the decision makers to redevelop the region.

  12. Tsunami hazard preventing based land use planing model using GIS technique in Muang Krabi, Thailand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soormo, A.S.

    2012-01-01

    The terrible tsunami disaster, on 26 December 2004 hit Krabi, one of the ecotourist and very fascinating provinces of southern Thailand including its various regions e.g. Phangna and Phuket by devastating the human lives, coastal communications and the financially viable activities. This research study has been aimed to generate the tsunami hazard preventing based lands use planning model using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) based on the hazard suitability analysis approach. The different triggering factors e.g. elevation, proximity to shore line, population density, mangrove, forest, stream and road have been used based on the land use zoning criteria. Those criteria have been used by using Saaty scale of importance one, of the mathematical techniques. This model has been classified according to the land suitability classification. The various techniques of GIS, namely subsetting, spatial analysis, map difference and data conversion have been used. The model has been generated with five categories such as high, moderate, low, very low and not suitable regions illustrating with their appropriate definition for the decision makers to redevelop the region. (author)

  13. Industrial ecology: Environmental chemistry and hazardous waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Manahan, S.E. [Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

    1999-01-01

    Industrial ecology may be a relatively new concept -- yet it`s already proven instrumental for solving a wide variety of problems involving pollution and hazardous waste, especially where available material resources have been limited. By treating industrial systems in a manner that parallels ecological systems in nature, industrial ecology provides a substantial addition to the technologies of environmental chemistry. Stanley E. Manahan, bestselling author of many environmental chemistry books for Lewis Publishers, now examines Industrial Ecology: Environmental Chemistry and Hazardous Waste. His study of this innovative technology uses an overall framework of industrial ecology to cover hazardous wastes from an environmental chemistry perspective. Chapters one to seven focus on how industrial ecology relates to environmental science and technology, with consideration of the anthrosphere as one of five major environmental spheres. Subsequent chapters deal specifically with hazardous substances and hazardous waste, as they relate to industrial ecology and environmental chemistry.

  14. Social and political amplification of technological hazards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibitayo, Olurominiyi O.; Mushkatel, Alvin; Pijawka, K. David

    2004-01-01

    Using an industrial explosion in Henderson, Nevada, as a case study, this paper examines three main issues: the efficacy of a technological hazard event in amplifying otherwise latent issues, the extent to which the hazard event can serve as a focusing event for substantive local and state policy initiatives, and the effect of fragmentation of political authority in managing technological hazards. The findings indicate that the explosion amplified several public safety issues and galvanized the public into pressing for major policy initiatives. However, notwithstanding the amplification of several otherwise latent issues, and the flurry of activities by the state and local governments, the hazard event did not seem to be an effective focusing event or trigger mechanism for substantive state and local policy initiatives. In addition, the study provides evidence of the need for a stronger nexus between political authority, land-use planning and technological hazard management

  15. Stochastic modeling of a hazard detection and avoidance maneuver—The planetary landing case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Witte, Lars

    2013-01-01

    Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA) functionalities, thus the ability to recognize and avoid potential hazardous terrain features, is regarded as an enabling technology for upcoming robotic planetary landing missions. In the forefront of any landing mission the landing site safety assessment is an important task in the systems and mission engineering process. To contribute to this task, this paper presents a mathematical framework to consider the HDA strategy and system constraints in this mission engineering aspect. Therefore the HDA maneuver is modeled as a stochastic decision process based on Markov chains to map an initial dispersion at an arrival gate to a new dispersion pattern affected by the divert decision-making and system constraints. The implications for an efficient numerical implementation are addressed. An example case study is given to demonstrate the implementation and use of the proposed scheme

  16. Flow-R, a model for susceptibility mapping of debris flows and other gravitational hazards at a regional scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Horton

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The development of susceptibility maps for debris flows is of primary importance due to population pressure in hazardous zones. However, hazard assessment by process-based modelling at a regional scale is difficult due to the complex nature of the phenomenon, the variability of local controlling factors, and the uncertainty in modelling parameters. A regional assessment must consider a simplified approach that is not highly parameter dependant and that can provide zonation with minimum data requirements. A distributed empirical model has thus been developed for regional susceptibility assessments using essentially a digital elevation model (DEM. The model is called Flow-R for Flow path assessment of gravitational hazards at a Regional scale (available free of charge under http://www.flow-r.org and has been successfully applied to different case studies in various countries with variable data quality. It provides a substantial basis for a preliminary susceptibility assessment at a regional scale. The model was also found relevant to assess other natural hazards such as rockfall, snow avalanches and floods. The model allows for automatic source area delineation, given user criteria, and for the assessment of the propagation extent based on various spreading algorithms and simple frictional laws. We developed a new spreading algorithm, an improved version of Holmgren's direction algorithm, that is less sensitive to small variations of the DEM and that is avoiding over-channelization, and so produces more realistic extents. The choices of the datasets and the algorithms are open to the user, which makes it compliant for various applications and dataset availability. Amongst the possible datasets, the DEM is the only one that is really needed for both the source area delineation and the propagation assessment; its quality is of major importance for the results accuracy. We consider a 10 m DEM resolution as a good compromise between processing time

  17. Model-free approach to the estimation of radiation hazards. I. Theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaider, M.; Brenner, D.J.

    1986-01-01

    The experience of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors constitutes to date the major data base for evaluating the effects of low doses of ionizing radiation on human populations. Although numerous analyses have been performed and published concerning this experience, it is clear that no consensus has emerged as to the conclusions that may be drawn to assist in setting realistic radiation protection guidelines. In part this is an inherent consequences of the rather limited amount of data available. In this paper the authors address an equally important problem; namely, the use of arbitrary parametric risk models which have little theoretical foundation, yet almost totally determine the final conclusions drawn. They propose the use of a model-free approach to the estimation of radiation hazards

  18. NHERI: Advancing the Research Infrastructure of the Multi-Hazard Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blain, C. A.; Ramirez, J. A.; Bobet, A.; Browning, J.; Edge, B.; Holmes, W.; Johnson, D.; Robertson, I.; Smith, T.; Zuo, D.

    2017-12-01

    The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI), supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is a distributed, multi-user national facility that provides the natural hazards research community with access to an advanced research infrastructure. Components of NHERI are comprised of a Network Coordination Office (NCO), a cloud-based cyberinfrastructure (DesignSafe-CI), a computational modeling and simulation center (SimCenter), and eight Experimental Facilities (EFs), including a post-disaster, rapid response research facility (RAPID). Utimately NHERI enables researchers to explore and test ground-breaking concepts to protect homes, businesses and infrastructure lifelines from earthquakes, windstorms, tsunamis, and surge enabling innovations to help prevent natural hazards from becoming societal disasters. When coupled with education and community outreach, NHERI will facilitate research and educational advances that contribute knowledge and innovation toward improving the resiliency of the nation's civil infrastructure to withstand natural hazards. The unique capabilities and coordinating activities over Year 1 between NHERI's DesignSafe-CI, the SimCenter, and individual EFs will be presented. Basic descriptions of each component are also found at https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/. Additionally to be discussed are the various roles of the NCO in leading development of a 5-year multi-hazard science plan, coordinating facility scheduling and fostering the sharing of technical knowledge and best practices, leading education and outreach programs such as the recent Summer Institute and multi-facility REU program, ensuring a platform for technology transfer to practicing engineers, and developing strategic national and international partnerships to support a diverse multi-hazard research and user community.

  19. Treatment of hazardous metals by in situ vitrification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koegler, S.S.; Buelt, J.L.

    1989-02-01

    Soils contaminated with hazardous metals are a significant problem to many Defense Program sites. Contaminated soils have ranked high in assessments of research and development needs conducted by the Hazardous Waste Remedial Action Program (HAZWRAP) in FY 1988 and FY 1989. In situ vitrification (ISV) is an innovative technology suitable for stabilizing soils contaminated with radionuclides and hazardous materials. Since ISV treats the material in place, it avoids costly and hazardous preprocessing exhumation of waste. In situ vitrification was originally developed for immobilizing radioactive (primarily transuranic) soil constituents. Tests indicate that it is highly useful also for treating other soil contaminants, including hazardous metals. The ISV process produces an environmentally acceptable, highly durable glasslike product. In addition, ISV includes an efficient off-gas treatment system that eliminates noxious gaseous emissions and generates minimal hazardous byproducts. This document reviews the Technical Basis of this technology. 5 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs

  20. Assessment of Meteorological Drought Hazard Area using GIS in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Michael Horsfall

    The purpose of this study was to make a model of the meteorological drought hazard area using GIS. ... overlaying different hazard indicator maps in the GIS, deploying the new model. The final ..... Northeast Thailand Project Bangkok. Min. of.

  1. Socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards - proposal for an indicator-based model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eidsvig, U.; McLean, A.; Vangelsten, B. V.; Kalsnes, B.; Ciurean, R. L.; Argyroudis, S.; Winter, M.; Corominas, J.; Mavrouli, O. C.; Fotopoulou, S.; Pitilakis, K.; Baills, A.; Malet, J. P.

    2012-04-01

    Vulnerability assessment, with respect to natural hazards, is a complex process that must consider multiple dimensions of vulnerability, including both physical and social factors. Physical vulnerability refers to conditions of physical assets, and may be modeled by the intensity and magnitude of the hazard, the degree of physical protection provided by the natural and built environment, and the physical robustness of the exposed elements. Social vulnerability refers to the underlying factors leading to the inability of people, organizations, and societies to withstand impacts from the natural hazards. Social vulnerability models can be used in combination with physical vulnerability models to estimate both direct losses, i.e. losses that occur during and immediately after the impact, as well as indirect losses, i.e. long-term effects of the event. Direct impact of a landslide typically includes casualties and damages to buildings and infrastructure while indirect losses may e.g. include business closures or limitations in public services. The direct losses are often assessed using physical vulnerability indicators (e.g. construction material, height of buildings), while indirect losses are mainly assessed using social indicators (e.g. economical resources, demographic conditions). Within the EC-FP7 SafeLand research project, an indicator-based method was proposed to assess relative socio-economic vulnerability to landslides. The indicators represent the underlying factors which influence a community's ability to prepare for, deal with, and recover from the damage associated with landslides. The proposed model includes indicators representing demographic, economic and social characteristics as well as indicators representing the degree of preparedness and recovery capacity. Although the model focuses primarily on the indirect losses, it could easily be extended to include more physical indicators which account for the direct losses. Each indicator is individually

  2. Navy Shipboard Hazardous Material Minimization Program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bieberich, M.J. [Naval Surface Warfare Center, Annapolis, MD (United States). Carderock Div.; Robinson, P. [Life Cycle Engineering, Inc., Charleston, SC (United States); Chastain, B.

    1994-12-31

    The use of hazardous (and potentially hazardous) materials in shipboard cleaning applications has proliferated as new systems and equipments have entered the fleet to reside alongside existing equipments. With the growing environmental awareness (and additional, more restrictive regulations) at all levels/echelon commands of the DoD, the Navy has initiated a proactive program to undertake the minimization/elimination of these hazardous materials in order to eliminate HMs at the source. This paper will focus on the current Shipboard Hazardous Materials Minimization Program initiatives including the identification of authorized HM currently used onboard, identification of potential substitute materials for HM replacement, identification of new cleaning technologies and processes/procedures, and identification of technical documents which will require revision to eliminate the procurement of HMs into the federal supply system. Also discussed will be the anticipated path required to implement the changes into the fleet and automated decision processes (substitution algorithm) currently employed. The paper will also present the most recent technologies identified for approval or additional testing and analysis including: supercritical CO{sub 2} cleaning, high pressure blasting (H{sub 2}O + baking soda), aqueous and semi-aqueous cleaning materials and processes, solvent replacements and dedicated parts washing systems with internal filtering capabilities, automated software for solvent/cleaning process substitute selection. Along with these technological advances, data availability (from on-line databases and CDROM Database libraries) will be identified and discussed.

  3. Estimating maquiladora hazardous waste generation on the U.S./Mexico border

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Mace M.; Kontuly, Thomas; Hepner, George F.

    1995-03-01

    Maquiladoras, manufacturing plants that primarily assemble foreign components for reexport, are located in concentrations along the northern frontier of the US/Mexico border. These plants process a wide variety of materials using modern industrial technologies within the context of developing world institutions and infrastructure. Hazardous waste generation by maquiladoras represents a critical environmental management issue because of the spatial concentration of these plants in border municipalities where the infrastructure for waste management is nonexistent or poor. These border municipalities contain rapidly increasing populations, which further stress their waste handling infrastructure capacities while exposing their populations to greater contaminant risks. Limited empirical knowledge exists concerning hazardous waste types and generation rates from maquiladorsas. There is no standard reporting method for waste generation or methodology for estimating generation rates at this time. This paper presents a method that can be used for the rapid assessment of hazardous waste generation. A first approximation of hazardous waste generation is produced for maquiladoras in the three municipalities of Nogales, Sonora, Mexicali, Baja California, and Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, using the INVENT model developed by the World Bank. In addition, our intent is to evaluate the potential of the INVENT model for adaptation to the US/Mexico border industrial situation. The press of border industrial development, especially with the recent adoption of the NAFTA, make such assessments necessary as a basis for the environmental policy formulation and management needed in the immediate future.

  4. Flood Hazard Assessment along the Western Regions of Saudi Arabia using GIS-based Morphometry and Remote Sensing Techniques

    KAUST Repository

    Shi, Qianwen

    2014-12-01

    Flash flooding, as a result of excessive rainfall in a short period, is considered as one of the worst environmental hazards in arid regions. Areas located in the western provinces of Saudi Arabia have experienced catastrophic floods. Geomorphologic evaluation of hydrographic basins provides necessary information to define basins with flood hazard potential in arid regions, especially where long-term field observations are scarce and limited. Six large basins (from North to South: Yanbu, Rabigh, Khulais, El-Qunfza, Baish and Jizan) were selected for this study because they have large surface areas and they encompass high capacity dams at their downstream areas. Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing techniques were applied to conduct detailed morphometric analysis of these basins. The six basins were further divided into 203 sub-basins based on their drainage density. The morphometric parameters of the six basins and their associated 203 sub-basins were calculated to estimate the degree of flood hazard by combining normalized values of these parameters. Thus, potential flood hazard maps were produced from the estimated hazard degree. Furthermore, peak runoff discharge of the six basins and sub-basins were estimated using the Snyder Unit Hydrograph and three empirical models (Nouh’s model, Farquharson’s model and Al-Subai’s model) developed for Saudi Arabia. Additionally, recommendations for flood mitigation plans and water management schemes along these basins were further discussed.

  5. Recent developments in health risks modeling techniques applied to hazardous waste site assessment and remediation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendez, W.M. Jr.

    1990-01-01

    Remediation of hazardous an mixed waste sites is often driven by assessments of human health risks posed by the exposures to hazardous substances released from these sites. The methods used to assess potential health risk involve, either implicitly or explicitly, models for pollutant releases, transport, human exposure and intake, and for characterizing health effects. Because knowledge about pollutant fate transport processes at most waste sites is quite limited, and data cost are quite high, most of the models currently used to assess risk, and endorsed by regulatory agencies, are quite simple. The models employ many simplifying assumptions about pollutant fate and distribution in the environment about human pollutant intake, and toxicologic responses to pollutant exposures. An important consequence of data scarcity and model simplification is that risk estimates are quite uncertain and estimates of the magnitude uncertainty associated with risk assessment has been very difficult. A number of methods have been developed to address the issue of uncertainty in risk assessments in a manner that realistically reflects uncertainty in model specification and data limitations. These methods include definition of multiple exposure scenarios, sensitivity analyses, and explicit probabilistic modeling of uncertainty. Recent developments in this area will be discussed, along with their possible impacts on remediation programs, and remaining obstacles to their wider use and acceptance by the scientific and regulatory communities

  6. GIS-modelling of the spatial variability of flash flood hazard in Abu Dabbab catchment, Red Sea Region, Egypt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Islam Abou El-Magd

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available In the mountainous area of the Red Sea region in southeastern Egypt, the development of new mining activities or/and domestic infrastructures require reliable and accurate information about natural hazards particularly flash flood. This paper presents the assessment of flash flood hazards in the Abu Dabbab drainage basin. Remotely sensed data were used to delineate the alluvial active channels, which were integrated with morphometric parameters extracted from digital elevation models (DEM into geographical information systems (GIS to construct a hydrological model that provides estimates about the amount of surface runoff as well as the magnitude of flash floods. The peak discharge is randomly varied at different cross-sections along the main channel. Under consistent 10 mm rainfall event, the selected cross-section in middle of the main channel is prone to maximum water depth at 80 cm, which decreases to nearly 30 cm at the outlet due to transmission loss. The estimation of spatial variability of flow parameters within the catchment at different confluences of the constituting sub-catchments can be considered and used in planning for engineering foundations and linear infrastructures with the least flash flood hazard. Such information would, indeed, help decision makers and planning to minimize such hazards.

  7. Modeling fault rupture hazard for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coppersmith, K.J.; Youngs, R.R.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper as part of the Electric Power Research Institute's High Level Waste program, the authors have developed a preliminary probabilistic model for assessing the hazard of fault rupture to the proposed high level waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The model is composed of two parts: the earthquake occurrence model that describes the three-dimensional geometry of earthquake sources and the earthquake recurrence characteristics for all sources in the site vicinity; and the rupture model that describes the probability of coseismic fault rupture of various lengths and amounts of displacement within the repository horizon 350 m below the surface. The latter uses empirical data from normal-faulting earthquakes to relate the rupture dimensions and fault displacement amounts to the magnitude of the earthquake. using a simulation procedure, we allow for earthquake occurrence on all of the earthquake sources in the site vicinity, model the location and displacement due to primary faults, and model the occurrence of secondary faulting in conjunction with primary faulting

  8. Analyzing multivariate survival data using composite likelihood and flexible parametric modeling of the hazard functions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jan; Parner, Erik

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we model multivariate time-to-event data by composite likelihood of pairwise frailty likelihoods and marginal hazards using natural cubic splines. Both right- and interval-censored data are considered. The suggested approach is applied on two types of family studies using the gamma...

  9. Seismic rupture modelling, strong motion prediction and seismic hazard assessment: fundamental and applied approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berge-Thierry, C.

    2007-05-01

    The defence to obtain the 'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches' is a synthesis of the research work performed since the end of my Ph D. thesis in 1997. This synthesis covers the two years as post doctoral researcher at the Bureau d'Evaluation des Risques Sismiques at the Institut de Protection (BERSSIN), and the seven consecutive years as seismologist and head of the BERSSIN team. This work and the research project are presented in the framework of the seismic risk topic, and particularly with respect to the seismic hazard assessment. Seismic risk combines seismic hazard and vulnerability. Vulnerability combines the strength of building structures and the human and economical consequences in case of structural failure. Seismic hazard is usually defined in terms of plausible seismic motion (soil acceleration or velocity) in a site for a given time period. Either for the regulatory context or the structural specificity (conventional structure or high risk construction), seismic hazard assessment needs: to identify and locate the seismic sources (zones or faults), to characterize their activity, to evaluate the seismic motion to which the structure has to resist (including the site effects). I specialized in the field of numerical strong-motion prediction using high frequency seismic sources modelling and forming part of the IRSN allowed me to rapidly working on the different tasks of seismic hazard assessment. Thanks to the expertise practice and the participation to the regulation evolution (nuclear power plants, conventional and chemical structures), I have been able to work on empirical strong-motion prediction, including site effects. Specific questions related to the interface between seismologists and structural engineers are also presented, especially the quantification of uncertainties. This is part of the research work initiated to improve the selection of the input ground motion in designing or verifying the stability of structures. (author)

  10. Transportation of Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blanchard, A.

    2000-02-28

    This report documents the Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment (EPHA) for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials (THM) at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). This hazards assessment is intended to identify and analyze those transportation hazards significant enough to warrant consideration in the SRS Emergency Management Program.

  11. Transportation of Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanchard, A.

    2000-01-01

    This report documents the Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment (EPHA) for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials (THM) at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). This hazards assessment is intended to identify and analyze those transportation hazards significant enough to warrant consideration in the SRS Emergency Management Program

  12. Transportation of hazardous materials emergency preparedness hazards assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanchard, A.

    2000-01-01

    This report documents the Emergency Preparedness Hazards Assessment (EPHA) for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials (THM) at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). This hazards assessment is intended to identify and analyze those transportation hazards significant enough to warrant consideration in the SRS Emergency Management Program

  13. Radiotoxic hazard measure for buried solid radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamstra, J.

    1975-01-01

    The radiotoxic hazards resulting from the disposal of highlevel reprocessing wastes into a deep geological formation are reviewed. The term radiotoxic hazard measure (RHM), used to measure the hazard from buried radioactive wastes, is based on the maximum radionuclide concentration permissible in water. Calculations are made of the RHM levels for the high-level reprocessing wastes of both light-water-reactor and fast breeder reactor fuels. In comparing these RHM levels with that for the natural activity of an equivalent amount of uranium ore and its mill tailings, it is concluded that an actual additional radiotoxic hazard for buried high-level reprocessing waste only exists for the first 300 to 500 years after burial. (U.S.)

  14. Come rain or shine: Multi-model Projections of Climate Hazards affecting Transportation in the South Central United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mullens, E.; Mcpherson, R. A.

    2016-12-01

    This work develops detailed trends in climate hazards affecting the Department of Transportation's Region 6, in the South Central U.S. Firstly, a survey was developed to gather information regarding weather and climate hazards in the region from the transportation community, identifying key phenomena and thresholds to evaluate. Statistically downscaled datasets were obtained from the Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogues (MACA) project, and the Asynchronous Regional Regression Model (ARRM), for a total of 21 model projections, two coupled model intercomparisons (CMIP3, and CMIP5), and four emissions pathways (A1Fi, B1, RCP8.5, RCP4.5). Specific hazards investigated include winter weather, freeze-thaw cycles, hot and cold extremes, and heavy precipitation. Projections for each of these variables were calculated for the region, utilizing spatial mapping, and time series analysis at the climate division level. The results indicate that cold-season phenomena such as winter weather, freeze-thaw, and cold extremes, decrease in intensity and frequency, particularly with the higher emissions pathways. Nonetheless, specific model and downscaling method yields variability in magnitudes, with the most notable decreasing trends late in the 21st century. Hot days show a pronounced increase, particularly with greater emissions, producing annual mean 100oF day frequencies by late 21st century analogous to the 2011 heatwave over the central Southern Plains. Heavy precipitation, evidenced by return period estimates and counts-over-thresholds, also show notable increasing trends, particularly between the recent past through mid-21st Century. Conversely, mean precipitation does not show significant trends and is regionally variable. Precipitation hazards (e.g., winter weather, extremes) diverge between downscaling methods and their associated model samples much more substantially than temperature, suggesting that the choice of global model and downscaled data is particularly

  15. Complete hazard ranking to analyze right-censored data: An ALS survival study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhengnan Huang

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Survival analysis represents an important outcome measure in clinical research and clinical trials; further, survival ranking may offer additional advantages in clinical trials. In this study, we developed GuanRank, a non-parametric ranking-based technique to transform patients' survival data into a linear space of hazard ranks. The transformation enables the utilization of machine learning base-learners including Gaussian process regression, Lasso, and random forest on survival data. The method was submitted to the DREAM Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS Stratification Challenge. Ranked first place, the model gave more accurate ranking predictions on the PRO-ACT ALS dataset in comparison to Cox proportional hazard model. By utilizing right-censored data in its training process, the method demonstrated its state-of-the-art predictive power in ALS survival ranking. Its feature selection identified multiple important factors, some of which conflicts with previous studies.

  16. Multi scenario seismic hazard assessment for Egypt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mostafa, Shaimaa Ismail; Abd el-aal, Abd el-aziz Khairy; El-Eraki, Mohamed Ahmed

    2018-05-01

    Egypt is located in the northeastern corner of Africa within a sensitive seismotectonic location. Earthquakes are concentrated along the active tectonic boundaries of African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The study area is characterized by northward increasing sediment thickness leading to more damage to structures in the north due to multiple reflections of seismic waves. Unfortunately, man-made constructions in Egypt were not designed to resist earthquake ground motions. So, it is important to evaluate the seismic hazard to reduce social and economic losses and preserve lives. The probabilistic seismic hazard assessment is used to evaluate the hazard using alternative seismotectonic models within a logic tree framework. Alternate seismotectonic models, magnitude-frequency relations, and various indigenous attenuation relationships were amended within a logic tree formulation to compute and develop the regional exposure on a set of hazard maps. Hazard contour maps are constructed for peak ground acceleration as well as 0.1-, 0.2-, 0.5-, 1-, and 2-s spectral periods for 100 and 475 years return periods for ground motion on rock. The results illustrate that Egypt is characterized by very low to high seismic activity grading from the west to the eastern part of the country. The uniform hazard spectra are estimated at some important cities distributed allover Egypt. The deaggregation of seismic hazard is estimated at some cities to identify the scenario events that contribute to a selected seismic hazard level. The results of this study can be used in seismic microzonation, risk mitigation, and earthquake engineering purposes.

  17. Issues in testing the new national seismic hazard model for Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, S.; Peresan, A.; Kossobokov, V. G.; Brooks, E. M.; Spencer, B. D.

    2016-12-01

    It is important to bear in mind that we know little about how earthquake hazard maps actually describe the shaking that will actually occur in the future, and have no agreed way of assessing how well a map performed in the past, and, thus, whether one map performs better than another. Moreover, we should not forget that different maps can be useful for different end users, who may have different cost-and-benefit strategies. Thus, regardless of the specific tests we chose to use, the adopted testing approach should have several key features: We should assess map performance using all the available instrumental, paleo seismology, and historical intensity data. Instrumental data alone span a period much too short to capture the largest earthquakes - and thus strongest shaking - expected from most faults. We should investigate what causes systematic misfit, if any, between the longest record we have - historical intensity data available for the Italian territory from 217 B.C. to 2002 A.D. - and a given hazard map. We should compare how seismic hazard maps developed over time. How do the most recent maps for Italy compare to earlier ones? It is important to understand local divergences that show how the models are developing to the most recent one. The temporal succession of maps is important: we have to learn from previous errors. We should use the many different tests that have been proposed. All are worth trying, because different metrics of performance show different aspects of how a hazard map performs and can be used. We should compare other maps to the ones we are testing. Maps can be made using a wide variety of assumptions, which will lead to different predicted shaking. It is possible that maps derived by other approaches may perform better. Although Italian current codes are based on probabilistic maps, it is important from both a scientific and societal perspective to look at all options including deterministic scenario based ones. Comparing what works

  18. Spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system combined with frequency ratio, generalized additive model, and support vector machine techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei; Pourghasemi, Hamid Reza; Panahi, Mahdi; Kornejady, Aiding; Wang, Jiale; Xie, Xiaoshen; Cao, Shubo

    2017-11-01

    The spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility is an important prerequisite for the analysis of landslide hazards and risks in any area. This research uses three data mining techniques, such as an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system combined with frequency ratio (ANFIS-FR), a generalized additive model (GAM), and a support vector machine (SVM), for landslide susceptibility mapping in Hanyuan County, China. In the first step, in accordance with a review of the previous literature, twelve conditioning factors, including slope aspect, altitude, slope angle, topographic wetness index (TWI), plan curvature, profile curvature, distance to rivers, distance to faults, distance to roads, land use, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and lithology, were selected. In the second step, a collinearity test and correlation analysis between the conditioning factors and landslides were applied. In the third step, we used three advanced methods, namely, ANFIS-FR, GAM, and SVM, for landslide susceptibility modeling. Subsequently, the results of their accuracy were validated using a receiver operating characteristic curve. The results showed that all three models have good prediction capabilities, while the SVM model has the highest prediction rate of 0.875, followed by the ANFIS-FR and GAM models with prediction rates of 0.851 and 0.846, respectively. Thus, the landslide susceptibility maps produced in the study area can be applied for management of hazards and risks in landslide-prone Hanyuan County.

  19. Validation analysis of probabilistic models of dietary exposure to food additives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilsenan, M B; Thompson, R L; Lambe, J; Gibney, M J

    2003-10-01

    The validity of a range of simple conceptual models designed specifically for the estimation of food additive intakes using probabilistic analysis was assessed. Modelled intake estimates that fell below traditional conservative point estimates of intake and above 'true' additive intakes (calculated from a reference database at brand level) were considered to be in a valid region. Models were developed for 10 food additives by combining food intake data, the probability of an additive being present in a food group and additive concentration data. Food intake and additive concentration data were entered as raw data or as a lognormal distribution, and the probability of an additive being present was entered based on the per cent brands or the per cent eating occasions within a food group that contained an additive. Since the three model components assumed two possible modes of input, the validity of eight (2(3)) model combinations was assessed. All model inputs were derived from the reference database. An iterative approach was employed in which the validity of individual model components was assessed first, followed by validation of full conceptual models. While the distribution of intake estimates from models fell below conservative intakes, which assume that the additive is present at maximum permitted levels (MPLs) in all foods in which it is permitted, intake estimates were not consistently above 'true' intakes. These analyses indicate the need for more complex models for the estimation of food additive intakes using probabilistic analysis. Such models should incorporate information on market share and/or brand loyalty.

  20. Applying the Land Use Portfolio Model to Estimate Natural-Hazard Loss and Risk - A Hypothetical Demonstration for Ventura County, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinitz, Laura B.

    2008-01-01

    With costs of natural disasters skyrocketing and populations increasingly settling in areas vulnerable to natural hazards, society is challenged to better allocate its limited risk-reduction resources. In 2000, Congress passed the Disaster Mitigation Act, amending the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Pub. L. 93-288, 1988; Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2002, 2008b; Disaster Mitigation Act, 2000), mandating that State, local, and tribal communities prepare natural-hazard mitigation plans to qualify for pre-disaster mitigation grants and post-disaster aid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was assigned to coordinate and implement hazard-mitigation programs, and it published information about specific mitigation-plan requirements and the mechanisms (through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program-HMGP) for distributing funds (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2002). FEMA requires that each community develop a mitigation strategy outlining long-term goals to reduce natural-hazard vulnerability, mitigation objectives and specific actions to reduce the impacts of natural hazards, and an implementation plan for those actions. The implementation plan should explain methods for prioritizing, implementing, and administering the actions, along with a 'cost-benefit review' justifying the prioritization. FEMA, along with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), supported the development of HAZUS ('Hazards U.S.'), a geospatial natural-hazards loss-estimation tool, to help communities quantify potential losses and to aid in the selection and prioritization of mitigation actions. HAZUS was expanded to a multiple-hazard version, HAZUS-MH, that combines population, building, and natural-hazard science and economic data and models to estimate physical damages, replacement costs, and business interruption for specific natural-hazard scenarios. HAZUS

  1. Seismic hazard assessment of the Province of Murcia (SE Spain): analysis of source contribution to hazard

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Mayordomo, J.; Gaspar-Escribano, J. M.; Benito, B.

    2007-10-01

    A probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of the Province of Murcia in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral accelerations [SA( T)] is presented in this paper. In contrast to most of the previous studies in the region, which were performed for PGA making use of intensity-to-PGA relationships, hazard is here calculated in terms of magnitude and using European spectral ground-motion models. Moreover, we have considered the most important faults in the region as specific seismic sources, and also comprehensively reviewed the earthquake catalogue. Hazard calculations are performed following the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) methodology using a logic tree, which accounts for three different seismic source zonings and three different ground-motion models. Hazard maps in terms of PGA and SA(0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 s) and coefficient of variation (COV) for the 475-year return period are shown. Subsequent analysis is focused on three sites of the province, namely, the cities of Murcia, Lorca and Cartagena, which are important industrial and tourism centres. Results at these sites have been analysed to evaluate the influence of the different input options. The most important factor affecting the results is the choice of the attenuation relationship, whereas the influence of the selected seismic source zonings appears strongly site dependant. Finally, we have performed an analysis of source contribution to hazard at each of these cities to provide preliminary guidance in devising specific risk scenarios. We have found that local source zones control the hazard for PGA and SA( T ≤ 1.0 s), although contribution from specific fault sources and long-distance north Algerian sources becomes significant from SA(0.5 s) onwards.

  2. Hazard avoidance via descent images for safe landing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Ruicheng; Cao, Zhiguo; Zhu, Lei; Fang, Zhiwen

    2013-10-01

    In planetary or lunar landing missions, hazard avoidance is critical for landing safety. Therefore, it is very important to correctly detect hazards and effectively find a safe landing area during the last stage of descent. In this paper, we propose a passive sensing based HDA (hazard detection and avoidance) approach via descent images to lower the landing risk. In hazard detection stage, a statistical probability model on the basis of the hazard similarity is adopted to evaluate the image and detect hazardous areas, so that a binary hazard image can be generated. Afterwards, a safety coefficient, which jointly utilized the proportion of hazards in the local region and the inside hazard distribution, is proposed to find potential regions with less hazards in the binary hazard image. By using the safety coefficient in a coarse-to-fine procedure and combining it with the local ISD (intensity standard deviation) measure, the safe landing area is determined. The algorithm is evaluated and verified with many simulated descent downward looking images rendered from lunar orbital satellite images.

  3. Modeling hazardous mass flows Geoflows09: Mathematical and computational aspects of modeling hazardous geophysical mass flows; Seattle, Washington, 9–11 March 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iverson, Richard M.; LeVeque, Randall J.

    2009-01-01

    A recent workshop at the University of Washington focused on mathematical and computational aspects of modeling the dynamics of dense, gravity-driven mass movements such as rock avalanches and debris flows. About 30 participants came from seven countries and brought diverse backgrounds in geophysics; geology; physics; applied and computational mathematics; and civil, mechanical, and geotechnical engineering. The workshop was cosponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program, by the U.S. National Science Foundation through a Vertical Integration of Research and Education (VIGRE) in the Mathematical Sciences grant to the University of Washington, and by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. It began with a day of lectures open to the academic community at large and concluded with 2 days of focused discussions and collaborative work among the participants.

  4. Coupling Radar Rainfall Estimation and Hydrological Modelling For Flash-flood Hazard Mitigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borga, M.; Creutin, J. D.

