ALBERT

Description: The physical properties of soil can affect the stability of construction. In particular, soil swelling potential (a term which includes swelling/shrinking) is often overlooked as a natural hazard. Similar to risk assessment for other hazards, assessing risk for soil swelling can be defined as the product of the probability of the hazard and the value of property subjected to the hazard. This research utilizes past engineering and geological assessments of soil swelling potential, along with economic data from the U.S. Census, to assess the risk for soil swelling at the census-block level in Louisiana, a U.S. state with a relatively dense population that is vulnerable to expansive soils. Results suggest that the coastal parts of the state face the highest risk, particularly in the areas of greater population concentrations, but that all developed parts of the state have some risk. The annual historical property loss, per capita property loss, and per building property loss are all concentrated in southeastern Louisiana and extreme southwestern Louisiana, but the concentration of wealth in cities increases the historical property loss in most of the urban areas. Projections of loss by 2050 show a similar pattern, but with increased per building loss in and around a swath of cities across southwestern and south-central Louisiana. These results may assist engineers, architects, and developers as they strive to enhance the resilience of buildings and infrastructure to the multitude of environmental hazards in Louisiana.

Description: The present paper discusses families of Interior Penalty Discontinuous Galerkin (IP) methods for solving heterogeneous and anisotropic diffusion problems. Specifically, we focus on distinctive schemes, namely the Hybridized-, Embedded-, and Weighted-IP schemes, leading to final matrixes of different sizes and sparsities. Both the Hybridized- and Embedded-IP schemes are eligible for static condensation, and their degrees of freedom are distributed on the mesh skeleton. In contrast, the unknowns are located inside the mesh elements for the Weighted-IP variant. For a given mesh, it is well-known that the number of degrees of freedom related to the standard Discontinuous Galerkin methods increases more rapidly than those of the skeletal approaches (Hybridized- and Embedded-IP). We then quantify the impact of the static condensation procedure on the computational performances of the different IP classes in terms of robustness, accuracy, and CPU time. To this aim, numerical experiments are investigated by considering strong heterogeneities and anisotropies. We analyze the fixed error tolerance versus the run time and mesh size to guide our performance criterion. We also outlined some relationships between these Interior Penalty schemes. Eventually, we confirm the superiority of the Hybridized- and Embedded-IP schemes, regardless of the mesh, the polynomial degree, and the physical properties (homogeneous, heterogeneous, and/or anisotropic).

Description: The United Nations' Development Goals (SDGs) have been criticized but are nonetheless seen by many as an important, if imperfect, international effort to address climate and environmental change, resource depletion and the unsustainability of contemporary life. Many of the Goals need to be implemented at the local level, yet sub-national governments have not been granted any enhanced status at the UN to facilitate this process. As a result, the role and effectiveness of local governments in localizing the SDGs is dependent on multi-level arrangements within respective national contexts. In this paper we present findings on the challenges facing local authorities in England, namely co-dependent ambivalence, partial holism and narrow practices of knowledge governance. We draw on work carried out collaboratively with local authorities and other stakeholders in Greater Manchester and Sheffield, and a UK-wide national workshop. These challenges explain the relatively low uptake and engagement with the SDGs in the context of wider political and economic concerns compared with international comparator cities. Against this background our research found that making the Goals real, relevant, relatable and relational offered a tactical route to localization for English local government.

Description: An estimated 90% of the Swan Coastal Plain (SCP) wetlands, located in southwestern Australia, have been lost because of infilling or drainage. This loss continues despite the well-known causes, which include nutrient enrichment; the invasion of exotic flora and fauna; loss of fringing vegetation; and altered hydrological regimes caused by groundwater abstraction; urbanization; and a drying climate. Further loss is expected with climate change exacerbating the undesirable ecosystem changes of remaining wetlands. In this study, we consider these wetlands as examples of social-ecological systems (SES) which are characterized by a close interaction of the ecosystem with the social system. We take the theory of resilient SES as a starting point to identify the adaptive capacity and resilience of the wetlands. We argue that resilience provides a useful framework to analyze adaptation processes and to identify appropriate policy responses. We explore incremental adjustments and transformative action and demonstrate that policy responses arise across multiple scales and levels of jurisdiction and institution. By applying the theoretical framework of resilience to the SCP wetlands, we identified (un)desired ecosystem states of wetlands (hydrology and ecology) through different set of policy actions. Our results show that current wetland management is inadequate to maintain the ecosystem's functioning. We recommend cross-jurisdictional collaboration and the use of conceptual eco-hydrological models to depict gradual ecological change and types of regime shifts (thresholds, hysteresis, and irreversible changes). The different adaption options inform decision-makers to adequately adapt wetland management practices when uncertainty in ecosystem responses exist. Empirical data on how multiple jurisdictions operate and decide could help to further support decision-making. With this research we aim to narrow the science-policy interface which depends on corresponding cross-jurisdictional and institutional responses to coordinate wetland management policies and actions.

Description: This study develops an implementation framework for asset management strategic planning of water distribution networks to meet sustainable infrastructure, socio-political, and financial targets over the life cycle of the infrastructure. The proposed framework is comprised of three decision-making layers: (1) Visions and Values, (2) Function, and (3) Performance. The asset management strategy framework is implemented and validated by demonstrating functionality and value by using data from three water utilities in Canada. The Visions and Values layer is set to meet the needs of the water utilities' stakeholders. The Function layer uses an advanced system dynamics model to simulate and forecast the system's future behavior. The Performance layer benchmarks, compares, and graphically illustrates the situation and performance of water utilities against each other regardless of their size. Benchmarking results indicate that all three water utilities can sustainably meet the strategic targets established in the Visions and Values layer of the asset management strategy over the benchmarking period. The impact of the desired cash reserve on infrastructure and financial benchmarking performance indicators is also investigated to explore the “optimal” combination of allowable fee-hike and rehabilitation rates using the contour plots developed over the benchmarking period. The results indicate that the optimal combinations of allowable fee-hike of ~8% per year and rehabilitation rate of 1.3% per year along with a 1–4% cash reserve, depends on the network condition, will allow water utilities to have sufficient funds to meet their strategic targets. The performance modeling and simulation approach presented in this study represents a powerful tool for other utilities to develop optimal strategic and operational plans for their networks and thus better service to their stakeholders.

Description: Phytoplankton functional groups and their influence on water quality have been studied in various types of water bodies but have yet to be studied in agricultural irrigation ponds. Freshwater sources (e.g., lakes, rivers, and reservoirs) have been previously shown to exhibit high spatial and temporal variability in phytoplankton populations. Improvements in the monitoring of phytoplankton populations may be achieved if patterns of stable spatial variability can be found in the phytoplankton populations through time. The objective of this work was to determine if temporally stable spatial patterns in phytoplankton communities could be detected in agricultural irrigation ponds using a functional group approach. The study was performed at two working agricultural irrigation ponds located in Maryland, USA over two summer sampling campaigns in 2017 and 2018. Concentrations of four phytoplankton groups, along with sensor-based and fluorometer based water quality parameters were measured. Temporal stability was assessed using mean relative differences between measurements in each location and averaged measurements across ponds on each sampling date. Temporally stable spatial patterns of three phytoplankton functional groups were found for both ponds over the two sampling seasons. Both ponds had locations where specific phytoplankton functional group concentrations were consistently higher or lower than the pond's average concentration for each sampling date. Zones of consistently higher or lower than average concentrations were associated with flow conditions, pond morphology, and human activities. The existence of temporally stable patterns of phytoplankton functional group concentrations can affect the outcome of a water quality assessment and should be considered in water quality monitoring designs.