Floods are the most common natural disaster in both developed and developing countries, and they are occasionally of devastating impact, as the floods in China in 1959 and Bangladesh in 1974 and the tsunami in Southeast Asia in December 2004 show (1). Their impacts on health vary between populations for reasons relating to population vulnerability and type of flood event (2–5). Under future cli...

This research provides an in-depth analysis of economic resilience to earthquakes. It fi ne-tunes the defi nition to distinguish inherent and adaptive considerations, and it distinguishes the various levels at which resilience is operative. It explicitly links resilience to the behavior of individuals, markets, and the regional macroeconomy, including disequilibrium aspects of each. Finally, it...

An annoying tonal noise is produced by modern electrical trains during acceleration and deceleration. This noise is caused by electromagnetic forces generating structural vibrations, especially from the traction motors. The electromagnetic noise is dominant at low train speeds and affects both the passengers on the train and on platforms, as well as people living near the track. The focus on th...

apart from regular wheel wear such as decreasing wheel diameters and reduced flange thicknesses and heights, wheel flats (wf) and oval wheels (or oor, out-of-roundness) are the most common wheelset problems for railway vehicles. within the fp7 research project “saferail”, apt has developed an innovative wheelset monitoring system so-called “wheel flat and out of roundness monitoring (worm) syst...

This article analyzes the consequences for risk distribution of the French Flood Prevention Action Programme (PAPI). By redirecting floods from the most vulnerable to the least vulnerable areas, PAPIs expose farmers to greater flood risks. This has led local water management institutions to introduce compensation payments. The article outlines the results of an exhaustive survey of all PAPIs in...

There has been a surprisingly large number of major floods in the last years around the world, which suggests that floods may have increased and will continue to increase in the next decades. However, the realism of such changes is still hotly discussed in the literature. This overview article examines whether floods have changed in the past and explores the driving processes of such changes in...

The historical floods that have occurred since the seventeenth century were collected for a study area in southern Italy. Damages caused by floods, rainfall and the main anthropogenic modifications are discussed all together. The aim was to assess whether the frequency of floods is changing and, if so, whether these changes can be attributed to either rainfall and/or anthropogenic modifications...

Floods are among the most frequent natural disasters and they affect the lives of approximately 102 million people each year, mainly in developing countries and in major urban areas with a tendency to grow further over the coming decades. The scope of this paper is to provide input for a clearer understanding of these events through the results and experiences to be gleaned from the recent scie...

Prevalence of asymptomatic norovirus infection was investigated in food handlers in South Korea. Among 6,441 subjects, 66 (1.02%) had norovirus infections confirmed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR (real time and nested). GII-12 and GII-4 were the prevalent genotypes. Our data suggest that infection of asymptomatic food handlers is an important transmission source in norovirus outbreaks.