    Flood risk mitigation is accomplished through managing either or both the hazard and vulnerability. Flood hazard may be reduced through structural measures which alter the frequency of flood levels in the area. The vulnerability of a community to flood loss can be mitigated through changing or regulating land use and through flood warning and effective emergency response. When dealing with flash-flood hazard, it is gener- ally accepted that the most effective way (and in many instances the only affordable in a sustainable perspective) to mitigate the risk is by reducing the vulnerability of the involved communities, in particular by implementing flood warning systems and community self-help programs. However, both the inherent characteristics of the at- mospheric and hydrologic processes involved in flash-flooding and the changing soci- etal needs provide a tremendous challenge to traditional flood forecasting and warning concepts. In fact, the targets of these systems are traditionally localised like urbanised sectors or hydraulic structures. Given the small spatial scale that characterises flash floods and the development of dispersed urbanisation, transportation, green tourism and water sports, human lives and property are exposed to flash flood risk in a scat- tered manner. This must be taken into consideration in flash flood warning strategies and the investigated region should be considered as a whole and every section of the drainage network as a potential target for hydrological warnings. Radar technology offers the potential to provide information describing rain intensities almost contin- uously in time and space. Recent research results indicate that coupling radar infor- mation to distributed hydrologic modelling can provide hydrologic forecasts at all potentially flooded points of a region. Nevertheless, very few flood warning services use radar data more than on a qualitative basis. After a short review of current under- standing in this area, two

  5. LAV@HAZARD: a web-GIS interface for volcanic hazard assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Gallo

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Satellite data, radiative power of hot spots as measured with remote sensing, historical records, on site geological surveys, digital elevation model data, and simulation results together provide a massive data source to investigate the behavior of active volcanoes like Mount Etna (Sicily, Italy over recent times. The integration of these heterogeneous data into a coherent visualization framework is important for their practical exploitation. It is crucial to fill in the gap between experimental and numerical data, and the direct human perception of their meaning. Indeed, the people in charge of safety planning of an area need to be able to quickly assess hazards and other relevant issues even during critical situations. With this in mind, we developed LAV@HAZARD, a web-based geographic information system that provides an interface for the collection of all of the products coming from the LAVA project research activities. LAV@HAZARD is based on Google Maps application programming interface, a choice motivated by its ease of use and the user-friendly interactive environment it provides. In particular, the web structure consists of four modules for satellite applications (time-space evolution of hot spots, radiant flux and effusion rate, hazard map visualization, a database of ca. 30,000 lava-flow simulations, and real-time scenario forecasting by MAGFLOW on Compute Unified Device Architecture.

  6. Occupational, social, and relationship hazards and psychological distress among low-income workers: implications of the 'inverse hazard law'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krieger, Nancy; Kaddour, Afamia; Koenen, Karestan; Kosheleva, Anna; Chen, Jarvis T; Waterman, Pamela D; Barbeau, Elizabeth M

    2011-03-01

    Few studies have simultaneously included exposure information on occupational hazards, relationship hazards (eg, intimate partner violence) and social hazards (eg, poverty and racial discrimination), especially among low-income multiracial/ethnic populations. A cross-sectional study (2003-2004) of 1202 workers employed at 14 worksites in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts investigated the independent and joint association of occupational, social and relationship hazards with psychological distress (K6 scale). Among this low-income cohort (45% were below the US poverty line), exposure to occupational, social and relationship hazards, per the 'inverse hazard law,' was high: 82% exposed to at least one occupational hazard, 79% to at least one social hazard, and 32% of men and 34% of women, respectively, stated they had been the perpetrator or target of intimate partner violence (IPV). Fully 15.4% had clinically significant psychological distress scores (K6 score ≥ 13). All three types of hazards, and also poverty, were independently associated with increased risk of psychological distress. In models including all three hazards, however, significant associations with psychological distress occurred among men and women for workplace abuse and high exposure to racial discrimination only; among men, for IPV; and among women, for high exposure to occupational hazards, poverty and smoking. Reckoning with the joint and embodied reality of diverse types of hazards involving how people live and work is necessary for understanding determinants of health status.

  7. Development of evaluation method for software hazard identification techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, H. W.; Chen, M. H.; Shih, C.; Yih, S.; Kuo, C. T.; Wang, L. H.; Yu, Y. C.; Chen, C. W.

    2006-01-01

    This research evaluated the applicable software hazard identification techniques nowadays, such as, Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Markov chain modeling, Dynamic Flow-graph Methodology (DFM), and simulation-based model analysis; and then determined indexes in view of their characteristics, which include dynamic capability, completeness, achievability, detail, signal/noise ratio, complexity, and implementation cost. By this proposed method, the analysts can evaluate various software hazard identification combinations for specific purpose. According to the case study results, the traditional PHA + FMEA + FTA (with failure rate) + Markov chain modeling (with transfer rate) combination is not competitive due to the dilemma for obtaining acceptable software failure rates. However, the systematic architecture of FTA and Markov chain modeling is still valuable for realizing the software fault structure. The system centric techniques, such as DFM and simulation-based model-analysis, show the advantage on dynamic capability, achievability, detail, signal/noise ratio. However, their disadvantages are the completeness complexity and implementation cost. This evaluation method can be a platform to reach common consensus for the stakeholders. Following the evolution of software hazard identification techniques, the evaluation results could be changed. However, the insight of software hazard identification techniques is much more important than the numbers obtained by the evaluation. (authors)

  8. KSC VAB Aeroacoustic Hazard Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Justin M.; Yedo, Sabrina; Campbell, Michael D.; Atkinson, Joseph P.

    2010-01-01

    NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) carried out an analysis of the effects of aeroacoustics produced by stationary solid rocket motors in processing areas at KSC. In the current paper, attention is directed toward the acoustic effects of a motor burning within the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The analysis was carried out with support from ASRC Aerospace who modeled transmission effects into surrounding facilities. Calculations were done using semi-analytical models for both aeroacoustics and transmission. From the results it was concluded that acoustic hazards in proximity to the source of ignition and plume can be severe; acoustic hazards in the far-field are significantly lower.

  9. Lessons learned from external hazards

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peinador, Miguel; Zerger, Benoit [European Commisison Joint Research Centre, Petten (Netherlands). Inst. for Energy and Transport; Ramos, Manuel Martin [European Commission Joint Research Centre, Brussels (Belgium). Nuclear Safety and Security Coordination; Wattrelos, Didier [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN), Fontenay-aux-Roses (France); Maqua, Michael [Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) mbH, Koeln (Germany)

    2014-01-15

    This paper presents a study performed by the European Clearinghouse of the Joint Research Centre on Operational Experience for nuclear power plants in cooperation with IRSN and GRS covering events reported by nuclear power plants in relation to external hazards. It summarizes the review of 235 event reports from 3 different databases. The events were grouped in 9 categories according to the nature of the external hazard involved, and the specific lessons learned and recommendations that can be derived from each of these categories are presented. Additional 'cross-cutting' recommendations covering several or all the external hazards considered are also discussed. These recommendations can be useful in preventing this type of events from happening again or in limiting their consequences. The study was launched in 2010 and therefore it does not cover the Fukushima event. This paper presents the main findings and recommendations raised by this study. (orig.)

  10. Hazards assessment for the Hazardous Waste Storage Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knudsen, J.K.; Calley, M.B.

    1994-04-01

    This report documents the hazards assessment for the Hazardous Waste Storage Facility (HWSF) located at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The hazards assessment was performed to ensure that this facility complies with DOE and company requirements pertaining to emergency planning and preparedness for operational emergencies. The hazards assessment identifies and analyzes hazards that are significant enough to warrant consideration in a facility's operational emergency management program. The area surrounding HWSF, the buildings and structures at HWSF, and the processes used at HWSF are described in this report. All nonradiological hazardous materials at the HWSF were identified (radiological hazardous materials are not stored at HWSF) and screened against threshold quantities according to DOE Order 5500.3A guidance. Two of the identified hazardous materials exceeded their specified threshold quantity. This report discusses the potential release scenarios and consequences associated with an accidental release for each of the two identified hazardous materials, lead and mercury. Emergency considerations, such as emergency planning zones, emergency classes, protective actions, and emergency action levels, are also discussed based on the analysis of potential consequences. Evaluation of the potential consequences indicated that the highest emergency class for operational emergencies at the HWSF would be a Site Area Emergency

  11. Revised seismic hazard map for the Kyrgyz Republic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleming, Kevin; Ullah, Shahid; Parolai, Stefano; Walker, Richard; Pittore, Massimiliano; Free, Matthew; Fourniadis, Yannis; Villiani, Manuela; Sousa, Luis; Ormukov, Cholponbek; Moldobekov, Bolot; Takeuchi, Ko

    2017-04-01

    As part of a seismic risk study sponsored by the World Bank, a revised seismic hazard map for the Kyrgyz Republic has been produced, using the OpenQuake-engine developed by the Global Earthquake Model Foundation (GEM). In this project, an earthquake catalogue spanning a period from 250 BCE to 2014 was compiled and processed through spatial and temporal declustering tools. The territory of the Kyrgyz Republic was divided into 31 area sources defined based on local seismicity, including a total area covering 200 km from the border. The results are presented in terms of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA). In addition, macroseismic intensity estimates, making use of recent intensity prediction equations, were also provided, given that this measure is still widely used in Central Asia. In order to accommodate the associated epistemic uncertainty, three ground motion prediction equations were used in a logic tree structure. A set of representative earthquake scenarios were further identified based on historical data and the nature of the considered faults. The resulting hazard map, as expected, follows the country's seismicity, with the highest levels of hazard in the northeast, south and southwest of the country, with an elevated part around the centre. When considering PGA, the hazard is slightly greater for major urban centres than in previous works (e.g., Abdrakhmatov et al., 2003), although the macroseismic intensity estimates are less than previous studies, e.g., Ulomov (1999). For the scenario assessments, the examples that most affect the urban centres assessed are the Issyk Ata fault (in particular for Bishkek), the Chilik and Kemin faults (in particular Balykchy and Karakol), the Ferghana Valley fault system (in particular Osh, Jalah-Abad and Uzgen), the Oinik Djar fault (Naryn) and the central and western Talas-Ferghanafaukt (Talas). Finally, while site effects (in particular, those dependent on the upper-most geological structure) have an obvious effect on the

  12. Mutagenic hazards of complex polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixtures in contaminated soil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lemieux, C.L.; Lambert, A.B.; Lundstedt, S.; Tysklind, M.; White, P.A. [Health Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). Safe Environment Program

    2008-04-15

    The objective of the present study was to evaluate hazard/risk assessment methods for complex environmental mixtures that involve a targeted, priority chemical approach based on the cumulative hazard/risk of known mixture components or analyses of sufficiently similar mixtures. Ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soils were separated into nonpolar and semipolar fractions, and both fractions elicited positive responses on the Salmonella reverse mutation assay. Targeted and nontargeted methods of hazard prediction routinely overestimated mutagenic activities for the nonpolar soil fractions, suggesting nonadditive interactions of PAHs in complex mixtures. This suggests that current risk assessment methods for complex mixtures may provide conservative estimates regarding soils contaminated with priority PAHs alone. Significant underestimations of total risk, however, will be obtained if the soils also contain unidentified PAHs as well as polycyclic aromatic compounds and related compounds that contribute to the total mutagenic activity. Furthermore, estimates of excess lifetime cancer risk associated with the nondietary ingestion of the PAH-contaminated soils studied here indicate that a traditional risk assessment model based on identified priority PAHs and an assumption of additivity generally underestimates the risk associated with the nonpolar soil fractions (in comparison to bioassay-derived risk estimates). Additional cancer risk may be associated with the more polar compounds that also are found at these contaminated sites and that rarely are included in the standard risk assessment methodology.

  13. Hazard Detection Software for Lunar Landing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huertas, Andres; Johnson, Andrew E.; Werner, Robert A.; Montgomery, James F.

    2011-01-01

    The Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project is developing a system for safe and precise manned lunar landing that involves novel sensors, but also specific algorithms. ALHAT has selected imaging LIDAR (light detection and ranging) as the sensing modality for onboard hazard detection because imaging LIDARs can rapidly generate direct measurements of the lunar surface elevation from high altitude. Then, starting with the LIDAR-based Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA) algorithm developed for Mars Landing, JPL has developed a mature set of HDA software for the manned lunar landing problem. Landing hazards exist everywhere on the Moon, and many of the more desirable landing sites are near the most hazardous terrain, so HDA is needed to autonomously and safely land payloads over much of the lunar surface. The HDA requirements used in the ALHAT project are to detect hazards that are 0.3 m tall or higher and slopes that are 5 or greater. Steep slopes, rocks, cliffs, and gullies are all hazards for landing and, by computing the local slope and roughness in an elevation map, all of these hazards can be detected. The algorithm in this innovation is used to measure slope and roughness hazards. In addition to detecting these hazards, the HDA capability also is able to find a safe landing site free of these hazards for a lunar lander with diameter .15 m over most of the lunar surface. This software includes an implementation of the HDA algorithm, software for generating simulated lunar terrain maps for testing, hazard detection performance analysis tools, and associated documentation. The HDA software has been deployed to Langley Research Center and integrated into the POST II Monte Carlo simulation environment. The high-fidelity Monte Carlo simulations determine the required ground spacing between LIDAR samples (ground sample distances) and the noise on the LIDAR range measurement. This simulation has also been used to determine the effect of

  14. Conceptual model of volcanism and volcanic hazards of the region of Ararat valley, Armenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meliksetian, Khachatur; Connor, Charles; Savov, Ivan; Connor, Laura; Navasardyan, Gevorg; Manucharyan, Davit; Ghukasyan, Yura; Gevorgyan, Hripsime

    2015-04-01

    Armenia and the adjacent volcanically active regions in Iran, Turkey and Georgia are located in the collision zone between the Arabian and Eurasian lithospheric plates. The majority of studies of regional collision related volcanism use the model proposed by Keskin, (2003) where volcanism is driven by Neo-Tethyan slab break-off. In Armenia, >500 Quaternary-Holocene volcanoes from the Gegham, Vardenis and Syunik volcanic fields are hosted within pull-apart structures formed by active faults and their segments (Karakhanyan et al., 2002), while tectonic position of the large in volume basalt-dacite Aragats volcano and periphery volcanic plateaus is different and its position away from major fault lines necessitates more complex volcano-tectonic setup. Our detailed volcanological, petrological and geochemical studies provide insight into the nature of such volcanic activity in the region of Ararat Valley. Most magmas, such as those erupted in Armenia are volatile-poor and erupt fairly hot. Here we report newly discovered tephra sequences in Ararat valley, that were erupted from historically active Ararat stratovolcano and provide evidence for explosive eruption of young, mid K2O calc-alkaline and volatile-rich (>4.6 wt% H2O; amph-bearing) magmas. Such young eruptions, in addition to the ignimbrite and lava flow hazards from Gegham and Aragats, present a threat to the >1.4 million people (~ ½ of the population of Armenia). We will report numerical simulations of potential volcanic hazards for the region of Ararat valley near Yerevan that will include including tephra fallout, lava flows and opening of new vents. Connor et al. (2012) J. Applied Volcanology 1:3, 1-19; Karakhanian et al. (2002), JVGR, 113, 319-344; Keskin, M. (2003) Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 24, 8046.

  15. OpenQuake, a platform for collaborative seismic hazard and risk assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henshaw, Paul; Burton, Christopher; Butler, Lars; Crowley, Helen; Danciu, Laurentiu; Nastasi, Matteo; Monelli, Damiano; Pagani, Marco; Panzeri, Luigi; Simionato, Michele; Silva, Vitor; Vallarelli, Giuseppe; Weatherill, Graeme; Wyss, Ben

    2013-04-01

    Sharing of data and risk information, best practices, and approaches across the globe is key to assessing risk more effectively. Through global projects, open-source IT development and collaborations with more than 10 regions, leading experts are collaboratively developing unique global datasets, best practice, tools and models for global seismic hazard and risk assessment, within the context of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). Guided by the needs and experiences of governments, companies and international organisations, all contributions are being integrated into OpenQuake: a web-based platform that - together with other resources - will become accessible in 2014. With OpenQuake, stakeholders worldwide will be able to calculate, visualize and investigate earthquake hazard and risk, capture new data and share findings for joint learning. The platform is envisaged as a collaborative hub for earthquake risk assessment, used at global and local scales, around which an active network of users has formed. OpenQuake will comprise both online and offline tools, many of which can also be used independently. One of the first steps in OpenQuake development was the creation of open-source software for advanced seismic hazard and risk calculations at any scale, the OpenQuake Engine. Although in continuous development, a command-line version of the software is already being test-driven and used by hundreds worldwide; from non-profits in Central Asia, seismologists in sub-Saharan Africa and companies in South Asia to the European seismic hazard harmonization programme (SHARE). In addition, several technical trainings were organized with scientists from different regions of the world (sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Asia-Pacific) to introduce the engine and other OpenQuake tools to the community, something that will continue to happen over the coming years. Other tools that are being developed of direct interest to the hazard community are: • OpenQuake Modeller; fundamental

  16. Landslide hazard assessment along a mountain highway in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) using remote sensing and computational models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishna, Akhouri P.; Kumar, Santosh

    2013-10-01

    Landslide hazard assessments using computational models, such as artificial neural network (ANN) and frequency ratio (FR), were carried out covering one of the important mountain highways in the Central Himalaya of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). Landslide influencing factors were either calculated or extracted from spatial databases including recent remote sensing data of LANDSAT TM, CARTOSAT digital elevation model (DEM) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite for rainfall data. ANN was implemented using the multi-layered feed forward architecture with different input, output and hidden layers. This model based on back propagation algorithm derived weights for all possible parameters of landslides and causative factors considered. The training sites for landslide prone and non-prone areas were identified and verified through details gathered from remote sensing and other sources. Frequency Ratio (FR) models are based on observed relationships between the distribution of landslides and each landslide related factor. FR model implementation proved useful for assessing the spatial relationships between landslide locations and factors contributing to its occurrence. Above computational models generated respective susceptibility maps of landslide hazard for the study area. This further allowed the simulation of landslide hazard maps on a medium scale using GIS platform and remote sensing data. Upon validation and accuracy checks, it was observed that both models produced good results with FR having some edge over ANN based mapping. Such statistical and functional models led to better understanding of relationships between the landslides and preparatory factors as well as ensuring lesser levels of subjectivity compared to qualitative approaches.

  17. The effects of hazardous working conditions on burnout in Macau nurses

    OpenAIRE

    Sydney X. Hu; Andrew L. Luk; Graeme D. Smith

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To examine the effects of various hazardous factors in working environments on burnout in a cohort of clinical nurses in Macau. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used to examine specific workplace hazards for burnout in qualified nurses (n = 424) in Macau. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze relationships between specific hazards and manifestations of burnout. Results: In the final model, workplace hazards accounted for 73% of the variance of burnout wi...

  18. Using Multi-Scenario Tsunami Modelling Results combined with Probabilistic Analyses to provide Hazard Information for the South-WestCoast of Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zosseder, K.; Post, J.; Steinmetz, T.; Wegscheider, S.; Strunz, G.

    2009-04-01

    Indonesia is located at one of the most active geological subduction zones in the world. Following the most recent seaquakes and their subsequent tsunamis in December 2004 and July 2006 it is expected that also in the near future tsunamis are likely to occur due to increased tectonic tensions leading to abrupt vertical seafloor alterations after a century of relative tectonic silence. To face this devastating threat tsunami hazard maps are very important as base for evacuation planning and mitigation strategies. In terms of a tsunami impact the hazard assessment is mostly covered by numerical modelling because the model results normally offer the most precise database for a hazard analysis as they include spatially distributed data and their influence to the hydraulic dynamics. Generally a model result gives a probability for the intensity distribution of a tsunami at the coast (or run up) and the spatial distribution of the maximum inundation area depending on the location and magnitude of the tsunami source used. The boundary condition of the source used for the model is mostly chosen by a worst case approach. Hence the location and magnitude which are likely to occur and which are assumed to generate the worst impact are used to predict the impact at a specific area. But for a tsunami hazard assessment covering a large coastal area, as it is demanded in the GITEWS (German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System) project in which the present work is embedded, this approach is not practicable because a lot of tsunami sources can cause an impact at the coast and must be considered. Thus a multi-scenario tsunami model approach is developed to provide a reliable hazard assessment covering large areas. For the Indonesian Early Warning System many tsunami scenarios were modelled by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) at different probable tsunami sources and with different magnitudes along the Sunda Trench. Every modelled scenario delivers the spatial distribution of

  19. Development of seismic hazard analysis in Japan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Itoh, T.; Ishii, K.; Ishikawa, Y.; Okumura, T.

    1987-01-01

    In recent years, seismic risk assessment of the nuclear power plant have been conducted increasingly in various countries, particularly in the United States to evaluate probabilistically the safety of existing plants under earthquake loading. The first step of the seismic risk assessment is the seismic hazard analysis, in which the relationship between the maximum earthquake ground motions at the plant site and their annual probability of exceedance, i.e. the seismic hazard curve, is estimated. In this paper, seismic hazard curves are evaluated and examined based on historical earthquake records model, in which seismic sources are modeled with area-sources, for several different sites in Japan. A new evaluation method is also proposed to compute the response spectra of the earthquake ground motions in connection with estimating the probabilistic structural response. Finally the numerical result of probabilistic risk assessment for a base-isolated three story RC structure, in which the frequency of seismic induced structural failure is evaluated combining the seismic hazard analysis, is described briefly

  20. Going beyond the flood insurance rate map: insights from flood hazard map co-production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Luke

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Flood hazard mapping in the United States (US is deeply tied to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP. Consequently, publicly available flood maps provide essential information for insurance purposes, but they do not necessarily provide relevant information for non-insurance aspects of flood risk management (FRM such as public education and emergency planning. Recent calls for flood hazard maps that support a wider variety of FRM tasks highlight the need to deepen our understanding about the factors that make flood maps useful and understandable for local end users. In this study, social scientists and engineers explore opportunities for improving the utility and relevance of flood hazard maps through the co-production of maps responsive to end users' FRM needs. Specifically, two-dimensional flood modeling produced a set of baseline hazard maps for stakeholders of the Tijuana River valley, US, and Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana, Mexico. Focus groups with natural resource managers, city planners, emergency managers, academia, non-profit, and community leaders refined the baseline hazard maps by triggering additional modeling scenarios and map revisions. Several important end user preferences emerged, such as (1 legends that frame flood intensity both qualitatively and quantitatively, and (2 flood scenario descriptions that report flood magnitude in terms of rainfall, streamflow, and its relation to an historic event. Regarding desired hazard map content, end users' requests revealed general consistency with mapping needs reported in European studies and guidelines published in Australia. However, requested map content that is not commonly produced included (1 standing water depths following the flood, (2 the erosive potential of flowing water, and (3 pluvial flood hazards, or flooding caused directly by rainfall. We conclude that the relevance and utility of commonly produced flood hazard maps can be most improved by illustrating

  1. Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ejrnæs, Mette; Hochguertel, Stefan

    We study risk behavior of Danish self-employed entrepreneurs, whose income risk may be driven by both exogenous factors and effort choice (moral hazard). Partial insurance is available through voluntary unemployment insurance (UI). Additional incentives to sign insurance contracts stem from a UI......-embedded, government-subsidized early retirement (ER) program, giving benefits that are unrelated to business risk. Indeed, we argue that the self-employeds' incentives to insure themselves stem from the ER plan rather than from the UI cover. We show how to use a policy reform to identify moral hazard in observed...

  2. ADVANCES IN RENEWAL DECISION-MAKING UTILISING THE PROPORTIONAL HAZARDS MODEL WITH VIBRATION COVARIATES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pieter-Jan Vlok

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available

    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Increased competitiveness in the production world necessitates improved maintenance strategies to increase availabilities and drive down cost . The maintenance engineer is thus faced with the need to make more intelligent pre ventive renewal decisions . Two of the main techniques to achieve this is through Condition Monitoring (such as vibrat ion monitoring and oil anal ysis and Statistical Failure Analysis (typically using probabilistic techniques . The present paper discusses these techniques, their uses and weaknesses and then presents th e Proportional Hazard Model as an solution to most of these weaknesses. It then goes on to compare the results of the different techniques in monetary terms, using a South African case study. This comparison shows clearly that the Proportional Hazards Model is sup erior to the present t echniques and should be the preferred model for many actual maintenance situations.

    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Verhoogde vlakke van mededinging in die produksie omgewing noodsaak verbeterde instandhouding strategies om beskikbaarheid van toerusting te verhoog en koste te minimeer. Instandhoudingsingenieurs moet gevolglik meer intellegente voorkomende hernuwings besluite neem. Twee prominente tegnieke om hierdie doelwit te bereik is Toestandsmonitering (soos vibrasie monitering of olie analise en Statistiese Falingsanalise (gewoonlik m.b.v. probabilistiese metodes. In hierdie artikel beskou ons beide hierdie tegnieke, hulle gebruike en tekortkominge en stel dan die Proporsionele Gevaarkoers Model voor as 'n oplossing vir meeste van die tekortkominge. Die artikel vergelyk ook die verskillende tegnieke in geldelike terme deur gebruik te maak van 'n Suid-Afrikaanse gevalle studie. Hierdie vergelyking wys duidelik-uit dat die Proporsionele Gevaarkoers Model groter beloft e inhou as die huidige tegni eke en dat dit die voorkeur oplossing behoort te wees in baie werklike instandhoudings situasies.

  3. Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis for Yemen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rakesh Mohindra

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A stochastic-event probabilistic seismic hazard model, which can be used further for estimates of seismic loss and seismic risk analysis, has been developed for the territory of Yemen. An updated composite earthquake catalogue has been compiled using the databases from two basic sources and several research publications. The spatial distribution of earthquakes from the catalogue was used to define and characterize the regional earthquake source zones for Yemen. To capture all possible scenarios in the seismic hazard model, a stochastic event set has been created consisting of 15,986 events generated from 1,583 fault segments in the delineated seismic source zones. Distribution of horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA was calculated for all stochastic events considering epistemic uncertainty in ground-motion modeling using three suitable ground motion-prediction relationships, which were applied with equal weight. The probabilistic seismic hazard maps were created showing PGA and MSK seismic intensity at 10% and 50% probability of exceedance in 50 years, considering local soil site conditions. The resulting PGA for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years (return period 475 years ranges from 0.2 g to 0.3 g in western Yemen and generally is less than 0.05 g across central and eastern Yemen. The largest contributors to Yemen’s seismic hazard are the events from the West Arabian Shield seismic zone.

  4. Hazardous materials management and compliance training

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dalton, T.F.

    1991-01-01

    OSHA training for hazardous waste site workers is required by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA). In December 1986, a series of regulations was promulgated by OSHA on an interim basis calling for the training of workers engaged in hazardous waste operations. Subsequent to these interim regulations, final rules were promulgated and these final rules on hazardous waste operations and emergency response became effective on March 6, 1990. OSHA has conducted hearings on the accreditation of training programs. OSHA would like to follow the accreditation process under the AHERA regulations for asbestos, in which the model plan for accreditation of asbestos abatement training was included in Section 206 of Title 11 of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). OSHA proposed on January 26, 1990, to perform the accreditation of training programs for hazardous waste operations and that proposal suggested that they follow the model plan similar to the one used for AHERA. They did not propose to accredited training programs for workers engaged in emergency response. These new regulations pose a significant problem to the various contractors and emergency responders who deal with hazardous materials spill response, cleanup and site remediation since these programs have expanded so quickly that many people are not familiar with what particular segment of the training they are required to have and whether or not programs that have yet to be accredited are satisfactory for this type of training. Title III of SARA stipulates a training program for first responders which includes local emergency response organizations such as firemen and policemen. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the needs of workers at hazardous waste site remediation projects and workers who are dealing with hazardous substances, spill response and cleanup

  5. Identification of natural hazards and classification of urban areas by TOPSIS model (case study: Bandar Abbas city, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rasool Mahdavi Najafabadi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, among multi-criteria models for complex decision-making and multiple-attribute models for assigning the most preferable choice, the technique for order preference by similarity ideal solution (TOPSIS is implied. The main objective of this research is to identify potential natural hazards in Bandar Abbas city, Iran, using TOPSIS model, which is based on an analytical hierarchy process structure. A set of 12 relevant geomorphologic parameters, including earthquake frequency, distance from the earthquake epicentre, number of faults, flood, talus creep, landslide, land subsidence, tide, hurricane and tidal wave, dust storms with external source, wind erosion and sea level fluctuations are considered to quantify inputs of the model. The outputs of this study indicate that one region, among three assessed regions, has the maximum potential occurrence of natural hazards, while it has been urbanized at a greater rate compared to other regions. Furthermore, based on Delphi method, the earthquake frequency and the landslide are the most and the least dangerous phenomena, respectively.

  6. High resolution global flood hazard map from physically-based hydrologic and hydraulic models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Begnudelli, L.; Kaheil, Y.; McCollum, J.

    2017-12-01

    The global flood map published online at http://www.fmglobal.com/research-and-resources/global-flood-map at 90m resolution is being used worldwide to understand flood risk exposure, exercise certain measures of mitigation, and/or transfer the residual risk financially through flood insurance programs. The modeling system is based on a physically-based hydrologic model to simulate river discharges, and 2D shallow-water hydrodynamic model to simulate inundation. The model can be applied to large-scale flood hazard mapping thanks to several solutions that maximize its efficiency and the use of parallel computing. The hydrologic component of the modeling system is the Hillslope River Routing (HRR) hydrologic model. HRR simulates hydrological processes using a Green-Ampt parameterization, and is calibrated against observed discharge data from several publicly-available datasets. For inundation mapping, we use a 2D Finite-Volume Shallow-Water model with wetting/drying. We introduce here a grid Up-Scaling Technique (UST) for hydraulic modeling to perform simulations at higher resolution at global scale with relatively short computational times. A 30m SRTM is now available worldwide along with higher accuracy and/or resolution local Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) in many countries and regions. UST consists of aggregating computational cells, thus forming a coarser grid, while retaining the topographic information from the original full-resolution mesh. The full-resolution topography is used for building relationships between volume and free surface elevation inside cells and computing inter-cell fluxes. This approach almost achieves computational speed typical of the coarse grids while preserving, to a significant extent, the accuracy offered by the much higher resolution available DEM. The simulations are carried out along each river of the network by forcing the hydraulic model with the streamflow hydrographs generated by HRR. Hydrographs are scaled so that the peak

  7. Trimming a hazard logic tree with a new model-order-reduction technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Keith; Field, Edward; Milner, Kevin R

    2017-01-01

    The size of the logic tree within the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast Version 3, Time-Dependent (UCERF3-TD) model can challenge risk analyses of large portfolios. An insurer or catastrophe risk modeler concerned with losses to a California portfolio might have to evaluate a portfolio 57,600 times to estimate risk in light of the hazard possibility space. Which branches of the logic tree matter most, and which can one ignore? We employed two model-order-reduction techniques to simplify the model. We sought a subset of parameters that must vary, and the specific fixed values for the remaining parameters, to produce approximately the same loss distribution as the original model. The techniques are (1) a tornado-diagram approach we employed previously for UCERF2, and (2) an apparently novel probabilistic sensitivity approach that seems better suited to functions of nominal random variables. The new approach produces a reduced-order model with only 60 of the original 57,600 leaves. One can use the results to reduce computational effort in loss analyses by orders of magnitude.

  8. A Monte Carlo study of time-aggregation in continuous-time and discrete-time parametric hazard models.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofstede, ter F.; Wedel, M.

    1998-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of time aggregation in discrete and continuous-time hazard models. A Monte Carlo study is conducted in which data are generated according to various continuous and discrete-time processes, and aggregated into daily, weekly and monthly intervals. These data are

  9. The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) generic model for the production of Thai fermented pork sausage (Nham).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paukatong, K V; Kunawasen, S

    2001-01-01

    Nham is a traditional Thai fermented pork sausage. The major ingredients of Nham are ground pork meat and shredded pork rind. Nham has been reported to be contaminated with Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes. Therefore, it is a potential cause of foodborne diseases for consumers. A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) generic model has been developed for the Nham process. Nham processing plants were observed and a generic flow diagram of Nham processes was constructed. Hazard analysis was then conducted. Other than microbial hazards, the pathogens previously found in Nham, sodium nitrite and metal were identified as chemical and physical hazards in this product, respectively. Four steps in the Nham process have been identified as critical control points. These steps are the weighing of the nitrite compound, stuffing, fermentation, and labeling. The chemical hazard of nitrite must be controlled during the weighing step. The critical limit of nitrite levels in the Nham mixture has been set at 100-200 ppm. This level is high enough to control Clostridium botulinum but does not cause chemical hazards to the consumer. The physical hazard from metal clips could be prevented by visual inspection of every Nham product during stuffing. The microbiological hazard in Nham could be reduced in the fermentation process. The critical limit of the pH of Nham was set at lower than 4.6. Since this product is not cooked during processing, finally, educating the consumer, by providing information on the label such as "safe if cooked before consumption", could be an alternative way to prevent the microbiological hazards of this product.

  10. Processing LiDAR Data to Predict Natural Hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fairweather, Ian; Crabtree, Robert; Hager, Stacey

    2008-01-01

    ELF-Base and ELF-Hazards (wherein 'ELF' signifies 'Extract LiDAR Features' and 'LiDAR' signifies 'light detection and ranging') are developmental software modules for processing remote-sensing LiDAR data to identify past natural hazards (principally, landslides) and predict future ones. ELF-Base processes raw LiDAR data, including LiDAR intensity data that are often ignored in other software, to create digital terrain models (DTMs) and digital feature models (DFMs) with sub-meter accuracy. ELF-Hazards fuses raw LiDAR data, data from multispectral and hyperspectral optical images, and DTMs and DFMs generated by ELF-Base to generate hazard risk maps. Advanced algorithms in these software modules include line-enhancement and edge-detection algorithms, surface-characterization algorithms, and algorithms that implement innovative data-fusion techniques. The line-extraction and edge-detection algorithms enable users to locate such features as faults and landslide headwall scarps. Also implemented in this software are improved methodologies for identification and mapping of past landslide events by use of (1) accurate, ELF-derived surface characterizations and (2) three LiDAR/optical-data-fusion techniques: post-classification data fusion, maximum-likelihood estimation modeling, and hierarchical within-class discrimination. This software is expected to enable faster, more accurate forecasting of natural hazards than has previously been possible.

  11. Job Hazards Analysis Among A Group Of Surgeons At Zagazig ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... 75% respectively. Conclusion: Job hazards analysis model was effective in assessment, evaluation and management of occupational hazards concerning surgeons and should considered as part of hospital wide quality and safety program. Key Words: Job Hazard Analysis, Risk Management, occupational Health Safety.

  12. A hydro-sedimentary modeling system for flash flood propagation and hazard estimation under different agricultural practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kourgialas, N. N.; Karatzas, G. P.

