Analyzing flood risk and related impacts to urban communities in central Vietnam

This study aims at understanding flood risks and their impact on a community, in order to enhance communities’ resilience and adaptive capacity to these threats. It also investigates the possibility of looking at and handling risk from a resilience point of view. Therefore, while a conventional risk management process is employed in this study, social, physical, economic, and institutional dimensions of resilience are also included in order to grasp the extent of risks and the ways in which communities face, cope with, and recover from flooding. Findings showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of flood risk among household heads educated up to secondary school level, suggesting that they believe floods are purely natural events. Those with a higher level of education (high school and above) (82.7 % of respondents) were aware that flood disasters are the result of hazard and vulnerability combined. In addition, social dynamics were apparently strengthened by such disasters, which resulted in cohesion and mutual help following floods in some wards. Also, households with more sources of income and more savings appear to recover faster than others after a flooding event. With regard to governance and networks, greater efforts have to be made by local institutions to ensure basic functioning during and after disaster events and to invest more into risk reduction activities. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the understanding of the impact flood disasters have on the environment and community lives and livelihoods in general, as traditional coping strategies, although still practical, no longer suffice in the face of changes in climate and environment.     

Existence of two widespread semi-isolated genetic entities within Mediterranean anchovies

We investigated genetic transitions in European anchovies (Engraulidae) by analysing one mitochondrial and six nuclear microsatellite loci in samples from 28 geographical locations, primarily in the Western Mediterranean with external samples from the Black Sea in the East, and the Gulf of Biscay in the West. Four samples were collected from lagoons or shallow waters in France, Morocco and Tunisia. Two strongly differentiated loci and nucleo-cytoplasmic disequilibrium allowed us unambiguously to confirm the existence of a coastal genetic entity that is distinct from the more offshore marine populations. By contrast, four microsatellites were undifferentiated within the entire set of samples, testifying to a variable permeability of the two interacting genomes. Our findings strengthen and extend previous reports of the existence of a coastal anchovy entity that is widespread in Mediterranean lagoons.     

Improved weighted ensemble learning for predicting the daily reference evapotranspiration under the semi-arid climate conditions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Evapotranspiration is an important quantity required in many applications, such as hydrology and agricultural and irrigation planning. Reference...     

Mechanical and thermo-physical characterization of mortars made with uncontaminated marine sediments

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In a context of sustainable development, civil engineering must increasingly use recyclable materials to preserve natural resources. Sediments...