    2014-03-01

    A modeling system for the estimation of flash flood flow velocity and sediment transport is developed in this study. The system comprises three components: (a) a modeling framework based on the hydrological model HSPF, (b) the hydrodynamic module of the hydraulic model MIKE 11 (quasi-2-D), and (c) the advection-dispersion module of MIKE 11 as a sediment transport model. An important parameter in hydraulic modeling is the Manning's coefficient, an indicator of the channel resistance which is directly dependent on riparian vegetation changes. Riparian vegetation's effect on flood propagation parameters such as water depth (inundation), discharge, flow velocity, and sediment transport load is investigated in this study. Based on the obtained results, when the weed-cutting percentage is increased, the flood wave depth decreases while flow discharge, velocity and sediment transport load increase. The proposed modeling system is used to evaluate and illustrate the flood hazard for different riparian vegetation cutting scenarios. For the estimation of flood hazard, a combination of the flood propagation characteristics of water depth, flow velocity and sediment load was used. Next, a well-balanced selection of the most appropriate agricultural cutting practices of riparian vegetation was performed. Ultimately, the model results obtained for different agricultural cutting practice scenarios can be employed to create flood protection measures for flood-prone areas. The proposed methodology was applied to the downstream part of a small Mediterranean river basin in Crete, Greece.

  13. Versatility of cooperative transcriptional activation: a thermodynamical modeling analysis for greater-than-additive and less-than-additive effects.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Till D Frank

    Full Text Available We derive a statistical model of transcriptional activation using equilibrium thermodynamics of chemical reactions. We examine to what extent this statistical model predicts synergy effects of cooperative activation of gene expression. We determine parameter domains in which greater-than-additive and less-than-additive effects are predicted for cooperative regulation by two activators. We show that the statistical approach can be used to identify different causes of synergistic greater-than-additive effects: nonlinearities of the thermostatistical transcriptional machinery and three-body interactions between RNA polymerase and two activators. In particular, our model-based analysis suggests that at low transcription factor concentrations cooperative activation cannot yield synergistic greater-than-additive effects, i.e., DNA transcription can only exhibit less-than-additive effects. Accordingly, transcriptional activity turns from synergistic greater-than-additive responses at relatively high transcription factor concentrations into less-than-additive responses at relatively low concentrations. In addition, two types of re-entrant phenomena are predicted. First, our analysis predicts that under particular circumstances transcriptional activity will feature a sequence of less-than-additive, greater-than-additive, and eventually less-than-additive effects when for fixed activator concentrations the regulatory impact of activators on the binding of RNA polymerase to the promoter increases from weak, to moderate, to strong. Second, for appropriate promoter conditions when activator concentrations are increased then the aforementioned re-entrant sequence of less-than-additive, greater-than-additive, and less-than-additive effects is predicted as well. Finally, our model-based analysis suggests that even for weak activators that individually induce only negligible increases in promoter activity, promoter activity can exhibit greater-than-additive

  14. Evaluating a multi-criteria model for hazard assessment in urban design. The Porto Marghera case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luria, Paolo; Aspinall, Peter A.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to describe a new approach to major industrial hazard assessment, which has been recently studied by the authors in conjunction with the Italian Environmental Protection Agency ('ARPAV'). The real opportunity for developing a different approach arose from the need of the Italian EPA to provide the Venice Port Authority with an appropriate estimation of major industrial hazards in Porto Marghera, an industrial estate near Venice (Italy). However, the standard model, the quantitative risk analysis (QRA), only provided a list of individual quantitative risk values, related to single locations. The experimental model is based on a multi-criteria approach--the Analytic Hierarchy Process--which introduces the use of expert opinions, complementary skills and expertise from different disciplines in conjunction with quantitative traditional analysis. This permitted the generation of quantitative data on risk assessment from a series of qualitative assessments, on the present situation and on three other future scenarios, and use of this information as indirect quantitative measures, which could be aggregated for obtaining the global risk rate. This approach is in line with the main concepts proposed by the last European directive on Major Hazard Accidents, which recommends increasing the participation of operators, taking the other players into account and, moreover, paying more attention to the concepts of 'urban control', 'subjective risk' (risk perception) and intangible factors (factors not directly quantifiable)

  15. Confidence intervals for the first crossing point of two hazard functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Ming-Yen; Qiu, Peihua; Tan, Xianming; Tu, Dongsheng

    2009-12-01

    The phenomenon of crossing hazard rates is common in clinical trials with time to event endpoints. Many methods have been proposed for testing equality of hazard functions against a crossing hazards alternative. However, there has been relatively few approaches available in the literature for point or interval estimation of the crossing time point. The problem of constructing confidence intervals for the first crossing time point of two hazard functions is considered in this paper. After reviewing a recent procedure based on Cox proportional hazard modeling with Box-Cox transformation of the time to event, a nonparametric procedure using the kernel smoothing estimate of the hazard ratio is proposed. The proposed procedure and the one based on Cox proportional hazard modeling with Box-Cox transformation of the time to event are both evaluated by Monte-Carlo simulations and applied to two clinical trial datasets.

  16. Preliminary deformation model for National Seismic Hazard map of Indonesia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meilano, Irwan; Gunawan, Endra; Sarsito, Dina; Prijatna, Kosasih; Abidin, Hasanuddin Z. [Geodesy Research Division, Faculty of Earth Science and Technology, Institute of Technology Bandung (Indonesia); Susilo,; Efendi, Joni [Agency for Geospatial Information (BIG) (Indonesia)

    2015-04-24

    Preliminary deformation model for the Indonesia’s National Seismic Hazard (NSH) map is constructed as the block rotation and strain accumulation function at the elastic half-space. Deformation due to rigid body motion is estimated by rotating six tectonic blocks in Indonesia. The interseismic deformation due to subduction is estimated by assuming coupling on subduction interface while deformation at active fault is calculated by assuming each of the fault‘s segment slips beneath a locking depth or in combination with creeping in a shallower part. This research shows that rigid body motion dominates the deformation pattern with magnitude more than 15 mm/year, except in the narrow area near subduction zones and active faults where significant deformation reach to 25 mm/year.

  17. Ensemble of ground subsidence hazard maps using fuzzy logic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Inhye; Lee, Jiyeong; Saro, Lee

    2014-06-01

    Hazard maps of ground subsidence around abandoned underground coal mines (AUCMs) in Samcheok, Korea, were constructed using fuzzy ensemble techniques and a geographical information system (GIS). To evaluate the factors related to ground subsidence, a spatial database was constructed from topographic, geologic, mine tunnel, land use, groundwater, and ground subsidence maps. Spatial data, topography, geology, and various ground-engineering data for the subsidence area were collected and compiled in a database for mapping ground-subsidence hazard (GSH). The subsidence area was randomly split 70/30 for training and validation of the models. The relationships between the detected ground-subsidence area and the factors were identified and quantified by frequency ratio (FR), logistic regression (LR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models. The relationships were used as factor ratings in the overlay analysis to create ground-subsidence hazard indexes and maps. The three GSH maps were then used as new input factors and integrated using fuzzy-ensemble methods to make better hazard maps. All of the hazard maps were validated by comparison with known subsidence areas that were not used directly in the analysis. As the result, the ensemble model was found to be more effective in terms of prediction accuracy than the individual model.

  18. Hazardous waste management plan, Savannah River Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phifer, M.A.

    1984-06-01

    All SRP waste storage, disposal, and recycling facilities that have received hazardous waste, low-level radioactive hazardous waste (mixed waste) or process waste since 1980 have been evaluated by EPA standards. Generally the waste storage areas meet all applicable standards. However, additional storage facilities currently estimated at $2 million and waste disposal facilities currently estimated at $20 million will be required for proper management of stored waste. The majority of the disposal facilities are unlined earthen basins that receive hazardous or process wastes and have or have the potential to contaminate groundwater. To come into compliance with the groundwater standards the influents to the basins will be treated or discontinued, the basins will be decommissioned, groundwater monitoring will be conducted, and remedial actions will be taken as necessary. The costs associated with these basin actions are not completely defined and will increase from present estimates. A major cost which has not been resolved is associated with the disposal of the sludge produced from the treatment plants and basin decommissioning. The Low-Level Radioactive Burial Ground which is also a disposal facility has received mixed waste; however, it does not meet the standards for hazardous waste landfills. In order to properly handle mixed wastes additional storage facilities currently estimated at $500,000 will be provided and options for permanent disposal will be investigated

  19. Issues of tsunami hazard maps revealed by the 2011 Tohoku tsunami

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugimoto, M.

    2013-12-01

    Tsunami scientists are imposed responsibilities of selection for people's tsunami evacuation place after the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in Japan. A lot of matured people died out of tsunami hazard zone based on tsunami hazard map though students made a miracle by evacuation on their own judgment in Kamaishi city. Tsunami hazard maps were based on numerical model smaller than actual magnitude 9. How can we bridge the gap between hazard map and future disasters? We have to discuss about using tsunami numerical model better enough to contribute tsunami hazard map. How do we have to improve tsunami hazard map? Tsunami hazard map should be revised included possibility of upthrust or downthrust after earthquakes and social information. Ground sank 1.14m below sea level in Ayukawa town, Tohoku. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's research shows around 10% people know about tsunami hazard map in Japan. However, people know about their evacuation places (buildings) through experienced drills once a year even though most people did not know about tsunami hazard map. We need wider spread of tsunami hazard with contingency of science (See the botom disaster handbook material's URL). California Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) team practically shows one good practice and solution to me. I followed their field trip in Catalina Island, California in Sep 2011. A team members are multidisciplinary specialists: A geologist, a GIS specialist, oceanographers in USC (tsunami numerical modeler) and a private company, a local policeman, a disaster manager, a local authority and so on. They check field based on their own specialties. They conduct an on-the-spot inspection of ambiguous locations between tsunami numerical model and real field conditions today. The data always become older. They pay attention not only to topographical conditions but also to social conditions: vulnerable people, elementary schools and so on. It takes a long time to check such field

  20. SHEAT for PC. A computer code for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for personal computer, user's manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Hiroyuki; Tsutsumi, Hideaki; Ebisawa, Katsumi; Suzuki, Masahide

    2002-03-01

    The SHEAT code developed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute is for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis which is one of the tasks needed for seismic Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of a nuclear power plant. At first, SHEAT was developed as the large sized computer version. In addition, a personal computer version was provided to improve operation efficiency and generality of this code in 2001. It is possible to perform the earthquake hazard analysis, display and the print functions with the Graphical User Interface. With the SHEAT for PC code, seismic hazard which is defined as an annual exceedance frequency of occurrence of earthquake ground motions at various levels of intensity at a given site is calculated by the following two steps as is done with the large sized computer. One is the modeling of earthquake generation around a site. Future earthquake generation (locations, magnitudes and frequencies of postulated earthquake) is modeled based on the historical earthquake records, active fault data and expert judgment. Another is the calculation of probabilistic seismic hazard at the site. An earthquake ground motion is calculated for each postulated earthquake using an attenuation model taking into account its standard deviation. Then the seismic hazard at the site is calculated by summing the frequencies of ground motions by all the earthquakes. This document is the user's manual of the SHEAT for PC code. It includes: (1) Outline of the code, which include overall concept, logical process, code structure, data file used and special characteristics of code, (2) Functions of subprogram and analytical models in them, (3) Guidance of input and output data, (4) Sample run result, and (5) Operational manual. (author)

  1. French people addressing environmental hazards (Eser 2013)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pautard, Eric; Moreau, Sylvain; Bottin, Anne; Kraszewski, Marlene; Fretin, David; Carriere, Celine; Bird, Geoffrey

    2015-07-01

    hazard (37% awareness) than metropolitan respondents (28%). Conversely, the latter seem to be better informed as to industrial hazards close to where they live. In addition to the results described here, the document gives a detailed analysis of the main factors determining the responses to each of the survey questions. By also featuring comparison between different territorial situations and investigating the specific aspects of each hazard studied, the publication gives a broad view of the way in which the French perceive environmental hazards (part 1), notably in accordance with their own experience of hazards (part 2), and of the way in which they view hazard prevention policies (part 3)

  2. Modeling and Prediction of Wildfire Hazard in Southern California, Integration of Models with Imaging Spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Dar A.; Church, Richard; Ustin, Susan L.; Brass, James A. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Large urban wildfires throughout southern California have caused billions of dollars of damage and significant loss of life over the last few decades. Rapid urban growth along the wildland interface, high fuel loads and a potential increase in the frequency of large fires due to climatic change suggest that the problem will worsen in the future. Improved fire spread prediction and reduced uncertainty in assessing fire hazard would be significant, both economically and socially. Current problems in the modeling of fire spread include the role of plant community differences, spatial heterogeneity in fuels and spatio-temporal changes in fuels. In this research, we evaluated the potential of Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) data for providing improved maps of wildfire fuel properties. Analysis concentrated in two areas of Southern California, the Santa Monica Mountains and Santa Barbara Front Range. Wildfire fuel information can be divided into four basic categories: fuel type, fuel load (live green and woody biomass), fuel moisture and fuel condition (live vs senesced fuels). To map fuel type, AVIRIS data were used to map vegetation species using Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) and Binary Decision Trees. Green live biomass and canopy moisture were mapped using AVIRIS through analysis of the 980 nm liquid water absorption feature and compared to alternate measures of moisture and field measurements. Woody biomass was mapped using L and P band cross polarimetric data acquired in 1998 and 1999. Fuel condition was mapped using spectral mixture analysis to map green vegetation (green leaves), nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV; stems, wood and litter), shade and soil. Summaries describing the potential of hyperspectral and SAR data for fuel mapping are provided by Roberts et al. and Dennison et al. To utilize remotely sensed data to assess fire hazard, fuel-type maps were translated

  3. Potential hazards due to food additives in oral hygiene products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuncer Budanur, Damla; Yas, Murat Cengizhan; Sepet, Elif

    2016-01-01

    Food additives used to preserve flavor or to enhance the taste and appearance of foods are also available in oral hygiene products. The aim of this review is to provide information concerning food additives in oral hygiene products and their adverse effects. A great many of food additives in oral hygiene products are potential allergens and they may lead to allergic reactions such as urticaria, contact dermatitis, rhinitis, and angioedema. Dental practitioners, as well as health care providers, must be aware of the possibility of allergic reactions due to food additives in oral hygiene products. Proper dosage levels, delivery vehicles, frequency, potential benefits, and adverse effects of oral health products should be explained completely to the patients. There is a necessity to raise the awareness among dental professionals on this subject and to develop a data gathering system for possible adverse reactions.

  4. Optimization of maintenance policy using the proportional hazard model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samrout, M. [Information Sciences and Technologies Institute, University of Technology of Troyes, 10000 Troyes (France)], E-mail: mohamad.el_samrout@utt.fr; Chatelet, E. [Information Sciences and Technologies Institute, University of Technology of Troyes, 10000 Troyes (France)], E-mail: chatelt@utt.fr; Kouta, R. [M3M Laboratory, University of Technology of Belfort Montbeliard (France); Chebbo, N. [Industrial Systems Laboratory, IUT, Lebanese University (Lebanon)

    2009-01-15

    The evolution of system reliability depends on its structure as well as on the evolution of its components reliability. The latter is a function of component age during a system's operating life. Component aging is strongly affected by maintenance activities performed on the system. In this work, we consider two categories of maintenance activities: corrective maintenance (CM) and preventive maintenance (PM). Maintenance actions are characterized by their ability to reduce this age. PM consists of actions applied on components while they are operating, whereas CM actions occur when the component breaks down. In this paper, we expound a new method to integrate the effect of CM while planning for the PM policy. The proportional hazard function was used as a modeling tool for that purpose. Interesting results were obtained when comparison between policies that take into consideration the CM effect and those that do not is established.

  5. Comprehensive European dietary exposure model (CEDEM) for food additives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tennant, David R

    2016-05-01

    European methods for assessing dietary exposures to nutrients, additives and other substances in food are limited by the availability of detailed food consumption data for all member states. A proposed comprehensive European dietary exposure model (CEDEM) applies summary data published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in a deterministic model based on an algorithm from the EFSA intake method for food additives. The proposed approach can predict estimates of food additive exposure provided in previous EFSA scientific opinions that were based on the full European food consumption database.

  6. POTENTIAL HAZARDS DUE TO FOOD ADDITIVES IN ORAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damla TUNCER-BUDANUR

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Food additives used to preserve flavor or to enhance the taste and appearance of foods are also available in oral hygiene products. The aim of this review is to provide information concerning food additives in oral hygiene products and their adverse effects. A great many of food additives in oral hygiene products are potential allergens and they may lead to allergic reactions such as urticaria, contact dermatitis, rhinitis, and angioedema. Dental practitioners, as well as health care providers, must be aware of the possibility of allergic reactions due to food additives in oral hygiene products. Proper dosage levels, delivery vehicles, frequency, potential benefits, and adverse effects of oral health products should be explained completely to the patients. There is a necessity to raise the awareness among dental professionals on this subject and to develop a data gathering system for possible adverse reactions.

  7. UV radiation hazards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henderson, A.R.

    1987-01-01

    Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is, for most people, a daily occurrence. Significant quantities of ultraviolet are present in sunlight, and this environmental exposure usually greatly exceeds that necessary for vitamin D production, the only certain benefit of UVR. In addition, occupational exposure to artificial sources of UVR is commonly encountered in commerce, industry and medicine. Exposure to UVR can present a hazard, principally to the eyes and exposed areas of the skin. The potential for any given source of UVR to cause photobiological damage depends on the spectral composition of the incident radiation, the geometry of optical coupling into the tissues at risk, the spectral sensitivity to damage of the irradiated tissue, the total accumulated exposure, and the action of any biological repair processes. In the ultraviolet region the photobiological interactions of concern are mainly photochemical. Hazard analysis and radiation protection require an appropriate framework of radiation measurement for the quantitative assessment of exposure and for the specification of safe exposure limits

  8. A Case Study of Geologic Hazards Affecting School Buildings: Evaluating Seismic Structural Vulnerability and Landslide Hazards at Schools in Aizawl, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perley, M. M.; Guo, J.

    2016-12-01

    India's National School Safety Program (NSSP) aims to assess all government schools in earthquake prone regions of the country. To supplement the Mizoram State Government's recent survey of 141 government schools, we screened an additional 16 private and 4 government schools for structural vulnerabilities due to earthquakes, as well as landslide hazards, in Mizoram's capital of Aizawl. We developed a geomorphologically derived landslide susceptibility matrix, which was cross-checked with Aizawl Municipal Corporation's landslide hazard map (provided by Lettis Consultants International), to determine the geologic hazards at each school. Our research indicates that only 7% of the 22 assessed school buildings are located within low landslide hazard zones; 64% of the school buildings, with approximately 9,500 students, are located within very high or high landslide hazard zones. Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) was used to determine the structural earthquake vulnerability of each school building. RVS is an initial vulnerability assessment procedure used to inventory and rank buildings that may be hazardous during an earthquake. Our study indicates that all of the 22 assessed school buildings have a damageability rating of Grade 3 or higher on the 5-grade EMS scale, suggesting a significant vulnerability and potential for damage in buildings, ranging from widespread cracking of columns and beam column joints to collapse. Additionally, 86% of the schools we visited had reinforced concrete buildings constructed before Aizawl's building regulations were passed in 2007, which can be assumed to lack appropriate seismic reinforcement. Using our findings, we will give recommendations to the Government of Mizoram to prevent unnecessary loss of life by minimizing each school's landslide risk and ensuring schools are earthquake-resistant.

  9. Influence of behavioral biases on the assessment of multi-hazard risks and the implementation of multi-hazard risks mitigation measures: case study of multi-hazard cyclone shelters in Tamil Nadu, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komendantova, Nadejda; Patt, Anthony

    2013-04-01

    In December 2004, a multiple hazards event devastated the Tamil Nadu province of India. The Sumatra -Andaman earthquake with a magnitude of Mw=9.1-9.3 caused the Indian Ocean tsunami with wave heights up to 30 m, and flooding that reached up to two kilometers inland in some locations. More than 7,790 persons were killed in the province of Tamil Nadu, with 206 in its capital Chennai. The time lag between the earthquake and the tsunami's arrival in India was over an hour, therefore, if a suitable early warning system existed, a proper means of communicating the warning and shelters existing for people would exist, than while this would not have prevented the destruction of infrastructure, several thousands of human lives would have been saved. India has over forty years of experience in the construction of cyclone shelters. With additional efforts and investment, these shelters could be adapted to other types of hazards such as tsunamis and flooding, as well as the construction of new multi-hazard cyclone shelters (MPCS). It would therefore be possible to mitigate one hazard such as cyclones by the construction of a network of shelters while at the same time adapting these shelters to also deal with, for example, tsunamis, with some additional investment. In this historical case, the failure to consider multiple hazards caused significant human losses. The current paper investigates the patterns of the national decision-making process with regards to multiple hazards mitigation measures and how the presence of behavioral and cognitive biases influenced the perceptions of the probabilities of multiple hazards and the choices made for their mitigation by the national decision-makers. Our methodology was based on the analysis of existing reports from national and international organizations as well as available scientific literature on behavioral economics and natural hazards. The results identified several biases in the national decision-making process when the

  10. Identifying model pollutants to investigate biodegradation of hazardous XOCs in WWTPs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Press-Kristensen, Kaare; Ledin, Anna; Schmidt, Jens Ejbye; Henze, Mogens [Department of Environment and Resources, Technical University of Denmark Building 115, 2800 Lyngby (Denmark)

    2007-02-01

    Xenobiotic organic compounds (XOCs) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents might cause toxic effects in ecosystems. Several investigations have emphasized biodegradation as an important removal mechanism to reduce pollution with XOCs from WWTP effluents. The aim of the study was to design a screening tool to identify and select hazardous model pollutants for the further investigation of biodegradation in WWTPs. The screening tool consists of three criteria: The XOC is present in WWTP effluents, the XOC constitutes an intolerable risk in drinking water or the environment, and the XOC is expected to be biodegradable in WWTPs. The screening tool was tested on bisphenol A (BPA), carbamazepine (CBZ), di(2ethylhexyl)-phthalate (DEHP), 17{beta}-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), 17{alpha}-ethinyloetradiol (EE2), ibuprofen, naproxen, nonylphenol (NP), and octylphenol (OP). BPA, DEHP, E2, E1, EE2, and NP passed all criteria in the screening tool and were selected as model pollutants. OP did not pass the filter and was rejected as model pollutant. CBZ, ibuprofen, and naproxen were not finally evaluated due to insufficient data. (author)

  11. Entrepreneurial Moral Hazard in Income Insurance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ejrnaes, Mette; Hochguertel, Stefan

    2008-01-01

    We study risk behavior of Danish self-employed entrepreneurs, whose income risk may be driven by both exogenous factors and effort choice (moral hazard). Partial insurance is available through voluntary unemployment insurance (UI). Additional incentives to sign insurance contracts stem from a

  12. Hazard assessment and risk management of offshore production chemicals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schobben, H.P.M.; Scholten, M.C.T.; Vik, E.A.; Bakke, S.

    1994-01-01

    There is a clear need for harmonization of the regulations with regard to the use and discharge of drilling and production chemicals in the North Sea. Therefore the CHARM (Chemical Hazard Assessment and Risk Management) model was developed. Both government (of several countries) and industry (E and P and chemical suppliers) participated in the project. The CHARM model is discussed and accepted by OSPARCON. The CHARM model consists of several modules. The model starts with a prescreening on the basis of hazardous properties like persistency, accumulation potential and the appearance on black lists. The core of the model.consists of modules for hazard assessment and risk analysis. Hazard assessment covers a general environmental evaluation of a chemical on the basis of intrinsic properties of that chemical. Risk analysis covers a more specific evaluation of the environmental impact from the use of a production chemical, or a combination of chemicals, under actual conditions. In the risk management module the user is guided to reduce the total risk of all chemicals used on a platform by the definition of measures in the most cost-effective way. The model calculates the environmental impact for the marine environment. Thereto three parts are distinguished: pelagic, benthic and food chain. Both hazard assessment and risk analysis are based on a proportional comparison of an estimated PEC with an estimated NEC. The PEC is estimated from the use, release, dilution and fate of the chemical and the NEC is estimated from the available toxicity data of the chemicals

  13. LITERATURE SEARCH FOR METHODS FOR HAZARD ANALYSES OF AIR CARRIER OPERATIONS.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MARTINEZ - GURIDI,G.; SAMANTA,P.

    2002-07-01

    . Chapter 2 briefly describes ACOSM, and its structure, using the format of the Integrated Definition Function Model (IDEFO). A reader who is familiar with ACOSM may want to skip this chapter and continue with Chapter 3 that discusses the process we used for identifying applicable approaches for hazard analysis of air-carrier operations as modeled in ACOSM. It consisted of the following three main steps: (1) Search the literature containing articles related to hazard- or risk-analysis with potential applicability to air-carrier operations, (2) Review the selected publications and identify those with possible relevance to ACOSM, and (3) Group the selected publications or methods according to certain characteristics, such as their pertinence to specific areas of ACOSM. Chapter 4 discusses the applicability of the identified approaches to ACOSM, the areas of methods development, and comments related to methods development for ACOSM. The following areas were defined to identify the methods that may be applicable for ACOSM: (1) Identification of hazards associated with operations and activities; (2) Hazard-assessment techniques; (3) Modeling dependencies and interrelations leading to vulnerabilities; (4) Risk-management tools; (5) Data-assessment techniques; and (6) Risk-indicator identification. In addition, issues of human reliability and operational culture are relevant for all the above areas. They are expected to be addressed within each of them. We do not include in this report all the lists of publications that we obtained because they are voluminous. We keep them in our records which are available to the interested reader.

  14. A Real-Time Construction Safety Monitoring System for Hazardous Gas Integrating Wireless Sensor Network and Building Information Modeling Technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Weng-Fong; Lin, Tzu-Hsuan; Lin, Yu-Cheng

    2018-02-02

    In recent years, many studies have focused on the application of advanced technology as a way to improve management of construction safety management. A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), one of the key technologies in Internet of Things (IoT) development, enables objects and devices to sense and communicate environmental conditions; Building Information Modeling (BIM), a revolutionary technology in construction, integrates database and geometry into a digital model which provides a visualized way in all construction lifecycle management. This paper integrates BIM and WSN into a unique system which enables the construction site to visually monitor the safety status via a spatial, colored interface and remove any hazardous gas automatically. Many wireless sensor nodes were placed on an underground construction site and to collect hazardous gas level and environmental condition (temperature and humidity) data, and in any region where an abnormal status is detected, the BIM model will alert the region and an alarm and ventilator on site will start automatically for warning and removing the hazard. The proposed system can greatly enhance the efficiency in construction safety management and provide an important reference information in rescue tasks. Finally, a case study demonstrates the applicability of the proposed system and the practical benefits, limitations, conclusions, and suggestions are summarized for further applications.

  15. Landslide Hazard Assessment and Mapping in the Guil Catchment (Queyras, Southern French Alps): From Landslide Inventory to Susceptibility Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roulleau, Louise; Bétard, François; Carlier, Benoît; Lissak, Candide; Fort, Monique

    2016-04-01

    Landslides are common natural hazards in the Southern French Alps, where they may affect human lives and cause severe damages to infrastructures. As a part of the SAMCO research project dedicated to risk evaluation in mountain areas, this study focuses on the Guil river catchment (317 km2), Queyras, to assess landslide hazard poorly studied until now. In that area, landslides are mainly occasional, low amplitude phenomena, with limited direct impacts when compared to other hazards such as floods or snow avalanches. However, when interacting with floods during extreme rainfall events, landslides may have indirect consequences of greater importance because of strong hillslope-channel connectivity along the Guil River and its tributaries (i.e. positive feedbacks). This specific morphodynamic functioning reinforces the need to have a better understanding of landslide hazards and their spatial distribution at the catchment scale to prevent local population from disasters with multi-hazard origin. The aim of this study is to produce a landslide susceptibility mapping at 1:50 000 scale as a first step towards global estimation of landslide hazard and risk. The three main methodologies used for assessing landslide susceptibility are qualitative (i.e. expert opinion), deterministic (i.e. physics-based models) and statistical methods (i.e. probabilistic models). Due to the rapid development of geographical information systems (GIS) during the last two decades, statistical methods are today widely used because they offer a greater objectivity and reproducibility at large scales. Among them, multivariate analyses are considered as the most robust techniques, especially the logistic regression method commonly used in landslide susceptibility mapping. However, this method like others is strongly dependent on the accuracy of the input data to avoid significant errors in the final results. In particular, a complete and accurate landslide inventory is required before the modelling

  16. Bayesian network learning for natural hazard assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, Kristin

    2016-04-01

    Even though quite different in occurrence and consequences, from a modelling perspective many natural hazards share similar properties and challenges. Their complex nature as well as lacking knowledge about their driving forces and potential effects make their analysis demanding. On top of the uncertainty about the modelling framework, inaccurate or incomplete event observations and the intrinsic randomness of the natural phenomenon add up to different interacting layers of uncertainty, which require a careful handling. Thus, for reliable natural hazard assessments it is crucial not only to capture and quantify involved uncertainties, but also to express and communicate uncertainties in an intuitive way. Decision-makers, who often find it difficult to deal with uncertainties, might otherwise return to familiar (mostly deterministic) proceedings. In the scope of the DFG research training group „NatRiskChange" we apply the probabilistic framework of Bayesian networks for diverse natural hazard and vulnerability studies. The great potential of Bayesian networks was already shown in previous natural hazard assessments. Treating each model component as random variable, Bayesian networks aim at capturing the joint distribution of all considered variables. Hence, each conditional distribution of interest (e.g. the effect of precautionary measures on damage reduction) can be inferred. The (in-)dependencies between the considered variables can be learned purely data driven or be given by experts. Even a combination of both is possible. By translating the (in-)dependences into a graph structure, Bayesian networks provide direct insights into the workings of the system and allow to learn about the underlying processes. Besides numerous studies on the topic, learning Bayesian networks from real-world data remains challenging. In previous studies, e.g. on earthquake induced ground motion and flood damage assessments, we tackled the problems arising with continuous variables

  17. Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for Point Lepreau Generating Station

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mullin, D. [New Brunswick Power Corp., Point Lepreau Generating Station, Lepreau, New Brunswick (Canada); Lavine, A. [AMEC Foster Wheeler Environment and Infrastructure Americas, Oakland, California (United States); Egan, J. [SAGE Engineers, Oakland, California (United States)

    2015-09-15

    A Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) has been performed for the Point Lepreau Generating Station (PLGS). The objective is to provide characterization of the earthquake ground shaking that will be used to evaluate seismic safety. The assessment is based on the current state of knowledge of the informed scientific and engineering community regarding earthquake hazards in the site region, and includes two primary components-a seismic source model and a ground motion model. This paper provides the methodology and results of the PLGS PSHA. The implications of the updated hazard information for site safety are discussed in a separate paper. (author)

  18. Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for Point Lepreau Generating Station

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mullin, D., E-mail: dmullin@nbpower.com [New Brunswick Power Corporation, Point Lepreau Generating Station, Point Lepreau, NB (Canada); Lavine, A., E-mail: alexis.lavine@amecfw.com [AMEC Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure Americas, Oakland, CA (United States); Egan, J., E-mail: jegan@sageengineers.com [SAGE Engineers, Oakland, CA (United States)

    2015-07-01

    A Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) has been performed for the Point Lepreau Generating Station (PLGS). The objective is to provide characterization of the earthquake ground shaking that will be used to evaluate seismic safety. The assessment is based on the current state of knowledge of the informed scientific and engineering community regarding earthquake hazards in the site region, and includes two primary components--a seismic source model and a ground motion model. This paper provides the methodology and results of the PLGS PSHA. The implications of the updated hazard information for site safety are discussed in a separate paper. (author)

  19. Evaluation of an active learning module to teach hazard and risk in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) classes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oyarzabal, Omar A; Rowe, Ellen

    2017-04-01

    The terms hazard and risk are significant building blocks for the organization of risk-based food safety plans. Unfortunately, these terms are not clear for some personnel working in food manufacturing facilities. In addition, there are few examples of active learning modules for teaching adult participants the principles of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP). In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of an active learning module to teach hazard and risk to participants of HACCP classes provided by the University of Vermont Extension in 2015 and 2016. This interactive module is comprised of a questionnaire; group playing of a dice game that we have previously introduced in the teaching of HACCP; the discussion of the terms hazard and risk; and a self-assessment questionnaire to evaluate the teaching of hazard and risk. From 71 adult participants that completed this module, 40 participants (56%) provided the most appropriate definition of hazard, 19 participants (27%) provided the most appropriate definition of risk, 14 participants (20%) provided the most appropriate definitions of both hazard and risk, and 23 participants (32%) did not provide an appropriate definition for hazard or risk. Self-assessment data showed an improvement in the understanding of these terms (P active learning modules to teach food safety classes. This study suggests that active learning helps food personnel better understand important food safety terms that serve as building blocks for the understanding of more complex food safety topics.

  20. Volcanic Hazard Assessments for Nuclear Installations: Methods and Examples in Site Evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-07-01

    To provide guidance on the protection of nuclear installations against the effects of volcanoes, the IAEA published in 2012 IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-21, Volcanic Hazards in Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations. SSG-21 addresses hazards relating to volcanic phenomena, and provides recommendations and general guidance for evaluation of these hazards. Unlike seismic hazard assessments, models for volcanic hazard assessment have not undergone decades of review, evaluation and testing for suitability in evaluating hazards at proposed nuclear installations. Currently in volcanology, scientific developments and detailed methodologies to model volcanic phenomena are evolving rapidly.This publication provides information on detailed methodologies and examples in the application of volcanic hazard assessment to site evaluation for nuclear installations, thereby addressing the recommendations in SSG-21. Although SSG-21 develops a logical framework for conducting a volcanic hazard assessment, this publication demonstrates the practicability of evaluating the recommendations in SSG-21 through a systematic volcanic hazard assessment and examples from Member States. The results of this hazard assessment can be used to derive the appropriate design bases and operational considerations for specific nuclear installations

  1. A semiparametric hazard model of activity timing and sequencing decisions during visits to theme parks using experimental design data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kemperman, A.D.A.M.; Borgers, A.W.J.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

    2002-01-01

    In this study we introduce a semi parametric hazard-based duration model to predict the timing and sequence of theme park visitors' activity choice behavior. The model is estimated on the basis of observations of consumer choices in various hypothetical theme parks. These parks are constructed by

  2. Hazardous healthcare waste management in the Kingdom of Bahrain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamed, L.F.; Ebrahim, S.A.; Al-Thukair, A.A.

    2009-01-01

    Hazardous healthcare waste has become an environmental concern for many developing countries including the Kingdom of Bahrain. There have been several significant obstacles facing the Kingdom in dealing with this issue including; limited documentation regarding generation, handling, management, and disposal of waste. This in turn hinders efforts to plan better healthcare waste management. In this paper, hazardous waste management status in the Kingdom has been investigated through an extensive survey carried out on selected public and private healthcare premises. Hazardous waste management practices including: waste generation, segregation, storage, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal were determined. The results of this study along with key findings are discussed and summarized. In addition; several effective recommendations and improvements of hazardous waste management are suggested.

  3. Seismic hazard estimation based on the distributed seismicity in northern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yong; Shi, Bao-Ping; Sun, Liang

    2008-03-01

    In this paper, we have proposed an alternative seismic hazard modeling by using distributed seismicites. The distributed seismicity model does not need delineation of seismic source zones, and simplify the methodology of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Based on the devastating earthquake catalogue, we established three seismicity model, derived the distribution of a-value in northern China by using Gaussian smoothing function, and calculated peak ground acceleration distributions for this area with 2%, 5% and 10% probability of exceedance in a 50-year period by using three attenuation models, respectively. In general, the peak ground motion distribution patterns are consistent with current seismic hazard map of China, but in some specific seismic zones which include Shanxi Province and Shijiazhuang areas, our results indicated a little bit higher peak ground motions and zonation characters which are in agreement with seismicity distribution patterns in these areas. The hazard curves have been developed for Beijing, Tianjin, Taiyuan, Tangshan, and Ji’nan, the metropolitan cities in the northern China. The results showed that Tangshan, Taiyuan, Beijing has a higher seismic hazard than that of other cities mentioned above.

  4. CalTOX, a multimedia total exposure model for hazardous-waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKone, T.E.

    1993-06-01

    CalTOX has been developed as a spreadsheet model to assist in health-risk assessments that address contaminated soils and the contamination of adjacent air, surface water, sediments, and ground water. The modeling effort includes a multimedia transport and transformation model, exposure scenario models, and efforts to quantify and reduce uncertainty in multimedia, multiple-pathway exposure models. This report provides an overview of the CalTOX model components, lists the objectives of the model, describes the philosophy under which the model was developed, identifies the chemical classes for which the model can be used, and describes critical sensitivities and uncertainties. The multimedia transport and transformation model is a dynamic model that can be used to assess time-varying concentrations of contaminants introduced initially to soil layers or for contaminants released continuously to air or water. This model assists the user in examining how chemical and landscape properties impact both the ultimate route and quantity of human contact. Multimedia, multiple pathway exposure models are used in the CalTOX model to estimate average daily potential doses within a human population in the vicinity of a hazardous substances release site. The exposure models encompass twenty-three exposure pathways. The exposure assessment process consists of relating contaminant concentrations in the multimedia model compartments to contaminant concentrations in the media with which a human population has contact (personal air, tap water, foods, household dusts soils, etc.). The average daily dose is the product of the exposure concentrations in these contact media and an intake or uptake factor that relates the concentrations to the distributions of potential dose within the population

  5. Leaching of additives from construction materials to urban storm water runoff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkhardt, M; Zuleeg, S; Vonbank, R; Schmid, P; Hean, S; Lamani, X; Bester, K; Boller, M

    2011-01-01

    Urban water management requires further clarification about pollutants in storm water. Little is known about the release of organic additives used in construction materials and the impact of these compounds to storm water runoff. We investigated sources and pathways of additives used in construction materials, i.e., biocides in facades' render as well as root protection products in bitumen membranes for rooftops. Under wet-weather conditions, the concentrations of diuron, terbutryn, carbendazim, irgarol 1051 (all from facades) and mecoprop in storm water and receiving water exceeded the predicted no-effect concentrations values and the Swiss water quality standard of 0.1 microg/L. Under laboratory conditions maximum concentrations of additives were in the range of a few milligrams and a few hundred micrograms per litre in runoff of facades and bitumen membranes. Runoff from aged materials shows approximately one to two orders of magnitude lower concentrations. Concentrations decreased also during individual runoff events. In storm water and receiving water the occurrence of additives did not follow the typical first flush model. This can be explained by the release lasting over the time of rainfall and the complexity of the drainage network. Beside the amounts used, the impact of construction materials containing hazardous additives on water quality is related clearly to the age of the buildings and the separated sewer network. The development of improved products regarding release of hazardous additives is the most efficient way of reducing the pollutant load from construction materials in storm water runoff.

  6. Probabilistic and Scenario Seismic and Liquefaction Hazard Analysis of the Mississippi Embayment Incorporating Nonlinear Site Effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, C. H.; Dhar, M. S.

    2017-12-01

    The influence of deep sediment deposits of the Mississippi Embayment (ME) on the propagation of seismic waves is poorly understood and remains a major source of uncertainty for site response analysis. Many researchers have studied the effects of these deposits on seismic hazard of the area using available information at the time. In this study, we have used updated and newly available resources for seismic and liquefaction hazard analyses of the ME. We have developed an improved 3D geological model. Additionally, we used surface geological maps from Cupples and Van Arsdale (2013) to prepare liquefaction hazard maps. Both equivalent linear and nonlinear site response codes were used to develop site amplification distributions for use in generating hazard maps. The site amplification distributions are created using the Monte Carlo approach of Cramer et al. (2004, 2006) on a 0.1-degree grid. The 2014 National Seismic Hazard model and attenuation relations (Petersen et al., 2014) are used to prepare seismic hazard maps. Then liquefaction hazard maps are generated using liquefaction probability curves from Holzer (2011) and Cramer et al. (2015). Equivalent linear response (w/ increased precision, restricted nonlinear behavior with depth) shows similar hazard for the ME compared to nonlinear analysis (w/o pore pressure) results. At short periods nonlinear deamplification dominates the hazard, but at long periods resonance amplification dominates. The liquefaction hazard tends to be high in Holocene and late Pleistocene lowland sediments, even with lowered ground water levels, and low in Pleistocene loess of the uplands. Considering pore pressure effects in nonlinear site response analysis at a test site on the lowlands shows amplification of ground motion at short periods. PGA estimates from ME liquefaction and MMI observations are in the 0.25 to 0.4 g range. Our estimated M7.5 PGA hazard within 10 km of the fault can exceed this. Ground motion observations from

  7. Numerical Modelling of Extreme Natural Hazards in the Russian Seas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arkhipkin, Victor; Dobrolyubov, Sergey; Korablina, Anastasia; Myslenkov, Stanislav; Surkova, Galina

    2017-04-01

    Storm surges and extreme waves are severe natural sea hazards. Due to the almost complete lack of natural observations of these phenomena in the Russian seas (Caspian, Black, Azov, Baltic, White, Barents, Okhotsk, Kara), especially about their formation, development and destruction, they have been studied using numerical simulation. To calculate the parameters of wind waves for the seas listed above, except the Barents Sea, the spectral model SWAN was applied. For the Barents and Kara seas we used WAVEWATCH III model. Formation and development of storm surges were studied using ADCIRC model. The input data for models - bottom topography, wind, atmospheric pressure and ice cover. In modeling of surges in the White and Barents seas tidal level fluctuations were used. They have been calculated from 16 harmonic constant obtained from global atlas tides FES2004. Wind, atmospheric pressure and ice cover was taken from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the period from 1948 to 2010, and NCEP/CFSR reanalysis for the period from 1979 to 2015. In modeling we used both regular and unstructured grid. The wave climate of the Caspian, Black, Azov, Baltic and White seas was obtained. Also the extreme wave height possible once in 100 years has been calculated. The statistics of storm surges for the White, Barents and Azov Seas were evaluated. The contribution of wind and atmospheric pressure in the formation of surges was estimated. The technique of climatic forecast frequency of storm synoptic situations was developed and applied for every sea. The research was carried out with financial support of the RFBR (grant 16-08-00829).

  8. Assessment of volcanic hazards, vulnerability, risk and uncertainty (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, R. S.

    2009-12-01

    A volcanic hazard is any phenomenon that threatens communities . These hazards include volcanic events like pyroclastic flows, explosions, ash fall and lavas, and secondary effects such as lahars and landslides. Volcanic hazards are described by the physical characteristics of the phenomena, by the assessment of the areas that they are likely to affect and by the magnitude-dependent return period of events. Volcanic hazard maps are generated by mapping past volcanic events and by modelling the hazardous processes. Both these methods have their strengths and limitations and a robust map should use both approaches in combination. Past records, studied through stratigraphy, the distribution of deposits and age dating, are typically incomplete and may be biased. Very significant volcanic hazards, such as surge clouds and volcanic blasts, are not well-preserved in the geological record for example. Models of volcanic processes are very useful to help identify hazardous areas that do not have any geological evidence. They are, however, limited by simplifications and incomplete understanding of the physics. Many practical volcanic hazards mapping tools are also very empirical. Hazards maps are typically abstracted into hazards zones maps, which are some times called threat or risk maps. Their aim is to identify areas at high levels of threat and the boundaries between zones may take account of other factors such as roads, escape routes during evacuation, infrastructure. These boundaries may change with time due to new knowledge on the hazards or changes in volcanic activity levels. Alternatively they may remain static but implications of the zones may change as volcanic activity changes. Zone maps are used for planning purposes and for management of volcanic crises. Volcanic hazards maps are depictions of the likelihood of future volcanic phenomena affecting places and people. Volcanic phenomena are naturally variable, often complex and not fully understood. There are

  9. Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program (GSHAP in continental Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. C. Bhatia

    1999-06-01

    Full Text Available The regional hazard mapping for the whole Eastern Asia was coordinated by the SSB Regional Centre in Beijing, originating from the expansion of the test area initially established in the border region of China-India-Nepal-Myanmar- Bangla Dash, in coordination with the other Regional Centres (JIPE, Moscow, and AGSO, Canberra and with the direct assistance of the USGS. All Eastern Asian countries have participated directly in this regional effort, with the addition of Japan, for which an existing national hazard map was incorporated. The regional hazard depicts the expected peak ground acceleration with 10% exceedance probability in 50 years.

  10. Sustainability-Based Flood Hazard Mapping of the Swannanoa River Watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available An integrated framework is presented for sustainability-based flood hazard mapping of the Swannanoa River watershed in the state of North Carolina, U.S. The framework uses a hydrologic model for rainfall–runoff transformation, a two-dimensional unsteady hydraulic model flood simulation and a GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making technique for flood hazard mapping. Economic, social, and environmental flood hazards are taken into account. The importance of each hazard is quantified through a survey to the experts. Utilizing the proposed framework, sustainability-based flood hazard mapping is performed for the 100-year design event. As a result, the overall flood hazard is provided in each geographic location. The sensitivity of the overall hazard with respect to the weights of the three hazard components were also investigated. While the conventional flood management approach is to assess the environmental impacts of mitigation measures after a set of feasible options are selected, the presented framework incorporates the environmental impacts into the analysis concurrently with the economic and social influences. Thereby, it provides a more sustainable perspective of flood management and can greatly help the decision makers to make better-informed decisions by clearly understanding the impacts of flooding on economy, society and environment.

  11. Additive Manufacturing and Business Models: Current Knowledge and Missing Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina Öberg

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Additive manufacturing, that is 3D printing technology, may change the way companies operate their businesses. This article adopts a business model perspective to create an understanding of what we know about these changes. It summarizes current knowledge on additive manufacturing within management and business research, and it discusses future research directions in relation to business models for additive manufacturing. Using the scientific database Web of Science, 116 journal articles were identified. The literature review reveals that most research concerns manufacturing optimization. A more holistic view of the changes that additive manufacturing may bring about for firms is needed, as is more research on changed value propositions, and customer/sales-related issues. The article contributes to previous research by systematically summarizing additive manufacturing research in the business and management literature, and by highlighting areas for further investigation related to the business models of individual firms.

  12. Benchmarking computational fluid dynamics models of lava flow simulation for hazard assessment, forecasting, and risk management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dietterich, Hannah; Lev, Einat; Chen, Jiangzhi; Richardson, Jacob A.; Cashman, Katharine V.

    2017-01-01

    Numerical simulations of lava flow emplacement are valuable for assessing lava flow hazards, forecasting active flows, designing flow mitigation measures, interpreting past eruptions, and understanding the controls on lava flow behavior. Existing lava flow models vary in simplifying assumptions, physics, dimensionality, and the degree to which they have been validated against analytical solutions, experiments, and natural observations. In order to assess existing models and guide the development of new codes, we conduct a benchmarking study of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for lava flow emplacement, including VolcFlow, OpenFOAM, FLOW-3D, COMSOL, and MOLASSES. We model viscous, cooling, and solidifying flows over horizontal planes, sloping surfaces, and into topographic obstacles. We compare model results to physical observations made during well-controlled analogue and molten basalt experiments, and to analytical theory when available. Overall, the models accurately simulate viscous flow with some variability in flow thickness where flows intersect obstacles. OpenFOAM, COMSOL, and FLOW-3D can each reproduce experimental measurements of cooling viscous flows, and OpenFOAM and FLOW-3D simulations with temperature-dependent rheology match results from molten basalt experiments. We assess the goodness-of-fit of the simulation results and the computational cost. Our results guide the selection of numerical simulation codes for different applications, including inferring emplacement conditions of past lava flows, modeling the temporal evolution of ongoing flows during eruption, and probabilistic assessment of lava flow hazard prior to eruption. Finally, we outline potential experiments and desired key observational data from future flows that would extend existing benchmarking data sets.

  13. Methods for developing seismic and extreme wind-hazard models for evaluating critical structures and equipment at US Department of Energy facilities and commercial plutonium facilities in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coats, D.W.; Murray, R.C.; Bernreuter, D.L.

    1981-01-01

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is developing seismic and wind hazard models for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The work is part of a three-phase effort to establish building design criteria developed with a uniform methodology for seismic and wind hazards at the various DOE sites throughout the United States. In Phase 1, LLNL gathered information on the sites and their critical facilities, including nuclear reactors, fuel-reprocessing plants, high-level waste storage and treatment facilities, and special nuclear material facilities. Phase 2 - development of seismic and wind hazard models - is discussed in this paper, which summarizes the methodologies used by seismic and extreme-wind experts and gives sample hazard curves for the first sites to be modeled. These hazard models express the annual probability that the site will experience an earthquake (or windspeed) greater than some specified magnitude. In the final phase, the DOE will use the hazards models and LLNL-recommended uniform design criteria to evaluate critical facilities. The methodology presented in this paper also was used for a related LLNL study - involving the seismic assessment of six commercial plutonium fabrication plants licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Details and results of this reassessment are documented in reference

  14. Regional-scale GIS-models for assessment of hazards from glacier lake outbursts: evaluation and application in the Swiss Alps

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Huggel

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Debris flows triggered by glacier lake outbursts have repeatedly caused disasters in various high-mountain regions of the world. Accelerated change of glacial and periglacial environments due to atmospheric warming and increased anthropogenic development in most of these areas raise the need for an adequate hazard assessment and corresponding modelling. The purpose of this paper is to pro-vide a modelling approach which takes into account the current evolution of the glacial environment and satisfies a robust first-order assessment of hazards from glacier-lake outbursts. Two topography-based GIS-models simulating debris flows related to outbursts from glacier lakes are presented and applied for two lake outburst events in the southern Swiss Alps. The models are based on information about glacier lakes derived from remote sensing data, and on digital elevation models (DEM. Hydrological flow routing is used to simulate the debris flow resulting from the lake outburst. Thereby, a multiple- and a single-flow-direction approach are applied. Debris-flow propagation is given in probability-related values indicating the hazard potential of a certain location. The debris flow runout distance is calculated on the basis of empirical data on average slope trajectory. The results show that the multiple-flow-direction approach generally yields a more detailed propagation. The single-flow-direction approach, however, is more robust against DEM artifacts and, hence, more suited for process automation. The model is tested with three differently generated DEMs (including aero-photogrammetry- and satellite image-derived. Potential application of the respective DEMs is discussed with a special focus on satellite-derived DEMs for use in remote high-mountain areas.

  15. Wind hazard assessment for Point Lepreau Generating Station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mullin, D.; Moland, M.; Sciaudone, J.C.; Twisdale, L.A.; Vickery, P.J.; Mizzen, D.R.

    2015-01-01

    In response to the CNSC Fukushima Action Plan, NB Power has embarked on a wind hazard assessment for the Point Lepreau Generating Station site that incorporates the latest up to date wind information and modeling. The objective was to provide characterization of the wind hazard from all potential sources and estimate wind-driven missile fragilities and wind pressure fragilities for various structures, systems and components that would provide input to a possible high wind Probabilistic Safety Assessment. The paper will discuss the overall methodology used to assess hazards related to tornadoes, hurricanes and straight-line winds, and site walk-down and hazard/fragility results. (author)

  16. Additive Intensity Regression Models in Corporate Default Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lando, David; Medhat, Mamdouh; Nielsen, Mads Stenbo

    2013-01-01

    We consider additive intensity (Aalen) models as an alternative to the multiplicative intensity (Cox) models for analyzing the default risk of a sample of rated, nonfinancial U.S. firms. The setting allows for estimating and testing the significance of time-varying effects. We use a variety of mo...

  17. Hazards and hazard combinations relevant for the safety of nuclear power plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decker, Kurt; Brinkman, Hans; Raimond, Emmanuel

    2017-04-01

    The potential of the contemporaneous impact of different, yet causally related, hazardous events and event cascades on nuclear power plants is a major contributor to the overall risk of nuclear installations. In the aftermath of the Fukushima accident, which was caused by a combination of severe ground shaking by an earthquake, an earthquake-triggered tsunami and the disruption of the plants from the electrical grid by a seismically induced landslide, hazard combinations and hazard cascades moved into the focus of nuclear safety research. We therefore developed an exhaustive list of external hazards and hazard combinations which pose potential threats to nuclear installations in the framework of the European project ASAMPSAE (Advanced Safety Assessment: Extended PSA). The project gathers 31 partners from Europe, North Amerika and Japan. The list comprises of exhaustive lists of natural hazards, external man-made hazards, and a cross-correlation matrix of these hazards. The hazard list is regarded comprehensive by including all types of hazards that were previously cited in documents by IAEA, the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA), and others. 73 natural hazards and 24 man-made external hazards are included. Natural hazards are grouped into seismotectonic hazards, flooding and hydrological hazards, extreme values of meteorological phenomena, rare meteorological phenomena, biological hazards / infestation, geological hazards, and forest fire / wild fire. The list of external man-made hazards includes industry accidents, military accidents, transportation accidents, pipeline accidents and other man-made external events. The large number of different hazards results in the extremely large number of 5.151 theoretically possible hazard combinations (not considering hazard cascades). In principle all of these combinations are possible to occur by random coincidence except for 82 hazard combinations that - depending on the time scale - are mutually

  18. Modelling short term individual exposure from airborne hazardous releases in urban environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartzis, J.G.; Efthimiou, G.C.; Andronopoulos, S.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • The statistical behavior of the variability of individual exposure is described with a beta function. • The extreme value in the beta function is properly addressed by [5] correlation. • Two different datasets gave clear support to the proposed novel theory and its hypotheses. - Abstract: A key issue, in order to be able to cope with deliberate or accidental atmospheric releases of hazardous substances, is the ability to reliably predict the individual exposure downstream the source. In many situations, the release time and/or the health relevant exposure time is short compared to mean concentration time scales. In such a case, a significant scatter of exposure levels is expected due to the stochastic nature of turbulence. The problem becomes even more complex when dispersion occurs over urban environments. The present work is the first attempt to approximate on generic terms, the statistical behavior of the abovementioned variability with a beta distribution probability density function (beta-pdf) which has proved to be quite successful. The important issue of the extreme concentration value in beta-pdf seems to be properly addressed by the [5] correlation in which global values of its associated constants are proposed. Two substantially different datasets, the wind tunnel Michelstadt experiment and the field Mock Urban Setting Trial (MUST) experiment gave clear support to the proposed novel theory and its hypotheses. In addition, the present work can be considered as basis for further investigation and model refinements.

  19. Modelling short term individual exposure from airborne hazardous releases in urban environments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bartzis, J.G., E-mail: bartzis@uowm.gr [University of Western Macedonia, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Sialvera & Bakola Str., 50100, Kozani (Greece); Efthimiou, G.C.; Andronopoulos, S. [Environmental Research Laboratory, INRASTES, NCSR Demokritos, Patriarchou Grigoriou & Neapoleos Str., 15310, Aghia Paraskevi (Greece)

    2015-12-30

    Highlights: • The statistical behavior of the variability of individual exposure is described with a beta function. • The extreme value in the beta function is properly addressed by [5] correlation. • Two different datasets gave clear support to the proposed novel theory and its hypotheses. - Abstract: A key issue, in order to be able to cope with deliberate or accidental atmospheric releases of hazardous substances, is the ability to reliably predict the individual exposure downstream the source. In many situations, the release time and/or the health relevant exposure time is short compared to mean concentration time scales. In such a case, a significant scatter of exposure levels is expected due to the stochastic nature of turbulence. The problem becomes even more complex when dispersion occurs over urban environments. The present work is the first attempt to approximate on generic terms, the statistical behavior of the abovementioned variability with a beta distribution probability density function (beta-pdf) which has proved to be quite successful. The important issue of the extreme concentration value in beta-pdf seems to be properly addressed by the [5] correlation in which global values of its associated constants are proposed. Two substantially different datasets, the wind tunnel Michelstadt experiment and the field Mock Urban Setting Trial (MUST) experiment gave clear support to the proposed novel theory and its hypotheses. In addition, the present work can be considered as basis for further investigation and model refinements.

  20. Hazardous Waste

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... chemicals can still harm human health and the environment. When you throw these substances away, they become hazardous waste. Some hazardous wastes come from products in our homes. Our garbage can include such hazardous wastes as old batteries, bug spray cans and paint thinner. U.S. residents ...

  1. Current Status and Application of Hazard Definition Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greene, George C.

    1997-01-01

    A research is performed: to define wake non-encounter & hazard, to provide requirements for sensors, and to obtain input from the user community. This research includes: validating wake encounter simulation models, establishing a metric to quantify the upset potential of a wake encounter, applying hazard metric and simulation models to the commercial fleet for development of candidate acceptable encounter limits, and applying technology to near term problems to evaluate current status of technology. The following lessons are learned from this project: technology is not adequate to determine absolute spacing requirements; time, not distance, determines the duration of the wake hazard; Optimum standards depend on the traffic; Wing span is an important parameter for characterizing both generator and follower; and Short span "biz jets" are easily rolled.

  2. Uncertainty Analysis and Expert Judgment in Seismic Hazard Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klügel, Jens-Uwe

    2011-01-01

    The large uncertainty associated with the prediction of future earthquakes is usually regarded as the main reason for increased hazard estimates which have resulted from some recent large scale probabilistic seismic hazard analysis studies (e.g. the PEGASOS study in Switzerland and the Yucca Mountain study in the USA). It is frequently overlooked that such increased hazard estimates are characteristic for a single specific method of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA): the traditional (Cornell-McGuire) PSHA method which has found its highest level of sophistication in the SSHAC probability method. Based on a review of the SSHAC probability model and its application in the PEGASOS project, it is shown that the surprising results of recent PSHA studies can be explained to a large extent by the uncertainty model used in traditional PSHA, which deviates from the state of the art in mathematics and risk analysis. This uncertainty model, the Ang-Tang uncertainty model, mixes concepts of decision theory with probabilistic hazard assessment methods leading to an overestimation of uncertainty in comparison to empirical evidence. Although expert knowledge can be a valuable source of scientific information, its incorporation into the SSHAC probability method does not resolve the issue of inflating uncertainties in PSHA results. Other, more data driven, PSHA approaches in use in some European countries are less vulnerable to this effect. The most valuable alternative to traditional PSHA is the direct probabilistic scenario-based approach, which is closely linked with emerging neo-deterministic methods based on waveform modelling.

  3. Building an Ensemble Seismic Hazard Model for the Magnitude Distribution by Using Alternative Bayesian Implementations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taroni, M.; Selva, J.

    2017-12-01

    In this work we show how we built an ensemble seismic hazard model for the magnitude distribution for the TSUMAPS-NEAM EU project (http://www.tsumaps-neam.eu/). The considered source area includes the whole NEAM region (North East Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas). We build our models by using the catalogs (EMEC and ISC), their completeness and the regionalization provided by the project. We developed four alternative implementations of a Bayesian model, considering tapered or truncated Gutenberg-Richter distributions, and fixed or variable b-value. The frequency size distribution is based on the Weichert formulation. This allows for simultaneously assessing all the frequency-size distribution parameters (a-value, b-value, and corner magnitude), using multiple completeness periods for the different magnitudes. With respect to previous studies, we introduce the tapered Pareto distribution (in addition to the classical truncated Pareto), and we build a novel approach to quantify the prior distribution. For each alternative implementation, we set the prior distributions using the global seismic data grouped according to the different types of tectonic setting, and assigned them to the related regions. The estimation is based on the complete (not declustered) local catalog in each region. Using the complete catalog also allows us to consider foreshocks and aftershocks in the seismic rate computation: the Poissonicity of the tsunami events (and similarly the exceedances of the PGA) will be insured by the Le Cam's theorem. This Bayesian approach provides robust estimations also in the zones where few events are available, but also leaves us the possibility to explore the uncertainty associated with the estimation of the magnitude distribution parameters (e.g. with the classical Metropolis-Hastings Monte Carlo method). Finally we merge all the models with their uncertainty to create the ensemble model that represents our knowledge of the seismicity in the

  4. Integrating Volcanic Hazard Data in a Systematic Approach to Develop Volcanic Hazard Maps in the Lesser Antilles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan M. Lindsay

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We report on the process of generating the first suite of integrated volcanic hazard zonation maps for the islands of Dominica, Grenada (including Kick ‘em Jenny and Ronde/Caille, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent in the Lesser Antilles. We developed a systematic approach that accommodated the range in prior knowledge of the volcanoes in the region. A first-order hazard assessment for each island was used to develop one or more scenario(s of likely future activity, for which scenario-based hazard maps were generated. For the most-likely scenario on each island we also produced a poster-sized integrated volcanic hazard zonation map, which combined the individual hazardous phenomena depicted in the scenario-based hazard maps into integrated hazard zones. We document the philosophy behind the generation of this suite of maps, and the method by which hazard information was combined to create integrated hazard zonation maps, and illustrate our approach through a case study of St. Vincent. We also outline some of the challenges we faced using this approach, and the lessons we have learned by observing how stakeholders have interacted with the maps over the past ~10 years. Based on our experience, we recommend that future map makers involve stakeholders in the entire map generation process, especially when making design choices such as type of base map, use of colour and gradational boundaries, and indeed what to depict on the map. We also recommend careful consideration of how to evaluate and depict offshore hazard of island volcanoes, and recommend computer-assisted modelling of all phenomena to generate more realistic hazard footprints. Finally, although our systematic approach to integrating individual hazard data into zones generally worked well, we suggest that a better approach might be to treat the integration of hazards on a case-by-case basis to ensure the final product meets map users' needs. We hope that

  5. Effect of systematic ergonomic hazard identification and control implementation on musculoskeletal disorder and injury risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantley, Linda F; Taiwo, Oyebode A; Galusha, Deron; Barbour, Russell; Slade, Martin D; Tessier-Sherman, Baylah; Cullen, Mark R

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to examine the effect of an ergonomic hazard control (HC) initiative, undertaken as part of a company ergonomics standard, on worker injury risk. Using the company's ergonomic hazards database to identify jobs with and without ergonomic HC implementation and linking to individual job and injury histories, injury risk among person-jobs with HC implementation (the HC group) was compared to those without HC (NoHC group) using random coefficient models. Further analysis of the HC group was conducted to determine the effect of additional ergonomic hazards controlled on injury risk. Among 123 jobs at 17 plant locations, 347 ergonomic hazards were quantitatively identified during the study period. HC were implemented for 204 quantified ergonomic hazards in 84 jobs, impacting 10 385 persons (12 967 person-jobs). No HC were implemented for quantified ergonomic hazards in the remaining 39 jobs affecting 4155 persons (5046 person-jobs). Adjusting for age, sex, plant origin, and year to control for any temporal trend in injury risk, the relative risk (RR) for musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) was 0.85 and the RR for any injury or MSD was 0.92 in the HC compared to NoHC group. Among the HC group, each ergonomic hazard controlled was associated with risk reduction for MSD and acute injury outcomes (RR 0.93). Systematic ergonomic HC through participatory ergonomics, as part of a mandatory company ergonomics standard, is associated with MSD and injury risk reduction among workers in jobs with HC implemented.

  6. Partitioning into hazard subregions for regional peaks-over-threshold modeling of heavy precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carreau, J.; Naveau, P.; Neppel, L.

    2017-05-01

    The French Mediterranean is subject to intense precipitation events occurring mostly in autumn. These can potentially cause flash floods, the main natural danger in the area. The distribution of these events follows specific spatial patterns, i.e., some sites are more likely to be affected than others. The peaks-over-threshold approach consists in modeling extremes, such as heavy precipitation, by the generalized Pareto (GP) distribution. The shape parameter of the GP controls the probability of extreme events and can be related to the hazard level of a given site. When interpolating across a region, the shape parameter should reproduce the observed spatial patterns of the probability of heavy precipitation. However, the shape parameter estimators have high uncertainty which might hide the underlying spatial variability. As a compromise, we choose to let the shape parameter vary in a moderate fashion. More precisely, we assume that the region of interest can be partitioned into subregions with constant hazard level. We formalize the model as a conditional mixture of GP distributions. We develop a two-step inference strategy based on probability weighted moments and put forward a cross-validation procedure to select the number of subregions. A synthetic data study reveals that the inference strategy is consistent and not very sensitive to the selected number of subregions. An application on daily precipitation data from the French Mediterranean shows that the conditional mixture of GPs outperforms two interpolation approaches (with constant or smoothly varying shape parameter).

  7. Hazard perception in traffic. [previously knows as: Hazard perception.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    2008-01-01

    Hazard perception is an essential part of the driving task. There are clear indications that insufficient skills in perceiving hazards play an important role in the occurrence of crashes, especially those involving novice drivers. Proper hazard perception not only consists of scanning and perceiving

  8. The Prospect of using Three-Dimensional Earth Models To Improve Nuclear Explosion Monitoring and Ground Motion Hazard Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Antoun, T; Harris, D; Lay, T; Myers, S C; Pasyanos, M E; Richards, P; Rodgers, A J; Walter, W R; Zucca, J J

    2008-02-11

    The last ten years have brought rapid growth in the development and use of three-dimensional (3D) seismic models of earth structure at crustal, regional and global scales. In order to explore the potential for 3D seismic models to contribute to important societal applications, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) hosted a 'Workshop on Multi-Resolution 3D Earth Models to Predict Key Observables in Seismic Monitoring and Related Fields' on June 6 and 7, 2007 in Berkeley, California. The workshop brought together academic, government and industry leaders in the research programs developing 3D seismic models and methods for the nuclear explosion monitoring and seismic ground motion hazard communities. The workshop was designed to assess the current state of work in 3D seismology and to discuss a path forward for determining if and how 3D earth models and techniques can be used to achieve measurable increases in our capabilities for monitoring underground nuclear explosions and characterizing seismic ground motion hazards. This paper highlights some of the presentations, issues, and discussions at the workshop and proposes a path by which to begin quantifying the potential contribution of progressively refined 3D seismic models in critical applied arenas.

  9. An Optimization Approach for Hazardous Waste Management Problem under Stochastic Programming

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abass, S.A.; Abdallah, A.S.; Gomaa, M.A.

    2008-01-01

    Hazardous waste is the waste which, due to their nature and quantity, is potentially hazardous to human health and/or the environment. This kind of waste requires special disposal techniques to eliminate or reduce thc hazardous. Hazardous waste management (HWM) problem is concerned in the basic with the disposal method. hi this paper we focus on incineration as an effective to dispose the waste. For this type of disposal, there arc air pollution standards imposed by the government. We will propose an optimization model satisfied the air pollution standards and based on the model of Emek and Kara with using random variable coefficients in the constraint

  10. Do French macroseismic intensity observations agree with expectations from the European Seismic Hazard Model 2013?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey, Julien; Beauval, Céline; Douglas, John

    2018-02-01

    Probabilistic seismic hazard assessments are the basis of modern seismic design codes. To test fully a seismic hazard curve at the return periods of interest for engineering would require many thousands of years' worth of ground-motion recordings. Because strong-motion networks are often only a few decades old (e.g. in mainland France the first accelerometric network dates from the mid-1990s), data from such sensors can be used to test hazard estimates only at very short return periods. In this article, several hundreds of years of macroseismic intensity observations for mainland France are interpolated using a robust kriging-with-a-trend technique to establish the earthquake history of every French mainland municipality. At 24 selected cities representative of the French seismic context, the number of exceedances of intensities IV, V and VI is determined over time windows considered complete. After converting these intensities to peak ground accelerations using the global conversion equation of Caprio et al. (Ground motion to intensity conversion equations (GMICEs): a global relationship and evaluation of regional dependency, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 105:1476-1490, 2015), these exceedances are compared with those predicted by the European Seismic Hazard Model 2013 (ESHM13). In half of the cities, the number of observed exceedances for low intensities (IV and V) is within the range of predictions of ESHM13. In the other half of the cities, the number of observed exceedances is higher than the predictions of ESHM13. For intensity VI, the match is closer, but the comparison is less meaningful due to a scarcity of data. According to this study, the ESHM13 underestimates hazard in roughly half of France, even when taking into account the uncertainty in the conversion from intensity to acceleration. However, these results are valid only for the acceleration range tested in this study (0.01 to 0.09 g).

  11. Do French macroseismic intensity observations agree with expectations from the European Seismic Hazard Model 2013?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey, Julien; Beauval, Céline; Douglas, John

    2018-05-01

    Probabilistic seismic hazard assessments are the basis of modern seismic design codes. To test fully a seismic hazard curve at the return periods of interest for engineering would require many thousands of years' worth of ground-motion recordings. Because strong-motion networks are often only a few decades old (e.g. in mainland France the first accelerometric network dates from the mid-1990s), data from such sensors can be used to test hazard estimates only at very short return periods. In this article, several hundreds of years of macroseismic intensity observations for mainland France are interpolated using a robust kriging-with-a-trend technique to establish the earthquake history of every French mainland municipality. At 24 selected cities representative of the French seismic context, the number of exceedances of intensities IV, V and VI is determined over time windows considered complete. After converting these intensities to peak ground accelerations using the global conversion equation of Caprio et al. (Ground motion to intensity conversion equations (GMICEs): a global relationship and evaluation of regional dependency, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 105:1476-1490, 2015), these exceedances are compared with those predicted by the European Seismic Hazard Model 2013 (ESHM13). In half of the cities, the number of observed exceedances for low intensities (IV and V) is within the range of predictions of ESHM13. In the other half of the cities, the number of observed exceedances is higher than the predictions of ESHM13. For intensity VI, the match is closer, but the comparison is less meaningful due to a scarcity of data. According to this study, the ESHM13 underestimates hazard in roughly half of France, even when taking into account the uncertainty in the conversion from intensity to acceleration. However, these results are valid only for the acceleration range tested in this study (0.01 to 0.09 g).

  12. FLOOD HAZARD MAP IN THE CITY OF BATNA (ALGERIA BY HYDRAULIC MODELING APPROCH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guellouh SAMI

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In the light of the global climatic changes that appear to influence the frequency and the intensity of floods, and whose damages are still growing; understanding the hydrological processes, their spatiotemporal setting and their extreme shape, became a paramount concern to local communities in forecasting terms. The aim of this study is to map the floods hazard using a hydraulic modeling method. In fact, using the operating Geographic Information System (GIS, would allow us to perform a more detailed spatial analysis about the extent of the flooding risk, through the approval of the hydraulic modeling programs in different frequencies. Based on the results of this analysis, decision makers can implement a strategy of risk management related to rivers overflowing through the city of Batna.

  13. Genomic Model with Correlation Between Additive and Dominance Effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Tao; Christensen, Ole Fredslund; Vitezica, Zulma Gladis; Legarra, Andres

    2018-05-09

    Dominance genetic effects are rarely included in pedigree-based genetic evaluation. With the availability of single nucleotide polymorphism markers and the development of genomic evaluation, estimates of dominance genetic effects have become feasible using genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP). Usually, studies involving additive and dominance genetic effects ignore possible relationships between them. It has been often suggested that the magnitude of functional additive and dominance effects at the quantitative trait loci are related, but there is no existing GBLUP-like approach accounting for such correlation. Wellmann and Bennewitz showed two ways of considering directional relationships between additive and dominance effects, which they estimated in a Bayesian framework. However, these relationships cannot be fitted at the level of individuals instead of loci in a mixed model and are not compatible with standard animal or plant breeding software. This comes from a fundamental ambiguity in assigning the reference allele at a given locus. We show that, if there has been selection, assigning the most frequent as the reference allele orients the correlation between functional additive and dominance effects. As a consequence, the most frequent reference allele is expected to have a positive value. We also demonstrate that selection creates negative covariance between genotypic additive and dominance genetic values. For parameter estimation, it is possible to use a combined additive and dominance relationship matrix computed from marker genotypes, and to use standard restricted maximum likelihood (REML) algorithms based on an equivalent model. Through a simulation study, we show that such correlations can easily be estimated by mixed model software and accuracy of prediction for genetic values is slightly improved if such correlations are used in GBLUP. However, a model assuming uncorrelated effects and fitting orthogonal breeding values and dominant

  14. SHEAT: a computer code for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, user's manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebisawa, Katsumi; Kondo, Masaaki; Abe, Kiyoharu; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Takani, Michio.

    1994-08-01

    The SHEAT code developed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute is for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis which is one of the tasks needed for seismic Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of a nuclear power plant. Seismic hazard is defined as an annual exceedance frequency of occurrence of earthquake ground motions at various levels of intensity at a given site. With the SHEAT code, seismic hazard is calculated by the following two steps: (1) Modeling of earthquake generation around a site. Future earthquake generation (locations, magnitudes and frequencies of postulated earthquakes) is modelled based on the historical earthquake records, active fault data and expert judgement. (2) Calculation of probabilistic seismic hazard at the site. An earthquake ground motion is calculated for each postulated earthquake using an attenuation model taking into account its standard deviation. Then the seismic hazard at the site is calculated by summing the frequencies of ground motions by all the earthquakes. This document is the user's manual of the SHEAT code. It includes: (1) Outlines of the code, which include overall concept, logical process, code structure, data file used and special characteristics of the code, (2) Functions of subprograms and analytical models in them, (3) Guidance of input and output data, and (4) Sample run results. The code has widely been used at JAERI to analyze seismic hazard at various nuclear power plant sites in japan. (author)

  15. A Remote Sensing-Based Tool for Assessing Rainfall-Driven Hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Daniel B.; Mantilla, Ricardo; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.

    2018-01-01

    RainyDay is a Python-based platform that couples rainfall remote sensing data with Stochastic Storm Transposition (SST) for modeling rainfall-driven hazards such as floods and landslides. SST effectively lengthens the extreme rainfall record through temporal resampling and spatial transposition of observed storms from the surrounding region to create many extreme rainfall scenarios. Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves are often used for hazard modeling but require long records to describe the distribution of rainfall depth and duration and do not provide information regarding rainfall space-time structure, limiting their usefulness to small scales. In contrast, RainyDay can be used for many hazard applications with 1-2 decades of data, and output rainfall scenarios incorporate detailed space-time structure from remote sensing. Thanks to global satellite coverage, RainyDay can be used in inaccessible areas and developing countries lacking ground measurements, though results are impacted by remote sensing errors. RainyDay can be useful for hazard modeling under nonstationary conditions. PMID:29657544

  16. Additive model for thermal comfort generated by matrix experiment using orthogonal array

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, Reuy-Lung [Department of Occupational Safety and Health, China Medical University, 91 Huseh-shin Road, Taichung 404 (China); Lin, Tzu-Ping [Department of Leisure Planning, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-hua Road, Huwei, Yunlin 632 (China); Liang, Han-Hsi [Department of Architecture, National United University, No. 1, Lien Da, Kung-Ching Li, Miaoli 360 (China); Yang, Kuan-Hsiug; Yeh, Tsung-Chyn [Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering, National Sun Yet-Sen University, No. 91, Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung (China)

    2009-08-15

    In addition to ensuring the thermal comfort of occupants, monitoring and controlling indoor thermal environments can reduce the energy consumed by air conditioning systems. This study develops an additive model for predicting thermal comfort with rapid and simple arithmetic calculations. The advantage of the additive model is its comprehensibility to administrators of air conditioning systems, who are unfamiliar with the PMV-PPD model but want to adjust an indoor environment to save energy without generating complaints of discomfort from occupants. In order to generate the additive model, a laboratory chamber experiment based on matrix experiment using orthogonal array, was performed. By applying the analysis of variance on observed thermal sensation votes and percentage of dissatisfaction, the factor effects of environmental variables that account for the additive model were determined. Additionally, the applicability of the PMV-PPD model in hot and humid climates is discussed in this study, based on experimental results. (author)

  17. Fuzzy-logic assessment of failure hazard in pipelines due to mining activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Malinowska

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The present research is aimed at a critical analysis of a method presently used for evaluating failure hazard in linear objects in mining areas. A fuzzy model of failure hazard of a linear object was created on the basis of the experience gathered so far. The rules of Mamdani fuzzy model have been used in the analyses. Finally the scaled model was integrated with a Geographic Information System (GIS, which was used to evaluate failure hazard in a water pipeline in a mining area.

  18. Identification of Potential Hazard using Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sari, R. M.; Syahputri, K.; Rizkya, I.; Siregar, I.

    2017-03-01

    This research was conducted in the paper production’s company. These Paper products will be used as a cigarette paper. Along in the production’s process, Company provides the machines and equipment that operated by workers. During the operations, all workers may potentially injured. It known as a potential hazard. Hazard identification and risk assessment is one part of a safety and health program in the stage of risk management. This is very important as part of efforts to prevent occupational injuries and diseases resulting from work. This research is experiencing a problem that is not the identification of potential hazards and risks that would be faced by workers during the running production process. The purpose of this study was to identify the potential hazards by using hazard identification and risk assessment methods. Risk assessment is done using severity criteria and the probability of an accident. According to the research there are 23 potential hazard that occurs with varying severity and probability. Then made the determination Risk Assessment Code (RAC) for each potential hazard, and gained 3 extreme risks, 10 high risks, 6 medium risks and 3 low risks. We have successfully identified potential hazard using RAC.

  19. Mapping flood hazards under uncertainty through probabilistic flood inundation maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, T.; Bledsoe, B. P.; Miller, A. J.; Lee, G.

    2017-12-01

    Changing precipitation, rapid urbanization, and population growth interact to create unprecedented challenges for flood mitigation and management. Standard methods for estimating risk from flood inundation maps generally involve simulations of floodplain hydraulics for an established regulatory discharge of specified frequency. Hydraulic model results are then geospatially mapped and depicted as a discrete boundary of flood extents and a binary representation of the probability of inundation (in or out) that is assumed constant over a project's lifetime. Consequently, existing methods utilized to define flood hazards and assess risk management are hindered by deterministic approaches that assume stationarity in a nonstationary world, failing to account for spatio-temporal variability of climate and land use as they translate to hydraulic models. This presentation outlines novel techniques for portraying flood hazards and the results of multiple flood inundation maps spanning hydroclimatic regions. Flood inundation maps generated through modeling of floodplain hydraulics are probabilistic reflecting uncertainty quantified through Monte-Carlo analyses of model inputs and parameters under current and future scenarios. The likelihood of inundation and range of variability in flood extents resulting from Monte-Carlo simulations are then compared with deterministic evaluations of flood hazards from current regulatory flood hazard maps. By facilitating alternative approaches of portraying flood hazards, the novel techniques described in this presentation can contribute to a shifting paradigm in flood management that acknowledges the inherent uncertainty in model estimates and the nonstationary behavior of land use and climate.

  20. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) seismic hazard analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Savy, J.

    1989-01-01

    New design and evaluation guidelines for department of energy facilities subjected to natural phenomena hazard, are being finalized. Although still in draft form at this time, the document describing those guidelines should be considered to be an update of previously available guidelines. The recommendations in the guidelines document mentioned above, and simply referred to as the ''guidelines'' thereafter, are based on the best information at the time of its development. In particular, the seismic hazard model for the Princeton site was based on a study performed in 1981 for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), which relied heavily on the results of the NRC's Systematic Evaluation Program and was based on a methodology and data sets developed in 1977 and 1978. Considerable advances have been made in the last ten years in the domain of seismic hazard modeling. Thus, it is recommended to update the estimate of the seismic hazard at the DOE sites whenever possible. The major differences between previous estimates and the ones proposed in this study for the PPPL are in the modeling of the strong ground motion at the site, and the treatment of the total uncertainty in the estimates to include knowledge uncertainty, random uncertainty, and expert opinion diversity as well. 28 refs

  1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) seismic hazard analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Savy, J.

    1989-10-01

    New design and evaluation guidelines for department of energy facilities subjected to natural phenomena hazard, are being finalized. Although still in draft form at this time, the document describing those guidelines should be considered to be an update of previously available guidelines. The recommendations in the guidelines document mentioned above, and simply referred to as the guidelines'' thereafter, are based on the best information at the time of its development. In particular, the seismic hazard model for the Princeton site was based on a study performed in 1981 for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), which relied heavily on the results of the NRC's Systematic Evaluation Program and was based on a methodology and data sets developed in 1977 and 1978. Considerable advances have been made in the last ten years in the domain of seismic hazard modeling. Thus, it is recommended to update the estimate of the seismic hazard at the DOE sites whenever possible. The major differences between previous estimates and the ones proposed in this study for the PPPL are in the modeling of the strong ground motion at the site, and the treatment of the total uncertainty in the estimates to include knowledge uncertainty, random uncertainty, and expert opinion diversity as well. 28 refs.

  2. Multi Hazard Assessment: The Azores Archipelagos (PT) case

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aifantopoulou, Dorothea; Boni, Giorgio; Cenci, Luca; Kaskara, Maria; Kontoes, Haris; Papoutsis, Ioannis; Paralikidis, Sideris; Psichogyiou, Christina; Solomos, Stavros; Squicciarino, Giuseppe; Tsouni, Alexia; Xerekakis, Themos

    2016-04-01

    The COPERNICUS EMS Risk & Recovery Mapping (RRM) activity offers services to support efficient design and implementation of mitigation measures and recovery planning based on EO data exploitation. The Azores Archipelagos case was realized in the context of the FWC 259811 Copernicus EMS RRM, and provides potential impact information for a number of natural disasters. The analysis identified population and assets at risk (infrastructures and environment). The risk assessment was based on hazard and vulnerability of structural elements, road network characteristics, etc. Integration of different hazards and risks was accounted in establishing the necessary first response/ first aid infrastructure. EO data (Pleiades and WV-2), were used to establish a detailed background information, common for the assessment of the whole of the risks. A qualitative Flood hazard level was established, through a "Flood Susceptibility Index" that accounts for upstream drainage area and local slope along the drainage network (Manfreda et al. 2014). Indicators, representing different vulnerability typologies, were accounted for. The risk was established through intersecting hazard and vulnerability (risk- specific lookup table). Probabilistic seismic hazards maps (PGA) were obtained by applying the Cornell (1968) methodology as implemented in CRISIS2007 (Ordaz et al. 2007). The approach relied on the identification of potential sources, the assessment of earthquake recurrence and magnitude distribution, the selection of ground motion model, and the mathematical model to calculate seismic hazard. Lava eruption areas and a volcanic activity related coefficient were established through available historical data. Lava flow paths and their convergence were estimated through applying a cellular, automata based, Lava Flow Hazard numerical model (Gestur Leó Gislason, 2013). The Landslide Hazard Index of NGI (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute) for heavy rainfall (100 year extreme monthly rainfall

  3. Multi-hazard risk assessment of the Republic of Mauritius

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mysiak, Jaroslav; Galli, Alberto; Amadio, Mattia; Teatini, Chiara

    2013-04-01

    The Republic of Mauritius (ROM) is a small island developing state (SIDS), part of the Mascarene Islands in West Indian Ocean, comprised by Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega and St. Brandon islands and several islets. ROM is exposed to many natural hazards notably cyclones, tsunamis, torrential precipitation, landslides, and droughts; and highly vulnerable sea level rise (SLR) driven by human induced climate change. The multihazard risk assessment presented in this paper is aimed at identifying the areas prone to flood, inundation and landslide hazard, and inform the development of strategy for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). Climate risk analysis - a central component of the analysis - is one of the first comprehensive climate modelling studies conducted for the country. Climate change may lift the temperature by 1-2 degree Celsius by 2060-2070, and increase sizably the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation events. According to the IPCC Forth Assessment Report (AR4), the expected Sea Level Rise (SLR) ranges between 16 and 49 cm. Individually or in combination, the inland flood, coastal inundation and landslide hazards affect large proportion of the country. Sea level rise and the changes in precipitation regimes will amplified existing vulnerabilities and create new ones. The paper outlines an Action plan for Disaster Risk Reduction that takes into account the likely effects of climate change. The Action Plan calls on the government to establish a National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction as recommended by the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015. It consists of nine recommendations which, if put in practice, will significantly reduce the annual damage to natural hazard and produce additional (ancillary) benefits in economic, social and environmental terms.

  4. Hanford Site radioactive hazardous materials packaging directory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCarthy, T.L.

    1995-12-01

    The Hanford Site Radioactive Hazardous Materials Packaging Directory (RHMPD) provides information concerning packagings owned or routinely leased by Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) for offsite shipments or onsite transfers of hazardous materials. Specific information is provided for selected packagings including the following: general description; approval documents/specifications (Certificates of Compliance and Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging); technical information (drawing numbers and dimensions); approved contents; areas of operation; and general information. Packaging Operations ampersand Development (PO ampersand D) maintains the RHMPD and may be contacted for additional information or assistance in obtaining referenced documentation or assistance concerning packaging selection, availability, and usage

  5. Hanford Site radioactive hazardous materials packaging directory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCarthy, T.L.

    1995-12-01

    The Hanford Site Radioactive Hazardous Materials Packaging Directory (RHMPD) provides information concerning packagings owned or routinely leased by Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) for offsite shipments or onsite transfers of hazardous materials. Specific information is provided for selected packagings including the following: general description; approval documents/specifications (Certificates of Compliance and Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging); technical information (drawing numbers and dimensions); approved contents; areas of operation; and general information. Packaging Operations & Development (PO&D) maintains the RHMPD and may be contacted for additional information or assistance in obtaining referenced documentation or assistance concerning packaging selection, availability, and usage.

  6. Down to Earth with an electric hazard from space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Love, Jeffrey J.; Bedrosian, Paul A.; Schultz, Adam

    2017-01-01

    In reaching across traditional disciplinary boundaries, solid-Earth geophysicists and space physicists are forging new collaborations to map magnetic-storm hazards for electric-power grids. Future progress in evaluation storm time geoelectric hazards will come primarily through monitoring, surveys, and modeling of related data.

  7. Success in transmitting hazard science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, J. G.; Garside, T.

    2010-12-01

    Money motivates mitigation. An example of success in communicating scientific information about hazards, coupled with information about available money, is the follow-up action by local governments to actually mitigate. The Nevada Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee helps local governments prepare competitive proposals for federal funds to reduce risks from natural hazards. Composed of volunteers with expertise in emergency management, building standards, and earthquake, flood, and wildfire hazards, the committee advises the Nevada Division of Emergency Management on (1) the content of the State’s hazard mitigation plan and (2) projects that have been proposed by local governments and state agencies for funding from various post- and pre-disaster hazard mitigation programs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Local governments must have FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plans in place before they can receive this funding. The committee has been meeting quarterly with elected and appointed county officials, at their offices, to encourage them to update their mitigation plans and apply for this funding. We have settled on a format that includes the county’s giving the committee an overview of its infrastructure, hazards, and preparedness. The committee explains the process for applying for mitigation grants and presents the latest information that we have about earthquake hazards, including locations of nearby active faults, historical seismicity, geodetic strain, loss-estimation modeling, scenarios, and documents about what to do before, during, and after an earthquake. Much of the county-specific information is available on the web. The presentations have been well received, in part because the committee makes the effort to go to their communities, and in part because the committee is helping them attract federal funds for local mitigation of not only earthquake hazards but also floods (including canal breaches) and wildfires, the other major concerns in

  8. Hydrometeorological Hazards: Monitoring, Forecasting, Risk Assessment, and Socioeconomic Responses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Huan [University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Huang, Maoyi [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA; Tang, Qiuhong [Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Kirschbaum, Dalia B. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; Ward, Philip [Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    2016-01-01

    Hydrometeorological hazards are caused by extreme meteorological and climate events, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, or landslides. They account for a dominant fraction of natural hazards and occur in all regions of the world, although the frequency and intensity of certain hazards, and society’s vulnerability to them, differs between regions. Severe storms, strong winds, floods and droughts develop at different spatial and temporal scales, but all can become disasters that cause significant infrastructure damage and claim hundreds of thousands of lives annually worldwide. Oftentimes, multiple hazards can occur simultaneously or trigger cascading impacts from one extreme weather event. For example, in addition to causing injuries, deaths and material damage, a tropical storm can also result in flooding and mudslides, which can disrupt water purification and sewage disposal systems, cause overflow of toxic wastes, and increase propagation of mosquito-borne diseases.

  9. Volcanology and hazards of phreatomagmatic basaltic eruptions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmith, Johanne

    Iceland is one of the most active terrestrial volcanic regions on Earth with an average of more than 20 eruptions per century. Around 80% of all events are tephra generating explosive eruptions, but less than 10 % of all known tephra layers have been mapped. Recent hazard assessment models show...... that the two key parameters for hazard assessment modeling are total grain size distribution (TGSD) and eruptive style. These two parameters have been determined for even fewer eruptive events in Iceland. One of the most hazardous volcanoes in Iceland is Katla and no data set of TGSD or other eruptive...... parameters exist. Katla has not erupted for 99 years, but at least 2 of the 20 eruptions since the settlement of Iceland in 871 have reached Northern Europe as visible tephra fall. These eruptions occurred in 1755 and 1625 and remain enigmatic both in terms of actual size and eruption dynamics. This work...

  10. Evaluation of methods to compare consequences from hazardous materials transportation accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhoads, R.E.; Franklin, A.L.; Lavender, J.C.

    1986-10-01

    This report presents the results of a project to develop a framework for making meaningful comparisons of the consequences from transportation accidents involving hazardous materials. The project was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, methods that could potentially be used to develop the consequence comparisons for hazardous material transportation accidents were identified and reviewed. Potential improvements were identified and an evaluation of the improved methods was performed. Based on this evaluation, several methods were selected for detailed evaluation in Phase II of the project. The methods selected were location-dependent scenarios, figure of merit and risk assessment. This evaluation included application of the methods to a sample problem which compares the consequences of four representative hazardous materials - chlorine, propane, spent nuclear fuel and class A explosives. These materials were selected because they represented a broad class of hazardous material properties and consequence mechanisms. The sample case aplication relied extensively on consequence calculations performed in previous transportation risk assessment studies. A consultant was employed to assist in developing consequence models for explosives. The results of the detailed evaluation of the three consequence comparison methods indicates that methods are available to perform technically defensible comparisons of the consequences from a wide variety of hazardous materials. Location-dependent scenario and risk assessment methods are available now and the figure of merit method could be developed with additional effort. All of the methods require substantial effort to implement. Methods that would require substantially less effort were identified in the preliminary evaluation, but questions of technical accuracy preclude their application on a scale. These methods may have application to specific cases, however

  11. Radiation hazards and their effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lunu, Shyam; Kumar, Hemant; Joshi, Pankaj Kumar; Songara, Venkteshwer

    2012-01-01

    Radiation can be classified into ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation, based on whether it is capable of ionizing atoms and breaking chemical bonds. Ultraviolet and higher frequency such as X-rays, gamma rays are ionizing. These pose their own special hazards. Non ionizing radiation is associated with two major potential hazards. i.e. electrical and biological. Additionally includes electric current caused by radiation can generate sparks and create a fire or explosive hazards. Strong radiation can induce current capable of delivering an electric shock. Extremely high power electromagnetic radiation can cause electric currents strong enough to create sparks when an induced voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of surrounding mediums. A 2009 study at the University of Basal in Switzerland found that intermitted exposure of human cells to a 50 Hz electromagnetic field at a flux density of 10 Gy induced a slight but significant increase of DNA fragmentation in the comet assay. Mobile phones radiation and health concerns have been raised, especially following the enormous increase in the use of wireless mobile telephony throughout the world. Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwaves range and some believes this may be harmful to human health. (author)

  12. Additive action model for mixed irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, G.K.Y.

    1984-01-01

    Recent experimental results indicate that a mixture of high and low LET radiation may have some beneficial features (such as lower OER but with skin sparing) for clinical use, and interest has been renewed in the study of mixtures of high and low LET radiation. Several standard radiation inactivation models can readily accommodate interaction between two mixed radiations, however, this is usually handled by postulating extra free parameters, which can only be determined by fitting to experimental data. A model without any free parameter is proposed to explain the biological effect of mixed radiations, based on the following two assumptions: (a) The combined biological action due to two radiations is additive, assuming no repair has taken place during the interval between the two irradiations; and (b) The initial physical damage induced by radiation develops into final biological effect (e.g. cell killing) over a relatively long period (hours) after irradiation. This model has been shown to provide satisfactory fit to the experiment results of previous studies

  13. Modeling hydrologic and geomorphic hazards across post-fire landscapes using a self-organizing map approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedel, Michael J.

    2011-01-01

    Few studies attempt to model the range of possible post-fire hydrologic and geomorphic hazards because of the sparseness of data and the coupled, nonlinear, spatial, and temporal relationships among landscape variables. In this study, a type of unsupervised artificial neural network, called a self-organized map (SOM), is trained using data from 540 burned basins in the western United States. The sparsely populated data set includes variables from independent numerical landscape categories (climate, land surface form, geologic texture, and post-fire condition), independent landscape classes (bedrock geology and state), and dependent initiation processes (runoff, landslide, and runoff and landslide combination) and responses (debris flows, floods, and no events). Pattern analysis of the SOM-based component planes is used to identify and interpret relations among the variables. Application of the Davies-Bouldin criteria following k-means clustering of the SOM neurons identified eight conceptual regional models for focusing future research and empirical model development. A split-sample validation on 60 independent basins (not included in the training) indicates that simultaneous predictions of initiation process and response types are at least 78% accurate. As climate shifts from wet to dry conditions, forecasts across the burned landscape reveal a decreasing trend in the total number of debris flow, flood, and runoff events with considerable variability among individual basins. These findings suggest the SOM may be useful in forecasting real-time post-fire hazards, and long-term post-recovery processes and effects of climate change scenarios.

  14. Household hazardous waste disposal to landfill: using LandSim to model leachate migration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slack, Rebecca J; Gronow, Jan R; Hall, David H; Voulvoulis, Nikolaos

    2007-03-01

    Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachate contains a number of aquatic pollutants. A specific MSW stream often referred to as household hazardous waste (HHW) can be considered to contribute a large proportion of these pollutants. This paper describes the use of the LandSim (Landfill Performance Simulation) modelling program to assess the environmental consequences of leachate release from a generic MSW landfill in receipt of co-disposed HHW. Heavy metals and organic pollutants were found to migrate into the zones beneath a model landfill site over a 20,000-year period. Arsenic and chromium were found to exceed European Union and US-EPA drinking water standards at the unsaturated zone/aquifer interface, with levels of mercury and cadmium exceeding minimum reporting values (MRVs). The findings demonstrate the pollution potential arising from HHW disposal with MSW.

  15. Climate change beliefs and hazard mitigation behaviors: Homeowners and wildfire risk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannah Brenkert-Smith; James R. Meldrum; Patricia A. Champ

    2015-01-01

    Downscaled climate models provide projections of how climate change may exacerbate the local impacts of natural hazards. The extent to which people facing exacerbated hazard conditions understand or respond to climate-related changes to local hazards has been largely overlooked. In this article, we examine the relationships among climate change beliefs, environmental...

  16. Morální hazard ve vztahu nájemce a zmocněnce

    OpenAIRE

    Zatlukal, Marek

    2012-01-01

    This paper will introduce the reader to the issues of moral hazard in a principal-agent setting, with the primary focus on the incentive pay models of moral hazard. Firstly, with an introduction and analysis of various microeconomic models designed to alleviate the problems of moral hazard, and secondly, with an analyses of these models in the context of a specific company, the aim of this thesis is to offer a comprehensive understanding of the specific problems caused by moral hazard in the ...

  17. An enhanced fire hazard assessment model and validation experiments for vertical cable trays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Lu; Huang, Xianjia; Bi, Kun; Liu, Xiaoshuang

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • An enhanced model was developed for vertical cable fire hazard assessment in NPP. • The validated experiments on vertical cable tray fires were conducted. • The capability of the model for cable tray with different cable spacing were tested. - Abstract: The model, referred to as FLASH-CAT (Flame Spread over Horizontal Cable Trays), was developed to estimate the heat release rate for vertical cable tray fire. The focus of this work is to investigate the application of an enhanced model to the single vertical cable tray fires with different cable spacing. The experiments on vertical cable tray fires with three typical cable spacing were conducted. The histories of mass loss rate and flame length were recorded during the cable fire. From the experimental results, it is found that the space between cable lines intensifies the cable combustion and accelerates the flame spread. The predictions by the enhanced model show good agreements with the experimental data. At the same time, it is shown that the enhanced model is capable of predicting the different behaviors of cable fires with different cable spacing by adjusting the flame spread speed only.

  18. An enhanced fire hazard assessment model and validation experiments for vertical cable trays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Lu [Sate Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 (China); Huang, Xianjia, E-mail: huangxianjia@gziit.ac.cn [Joint Laboratory of Fire Safety in Nuclear Power Plants, Institute of Industry Technology Guangzhou & Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 511458 (China); Bi, Kun; Liu, Xiaoshuang [China Nuclear Power Design Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518045 (China)

    2016-05-15

    Highlights: • An enhanced model was developed for vertical cable fire hazard assessment in NPP. • The validated experiments on vertical cable tray fires were conducted. • The capability of the model for cable tray with different cable spacing were tested. - Abstract: The model, referred to as FLASH-CAT (Flame Spread over Horizontal Cable Trays), was developed to estimate the heat release rate for vertical cable tray fire. The focus of this work is to investigate the application of an enhanced model to the single vertical cable tray fires with different cable spacing. The experiments on vertical cable tray fires with three typical cable spacing were conducted. The histories of mass loss rate and flame length were recorded during the cable fire. From the experimental results, it is found that the space between cable lines intensifies the cable combustion and accelerates the flame spread. The predictions by the enhanced model show good agreements with the experimental data. At the same time, it is shown that the enhanced model is capable of predicting the different behaviors of cable fires with different cable spacing by adjusting the flame spread speed only.

  19. Evaluation of an active learning module to teach hazard and risk in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP classes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omar A. Oyarzabal

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The terms hazard and risk are significant building blocks for the organization of risk-based food safety plans. Unfortunately, these terms are not clear for some personnel working in food manufacturing facilities. In addition, there are few examples of active learning modules for teaching adult participants the principles of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of an active learning module to teach hazard and risk to participants of HACCP classes provided by the University of Vermont Extension in 2015 and 2016. This interactive module is comprised of a questionnaire; group playing of a dice game that we have previously introduced in the teaching of HACCP; the discussion of the terms hazard and risk; and a self-assessment questionnaire to evaluate the teaching of hazard and risk. From 71 adult participants that completed this module, 40 participants (56% provided the most appropriate definition of hazard, 19 participants (27% provided the most appropriate definition of risk, 14 participants (20% provided the most appropriate definitions of both hazard and risk, and 23 participants (32% did not provide an appropriate definition for hazard or risk. Self-assessment data showed an improvement in the understanding of these terms (P < 0.05. Thirty participants (42% stated that the most valuable thing they learned with this interactive module was the difference between hazard and risk, and 40 participants (65% responded that they did not attend similar presentations in the past. The fact that less than one third of the participants answered properly to the definitions of hazard and risk at baseline is not surprising. However, these results highlight the need for the incorporation of modules to discuss these important food safety terms and include more active learning modules to teach food safety classes. This study suggests that active learning helps food personnel better understand important

  20. Review of Shape Deviation Modeling for Additive Manufacturing

    OpenAIRE

    Zhu , Zuowei; Keimasi , Safa; ANWER , Nabil; Mathieu , Luc; Qiao , Lihong

    2016-01-01

    International audience; Additive Manufacturing (AM) is becoming a promising technology capable of building complex customized parts with internal geometries and graded material by stacking up thin individual layers. However, a comprehensive geometric model for Additive Manufacturing is not mature yet. Dimensional and form accuracy and surface finish are still a bottleneck for AM regarding quality control. In this paper, an up-to-date review is drawn on methods and approaches that have been de...

  1. Hazardous-waste analysis plan for LLNL operations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roberts, R.S.

    1982-02-12

    The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is involved in many facets of research ranging from nuclear weapons research to advanced Biomedical studies. Approximately 80% of all programs at LLNL generate hazardous waste in one form or another. Aside from producing waste from industrial type operations (oils, solvents, bottom sludges, etc.) many unique and toxic wastes are generated such as phosgene, dioxin (TCDD), radioactive wastes and high explosives. One key to any successful waste management program must address the following: proper identification of the waste, safe handling procedures and proper storage containers and areas. This section of the Waste Management Plan will address methodologies used for the Analysis of Hazardous Waste. In addition to the wastes defined in 40 CFR 261, LLNL and Site 300 also generate radioactive waste not specifically covered by RCRA. However, for completeness, the Waste Analysis Plan will address all hazardous waste.

  2. Hazardous-waste analysis plan for LLNL operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberts, R.S.

    1982-01-01

    The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is involved in many facets of research ranging from nuclear weapons research to advanced Biomedical studies. Approximately 80% of all programs at LLNL generate hazardous waste in one form or another. Aside from producing waste from industrial type operations (oils, solvents, bottom sludges, etc.) many unique and toxic wastes are generated such as phosgene, dioxin (TCDD), radioactive wastes and high explosives. One key to any successful waste management program must address the following: proper identification of the waste, safe handling procedures and proper storage containers and areas. This section of the Waste Management Plan will address methodologies used for the Analysis of Hazardous Waste. In addition to the wastes defined in 40 CFR 261, LLNL and Site 300 also generate radioactive waste not specifically covered by RCRA. However, for completeness, the Waste Analysis Plan will address all hazardous waste

  3. Modeling the influence of limestone addition on cement hydration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashraf Ragab Mohamed

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the influence of using Portland limestone cement “PLC” on cement hydration by characterization of its microstructure development. The European Standard EN 197-1:2011 and Egyptian specification ESS 4756-1/2009 permit the cement to contain up to 20% ground limestone. The computational tools assist in better understanding the influence of limestone additions on cement hydration and microstructure development to facilitate the acceptance of these more economical and ecological materials. μic model has been developed to enable the modeling of microstructural evolution of cementitious materials. In this research μic model is used to simulate both the influence of limestone as fine filler, providing additional surfaces for the nucleation and growth of hydration products. Limestone powder also reacts relatively slow with hydrating cement to form monocarboaluminate (AFmc phase, similar to the mono-sulfoaluminate (AFm phase formed in ordinary Portland cement. The model results reveal that limestone cement has accelerated cement hydration rate, previous experimental results and computer model “cemhyd3d” are used to validate this model.

  4. Seismic hazard in the Nation's breadbasket

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyd, Oliver; Haller, Kathleen; Luco, Nicolas; Moschetti, Morgan P.; Mueller, Charles; Petersen, Mark D.; Rezaeian, Sanaz; Rubinstein, Justin L.

    2015-01-01

    The USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps were updated in 2014 and included several important changes for the central United States (CUS). Background seismicity sources were improved using a new moment-magnitude-based catalog; a new adaptive, nearest-neighbor smoothing kernel was implemented; and maximum magnitudes for background sources were updated. Areal source zones developed by the Central and Eastern United States Seismic Source Characterization for Nuclear Facilities project were simplified and adopted. The weighting scheme for ground motion models was updated, giving more weight to models with a faster attenuation with distance compared to the previous maps. Overall, hazard changes (2% probability of exceedance in 50 years, across a range of ground-motion frequencies) were smaller than 10% in most of the CUS relative to the 2008 USGS maps despite new ground motion models and their assigned logic tree weights that reduced the probabilistic ground motions by 5–20%.

  5. Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Assessment: the Seaside, Oregon Pilot Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, F. I.; Geist, E. L.; Synolakis, C.; Titov, V. V.

    2004-12-01

    A pilot study of Seaside, Oregon is underway, to develop methodologies for probabilistic tsunami hazard assessments that can be incorporated into Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) developed by FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Current NFIP guidelines for tsunami hazard assessment rely on the science, technology and methodologies developed in the 1970s; although generally regarded as groundbreaking and state-of-the-art for its time, this approach is now superseded by modern methods that reflect substantial advances in tsunami research achieved in the last two decades. In particular, post-1990 technical advances include: improvements in tsunami source specification; improved tsunami inundation models; better computational grids by virtue of improved bathymetric and topographic databases; a larger database of long-term paleoseismic and paleotsunami records and short-term, historical earthquake and tsunami records that can be exploited to develop improved probabilistic methodologies; better understanding of earthquake recurrence and probability models. The NOAA-led U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP), in partnership with FEMA, USGS, NSF and Emergency Management and Geotechnical agencies of the five Pacific States, incorporates these advances into site-specific tsunami hazard assessments for coastal communities in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. NTHMP hazard assessment efforts currently focus on developing deterministic, "credible worst-case" scenarios that provide valuable guidance for hazard mitigation and emergency management. The NFIP focus, on the other hand, is on actuarial needs that require probabilistic hazard assessments such as those that characterize 100- and 500-year flooding events. There are clearly overlaps in NFIP and NTHMP objectives. NTHMP worst-case scenario assessments that include an estimated probability of occurrence could benefit the NFIP; NFIP probabilistic assessments of 100- and 500-yr

  6. Between and beyond additivity and non-additivity : the statistical modelling of genotype by environment interaction in plant breeding

    OpenAIRE

    Eeuwijk, van, F.A.

    1996-01-01

    In plant breeding it is a common observation to see genotypes react differently to environmental changes. This phenomenon is called genotype by environment interaction. Many statistical approaches for analysing genotype by environment interaction rely heavily on the analysis of variance model. Genotype by environment interaction is then taken to be equivalent to non-additivity. This thesis criticizes the analysis of variance approach. Modelling genotype by environment interaction by non-addit...

  7. Building 894 hazards assessment document

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banda, Z.; Williams, M.

    1996-07-01

    The Department of Energy Order 5500.3A requires facility-specific hazards assessments be prepared, maintained, and used for emergency planning purposes. This hazards assessment document describes the chemical and radiological hazards associated with Building 894. The entire inventory was subjected to the screening criteria for potential airborne impact to onsite and offsite individuals out of which 9 chemicals were kept for further evaluation. The air dispersion model, ALOHA, estimated pollutant concentrations downwind from the source of a release, taking into consideration the toxicological and physical characteristics of the release site, the atmospheric conditions, and the circumstances of the release. The greatest distance at which a postulated facility event will produce consequences exceeding the Early Severe Health Effects threshold is 130 meters. The highest emergency classification is a General Emergency. The Emergency Planning Zone is a nominal 130 meter area that conforms to DOE boundaries and physical/jurisdictional boundaries such as fence lines and streets

  8. Building 6630 hazards assessment document

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, M.; Banda, Z.

    1996-10-01

    The Department of Energy Order 5500.3A requires facility-specific hazards assessments be prepared, maintained, and used for emergency planning purposes. This hazards assessment document describes the chemical and radiological hazards associated with Building 6630. The entire inventory was subjected to the screening criteria for potential airborne impact to onsite and offsite individuals out of which one chemical was kept for further evaluation. The air dispersion model, ALOHA, estimated pollutant concentrations downwind from the source of a release, taking into consideration the toxicological and physical characteristics of the chemical release site, the atmospheric conditions, and the circumstances of the release. The greatest distance at which a postulated facility event will produce consequences exceeding the Early Severe Health Effects threshold is 76 meters. The highest emergency classification is an Alert. The Emergency Planning Zone is a nominal 100 meter area that conforms to DOE boundaries and physical/jurisdictional boundaries such as fence lines and streets

  9. Validation of transport models using additive flux minimization technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pankin, A. Y.; Kruger, S. E. [Tech-X Corporation, 5621 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Groebner, R. J. [General Atomics, San Diego, California 92121 (United States); Hakim, A. [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-0451 (United States); Kritz, A. H.; Rafiq, T. [Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015 (United States)

    2013-10-15

    A new additive flux minimization technique is proposed for carrying out the verification and validation (V and V) of anomalous transport models. In this approach, the plasma profiles are computed in time dependent predictive simulations in which an additional effective diffusivity is varied. The goal is to obtain an optimal match between the computed and experimental profile. This new technique has several advantages over traditional V and V methods for transport models in tokamaks and takes advantage of uncertainty quantification methods developed by the applied math community. As a demonstration of its efficiency, the technique is applied to the hypothesis that the paleoclassical density transport dominates in the plasma edge region in DIII-D tokamak discharges. A simplified version of the paleoclassical model that utilizes the Spitzer resistivity for the parallel neoclassical resistivity and neglects the trapped particle effects is tested in this paper. It is shown that a contribution to density transport, in addition to the paleoclassical density transport, is needed in order to describe the experimental profiles. It is found that more additional diffusivity is needed at the top of the H-mode pedestal, and almost no additional diffusivity is needed at the pedestal bottom. The implementation of this V and V technique uses the FACETS::Core transport solver and the DAKOTA toolkit for design optimization and uncertainty quantification. The FACETS::Core solver is used for advancing the plasma density profiles. The DAKOTA toolkit is used for the optimization of plasma profiles and the computation of the additional diffusivity that is required for the predicted density profile to match the experimental profile.

  10. Validation of transport models using additive flux minimization technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pankin, A. Y.; Kruger, S. E.; Groebner, R. J.; Hakim, A.; Kritz, A. H.; Rafiq, T.

    2013-01-01

    A new additive flux minimization technique is proposed for carrying out the verification and validation (V and V) of anomalous transport models. In this approach, the plasma profiles are computed in time dependent predictive simulations in which an additional effective diffusivity is varied. The goal is to obtain an optimal match between the computed and experimental profile. This new technique has several advantages over traditional V and V methods for transport models in tokamaks and takes advantage of uncertainty quantification methods developed by the applied math community. As a demonstration of its efficiency, the technique is applied to the hypothesis that the paleoclassical density transport dominates in the plasma edge region in DIII-D tokamak discharges. A simplified version of the paleoclassical model that utilizes the Spitzer resistivity for the parallel neoclassical resistivity and neglects the trapped particle effects is tested in this paper. It is shown that a contribution to density transport, in addition to the paleoclassical density transport, is needed in order to describe the experimental profiles. It is found that more additional diffusivity is needed at the top of the H-mode pedestal, and almost no additional diffusivity is needed at the pedestal bottom. The implementation of this V and V technique uses the FACETS::Core transport solver and the DAKOTA toolkit for design optimization and uncertainty quantification. The FACETS::Core solver is used for advancing the plasma density profiles. The DAKOTA toolkit is used for the optimization of plasma profiles and the computation of the additional diffusivity that is required for the predicted density profile to match the experimental profile

  11. Development of hydrogeological modelling approaches for assessment of consequences of hazardous accidents at nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rumynin, V.G.; Mironenko, V.A.; Konosavsky, P.K.; Pereverzeva, S.A.

    1994-07-01

    This paper introduces some modeling approaches for predicting the influence of hazardous accidents at nuclear reactors on groundwater quality. Possible pathways for radioactive releases from nuclear power plants were considered to conceptualize boundary conditions for solving the subsurface radionuclides transport problems. Some approaches to incorporate physical-and-chemical interactions into transport simulators have been developed. The hydrogeological forecasts were based on numerical and semi-analytical scale-dependent models. They have been applied to assess the possible impact of the nuclear power plants designed in Russia on groundwater reservoirs

  12. Space Life Sciences Directorate's Position on the Physiological Effects of Exposing the Crewmemeber to Low-Voltage Electrical Hazards During Extravehicular Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Douglas; Kramer, Leonard; Mikatarian, Ron; Polk, James; Duncan, Michael; Koontz, Steven

    2010-01-01

    The models predict that, for low voltage exposures in the space suit, physiologically active current could be conducted across the crew member causing catastrophic hazards. Future work with Naval Health Research Center Detachment Directed Energy Bio-effects Laboratory is being proposed to analyze additional current paths across the human torso and upper limbs. These models may need to be verified with human studies.

  13. An (even) broader perspective: Combining environmental processes and natural hazards education in a MSc programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heckmann, Tobias; Haas, Florian; Trappe, Martin; Cyffka, Bernd; Becht, Michael

    2010-05-01

    Natural hazards are processes occurring in the natural environment that negatively affect human society. In most instances, the definition of natural hazards implies sudden events as different as earthquakes, floods or landslides. In addition, there are other phenomena that occur more subtly or slowly, and nevertheless may have serious adverse effects on the human environment. Hence, a comprehensive study programme in natural hazards has to include not only the conspicuous causes and effects of natural catastrophes, but of environmental processes in general. Geography as a discipline is located at the interface of natural, social and economic sciences; the physical geography programme described here is designed to include the social and economic dimension as well as management issues. Modules strengthening the theoretical background of geomorphic, geological, hydrological and meteorological processes and hazards are complemented by practical work in the field and the laboratory, dealing with measuring and monitoring environmental processes. On this basis, modeling and managing skills are developed. Another thread in the transdisciplinary programme deals with sustainability and environmental policy issues, and environmental psychology (e.g. perception of and reaction to hazards). This will improve the communication and team working skills of students wherever they are part of an interdisciplinary working group. Through the involvement in research programmes, students are confronted ‘hands on' with the different aspects of environmental processes and their consequences; thus, they will be excellently but not exclusively qualified for positions in the ‘natural hazards' sector.

  14. Working towards a clearer and more helpful hazard map: investigating the influence of hazard map design on hazard communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, M. A.; Lindsay, J. M.; Gaillard, J.

    2015-12-01

    Globally, geological hazards are communicated using maps. In traditional hazard mapping practice, scientists analyse data about a hazard, and then display the results on a map for stakeholder and public use. However, this one-way, top-down approach to hazard communication is not necessarily effective or reliable. The messages which people take away will be dependent on the way in which they read, interpret, and understand the map, a facet of hazard communication which has been relatively unexplored. Decades of cartographic studies suggest that variables in the visual representation of data on maps, such as colour and symbology, can have a powerful effect on how people understand map content. In practice, however, there is little guidance or consistency in how hazard information is expressed and represented on maps. Accordingly, decisions are often made based on subjective preference, rather than research-backed principles. Here we present the results of a study in which we explore how hazard map design features can influence hazard map interpretation, and we propose a number of considerations for hazard map design. A series of hazard maps were generated, with each one showing the same probabilistic volcanic ashfall dataset, but using different verbal and visual variables (e.g., different colour schemes, data classifications, probabilistic formats). Following a short pilot study, these maps were used in an online survey of 110 stakeholders and scientists in New Zealand. Participants answered 30 open-ended and multiple choice questions about ashfall hazard based on the different maps. Results suggest that hazard map design can have a significant influence on the messages readers take away. For example, diverging colour schemes were associated with concepts of "risk" and decision-making more than sequential schemes, and participants made more precise estimates of hazard with isarithmic data classifications compared to binned or gradational shading. Based on such

  15. Hazard Analysis Database Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    GAULT, G.W.

    1999-10-13

    The Hazard Analysis Database was developed in conjunction with the hazard analysis activities conducted in accordance with DOE-STD-3009-94, Preparation Guide for US Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Safety Analysis Reports, for the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR). The FSAR is part of the approved TWRS Authorization Basis (AB). This document describes, identifies, and defines the contents and structure of the TWRS FSAR Hazard Analysis Database and documents the configuration control changes made to the database. The TWRS Hazard Analysis Database contains the collection of information generated during the initial hazard evaluations and the subsequent hazard and accident analysis activities. The database supports the preparation of Chapters 3,4, and 5 of the TWRS FSAR and the USQ process and consists of two major, interrelated data sets: (1) Hazard Evaluation Database--Data from the results of the hazard evaluations; and (2) Hazard Topography Database--Data from the system familiarization and hazard identification.

  16. A generic hazardous waste management training program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carter, R.J.; Karnofsky, B.

    1988-01-01

    The main purpose of this training program element is to familiarize personnel involved in hazardous waste management with the goals of RCRA and how they are to be achieved. These goals include: to protect health and the environment; to conserve valuable material and energy resources; to prohibit future open dumping on the land; to assure that hazardous waste management practices are conducted in a manner which protects human health and the environment; to insure that hazardous waste is properly managed thereby reducing the need for corrective actions in the future; to establish a national policy to reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous waste, wherever feasible. Another objective of this progam element is to present a brief overview of the RCRA regulations and how they are implemented/enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and each of the fifty states. This element also discusses where the RCRA regulations are published and how they are updated. In addition it details who is responsible for compliance with the regulations. Finally, this part of the training program provides an overview of the activities and materials that are regulated. 1 ref

  17. Sato Processes in Default Modeling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokholm, Thomas; Nicolato, Elisa

    -change of a homogeneous Levy process. While the processes in these two classes share the same average behavior over time, the associated intensities exhibit very different properties. Concrete specifications are calibrated to data on the single names included in the iTraxx Europe index. The performances are compared......In reduced form default models, the instantaneous default intensity is classically the modeling object. Survival probabilities are then given by the Laplace transform of the cumulative hazard defined as the integrated intensity process. Instead, recent literature has shown a tendency towards...... specifying the cumulative hazard process directly. Within this framework we present a new model class where cumulative hazards are described by self-similar additive processes, also known as Sato processes. Furthermore we also analyze specifications obtained via a simple deterministic time...

  18. Report 5: Guidance document. Implementation of biological infestation hazards in extended PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasnaoui, C.; Georgescu, G.; Joel, P.; Sperbeck, S.; Kollasko, H.; Kumar, M.

    2016-01-01

    This report covers the assessment of biological hazards with PSA. It provides an overview of the available data and available practices in modelling this type of hazard. First researches in the national and international literature regarding PSA for external and internal hazards shows that probabilistic analyses were very rarely carried out in order to quantify the risk induced by biological hazards. Nevertheless, Section 3 provides some data from some countries. History has shown that this hazard can happened and can be highly safety significant. Screening out this event must be done with great care. The overall analysis approach for Level 1 PSA for internal events can be used for the biological hazards with some care to take into impact the nature of the hazard as it impacts many systems at different times and duration. A proposed detailed methodology is described in Section 4. Still some open issues remain: the methodology must also consider event combination of biological infestation with other external hazards wind or flooding or rainfall and multi-units impact. These aspects present still a lot of challenges to PSA developers. The ASAMPSA-E report recommends that further emphasis shall be put on these two aspects of PSA modelling: multi-units site impact and hazards combinations. (authors)

  19. Hydrology Analysis and Modelling for Klang River Basin Flood Hazard Map

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidek, L. M.; Rostam, N. E.; Hidayah, B.; Roseli, ZA; Majid, W. H. A. W. A.; Zahari, N. Z.; Salleh, S. H. M.; Ahmad, R. D. R.; Ahmad, M. N.

    2016-03-01

    Flooding, a common environmental hazard worldwide has in recent times, increased as a result of climate change and urbanization with the effects felt more in developing countries. As a result, the explosive of flooding to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) substation is increased rapidly due to existing substations are located in flood prone area. By understanding the impact of flood to their substation, TNB has provided the non-structure mitigation with the integration of Flood Hazard Map with their substation. Hydrology analysis is the important part in providing runoff as the input for the hydraulic part.

  20. Designsafe-Ci a Cyberinfrastructure for Natural Hazard Simulation and Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, C.; Rathje, E.; Stanzione, D.; Padgett, J.; Pinelli, J. P.

    2017-12-01

    DesignSafe is the web-based research platform of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) network that provides the computational tools needed to manage and analyze critical data for natural hazards research, with wind and storm surge related hazards being a primary focus. One of the simulation tools under DesignSafe is the Advanced Circulation (ADCIRC) model, a coastal ocean model used in storm surge analysis. ADCIRC is an unstructured, finite element model with high resolution capabilities for studying storm surge impacts, and has long been used in storm surge hind-casting and forecasting. In this talk, we will demonstrate the use of ADCIRC within the DesignSafe platform and its use for forecasting Hurricane Harvey. We will also demonstrate how to analyze, visualize and archive critical storm surge related data within DesignSafe.

  1. Turbulence Hazard Metric Based on Peak Accelerations for Jetliner Passengers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Eric C.

    2005-01-01

    Calculations are made of the approximate hazard due to peak normal accelerations of an airplane flying through a simulated vertical wind field associated with a convective frontal system. The calculations are based on a hazard metric developed from a systematic application of a generic math model to 1-cosine discrete gusts of various amplitudes and gust lengths. The math model simulates the three degree-of- freedom longitudinal rigid body motion to vertical gusts and includes (1) fuselage flexibility, (2) the lag in the downwash from the wing to the tail, (3) gradual lift effects, (4) a simplified autopilot, and (5) motion of an unrestrained passenger in the rear cabin. Airplane and passenger response contours are calculated for a matrix of gust amplitudes and gust lengths. The airplane response contours are used to develop an approximate hazard metric of peak normal accelerations as a function of gust amplitude and gust length. The hazard metric is then applied to a two-dimensional simulated vertical wind field of a convective frontal system. The variations of the hazard metric with gust length and airplane heading are demonstrated.

  2. 2014 Update of the United States National Seismic Hazard Maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, M.D.; Mueller, C.S.; Haller, K.M.; Moschetti, M.; Harmsen, S.C.; Field, E.H.; Rukstales, K.S.; Zeng, Y.; Perkins, D.M.; Powers, P.; Rezaeian, S.; Luco, N.; Olsen, A.; Williams, R.

    2012-01-01

    The U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps are revised every six years, corresponding with the update cycle of the International Building Code. These maps cover the conterminous U.S. and will be updated in 2014 using the best-available science that is obtained from colleagues at regional and topical workshops, which are convened in 2012-2013. Maps for Alaska and Hawaii will be updated shortly following this update. Alternative seismic hazard models discussed at the workshops will be implemented in a logic tree framework and will be used to develop the seismic hazard maps and associated products. In this paper we describe the plan to update the hazard maps, the issues raised in workshops up to March 2012, and topics that will be discussed at future workshops. An advisory panel will guide the development of the hazard maps and ensure that the maps are acceptable to a broad segment of the science and engineering communities. These updated maps will then be considered by end-users for inclusion in building codes, risk models, and public policy documents.

  3. Seismic hazard analysis for Jayapura city, Papua

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robiana, R.; Cipta, A.

    2015-01-01

    Jayapura city had destructive earthquake which occurred on June 25, 1976 with the maximum intensity VII MMI scale. Probabilistic methods are used to determine the earthquake hazard by considering all possible earthquakes that can occur in this region. Earthquake source models using three types of source models are subduction model; comes from the New Guinea Trench subduction zone (North Papuan Thrust), fault models; derived from fault Yapen, TareraAiduna, Wamena, Memberamo, Waipago, Jayapura, and Jayawijaya, and 7 background models to accommodate unknown earthquakes. Amplification factor using geomorphological approaches are corrected by the measurement data. This data is related to rock type and depth of soft soil. Site class in Jayapura city can be grouped into classes B, C, D and E, with the amplification between 0.5 – 6. Hazard maps are presented with a 10% probability of earthquake occurrence within a period of 500 years for the dominant periods of 0.0, 0.2, and 1.0 seconds

  4. Seismic hazard analysis for Jayapura city, Papua

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robiana, R., E-mail: robiana-geo104@yahoo.com; Cipta, A. [Geological Agency, Diponegoro Road No.57, Bandung, 40122 (Indonesia)

    2015-04-24

    Jayapura city had destructive earthquake which occurred on June 25, 1976 with the maximum intensity VII MMI scale. Probabilistic methods are used to determine the earthquake hazard by considering all possible earthquakes that can occur in this region. Earthquake source models using three types of source models are subduction model; comes from the New Guinea Trench subduction zone (North Papuan Thrust), fault models; derived from fault Yapen, TareraAiduna, Wamena, Memberamo, Waipago, Jayapura, and Jayawijaya, and 7 background models to accommodate unknown earthquakes. Amplification factor using geomorphological approaches are corrected by the measurement data. This data is related to rock type and depth of soft soil. Site class in Jayapura city can be grouped into classes B, C, D and E, with the amplification between 0.5 – 6. Hazard maps are presented with a 10% probability of earthquake occurrence within a period of 500 years for the dominant periods of 0.0, 0.2, and 1.0 seconds.

  5. Tsunami hazard assessment in El Salvador, Central America, from seismic sources through flooding numerical models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Álvarez-Gómez, J. A.; Aniel-Quiroga, Í.; Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, O. Q.; Larreynaga, J.; González, M.; Castro, M.; Gavidia, F.; Aguirre-Ayerbe, I.; González-Riancho, P.; Carreño, E.

    2013-11-01

    El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America; its coast has an approximate length of 320 km, 29 municipalities and more than 700 000 inhabitants. In El Salvador there were 15 recorded tsunamis between 1859 and 2012, 3 of them causing damages and resulting in hundreds of victims. Hazard assessment is commonly based on propagation numerical models for earthquake-generated tsunamis and can be approached through both probabilistic and deterministic methods. A deterministic approximation has been applied in this study as it provides essential information for coastal planning and management. The objective of the research was twofold: on the one hand the characterization of the threat over the entire coast of El Salvador, and on the other the computation of flooding maps for the three main localities of the Salvadorian coast. For the latter we developed high-resolution flooding models. For the former, due to the extension of the coastal area, we computed maximum elevation maps, and from the elevation in the near shore we computed an estimation of the run-up and the flooded area using empirical relations. We have considered local sources located in the Middle America Trench, characterized seismotectonically, and distant sources in the rest of Pacific Basin, using historical and recent earthquakes and tsunamis. We used a hybrid finite differences-finite volumes numerical model in this work, based on the linear and non-linear shallow water equations, to simulate a total of 24 earthquake-generated tsunami scenarios. Our results show that at the western Salvadorian coast, run-up values higher than 5 m are common, while in the eastern area, approximately from La Libertad to the Gulf of Fonseca, the run-up values are lower. The more exposed areas to flooding are the lowlands in the Lempa River delta and the Barra de Santiago Western Plains. The results of the empirical approximation used for the whole country are similar to the results

  6. Handbook of hazardous waste management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metry, A.A.

    1980-01-01

    The contents of this work are arranged so as to give the reader a detailed understanding of the elements of hazardous waste management. Generalized management concepts are covered in Chapters 1 through 5 which are entitled: Introduction, Regulations Affecting Hazardous Waste Management, Comprehensive Hazardous Waste Management, Control of Hazardous Waste Transportation, and Emergency Hazardous Waste Management. Chapters 6 through 11 deal with treatment concepts and are entitled: General Considerations for Hazardous Waste Management Facilities, Physical Treatment of Hazardous Wastes, Chemical Treatment of Hazardous Wastes, Biological Treatment of Hazardous Wastes, Incineration of Hazardous Wastes, and Hazardous Waste Management of Selected Industries. Chapters 12 through 15 are devoted to ultimate disposal concepts and are entitled: Land Disposal Facilities, Ocean Dumping of Hazardous Wastes, Disposal of Extremely Hazardous Wastes, and Generalized Criteria for Hazardous Waste Management Facilities

  7. Assessment of liquefaction-induced hazards using Bayesian networks based on standard penetration test data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Xiao-Wei; Bai, Xu; Hu, Ji-Lei; Qiu, Jiang-Nan

    2018-05-01

    Liquefaction-induced hazards such as sand boils, ground cracks, settlement, and lateral spreading are responsible for considerable damage to engineering structures during major earthquakes. Presently, there is no effective empirical approach that can assess different liquefaction-induced hazards in one model. This is because of the uncertainties and complexity of the factors related to seismic liquefaction and liquefaction-induced hazards. In this study, Bayesian networks (BNs) are used to integrate multiple factors related to seismic liquefaction, sand boils, ground cracks, settlement, and lateral spreading into a model based on standard penetration test data. The constructed BN model can assess four different liquefaction-induced hazards together. In a case study, the BN method outperforms an artificial neural network and Ishihara and Yoshimine's simplified method in terms of accuracy, Brier score, recall, precision, and area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). This demonstrates that the BN method is a good alternative tool for the risk assessment of liquefaction-induced hazards. Furthermore, the performance of the BN model in estimating liquefaction-induced hazards in Japan's 2011 Tōhoku earthquake confirms its correctness and reliability compared with the liquefaction potential index approach. The proposed BN model can also predict whether the soil becomes liquefied after an earthquake and can deduce the chain reaction process of liquefaction-induced hazards and perform backward reasoning. The assessment results from the proposed model provide informative guidelines for decision-makers to detect the damage state of a field following liquefaction.

  8. The Herfa-Neurode hazardous waste repository in bedded salt as an operating model for safe mixed waste disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rempe, N.T.

    1991-01-01

    For 18 years, The Herfa-Neurode underground repository has demonstrated the environmentally sound disposal of hazardous waste in a former potash mine. Its principal characteristics make it an excellent analogue to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Environmental Protection Agency has ruled in its first conditional no-migration determination that is reasonably certain that no hazardous constituents of the mixed waste, destined for the WIPP during its test phase, will migrate from the site for up to ten years. Knowledge of and reference to the Herfa-Neurode operating model may substantially improve the no-migration variance petition for the WIPP's disposal phase and thereby expedite its approval. 2 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

  9. Urban Heat Wave Hazard Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quattrochi, D. A.; Jedlovec, G.; Crane, D. L.; Meyer, P. J.; LaFontaine, F.

    2016-12-01

    Heat waves are one of the largest causes of environmentally-related deaths globally and are likely to become more numerous as a result of climate change. The intensification of heat waves by the urban heat island effect and elevated humidity, combined with urban demographics, are key elements leading to these disasters. Better warning of the potential hazards may help lower risks associated with heat waves. Moderate resolution thermal data from NASA satellites is used to derive high spatial resolution estimates of apparent temperature (heat index) over urban regions. These data, combined with demographic data, are used to produce a daily heat hazard/risk map for selected cities. MODIS data are used to derive daily composite maximum and minimum land surface temperature (LST) fields to represent the amplitude of the diurnal temperature cycle and identify extreme heat days. Compositing routines are used to generate representative daily maximum and minimum LSTs for the urban environment. The limited effect of relative humidity on the apparent temperature (typically 10-15%) allows for the use of modeled moisture fields to convert LST to apparent temperature without loss of spatial variability. The daily max/min apparent temperature fields are used to identify abnormally extreme heat days relative to climatological values in order to produce a heat wave hazard map. Reference to climatological values normalizes the hazard for a particular region (e.g., the impact of an extreme heat day). A heat wave hazard map has been produced for several case study periods and then computed on a quasi-operational basis during the summer of 2016 for Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, and Huntsville, AL. A hazard does not become a risk until someone or something is exposed to that hazard at a level that might do harm. Demographic information is used to assess the urban risk associated with the heat wave hazard. Collectively, the heat wave hazard product can warn people in urban

  10. Generalized Additive Models for Nowcasting Cloud Shading

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Brabec, Marek; Paulescu, M.; Badescu, V.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 101, March (2014), s. 272-282 ISSN 0038-092X R&D Projects: GA MŠk LD12009 Grant - others:European Cooperation in Science and Technology(XE) COST ES1002 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : sunshine number * nowcasting * generalized additive model * Markov chain Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 3.469, year: 2014

  11. Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 2: Tools for assessing climate change-driven coastal hazards and socio-economic impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erikson, Li; Barnard, Patrick; O'Neill, Andrea; Wood, Nathan J.; Jones, Jeanne M.; Finzi Hart, Juliette; Vitousek, Sean; Limber, Patrick; Hayden, Maya; Fitzgibbon, Michael; Lovering, Jessica; Foxgrover, Amy C.

    2018-01-01

    This paper is the second of two that describes the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) approach for quantifying physical hazards and socio-economic hazard exposure in coastal zones affected by sea-level rise and changing coastal storms. The modelling approach, presented in Part 1, downscales atmospheric global-scale projections to local scale coastal flood impacts by deterministically computing the combined hazards of sea-level rise, waves, storm surges, astronomic tides, fluvial discharges, and changes in shoreline positions. The method is demonstrated through an application to Southern California, United States, where the shoreline is a mix of bluffs, beaches, highly managed coastal communities, and infrastructure of high economic value. Results show that inclusion of 100-year projected coastal storms will increase flooding by 9–350% (an additional average 53.0 ± 16.0 km2) in addition to a 25–500 cm sea-level rise. The greater flooding extents translate to a 55–110% increase in residential impact and a 40–90% increase in building replacement costs. To communicate hazards and ranges in socio-economic exposures to these hazards, a set of tools were collaboratively designed and tested with stakeholders and policy makers; these tools consist of two web-based mapping and analytic applications as well as virtual reality visualizations. To reach a larger audience and enhance usability of the data, outreach and engagement included workshop-style trainings for targeted end-users and innovative applications of the virtual reality visualizations.

  12. Sustainable regional development and natural hazard impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrova, Elena; Svetlosanov, Vladimir; Kudin, Valery

    2016-04-01

    During the last decades, natural hazard impacts on social and economic development in many countries were increasing due to the expansion of human activities into the areas prone to natural risks as well as to increasing in number and severity of natural hazardous events caused by climate changes and other natural phenomena. The escalation of severe disasters (such as Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan 2011) triggered by natural hazards and related natural-technological and environmental events is increasingly threatening sustainable development at different levels from regional to global scale. In our study, we develop a model of ecological, economic and social sustainable development for the European part of Russia and the Republic of Belarus. The model consists of six blocks including 1) population, 2) environment, 3) mineral resources, 4) geographic space, 5) investments, and 6) food production and import. These blocks were created based on the analysis of the main processes at the regional level; all the blocks are closely interrelated between each other. Reaching the limit values of block parameters corresponds to a sharp deterioration of the system; as a result, the system can lose its stability. Aggravation of natural and natural-technological risk impacts on each block and should be taken into account in the model of regional development. Natural hazards can cause both strong influences and small but permanent perturbations. In both cases, a system can become unstable. The criterion for sustainable development is proposed. The Russian Foundation for Humanities and Belorussian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research supported the study (project 15-22-01008).

  13. Process chain modeling and selection in an additive manufacturing context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thompson, Mary Kathryn; Stolfi, Alessandro; Mischkot, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces a new two-dimensional approach to modeling manufacturing process chains. This approach is used to consider the role of additive manufacturing technologies in process chains for a part with micro scale features and no internal geometry. It is shown that additive manufacturing...... evolving fields like additive manufacturing....

  14. Flood Hazard Mapping by Using Geographic Information System and Hydraulic Model: Mert River, Samsun, Turkey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vahdettin Demir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, flood hazard maps were prepared for the Mert River Basin, Samsun, Turkey, by using GIS and Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS. In this river basin, human life losses and a significant amount of property damages were experienced in 2012 flood. The preparation of flood risk maps employed in the study includes the following steps: (1 digitization of topographical data and preparation of digital elevation model using ArcGIS, (2 simulation of flood lows of different return periods using a hydraulic model (HEC-RAS, and (3 preparation of flood risk maps by integrating the results of (1 and (2.

  15. The functional dependence of the total hazard from an air pollution incidence on the environmental parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skibin, D.

    1980-01-01

    A general case of release to the atmosphere of a pollutant is considered. In hazards evaluation the processes involved are usually estimated conservatively so as to maximize the computed doses. The present work helps to identify the worst cases. In addition, a model of the total dose is presented and its variations are studied as a function of wind speed, deposition velocity and source height. The value of each parameter giving the highest total dose as a function of the model's parameters is determined. (H.K.)

  16. Design and construction of hazardous waste landfill components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frano, A.J.; Numes, G.S.

    1985-01-01

    This paper discusses design and construction of two sections of a hazardous waste landfill at Peoria Disposal Company's hazardous waste management facilities in central Illinois. One section, an existing disposal facility, was retrofitted with leachate control and containment features for additional security. The second section, a new facility which had been previously permitted for development with a single clay liner, was modified to include a double liner and revised leachate collection system for additional security, and an all-weather construction and operation access ramp. The two sections of the landfill were granted a development permit allowing construction. An operating permit was granted after construction and certification by the designer allowing waste disposal operations. The sections will be accepting waste material at publication. Design and construction included: planning studies, design analyses, permitting, preparation of construction contract documents, construction assistance, monitoring construction, and certification

  17. An OSHA based approach to safety analysis for nonradiological hazardous materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yurconic, M.

    1992-08-01

    The PNL method for chemical hazard classification defines major hazards by means of a list of hazardous substances (or chemical groups) with associated trigger quantities. In addition, the functional characteristics of the facility being classified is also be factored into the classification. In this way, installations defined as major hazard will only be those which have the potential for causing very serious incidents both on and off site. Because of the diversity of operations involving chemicals, it may not be possible to restrict major hazard facilities to certain types of operations. However, this hazard classification method recognizes that in the industrial sector major hazards are most commonly associated with activities involving very large quantities of chemicals and inherently energetic processes. These include operations like petrochemical plants, chemical production, LPG storage, explosives manufacturing, and facilities which use chlorine, ammonia, or other highly toxic gases in bulk quantities. The basis for this methodology is derived from concepts used by OSHA in its proposed chemical process safety standard, the Dow Fire and Explosion Index Hazard Classification Guide, and the International Labor Office's program on chemical safety. For the purpose of identifying major hazard facilities, this method uses two sorting criteria, (1) facility function and processes and (2) quantity of substances to identify facilities requiringclassification. Then, a measure of chemical energy potential (material factor) is used to identify high hazard class facilities

  18. Advanced Materials Laboratory hazards assessment document

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnett, B.; Banda, Z.

    1995-10-01

    The Department of Energy Order 55OO.3A requires facility-specific hazards assessments be prepared, maintained, and used for emergency planning purposes. This hazards assessment document describes the chemical and radiological hazards associated with the AML. The entire inventory was screened according to the potential airborne impact to onsite and offsite individuals. The air dispersion model, ALOHA, estimated pollutant concentrations downwind from the source of a release, taking into consideration the toxicological and physical characteristics of the release site, the atmospheric conditions, and the circumstances of the release. The greatest distance at which a postulated facility event will produce consequences exceeding the Early Severe Health Effects threshold is 23 meters. The highest emergency classification is a General Emergency. The Emergency Planning Zone is a nominal area that conforms to DOE boundaries and physical/jurisdictional boundaries such as fence lines and streets.

  19. Egyptian Environmental Activities and Regulations for Management of Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Zarka, M.

    1999-01-01

    A substantial use of hazardous substances is essential to meet the social and economic goals of the community in Egypt. Agrochemicals are being used extensively to increase crop yield. The outdated agrochemicals and their empty containers represent a serious environmental problem. Industrial development in different sectors in Egypt obligates handling of huge amounts of hazardous substances and hazardous wastes. The inappropriate handling of such hazardous substances creates several health and environmental problems. Egypt faces many challenges to control safe handling of such substances and wastes. Several regulations are governing handling of hazardous substances in Egypt. The unified Environmental Law 4 for the year 1994 includes a full chapter on the Management of Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Wastes. National and international activities have been taken to manage hazardous substances and hazardous wastes in an environmental sound manner

  20. Regulating the disposal of cigarette butts as toxic hazardous waste.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, Richard L

    2011-05-01

    The trillions of cigarette butts generated each year throughout the world pose a significant challenge for disposal regulations, primarily because there are millions of points of disposal, along with the necessity to segregate, collect and dispose of the butts in a safe manner, and cigarette butts are toxic, hazardous waste. There are some hazardous waste laws, such as those covering used tyres and automobile batteries, in which the retailer is responsible for the proper disposal of the waste, but most post-consumer waste disposal is the responsibility of the consumer. Concepts such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) are being used for some post-consumer waste to pass the responsibility and cost for recycling or disposal to the manufacturer of the product. In total, 32 states in the US have passed EPR laws covering auto switches, batteries, carpet, cell phones, electronics, fluorescent lighting, mercury thermostats, paint and pesticide containers, and these could be models for cigarette waste legislation. A broader concept of producer stewardship includes EPR, but adds the consumer and the retailer into the regulation. The State of Maine considered a comprehensive product stewardship law in 2010 that is a much better model than EPR. By using either EPR or the Maine model, the tobacco industry will be required to cover the cost of collecting and disposing of cigarette butt waste. Additional requirements included in the Maine model are needed for consumers and businesses to complete the network that will be necessary to maximise the segregation and collection of cigarette butts to protect the environment.

  1. Genomic breeding value estimation using nonparametric additive regression models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Solberg Trygve

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Genomic selection refers to the use of genomewide dense markers for breeding value estimation and subsequently for selection. The main challenge of genomic breeding value estimation is the estimation of many effects from a limited number of observations. Bayesian methods have been proposed to successfully cope with these challenges. As an alternative class of models, non- and semiparametric models were recently introduced. The present study investigated the ability of nonparametric additive regression models to predict genomic breeding values. The genotypes were modelled for each marker or pair of flanking markers (i.e. the predictors separately. The nonparametric functions for the predictors were estimated simultaneously using additive model theory, applying a binomial kernel. The optimal degree of smoothing was determined by bootstrapping. A mutation-drift-balance simulation was carried out. The breeding values of the last generation (genotyped was predicted using data from the next last generation (genotyped and phenotyped. The results show moderate to high accuracies of the predicted breeding values. A determination of predictor specific degree of smoothing increased the accuracy.

  2. Methodology Using MELCOR Code to Model Proposed Hazard Scenario

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gavin Hawkley

    2010-07-01

    This study demonstrates a methodology for using the MELCOR code to model a proposed hazard scenario within a building containing radioactive powder, and the subsequent evaluation of a leak path factor (LPF) (or the amount of respirable material which that escapes a facility into the outside environment), implicit in the scenario. This LPF evaluation will analyzes the basis and applicability of an assumed standard multiplication of 0.5 × 0.5 (in which 0.5 represents the amount of material assumed to leave one area and enter another), for calculating an LPF value. The outside release is dependsent upon the ventilation/filtration system, both filtered and un-filtered, and from other pathways from the building, such as doorways (, both open and closed). This study is presents ed to show how the multiple leak path factorsLPFs from the interior building can be evaluated in a combinatory process in which a total leak path factorLPF is calculated, thus addressing the assumed multiplication, and allowing for the designation and assessment of a respirable source term (ST) for later consequence analysis, in which: the propagation of material released into the environmental atmosphere can be modeled and the dose received by a receptor placed downwind can be estimated and the distance adjusted to maintains such exposures as low as reasonably achievableALARA.. Also, this study will briefly addresses particle characteristics thatwhich affect atmospheric particle dispersion, and compares this dispersion with leak path factorLPF methodology.

  3. Hazard classification methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brereton, S.J.

    1996-01-01

    This document outlines the hazard classification methodology used to determine the hazard classification of the NIF LTAB, OAB, and the support facilities on the basis of radionuclides and chemicals. The hazard classification determines the safety analysis requirements for a facility

  4. Tsunami Hazard Analysis for the Eastern Mediterranean and its Connected Seas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Necmioglu, Ocal; Meral Ozel, Nurcan

    2015-04-01

    Accurate earthquake source parameters are essential for any tsunami hazard assessment and mitigation, including early warning systems. Complex tectonic setting makes the a priori accurate assumptions of earthquake source parameters difficult and characterization of the faulting type is a challenge. Information on tsunamigenic sources is of crucial importance in the Eastern Mediterranean and its Connected Seas, especially considering the short arrival times and lack of offshore sea-level measurements. In addition, the scientific community have had to abandon the paradigm of a ''maximum earthquake'' predictable from simple tectonic parameters (Ruff and Kanamori, 1980) in the wake of the 2004 Sumatra event (Okal, 2010) and one of the lessons learnt from the 2011 Tohoku event was that tsunami hazard maps may need to be prepared for infrequent gigantic earthquakes as well as more frequent smaller-sized earthquakes (Satake, 2011). We have initiated an extensive modeling study to perform a deterministic Tsunami Hazard Analysis for the Eastern Mediterranean and its Connected Seas. Characteristic earthquake source parameters (strike, dip, rake, depth, Mwmax) at each 0.5° x 0.5° size bin for 0-40 km depth (total of 310 bins) and for 40-100 km depth (total of 92 bins) in the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea region (30°N-48°N and 22°E-44°E) have been assigned from the harmonization of the available databases and previous studies. These parameters have been used as input parameters for the deterministic tsunami hazard modeling. Nested Tsunami simulations of 6h duration with a coarse (2 arc-min) grid resolution have been simulated at EC-JRC premises for Black Sea and Eastern and Central Mediterranean (30°N-41.5°N and 8°E-37°E) for each source defined using shallow water finite-difference SWAN code (Mader, 2004) for the magnitude range of 6.5 - Mwmax defined for that bin with a Mw increment of 0.1. Results show that not only the earthquakes resembling the

  5. Numerical investigation of debris materials prior to debris flow hazards using satellite images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, N.; Matsushima, T.

    2018-05-01

    The volume of debris flows occurred in mountainous areas is mainly affected by the volume of debris materials deposited at the valley bottom. Quantitative evaluation of debris materials prior to debris flow hazards is important to predict and prevent hazards. At midnight on 7th August 2010, two catastrophic debris flows were triggered by the torrential rain from two valleys in the northern part of Zhouqu City, NW China, resulting in 1765 fatalities and huge economic losses. In the present study, a depth-integrated particle method is adopted to simulate the debris materials, based on 2.5 m resolution satellite images. In the simulation scheme, the materials are modeled as dry granular solids, and they travel down from the slopes and are deposited at the valley bottom. The spatial distributions of the debris materials are investigated in terms of location, volume and thickness. Simulation results show good agreement with post-disaster satellite images and field observation data. Additionally, the effect of the spatial distributions of the debris materials on subsequent debris flows is also evaluated. It is found that the spatial distributions of the debris materials strongly influence affected area, runout distance and flow discharge. This study might be useful in hazard assessments prior to debris flow hazards by investigating diverse scenarios in which the debris materials are unknown.

  6. Application of systems and control theory-based hazard analysis to radiation oncology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pawlicki, Todd; Samost, Aubrey; Brown, Derek W; Manger, Ryan P; Kim, Gwe-Ya; Leveson, Nancy G

    2016-03-01

    Both humans and software are notoriously challenging to account for in traditional hazard analysis models. The purpose of this work is to investigate and demonstrate the application of a new, extended accident causality model, called systems theoretic accident model and processes (STAMP), to radiation oncology. Specifically, a hazard analysis technique based on STAMP, system-theoretic process analysis (STPA), is used to perform a hazard analysis. The STPA procedure starts with the definition of high-level accidents for radiation oncology at the medical center and the hazards leading to those accidents. From there, the hierarchical safety control structure of the radiation oncology clinic is modeled, i.e., the controls that are used to prevent accidents and provide effective treatment. Using STPA, unsafe control actions (behaviors) are identified that can lead to the hazards as well as causal scenarios that can lead to the identified unsafe control. This information can be used to eliminate or mitigate potential hazards. The STPA procedure is demonstrated on a new online adaptive cranial radiosurgery procedure that omits the CT simulation step and uses CBCT for localization, planning, and surface imaging system during treatment. The STPA procedure generated a comprehensive set of causal scenarios that are traced back to system hazards and accidents. Ten control loops were created for the new SRS procedure, which covered the areas of hospital and department management, treatment design and delivery, and vendor service. Eighty three unsafe control actions were identified as well as 472 causal scenarios that could lead to those unsafe control actions. STPA provides a method for understanding the role of management decisions and hospital operations on system safety and generating process design requirements to prevent hazards and accidents. The interaction of people, hardware, and software is highlighted. The method of STPA produces results that can be used to improve

  7. Reducing aquatic hazards of industrial chemicals: probabilistic assessment of sustainable molecular design guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connors, Kristin A; Voutchkova-Kostal, Adelina M; Kostal, Jakub; Anastas, Paul; Zimmerman, Julie B; Brooks, Bryan W

    2014-08-01

    Basic toxicological information is lacking for the majority of industrial chemicals. In addition to increasing empirical toxicity data through additional testing, prospective computational approaches to drug development aim to serve as a rational basis for the design of chemicals with reduced toxicity. Recent work has resulted in the derivation of a "rule of 2," wherein chemicals with an octanol-water partition coefficient (log P) less than 2 and a difference between the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital and the highest occupied molecular orbital (ΔE) greater than 9 (log P9 eV) are predicted to be 4 to 5 times less likely to elicit acute or chronic toxicity to model aquatic organisms. The present study examines potential reduction of aquatic toxicity hazards from industrial chemicals if these 2 molecular design guidelines were employed. Probabilistic hazard assessment approaches were used to model the likelihood of encountering industrial chemicals exceeding toxicological categories of concern both with and without the rule of 2. Modeling predicted that utilization of these molecular design guidelines for log P and ΔE would appreciably decrease the number of chemicals that would be designated to be of "high" and "very high" concern for acute and chronic toxicity to standard model aquatic organisms and end points as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency. For example, 14.5% of chemicals were categorized as having high and very high acute toxicity to the fathead minnow model, whereas only 3.3% of chemicals conforming to the design guidelines were predicted to be in these categories. Considerations of specific chemical classes (e.g., aldehydes), chemical attributes (e.g., ionization), and adverse outcome pathways in representative species (e.g., receptor-mediated responses) could be used to derive future property guidelines for broader classes of contaminants. © 2014 SETAC.

  8. Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of Natural External Hazards Including Earthquakes. Workshop Proceedings, Prague, Czech Republic, 17-20 June 2013

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-01-01

    external hazards, including combinations of those hazards, and their impacts. It is important that such an analysis covers not only individual plant units, but also the site as a whole, including all dependent effects and impacts. - While systematic approaches for addressing external hazards in PSA currently exist and there is a well-developed state-of-practice (e.g., with respect to external flooding, seismic, high winds), additional work is needed; for example, the use of conservative approaches to address uncertainties might be practical, but more realistic evaluations provide better view on the real problems. - Some methods and guides are available for seismic hazard determination, identification of external hazards, screening of external events for detailed consequence analysis, including several lists of screening criteria. However, additional development is also needed in area of consensus standards and guides; for example IAEA continues developing the methodological support for external hazards analysis. - The major areas of concern in external hazards studies are: 1. Scope of the PSA for external events in terms of plant operation regimes (e.g., full power, low power and shutdown operational states), 2. Combinations of external hazards impacts, 3. Multi-unit impacts, and 4. Screening procedure for site specific hazards. - The following are significance technical/methodological challenges for external hazard PSA: 1) Fragility analysis of non-seismic external hazards, 2) Correlation effects and consequent damage scenarios, 3) Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) for external events PSA, 4) PSA mission times for long-term external event scenarios, and 5) Significance and magnitude of the effects of climate changes on the hazard frequencies and magnitudes. - The following aspects are considered to be important good practice attributes for external hazard modeling in PRA: 1) Critically challenging assumptions, 2) Calibrating models, 3) Accounting for underlying physical

  9. Landslide hazard mapping with selected dominant factors: A study case of Penang Island, Malaysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tay, Lea Tien; Alkhasawneh, Mutasem Sh.; Ngah, Umi Kalthum; Lateh, Habibah

    2015-01-01

    Landslide is one of the destructive natural geohazards in Malaysia. In addition to rainfall as triggering factos for landslide in Malaysia, topographical and geological factors play important role in the landslide susceptibility analysis. Conventional topographic factors such as elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, plan curvature and profile curvature have been considered as landslide causative factors in many research works. However, other topographic factors such as diagonal length, surface area, surface roughness and rugosity have not been considered, especially for the research work in landslide hazard analysis in Malaysia. This paper presents landslide hazard mapping using Frequency Ratio (FR) and the study area is Penang Island of Malaysia. Frequency ratio approach is a variant of probabilistic method that is based on the observed relationships between the distribution of landslides and each landslide-causative factor. Landslide hazard map of Penang Island is produced by considering twenty-two (22) landslide causative factors. Among these twenty-two (22) factors, fourteen (14) factors are topographic factors. They are elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, general curvature, tangential curvature, longitudinal curvature, cross section curvature, total curvature, diagonal length, surface area, surface roughness and rugosity. These topographic factors are extracted from the digital elevation model of Penang Island. The other eight (8) non-topographic factors considered are land cover, vegetation cover, distance from road, distance from stream, distance from fault line, geology, soil texture and rainfall precipitation. After considering all twenty-two factors for landslide hazard mapping, the analysis is repeated with fourteen dominant factors which are selected from the twenty-two factors. Landslide hazard map was segregated into four categories of risks, i.e. Highly hazardous area, Hazardous area, Moderately hazardous area

  10. Landslide hazard mapping with selected dominant factors: A study case of Penang Island, Malaysia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tay, Lea Tien; Alkhasawneh, Mutasem Sh.; Ngah, Umi Kalthum [School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang (Malaysia); Lateh, Habibah [School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11600 Penang (Malaysia)

    2015-05-15

    Landslide is one of the destructive natural geohazards in Malaysia. In addition to rainfall as triggering factos for landslide in Malaysia, topographical and geological factors play important role in the landslide susceptibility analysis. Conventional topographic factors such as elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, plan curvature and profile curvature have been considered as landslide causative factors in many research works. However, other topographic factors such as diagonal length, surface area, surface roughness and rugosity have not been considered, especially for the research work in landslide hazard analysis in Malaysia. This paper presents landslide hazard mapping using Frequency Ratio (FR) and the study area is Penang Island of Malaysia. Frequency ratio approach is a variant of probabilistic method that is based on the observed relationships between the distribution of landslides and each landslide-causative factor. Landslide hazard map of Penang Island is produced by considering twenty-two (22) landslide causative factors. Among these twenty-two (22) factors, fourteen (14) factors are topographic factors. They are elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, general curvature, tangential curvature, longitudinal curvature, cross section curvature, total curvature, diagonal length, surface area, surface roughness and rugosity. These topographic factors are extracted from the digital elevation model of Penang Island. The other eight (8) non-topographic factors considered are land cover, vegetation cover, distance from road, distance from stream, distance from fault line, geology, soil texture and rainfall precipitation. After considering all twenty-two factors for landslide hazard mapping, the analysis is repeated with fourteen dominant factors which are selected from the twenty-two factors. Landslide hazard map was segregated into four categories of risks, i.e. Highly hazardous area, Hazardous area, Moderately hazardous area

  11. Modelling Inland Flood Events for Hazard Maps in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, S.; Nzerem, K.; Sassi, M.; Hilberts, A.; Assteerawatt, A.; Tillmanns, S.; Mathur, P.; Mitas, C.; Rafique, F.

    2015-12-01

    Taiwan experiences significant inland flooding, driven by torrential rainfall from plum rain storms and typhoons during summer and fall. From last 13 to 16 years data, 3,000 buildings were damaged by such floods annually with a loss US$0.41 billion (Water Resources Agency). This long, narrow island nation with mostly hilly/mountainous topography is located at tropical-subtropical zone with annual average typhoon-hit-frequency of 3-4 (Central Weather Bureau) and annual average precipitation of 2502mm (WRA) - 2.5 times of the world's average. Spatial and temporal distributions of countrywide precipitation are uneven, with very high local extreme rainfall intensities. Annual average precipitation is 3000-5000mm in the mountainous regions, 78% of it falls in May-October, and the 1-hour to 3-day maximum rainfall are about 85 to 93% of the world records (WRA). Rivers in Taiwan are short with small upstream areas and high runoff coefficients of watersheds. These rivers have the steepest slopes, the shortest response time with rapid flows, and the largest peak flows as well as specific flood peak discharge (WRA) in the world. RMS has recently developed a countrywide inland flood model for Taiwan, producing hazard return period maps at 1arcsec grid resolution. These can be the basis for evaluating and managing flood risk, its economic impacts, and insured flood losses. The model is initiated with sub-daily historical meteorological forcings and calibrated to daily discharge observations at about 50 river gauges over the period 2003-2013. Simulations of hydrologic processes, via rainfall-runoff and routing models, are subsequently performed based on a 10000 year set of stochastic forcing. The rainfall-runoff model is physically based continuous, semi-distributed model for catchment hydrology. The 1-D wave propagation hydraulic model considers catchment runoff in routing and describes large-scale transport processes along the river. It also accounts for reservoir storage

  12. Evaluation of model-predicted hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) near a mid-sized U.S. airport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vennam, Lakshmi Pradeepa; Vizuete, William; Arunachalam, Saravanan

    2015-10-01

    Accurate modeling of aircraft-emitted pollutants in the vicinity of airports is essential to study the impact on local air quality and to answer policy and health-impact related issues. To quantify air quality impacts of airport-related hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), we carried out a fine-scale (4 × 4 km horizontal resolution) Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ) model simulation at the T.F. Green airport in Providence (PVD), Rhode Island. We considered temporally and spatially resolved aircraft emissions from the new Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). These model predictions were then evaluated with observations from a field campaign focused on assessing HAPs near the PVD airport. The annual normalized mean error (NME) was in the range of 36-70% normalized mean error for all HAPs except for acrolein (>70%). The addition of highly resolved aircraft emissions showed only marginally incremental improvements in performance (1-2% decrease in NME) of some HAPs (formaldehyde, xylene). When compared to a coarser 36 × 36 km grid resolution, the 4 × 4 km grid resolution did improve performance by up to 5-20% NME for formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. The change in power setting (from traditional International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 7% to observation studies based 4%) doubled the aircraft idling emissions of HAPs, but led to only a 2% decrease in NME. Overall modeled aircraft-attributable contributions are in the range of 0.5-28% near a mid-sized airport grid-cell with maximum impacts seen only within 4-16 km from the airport grid-cell. Comparison of CMAQ predictions with HAP estimates from EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) did show similar annual mean concentrations and equally poor performance. Current estimates of HAPs for PVD are a challenge for modeling systems and refinements in our ability to simulate aircraft emissions have made only incremental improvements. Even with unrealistic increases in HAPs aviation emissions the model

  13. Assessing Natural Hazard Vulnerability Through Marmara Region Using GIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabuncu, A.; Garagon Dogru, A.; Ozener, H.

    2013-12-01

    Natural hazards are natural phenomenon occured in the Earth's system that include geological and meteorological events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, droughts, fires and tsunamis. The metropolitan cities are vulnerable to natural hazards due to their population densities, industrial facilities and proporties. The urban layout of the megacities are complex since industrial facilities are interference with residential area. The Marmara region is placed in North-western Turkey suffered from natural hazards (earthquakes, floods etc.) for years. After 1999 Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes and 2009 Istanbul flash floods, dramatic number of casualities and economic losses were reported by the authorities. Geographic information systems (GIS) have substantial capacity in order to develop natural disaster management. As these systems provide more efficient and reliable analysis and evaluation of the data in the management, and also convenient and better solutions for the decision making before during and after the natural hazards. The Earth science data and socio-economic data can be integrated into a GIS as different layers. Additionally, satellite data are used to understand the changes pre and post the natural hazards. GIS is a powerful software for the combination of different type of digital data. A natural hazard database for the Marmara region provides all different types of digital data to the users. All proper data collection processing and analysing are critical to evaluate and identify hazards. The natural hazard database allows users to monitor, analyze and query past and recent disasters in the Marmara Region. The long term aim of this study is to develop geodatabase and identify the natural hazard vulnerabilities of the metropolitan cities.

  14. A geography of moral hazard: sources and sinks of motor-vehicle commuting externalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yiannakoulias, Niko; Bland, Widmer; Scott, Darren M

    2014-09-01

    Motor-vehicles are responsible for harms to health that are not directly experienced by individual drivers - such as air pollution and risk of injury to pedestrians. In addition to their direct effects on health, these harms also represent a moral hazard since drivers are not required to consider their effects as part of their decision to drive. We describe an approach for estimating sources of motor-vehicle commuter externalities as a means of understanding the geography of moral hazard, and in particular, the spatial displacement of negative health externalities associated with motor-vehicle commuting. This approach models motor-vehicle commuter traffic flow by trip origin for small geographic areas within the City of Toronto, Ontario. We find that most health-related externalities associated with motor-vehicle commuters are not locally generated, with a large share coming from outside Toronto. Low income is associated with externalities originating outside the municipal boundary, but not with locally sourced externalities. We discuss the impact of geographical moral hazard on the agency of citizens as well as policy options aimed at addressing motor-vehicle externalities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Hazards analysis of TNX Large Melter-Off-Gas System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Randall, C.T.

    1982-03-01

    Analysis of the potential safety hazards and an evaluation of the engineered safety features and administrative controls indicate that the LMOG System can be operated without undue hazard to employees or the public, or damage to equipment. The safety features provided in the facility design coupled with the planned procedural and administrative controls make the occurrence of serious accidents very improbable. A set of recommendations evolved during this analysis that was judged potentially capable of further reducing the probability of personnel injury or further mitigating the consequences of potential accidents. These recommendations concerned areas such as formic acid vapor hazards, hazard of feeding water to the melter at an uncontrolled rate, prevention of uncontrolled glass pours due to melter pressure excursions and additional interlocks. These specific suggestions were reviewed with operational and technical personnel and are being incorporated into the process. The safeguards provided by these recommendations are discussed in this report

  16. Reliability of lifeline networks under seismic hazard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Selcuk, A. Sevtap; Yuecemen, M. Semih

    1999-01-01

    Lifelines, such as pipelines, transportation, communication and power transmission systems, are networks which extend spatially over large geographical regions. The quantification of the reliability (survival probability) of a lifeline under seismic threat requires attention, as the proper functioning of these systems during or after a destructive earthquake is vital. In this study, a lifeline is idealized as an equivalent network with the capacity of its elements being random and spatially correlated and a comprehensive probabilistic model for the assessment of the reliability of lifelines under earthquake loads is developed. The seismic hazard that the network is exposed to is described by a probability distribution derived by using the past earthquake occurrence data. The seismic hazard analysis is based on the 'classical' seismic hazard analysis model with some modifications. An efficient algorithm developed by Yoo and Deo (Yoo YB, Deo N. A comparison of algorithms for terminal pair reliability. IEEE Transactions on Reliability 1988; 37: 210-215) is utilized for the evaluation of the network reliability. This algorithm eliminates the CPU time and memory capacity problems for large networks. A comprehensive computer program, called LIFEPACK is coded in Fortran language in order to carry out the numerical computations. Two detailed case studies are presented to show the implementation of the proposed model

  17. Hazardous and toxic waste management in Botswana: practices and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mmereki, Daniel; Li, Baizhan; Meng, Liu

    2014-12-01

    Hazardous and toxic waste is a complex waste category because of its inherent chemical and physical characteristics. It demands for environmentally sound technologies and know-how as well as clean technologies that simultaneously manage and dispose it in an environmentally friendly way. Nevertheless, Botswana lacks a system covering all the critical steps from importation to final disposal or processing of hazardous and toxic waste owing to limited follow-up of the sources and types of hazardous and toxic waste, lack of modern and specialised treatment/disposal facilities, technical know-how, technically skilled manpower, funds and capabilities of local institutions to take lead in waste management. Therefore, because of a lack of an integrated system, there are challenges such as lack of cooperation among all the stakeholders about the safe management of hazardous and toxic waste. Furthermore, Botswana does not have a systematic regulatory framework regarding monitoring and hazardous and toxic waste management. In addition to the absence of a systematic regulatory framework, inadequate public awareness and dissemination of information about hazardous and toxic waste management, slower progress to phase-out persistent and bio-accumulative waste, and lack of reliable and accurate information on hazardous and toxic waste generation, sources and composition have caused critical challenges to effective hazardous and toxic waste management. It is, therefore, important to examine the status of hazardous and toxic waste as a waste stream in Botswana. By default; this mini-review article presents an overview of the current status of hazardous and toxic waste management and introduces the main challenges in hazardous and toxic waste management. Moreover, the article proposes the best applicable strategies to achieve effective hazardous and toxic waste management in the future. © The Author(s) 2014.

  18. Generalized additive model of air pollution to daily mortality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, J.; Yang, H.E.

    2005-01-01

    The association of air pollution with daily mortality due to cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and old age (65 or older) in Seoul, Korea was investigated in 1999 using daily values of TSP, PM10, O 3 , SO 2 , NO 2 , and CO. Generalized additive Poisson models were applied to allow for the highly flexible fitting of daily trends in air pollution as well as nonlinear association with meteorological variables such as temperature, humidity, and wind speed. To estimate the effect of air pollution and weather on mortality, LOESS smoothing was used in generalized additive models. The findings suggest that air pollution levels affect significantly the daily mortality. (orig.)

  19. Doubly stochastic models for volcanic hazard assessment at Campi Flegrei caldera

    CERN Document Server

    Bevilacqua, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    This study provides innovative mathematical models for assessing the eruption probability and associated volcanic hazards, and applies them to the Campi Flegrei caldera in Italy. Throughout the book, significant attention is devoted to quantifying the sources of uncertainty affecting the forecast estimates. The Campi Flegrei caldera is certainly one of the world’s highest-risk volcanoes, with more than 70 eruptions over the last 15,000 years, prevalently explosive ones of varying magnitude, intensity and vent location. In the second half of the twentieth century the volcano apparently once again entered a phase of unrest that continues to the present. Hundreds of thousands of people live inside the caldera and over a million more in the nearby city of Naples, making a future eruption of Campi Flegrei an event with potentially catastrophic consequences at the national and European levels.

  20. Single-Index Additive Vector Autoregressive Time Series Models

    KAUST Repository

    LI, YEHUA; GENTON, MARC G.

    2009-01-01

    We study a new class of nonlinear autoregressive models for vector time series, where the current vector depends on single-indexes defined on the past lags and the effects of different lags have an additive form. A sufficient condition is provided

  1. Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Doman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Edward A.; Carson, John M., III

    2016-01-01

    The Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance (PL&HA) domain addresses the development, integration, testing, and spaceflight infusion of sensing, processing, and GN&C functions critical to the success and safety of future human and robotic exploration missions. PL&HA sensors also have applications to other mission events, such as rendezvous and docking. Autonomous PL&HA builds upon the core GN&C capabilities developed to enable soft, controlled landings on the Moon, Mars, and other solar system bodies. Through the addition of a Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) function, precision landing within tens of meters of a map-based target is possible. The addition of a 3-D terrain mapping lidar sensor improves the probability of a safe landing via autonomous, real-time Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA). PL&HA significantly improves the probability of mission success and enhances access to sites of scientific interest located in challenging terrain. PL&HA can also utilize external navigation aids, such as navigation satellites and surface beacons. Advanced Lidar Sensors High precision ranging, velocimetry, and 3-D terrain mapping Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) TRN compares onboard reconnaissance data with real-time terrain imaging data to update the S/C position estimate Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA) Generates a high-resolution, 3-D terrain map in real-time during the approach trajectory to identify safe landing targets Inertial Navigation During Terminal Descent High precision surface relative sensors enable accurate inertial navigation during terminal descent and a tightly controlled touchdown within meters of the selected safe landing target.

  2. A comparison of regional and global catastrophic hazards associated with energy technologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heising, C.D.; Inhaber, H.

    1983-01-01

    This paper reviews some of what is known about the relative catastrophic hazards, on both a regional and global level, of energy technologies, and proposes a logical framework for their comparison. A review of the Inhaber study results is made indicating the relative position of overall nuclear power related risks. Then, concentration is placed on describing the catastrophic and global hazards of energy technologies. Regionally catastrophic hazards include sabotage and other malicious human activities, in addition to severe accidents caused inadvertantly by man, such as fires, reactor core damage events, chemical and poisonous gas releases, fuel storage fires and explosions, in addition to others. Global risks include such hazards as nuclear proliferation, CO 2 , build-up, oil shortages and possible national conflicts over dwindling energy fuels. The conclusion is drawn that consideration of both regional and global catastrophic risks must be made in making energy decisions, and that further study is necessary to better quantify and compare these risks. A simple decision analytic framework for making energy decisions inclusive of catastrophic risk is proposed

  3. Car Gestures - Advisory warning using additional steering wheel angles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maag, Christian; Schneider, Norbert; Lübbeke, Thomas; Weisswange, Thomas H; Goerick, Christian

    2015-10-01

    Advisory warning systems (AWS) notify the driver about upcoming hazards. This is in contrast to the majority of currently deployed advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that manage emergency situations. The target of this study is to investigate the effectiveness, acceptance, and controllability of a specific kind of AWS that uses the haptic information channel for warning the driver. This could be beneficial, as alternatives for using the visual modality can help to reduce the risk of visual overload. The driving simulator study (N=24) compared an AWS based on additional steering wheel angle control (Car Gestures) with a visual warning presented in a simulated head-up display (HUD). Both types of warning were activated 3.5s before the hazard object was reached. An additional condition of unassisted driving completed the experimental design. The subjects encountered potential hazards in a variety of urban situations (e.g. a pedestrian standing on the curbs). For the investigated situations, subjective ratings show that a majority of drivers prefer visual warnings over haptic information via gestures. An analysis of driving behavior indicates that both warning approaches guide the vehicle away from the potential hazard. Whereas gestures lead to a faster lateral driving reaction (compared to HUD warnings), the visual warnings result in a greater safety benefit (measured by the minimum distance to the hazard object). A controllability study with gestures in the wrong direction (i.e. leading toward the hazard object) shows that drivers are able to cope with wrong haptic warnings and safety is not reduced compared to unassisted driving as well as compared to (correct) haptic gestures and visual warnings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Decision-making methodology for management of hazardous waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Philbin, J.S.; Cranwell, R.M.

    1988-01-01

    A decision-making methodology is presented that combines systems and risk analysis techniques to evaluate hazardous waste management practices associated with DOE weapon production operations. The methodology provides a systematic approach to examining waste generation and waste handling practices in addition to the more visible disposal practices. Release-exposure scenarios for hazardous waste operations are identified and operational risk is determined. Comparisons may be made between existing and alternative waste management practices (and processes) on the basis of overall risk, cost and compliance with regulations. Managers can use this methodology to make and defend resource allocation decisions and to prioritize research needs

  5. Remote sensing and GIS-based landslide hazard analysis and cross-validation using multivariate logistic regression model on three test areas in Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pradhan, Biswajeet

    2010-05-01

    This paper presents the results of the cross-validation of a multivariate logistic regression model using remote sensing data and GIS for landslide hazard analysis on the Penang, Cameron, and Selangor areas in Malaysia. Landslide locations in the study areas were identified by interpreting aerial photographs and satellite images, supported by field surveys. SPOT 5 and Landsat TM satellite imagery were used to map landcover and vegetation index, respectively. Maps of topography, soil type, lineaments and land cover were constructed from the spatial datasets. Ten factors which influence landslide occurrence, i.e., slope, aspect, curvature, distance from drainage, lithology, distance from lineaments, soil type, landcover, rainfall precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi), were extracted from the spatial database and the logistic regression coefficient of each factor was computed. Then the landslide hazard was analysed using the multivariate logistic regression coefficients derived not only from the data for the respective area but also using the logistic regression coefficients calculated from each of the other two areas (nine hazard maps in all) as a cross-validation of the model. For verification of the model, the results of the analyses were then compared with the field-verified landslide locations. Among the three cases of the application of logistic regression coefficient in the same study area, the case of Selangor based on the Selangor logistic regression coefficients showed the highest accuracy (94%), where as Penang based on the Penang coefficients showed the lowest accuracy (86%). Similarly, among the six cases from the cross application of logistic regression coefficient in other two areas, the case of Selangor based on logistic coefficient of Cameron showed highest (90%) prediction accuracy where as the case of Penang based on the Selangor logistic regression coefficients showed the lowest accuracy (79%). Qualitatively, the cross

  6. Multi-hazard risk analysis for management strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kappes, M.; Keiler, M.; Bell, R.; Glade, T.

    2009-04-01

    Risk management is very often operating in a reactive way, responding to an event, instead of proactive starting with risk analysis and building up the whole process of risk evaluation, prevention, event management and regeneration. Since damage and losses from natural hazards raise continuously more and more studies, concepts (e.g. Switzerland or South Tyrol-Bolozano) and software packages (e.g. ARMAGEDOM, HAZUS or RiskScape) are developed to guide, standardize and facilitate the risk analysis. But these approaches focus on different aspects and are mostly closely adapted to the situation (legislation, organization of the administration, specific processes etc.) of the specific country or region. We propose in this study the development of a flexible methodology for multi-hazard risk analysis, identifying the stakeholders and their needs, processes and their characteristics, modeling approaches as well as incoherencies occurring by combining all these different aspects. Based on this concept a flexible software package will be established consisting of ArcGIS as central base and being complemented by various modules for hazard modeling, vulnerability assessment and risk calculation. Not all modules will be developed newly but taken from the current state-of-the-art and connected or integrated into ArcGIS. For this purpose two study sites, Valtellina in Italy and Bacelonnette in France, were chosen and the hazards types debris flows, rockfalls, landslides, avalanches and floods are planned to be included in the tool for a regional multi-hazard risk analysis. Since the central idea of this tool is its flexibility this will only be a first step, in the future further processes and scales can be included and the instrument thus adapted to any study site.

  7. Comprehensive Analysis of Drought Persistence, Hazard, and Recovery across the CONUS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarekarizi, M.; Ahmadi, B.; Moradkhani, H.

    2017-12-01

    Drought is a creeping intertwined natural hazard affecting society more than any other natural disaster and causing enormous damages on economy and ecosystems. Better understanding of potential drought hazard can help water managers and stakeholders devising mitigation plans to minimize the adverse effects of droughts. In this study, soil moisture, simulated by the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface model, is used to analyze the probability of agricultural drought with different severities across the CONUS. Due to the persistence of soil moisture, a drought episode at a particular time is affected by its earlier status; therefore, this study has utilized a Copula function to model the selected hydrologic variable over the time. The probability of drought intensity for each unit is presented spatially. If the unit remains in the drought condition at the same or lower intensity, drought persists and if it improves above a pre-defined threshold, the unit recovers. Results show that the west of US is more vulnerable to drought persistence in summer and spring while the Midwest and Northeast of US are experiencing drought persistence in fall and winter. In addition, the analysis reveals that as the intensity of drought in a given season decreases the following season has higher chance of recovery.

  8. Facts about food irradiation: Irradiation and food additives and residues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    This fact sheet considers the issue of the irradiation of food containing food additives or pesticide residues. The conclusion is that there is no health hazard posed by radiolytic products of pesticides or food additives. 1 ref

  9. Projecting UK mortality using Bayesian generalised additive models

    OpenAIRE

    Hilton, Jason; Dodd, Erengul; Forster, Jonathan; Smith, Peter W.F.

    2018-01-01

    Forecasts of mortality provide vital information about future populations, with implications for pension and health-care policy as well as for decisions made by private companies about life insurance and annuity pricing. This paper presents a Bayesian approach to the forecasting of mortality that jointly estimates a Generalised Additive Model (GAM) for mortality for the majority of the age-range and a parametric model for older ages where the data are sparser. The GAM allows smooth components...

  10. Modeling uranium transport in acidic contaminated groundwater with base addition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Fan [Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Luo, Wensui [ORNL; Parker, Jack C. [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); Brooks, Scott C [ORNL; Watson, David B [ORNL; Jardine, Philip [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); Gu, Baohua [ORNL

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates reactive transport modeling in a column of uranium(VI)-contaminated sediments with base additions in the circulating influent. The groundwater and sediment exhibit oxic conditions with low pH, high concentrations of NO{sub 3}{sup -}, SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}, U and various metal cations. Preliminary batch experiments indicate that additions of strong base induce rapid immobilization of U for this material. In the column experiment that is the focus of the present study, effluent groundwater was titrated with NaOH solution in an inflow reservoir before reinjection to gradually increase the solution pH in the column. An equilibrium hydrolysis, precipitation and ion exchange reaction model developed through simulation of the preliminary batch titration experiments predicted faster reduction of aqueous Al than observed in the column experiment. The model was therefore modified to consider reaction kinetics for the precipitation and dissolution processes which are the major mechanism for Al immobilization. The combined kinetic and equilibrium reaction model adequately described variations in pH, aqueous concentrations of metal cations (Al, Ca, Mg, Sr, Mn, Ni, Co), sulfate and U(VI). The experimental and modeling results indicate that U(VI) can be effectively sequestered with controlled base addition due to sorption by slowly precipitated Al with pH-dependent surface charge. The model may prove useful to predict field-scale U(VI) sequestration and remediation effectiveness.

  11. Modeling uranium transport in acidic contaminated groundwater with base addition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Fan; Luo Wensui; Parker, Jack C.; Brooks, Scott C.; Watson, David B.; Jardine, Philip M.; Gu Baohua

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates reactive transport modeling in a column of uranium(VI)-contaminated sediments with base additions in the circulating influent. The groundwater and sediment exhibit oxic conditions with low pH, high concentrations of NO 3 - , SO 4 2- , U and various metal cations. Preliminary batch experiments indicate that additions of strong base induce rapid immobilization of U for this material. In the column experiment that is the focus of the present study, effluent groundwater was titrated with NaOH solution in an inflow reservoir before reinjection to gradually increase the solution pH in the column. An equilibrium hydrolysis, precipitation and ion exchange reaction model developed through simulation of the preliminary batch titration experiments predicted faster reduction of aqueous Al than observed in the column experiment. The model was therefore modified to consider reaction kinetics for the precipitation and dissolution processes which are the major mechanism for Al immobilization. The combined kinetic and equilibrium reaction model adequately described variations in pH, aqueous concentrations of metal cations (Al, Ca, Mg, Sr, Mn, Ni, Co), sulfate and U(VI). The experimental and modeling results indicate that U(VI) can be effectively sequestered with controlled base addition due to sorption by slowly precipitated Al with pH-dependent surface charge. The model may prove useful to predict field-scale U(VI) sequestration and remediation effectiveness.

  12. Modeling uranium transport in acidic contaminated groundwater with base addition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang Fan, E-mail: zhangfan@itpcas.ac.cn [Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085 (China); Luo Wensui [Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021 (China); Parker, Jack C. [Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Brooks, Scott C.; Watson, David B. [Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Jardine, Philip M. [Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Gu Baohua [Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)

    2011-06-15

    This study investigates reactive transport modeling in a column of uranium(VI)-contaminated sediments with base additions in the circulating influent. The groundwater and sediment exhibit oxic conditions with low pH, high concentrations of NO{sub 3}{sup -}, SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}, U and various metal cations. Preliminary batch experiments indicate that additions of strong base induce rapid immobilization of U for this material. In the column experiment that is the focus of the present study, effluent groundwater was titrated with NaOH solution in an inflow reservoir before reinjection to gradually increase the solution pH in the column. An equilibrium hydrolysis, precipitation and ion exchange reaction model developed through simulation of the preliminary batch titration experiments predicted faster reduction of aqueous Al than observed in the column experiment. The model was therefore modified to consider reaction kinetics for the precipitation and dissolution processes which are the major mechanism for Al immobilization. The combined kinetic and equilibrium reaction model adequately described variations in pH, aqueous concentrations of metal cations (Al, Ca, Mg, Sr, Mn, Ni, Co), sulfate and U(VI). The experimental and modeling results indicate that U(VI) can be effectively sequestered with controlled base addition due to sorption by slowly precipitated Al with pH-dependent surface charge. The model may prove useful to predict field-scale U(VI) sequestration and remediation effectiveness.

  13. Debris flows: behavior and hazard assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iverson, Richard M.

    2014-01-01

    Debris flows are water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock that rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form lobate deposits when they spill onto valley floors. Because they have volumetric sediment concentrations that exceed 40 percent, maximum speeds that surpass 10 m/s, and sizes that can range up to ~109 m3, debris flows can denude slopes, bury floodplains, and devastate people and property. Computational models can accurately represent the physics of debris-flow initiation, motion and deposition by simulating evolution of flow mass and momentum while accounting for interactions of debris' solid and fluid constituents. The use of physically based models for hazard forecasting can be limited by imprecise knowledge of initial and boundary conditions and material properties, however. Therefore, empirical methods continue to play an important role in debris-flow hazard assessment.

  14. Hazardous waste incinerator permitting in Texas from inception to operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simms, M.D.; McDonnell, R.G. III

    1991-01-01

    The regulatory permitting process for hazardous waste incinerators i a long and arduous proposition requiring a well-developed overall strategy. In Texas, RCRA permits for the operation of hazardous waste incinerator facilities are issued through the federally delegated Texas Water Commission (TWC). While the TWC has primacy in the issuance of RCRA permits for hazardous waste incinerators, the Texas Air Control Board (TACB) provides a significant portion of the Part B application review and provides much of the permit language. In addition to dealing with regulatory agencies, RCRA permitting provides by significant public involvement. Often the lack of public support becomes a major roadblock for an incinerator project. In order to establish an effective strategy which addresses the concerns of regulatory agencies and the public, it is important to have an understanding of the steps involved in obtaining a permit. A permit applicant seeking to construct a new hazardous waste incinerator can expect to go through a preapplication meeting with government regulators, a site selection process, file an application, respond to calls for additional technical information from both the TACB and the TWC, defend the application in a hearing, have a recommendation from a TWC hearing examiner and, finally, receive a determination from the TWC's Commissioners. Presuming a favorable response from the Commission, the permittee will be granted a trial burn permit and may proceed with the construction, certification and execution of a trial burn at the facility. Subsequent to publication of the trial burn results and approval by the TWC, the permittee will possess an operational hazardous waste incinerator permit. The paper describes the major steps required to receive an operational permit for a hazardous waste incinerator in the State of Texas. Important issues involved in each step will be discussed including insights gained from recent incinerator permitting efforts

  15. FDA-iRISK--a comparative risk assessment system for evaluating and ranking food-hazard pairs: case studies on microbial hazards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuhuan; Dennis, Sherri B; Hartnett, Emma; Paoli, Greg; Pouillot, Régis; Ruthman, Todd; Wilson, Margaret

    2013-03-01

    Stakeholders in the system of food safety, in particular federal agencies, need evidence-based, transparent, and rigorous approaches to estimate and compare the risk of foodborne illness from microbial and chemical hazards and the public health impact of interventions. FDA-iRISK (referred to here as iRISK), a Web-based quantitative risk assessment system, was developed to meet this need. The modeling tool enables users to assess, compare, and rank the risks posed by multiple food-hazard pairs at all stages of the food supply system, from primary production, through manufacturing and processing, to retail distribution and, ultimately, to the consumer. Using standard data entry templates, built-in mathematical functions, and Monte Carlo simulation techniques, iRISK integrates data and assumptions from seven components: the food, the hazard, the population of consumers, process models describing the introduction and fate of the hazard up to the point of consumption, consumption patterns, dose-response curves, and health effects. Beyond risk ranking, iRISK enables users to estimate and compare the impact of interventions and control measures on public health risk. iRISK provides estimates of the impact of proposed interventions in various ways, including changes in the mean risk of illness and burden of disease metrics, such as losses in disability-adjusted life years. Case studies for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella were developed to demonstrate the application of iRISK for the estimation of risks and the impact of interventions for microbial hazards. iRISK was made available to the public at http://irisk.foodrisk.org in October 2012.

  16. Single-Index Additive Vector Autoregressive Time Series Models

    KAUST Repository

    LI, YEHUA

    2009-09-01

    We study a new class of nonlinear autoregressive models for vector time series, where the current vector depends on single-indexes defined on the past lags and the effects of different lags have an additive form. A sufficient condition is provided for stationarity of such models. We also study estimation of the proposed model using P-splines, hypothesis testing, asymptotics, selection of the order of the autoregression and of the smoothing parameters and nonlinear forecasting. We perform simulation experiments to evaluate our model in various settings. We illustrate our methodology on a climate data set and show that our model provides more accurate yearly forecasts of the El Niño phenomenon, the unusual warming of water in the Pacific Ocean. © 2009 Board of the Foundation of the Scandinavian Journal of Statistics.

  17. Hazard Analysis Database Report

    CERN Document Server

    Grams, W H

    2000-01-01

    The Hazard Analysis Database was developed in conjunction with the hazard analysis activities conducted in accordance with DOE-STD-3009-94, Preparation Guide for U S . Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Safety Analysis Reports, for HNF-SD-WM-SAR-067, Tank Farms Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR). The FSAR is part of the approved Authorization Basis (AB) for the River Protection Project (RPP). This document describes, identifies, and defines the contents and structure of the Tank Farms FSAR Hazard Analysis Database and documents the configuration control changes made to the database. The Hazard Analysis Database contains the collection of information generated during the initial hazard evaluations and the subsequent hazard and accident analysis activities. The Hazard Analysis Database supports the preparation of Chapters 3 ,4 , and 5 of the Tank Farms FSAR and the Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) process and consists of two major, interrelated data sets: (1) Hazard Analysis Database: Data from t...

  18. Additive manufacturing for consumer-centric business models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bogers, Marcel; Hadar, Ronen; Bilberg, Arne

    2016-01-01

    Digital fabrication—including additive manufacturing (AM), rapid prototyping and 3D printing—has the potential to revolutionize the way in which products are produced and delivered to the customer. Therefore, it challenges companies to reinvent their business model—describing the logic of creating...... and capturing value. In this paper, we explore the implications that AM technologies have for manufacturing systems in the new business models that they enable. In particular, we consider how a consumer goods manufacturer can organize the operations of a more open business model when moving from a manufacturer......-centric to a consumer-centric value logic. A major shift includes a move from centralized to decentralized supply chains, where consumer goods manufacturers can implement a “hybrid” approach with a focus on localization and accessibility or develop a fully personalized model where the consumer effectively takes over...

  19. Lin Receives 2010 Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-01

    Ning Lin has been awarded the Natural Hazards Focus Group Award for Graduate Research, given annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding contributions to natural hazards research. Lin's thesis is entitled “Multi-hazard risk analysis related to hurricanes.” She is scheduled to present an invited talk in the Extreme Natural Events: Modeling, Prediction, and Mitigation session (NH20) during the 2010 AGU Fall Meeting, held 13-17 December in San Francisco, Calif. Lin will be formally presented with the award at the Natural Hazards focus group reception on 14 December 2010.

  20. Efficient estimation of an additive quantile regression model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheng, Y.; de Gooijer, J.G.; Zerom, D.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, two non-parametric estimators are proposed for estimating the components of an additive quantile regression model. The first estimator is a computationally convenient approach which can be viewed as a more viable alternative to existing kernel-based approaches. The second estimator

  1. Risk Evaluation of Multiple Hazards during Sediment and Water Related Disasters in a Small Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamanoi, Kazuki; Fujita, Masaharu

    2016-04-01

    To reduce human damage due to sediment and water related disasters induced by heavy rainfall, warning and evacuation system is very important. In Japan, the Meteorological Agency issues the sediment disaster alert when the potential of sediment disaster increases. Following the alert, local government issues evacuation advisory considering the alert and premonitory phenomena. However, it is very difficult for local people to perceive the dangerousness around them because the alert and advisory do not contain any definite information. Therefore, they sometimes misjudge the evacuation action. One reason of this is not only crucial hazards but also relatively small-scale multiple hazards take place and rise evacuation difficulties during sediment and water related disaster. Examples of small-scale hazards include: rainfall-associated hazards such as poor visibility or road submergence; landslide-associated hazards such as slope failure or sediment inflow; and flood-associated hazards such as overtopping of river dike, inundation, or destruction of bridges. The purpose of this study was to estimate the risk of multiple hazards during disaster events by numerical simulation. We applied the integrated sediment runoff model on unit channels, unit slopes, and slope units to an actual sediment and water related disaster occurred in a small basin in Tamba city, Hyogo, Japan. The maximum rainfall per hour was 91 mm (17/09/2014 2:00˜3:00) and the maximum daily precipitation was 414mm. The integrated model contains semi-physical based landslide prediction (sediment production) model, rainfall runoff model employing the kinematic wave method, model of sediment supply to channels, and bedload and suspended sediment transport model. We evaluated the risk of rainfall-associated hazards in each slope unit into 4 levels (Level I ˜ IV) using the rainfall intensity Ir [mm/hour]. The risk of flood- associated hazards were also estimated using the ratio of calculated water level and

  2. DIDO Optimization of a Lunar Landing Trajectory with Respect to Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-09-01

    22 b. Hazard Detection and Avoidance ( HDA )...............................22 c. Hazard Relative Navigation (HRN...Navigation (HRN) and Hazard Detection and Avoidance ( HDA ). In addition to the TRN and HDA sensors used during these phases, which will be discussed...and Avoidance ( HDA ) During the HAD phase, the expected landing site is examined and evaluated, and a new site may be selected. Using the HDA

  3. Comparison of linear, skewed-linear, and proportional hazard models for the analysis of lambing interval in Ripollesa ewes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casellas, J; Bach, R

    2012-06-01

    Lambing interval is a relevant reproductive indicator for sheep populations under continuous mating systems, although there is a shortage of selection programs accounting for this trait in the sheep industry. Both the historical assumption of small genetic background and its unorthodox distribution pattern have limited its implementation as a breeding objective. In this manuscript, statistical performances of 3 alternative parametrizations [i.e., symmetric Gaussian mixed linear (GML) model, skew-Gaussian mixed linear (SGML) model, and piecewise Weibull proportional hazard (PWPH) model] have been compared to elucidate the preferred methodology to handle lambing interval data. More specifically, flock-by-flock analyses were performed on 31,986 lambing interval records (257.3 ± 0.2 d) from 6 purebred Ripollesa flocks. Model performances were compared in terms of deviance information criterion (DIC) and Bayes factor (BF). For all flocks, PWPH models were clearly preferred; they generated a reduction of 1,900 or more DIC units and provided BF estimates larger than 100 (i.e., PWPH models against linear models). These differences were reduced when comparing PWPH models with different number of change points for the baseline hazard function. In 4 flocks, only 2 change points were required to minimize the DIC, whereas 4 and 6 change points were needed for the 2 remaining flocks. These differences demonstrated a remarkable degree of heterogeneity across sheep flocks that must be properly accounted for in genetic evaluation models to avoid statistical biases and suboptimal genetic trends. Within this context, all 6 Ripollesa flocks revealed substantial genetic background for lambing interval with heritabilities ranging between 0.13 and 0.19. This study provides the first evidence of the suitability of PWPH models for lambing interval analysis, clearly discarding previous parametrizations focused on mixed linear models.

  4. Critical asset and portfolio risk analysis: an all-hazards framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayyub, Bilal M; McGill, William L; Kaminskiy, Mark

    2007-08-01

    This article develops a quantitative all-hazards framework for critical asset and portfolio risk analysis (CAPRA) that considers both natural and human-caused hazards. Following a discussion on the nature of security threats, the need for actionable risk assessments, and the distinction between asset and portfolio-level analysis, a general formula for all-hazards risk analysis is obtained that resembles the traditional model based on the notional product of consequence, vulnerability, and threat, though with clear meanings assigned to each parameter. Furthermore, a simple portfolio consequence model is presented that yields first-order estimates of interdependency effects following a successful attack on an asset. Moreover, depending on the needs of the decisions being made and available analytical resources, values for the parameters in this model can be obtained at a high level or through detailed systems analysis. Several illustrative examples of the CAPRA methodology are provided.

  5. Frequency of damage by external hazards based on geographical information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Becker, G. [RISA Sicherheitsanalysen GmbH, Berlin (Germany); Camarinopoulos, A.; Karali, T. [ERRA, Athens (Greece); Camarinopoulos, L. [Piraeus Univ. (Greece); Schubert, B. [VENE, Hamburg (Germany)

    2013-07-01

    External explosions can significantly contribute to risk of damage for industrial plants. External explosions may origin from other plants in the neighborhood, which store and operate with explosive substances, or from transport of such substances on road, rail, or water. In all cases, some accident is a necessary condition for a hazard. Another probabilistic element is the probability of ignition. If transport causes the explosion, the location of the accident will influence the consequences. If deflagration is involved, ignition will not necessarily occur at the place of the accident, but a cloud of a combustible gas-air mixture may develop, which will ignite at some distance depending on wind velocity. In order to avoid unnecessarily pessimistic approaches, geographical information can be used in addition to local weather statistics. Geographical information systems provide map material for sites, roads, rail and rivers on a computer. This information can be used to find frequencies of damage based on numerical integration or on Monte Carlo simulation. A probabilistic model has been developed. It is based on: - A joint probability density function for wind direction and wind speed, which has been estimated from local weather statistics, - Frequency of hazards for neighboring plants and various types of traffic, - Statistics on the amounts and types of explosive materials, - The model has been implemented using one numerical integrations method and two variants of Monte Carlo method. Data has been collected and applied for a nuclear power plant in Northern Germany as an example. The method, however, can be used for any type of plant subject to external explosion hazards. In its present form, it makes use of design criteria specific for nuclear power plants, but these could be replaced by different criteria. (orig.)

  6. Frequency of damage by external hazards based on geographical information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becker, G.; Camarinopoulos, A.; Karali, T.; Camarinopoulos, L.; Schubert, B.

    2013-01-01

    External explosions can significantly contribute to risk of damage for industrial plants. External explosions may origin from other plants in the neighborhood, which store and operate with explosive substances, or from transport of such substances on road, rail, or water. In all cases, some accident is a necessary condition for a hazard. Another probabilistic element is the probability of ignition. If transport causes the explosion, the location of the accident will influence the consequences. If deflagration is involved, ignition will not necessarily occur at the place of the accident, but a cloud of a combustible gas-air mixture may develop, which will ignite at some distance depending on wind velocity. In order to avoid unnecessarily pessimistic approaches, geographical information can be used in addition to local weather statistics. Geographical information systems provide map material for sites, roads, rail and rivers on a computer. This information can be used to find frequencies of damage based on numerical integration or on Monte Carlo simulation. A probabilistic model has been developed. It is based on: - A joint probability density function for wind direction and wind speed, which has been estimated from local weather statistics, - Frequency of hazards for neighboring plants and various types of traffic, - Statistics on the amounts and types of explosive materials, - The model has been implemented using one numerical integrations method and two variants of Monte Carlo method. Data has been collected and applied for a nuclear power plant in Northern Germany as an example. The method, however, can be used for any type of plant subject to external explosion hazards. In its present form, it makes use of design criteria specific for nuclear power plants, but these could be replaced by different criteria. (orig.)

  7. SEISRISK II; a computer program for seismic hazard estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bender, Bernice; Perkins, D.M.

    1982-01-01

    The computer program SEISRISK II calculates probabilistic ground motion values for use in seismic hazard mapping. SEISRISK II employs a model that allows earthquakes to occur as points within source zones and as finite-length ruptures along faults. It assumes that earthquake occurrences have a Poisson distribution, that occurrence rates remain constant during the time period considered, that ground motion resulting from an earthquake is a known function of magnitude and distance, that seismically homogeneous source zones are defined, that fault locations are known, that fault rupture lengths depend on magnitude, and that earthquake rates as a function of magnitude are specified for each source. SEISRISK II calculates for each site on a grid of sites the level of ground motion that has a specified probability of being exceeded during a given time period. The program was designed to process a large (essentially unlimited) number of sites and sources efficiently and has been used to produce regional and national maps of seismic hazard.}t is a substantial revision of an earlier program SEISRISK I, which has never been documented. SEISRISK II runs considerably [aster and gives more accurate results than the earlier program and in addition includes rupture length and acceleration variability which were not contained in the original version. We describe the model and how it is implemented in the computer program and provide a flowchart and listing of the code.

  8. STakeholder-Objective Risk Model (STORM): Determining the aggregated risk of multiple contaminant hazards in groundwater well catchments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enzenhoefer, R.; Binning, P. J.; Nowak, W.

    2015-09-01

    Risk is often defined as the product of probability, vulnerability and value. Drinking water supply from groundwater abstraction is often at risk due to multiple hazardous land use activities in the well catchment. Each hazard might or might not introduce contaminants into the subsurface at any point in time, which then affects the pumped quality upon transport through the aquifer. In such situations, estimating the overall risk is not trivial, and three key questions emerge: (1) How to aggregate the impacts from different contaminants and spill locations to an overall, cumulative impact on the value at risk? (2) How to properly account for the stochastic nature of spill events when converting the aggregated impact to a risk estimate? (3) How will the overall risk and subsequent decision making depend on stakeholder objectives, where stakeholder objectives refer to the values at risk, risk attitudes and risk metrics that can vary between stakeholders. In this study, we provide a STakeholder-Objective Risk Model (STORM) for assessing the total aggregated risk. Or concept is a quantitative, probabilistic and modular framework for simulation-based risk estimation. It rests on the source-pathway-receptor concept, mass-discharge-based aggregation of stochastically occuring spill events, accounts for uncertainties in the involved flow and transport models through Monte Carlo simulation, and can address different stakeholder objectives. We illustrate the application of STORM in a numerical test case inspired by a German drinking water catchment. As one may expect, the results depend strongly on the chosen stakeholder objectives, but they are equally sensitive to different approaches for risk aggregation across different hazards, contaminant types, and over time.

  9. Analysis of risk indicators and issues associated with applications of screening model for hazardous and radioactive waste sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buck, J.W.; Strenge, D.L.; Droppo, J.G. Jr.

    1990-12-01

    Risk indicators, such as population risk, maximum individual risk, time of arrival of contamination, and maximum water concentrations, were analyzed to determine their effect on results from a screening model for hazardous and radioactive waste sites. The analysis of risk indicators is based on calculations resulting from exposure to air and waterborne contamination predicted with Multimedia Environmental Pollutant Assessment System (MEPAS) model. The different risk indicators were analyzed, based on constituent type and transport and exposure pathways. Three of the specific comparisons that were made are (1) population-based versus maximum individual-based risk indicators, (2) time of arrival of contamination, and (3) comparison of different threshold assumptions for noncarcinogenic impacts. Comparison of indicators for population- and maximum individual-based human health risk suggests that these two parameters are highly correlated, but for a given problem, one may be more important than the other. The results indicate that the arrival distribution for different levels of contamination reaching a receptor can also be helpful in decisions regarding the use of resources for remediating short- and long-term environmental problems. The addition of information from a linear model for noncarcinogenic impacts allows interpretation of results below the reference dose (RfD) levels that might help in decisions for certain applications. The analysis of risk indicators suggests that important information may be lost by the use of a single indicator to represent public health risk and that multiple indicators should be considered. 15 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab

  10. Developing International Guidelines on Volcanic Hazard Assessments for Nuclear Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connor, Charles

    2014-05-01

    Worldwide, tremendous progress has been made in recent decades in forecasting volcanic events, such as episodes of volcanic unrest, eruptions, and the potential impacts of eruptions. Generally these forecasts are divided into two categories. Short-term forecasts are prepared in response to unrest at volcanoes, rely on geophysical monitoring and related observations, and have the goal of forecasting events on timescales of hours to weeks to provide time for evacuation of people, shutdown of facilities, and implementation of related safety measures. Long-term forecasts are prepared to better understand the potential impacts of volcanism in the future and to plan for potential volcanic activity. Long-term forecasts are particularly useful to better understand and communicate the potential consequences of volcanic events for populated areas around volcanoes and for siting critical infrastructure, such as nuclear facilities. Recent work by an international team, through the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has focused on developing guidelines for long-term volcanic hazard assessments. These guidelines have now been implemented for hazard assessment for nuclear facilities in nations including Indonesia, the Philippines, Armenia, Chile, and the United States. One any time scale, all volcanic hazard assessments rely on a geologically reasonable conceptual model of volcanism. Such conceptual models are usually built upon years or decades of geological studies of specific volcanic systems, analogous systems, and development of a process-level understanding of volcanic activity. Conceptual models are used to bound potential rates of volcanic activity, potential magnitudes of eruptions, and to understand temporal and spatial trends in volcanic activity. It is these conceptual models that provide essential justification for assumptions made in statistical model development and the application of numerical models to generate quantitative forecasts. It is a

  11. ThinkHazard!: an open-source, global tool for understanding hazard information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, Stuart; Jongman, Brenden; Simpson, Alanna; Nunez, Ariel; Deparday, Vivien; Saito, Keiko; Murnane, Richard; Balog, Simone

    2016-04-01

    Rapid and simple access to added-value natural hazard and disaster risk information is a key issue for various stakeholders of the development and disaster risk management (DRM) domains. Accessing available data often requires specialist knowledge of heterogeneous data, which are often highly technical and can be difficult for non-specialists in DRM to find and exploit. Thus, availability, accessibility and processing of these information sources are crucial issues, and an important reason why many development projects suffer significant impacts from natural hazards. The World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is currently developing a new open-source tool to address this knowledge gap: ThinkHazard! The main aim of the ThinkHazard! project is to develop an analytical tool dedicated to facilitating improvements in knowledge and understanding of natural hazards among non-specialists in DRM. It also aims at providing users with relevant guidance and information on handling the threats posed by the natural hazards present in a chosen location. Furthermore, all aspects of this tool will be open and transparent, in order to give users enough information to understand its operational principles. In this presentation, we will explain the technical approach behind the tool, which translates state-of-the-art probabilistic natural hazard data into understandable hazard classifications and practical recommendations. We will also demonstrate the functionality of the tool, and discuss limitations from a scientific as well as an operational perspective.

  12. Toxic and hazardous waste disposal. Volume 1. Processes for stabilization/solidification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pojasek, R.B.

    1979-01-01

    Processes for the stabilization and/or solidification of toxic, hazardous, and radioactive wastes are reviewed. The types of wastes classified as hazardous are defined. The following processes for the solidification of hazardous wastes are described: lime-based techniques; thermoplastic techniques; organic polymer techniques; and encapsulation. The following processes for the solidification of high-level radioactive wastes are described: calcination; glassification; and ceramics. The solidification of low-level radioactive wastes with asphalt, cement, and polymeric materials is also discussed. Other topics covered include: the use of an extruder/evaporator to stabilize and solidify hazardous wastes; effect disposal of fine coal refuse and flue gas desulfurization slurries using Calcilox additive stabilization; the Terra-Tite Process; the Petrifix Process; the SFT Terra-Crete Process; Sealosafe Process; Chemfix Process; and options for disposal of sulfur oxide wastes

  13. A Method to Assess Flux Hazards at CSP Plants to Reduce Avian Mortality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ho, Clifford K.; Wendelin, Timothy; Horstman, Luke; Yellowhair, Julius

    2017-06-27

    A method to evaluate avian flux hazards at concentrating solar power plants (CSP) has been developed. A heat-transfer model has been coupled to simulations of the irradiance in the airspace above a CSP plant to determine the feather temperature along prescribed bird flight paths. Probabilistic modeling results show that the irradiance and assumed feather properties (thickness, absorptance, heat capacity) have the most significant impact on the simulated feather temperature, which can increase rapidly (hundreds of degrees Celsius in seconds) depending on the parameter values. The avian flux hazard model is being combined with a plant performance model to identify alternative heliostat standby aiming strategies that minimize both avian flux hazards and negative impacts on plant performance.

  14. Real-Time Hazard Detection and Avoidance Demonstration for a Planetary Lander

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epp, Chirold D.; Robertson, Edward A.; Carson, John M., III

    2014-01-01

    The Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project is chartered to develop and mature to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of six an autonomous system combining guidance, navigation and control with terrain sensing and recognition functions for crewed, cargo, and robotic planetary landing vehicles. In addition to precision landing close to a pre-mission defined landing location, the ALHAT System must be capable of autonomously identifying and avoiding surface hazards in real-time to enable a safe landing under any lighting conditions. This paper provides an overview of the recent results of the ALHAT closed loop hazard detection and avoidance flight demonstrations on the Morpheus Vertical Testbed (VTB) at the Kennedy Space Center, including results and lessons learned. This effort is also described in the context of a technology path in support of future crewed and robotic planetary exploration missions based upon the core sensing functions of the ALHAT system: Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), Hazard Detection and Avoidance (HDA), and Hazard Relative Navigation (HRN).

  15. Efficient estimation of an additive quantile regression model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheng, Y.; de Gooijer, J.G.; Zerom, D.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper two kernel-based nonparametric estimators are proposed for estimating the components of an additive quantile regression model. The first estimator is a computationally convenient approach which can be viewed as a viable alternative to the method of De Gooijer and Zerom (2003). By

  16. Efficient estimation of an additive quantile regression model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheng, Y.; de Gooijer, J.G.; Zerom, D.

    2010-01-01

    In this paper two kernel-based nonparametric estimators are proposed for estimating the components of an additive quantile regression model. The first estimator is a computationally convenient approach which can be viewed as a viable alternative to the method of De Gooijer and Zerom (2003). By

  17. TSUNAMI HAZARD MITIGATION AND THE NOAA NATIONAL WATER LEVEL OBSERVATION NETWORK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James R. Hubbard

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available With the renewed interest in regional Tsunami Warning Systems and the potential tsunami threats throughout the Caribbean and West coast of the United States, the National Ocean Service (NOS, National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON consisting of 175 primary stations, is well situated to play a role in the National Hazard Mitigation effort. In addition, information regarding local mean sea level trends and GPS derived geodetic datum relationships at numerous coastal locations is readily available for tsunami hazard assessment and mapping applications.Tsunami inundation maps and modeling are just two of the more important products which may be derived from NWLON data. In addition to the seven water level gauges that are hardwired into the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WClATWC, NOS has a significant number of gauges with real-time satellite telemetry capabilities located along the Pacific Northwest coastline, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. These gauges, in concert with near shore buoy systems, have the potential for increasing the effectiveness of the existing tsunami warning system.The recent expansion of the Caribbean Sea Level Gauge Network through the NOS regional partnerships with Central American and Caribbean countries have opened an opportunity for a basin-wide tsunami warning network in a region which is ill prepared for a major tsunami event.

  18. The probabilistic risk analysis of external hazards of an interim storage for spent nuclear fuel in Olkiluoto

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Puukka, Tiia

    2014-01-01

    Due to natural disasters occurred in the world and the experiences perceived of the Fukushima nuclear accident, the particular knowledge of the role and influence of external hazards in the safety of interim storage of spent nuclear fuel has been emphasized. For that reason it is substantial that they are included in the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) of the interim storage facility. This is also required by the Regulatory Guides issued by The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority STUK. To enhance safety culture and nuclear safety in Olkiluoto, The Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has recently completed an analysis of external natural (seismic events are studied as a separate analysis) and unintentional human-induced risks associated with the spent fuel pool cooling and decay heat removal systems as part of the full-scope PRA study for the interim storage of spent fuel (KPA store). The analysis had four goals to achieve: (1) to determine the definition of an initiating event in the context of the KPA store, (2) to identify all potential external hazards and hazard combinations, (3) to perform a qualitative screening analysis based on frequency-strength analysis and detailed plant responses analysis and (4) to model the hazards passed the screening analysis so that model can be used as a risk analysis tool in the risk informed decision making and operating procedures. The assessment carried out included the analysis of operation procedures of decay heat removal, the study of external hazards related initiating events included in the PRA of the OL1 and OL2 nuclear power plants and their dependencies on the initiating events of the KPA store. All external hazards related initiating events were modeled using fault tree linking method. The main result and conclusion of this study was that using the screening analysis, initiating events caused by external hazards that could lead to leakage of the spent fuel pools or that could pose a threat to the

  19. Lidar-Based Rock-Fall Hazard Characterization of Cliffs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Brian D.; Greg M.Stock,

    2017-01-01

    Rock falls from cliffs and other steep slopes present numerous challenges for detailed geological characterization. In steep terrain, rock-fall source areas are both dangerous and difficult to access, severely limiting the ability to make detailed structural and volumetric measurements necessary for hazard assessment. Airborne and terrestrial lidar survey methods can provide high-resolution data needed for volumetric, structural, and deformation analyses of rock falls, potentially making these analyses straightforward and routine. However, specific methods to collect, process, and analyze lidar data of steep cliffs are needed to maximize analytical accuracy and efficiency. This paper presents observations showing how lidar data sets should be collected, filtered, registered, and georeferenced to tailor their use in rock fall characterization. Additional observations concerning surface model construction, volumetric calculations, and deformation analysis are also provided.

  20. Documentation for the Southeast Asia seismic hazard maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Mark; Harmsen, Stephen; Mueller, Charles; Haller, Kathleen; Dewey, James; Luco, Nicolas; Crone, Anthony; Lidke, David; Rukstales, Kenneth

    2007-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Southeast Asia Seismic Hazard Project originated in response to the 26 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake (M9.2) and the resulting tsunami that caused significant casualties and economic losses in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. During the course of this project, several great earthquakes ruptured subduction zones along the southern coast of Indonesia (fig. 1) causing additional structural damage and casualties in nearby communities. Future structural damage and societal losses from large earthquakes can be mitigated by providing an advance warning of tsunamis and introducing seismic hazard provisions in building codes that allow buildings and structures to withstand strong ground shaking associated with anticipated earthquakes. The Southeast Asia Seismic Hazard Project was funded through a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System to develop seismic hazard maps that would assist engineers in designing buildings that will resist earthquake strong ground shaking. An important objective of this project was to discuss regional hazard issues with building code officials, scientists, and engineers in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The code communities have been receptive to these discussions and are considering updating the Thailand and Indonesia building codes to incorporate new information (for example, see notes from Professor Panitan Lukkunaprasit, Chulalongkorn University in Appendix A).