Stress tests highlight a system's weak spots. This second edition provides a stress testing of the United States by exploring in detail the background to the disasters of the War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis, the Gulf oil spill and the COVID-19 epidemic. These major stresses-the country's longest war, its biggest natural disaster, its biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression, its biggest oil spill and its worst pandemic since the influenza pandemic of 1918-tell us much about structural flaws in the United States. This book explores each of these events in detail to locate the seed of the disasters, and highlights what we have learned and not learned from these stress tests.

This book is a part of ICL new book series "ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction" founded in 2019. Peer-reviewed papers submitted to the Fifth World Landslide Forum were published in six volumes of this book series. This book contains the followings: Part I with topics is mainly about landslides and earthquakes; landslide dams and outburst floods; catastrophic large-scale landslides in mountainous regions. Part II with topics is mainly about impact of climate change; loess landslides; mapping, monitoring and modeling of landslides; stabilization and mitigation; application of new technology in landslide studies. Prof. Vit Vilimek is the vice-president of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and a member of the evaluation committee, Editor-in-Chief of the university journal AUC Geographica and Associate Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Geoenvironmental Disasters. He is a Professor of Physical Geography at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Prof. Fawu Wang is the President of the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR) and the Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Geoenvironmental Disasters. He is a Professor at the School of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, China. Dr. Alexander Strom is a chief expert at the Geodynamics Research Center LLC, Moscow, Russia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Chang'an University, Xi'an, China, Visiting Professor at SKLGP, Chengdu, China, and an alternative representative of the JSC "Hydroproject Institute" in ICL. Prof. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President and the Secretary-General of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal Landslides since its foundation in 2004. Prof. Peter Bobrowsky is the President of the International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Senior Scientist of Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Prof. Kaoru Takara is the Executive Director of the International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies (GSAIS) in Human Survivability (Shishu-Kan), Kyoto University.

This book is a part of ICL new book series "ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction" founded in 2019. Peer-reviewed papers submitted to the Fifth World Landslide Forum were published in six volumes of this book series. This book contains the followings: * One theme lecture and one keynote lecture* Monitoring and remote sensing for landslide risk mitigation, including one keynote lecture* Landslide early warning systems, forecasting models and time prediction of landslides Prof. Nicola Casagli is a Vice President and President-elect of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) for 2021-2023. He is Professor of engineering geology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, and President of the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Trieste, Italy. Dr. Veronica Tofani is an Associate Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, and Program Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Prevention and Sustainable Management of Geo-hydrological hazards, University of Florence. Prof. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President and the Secretary-General of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal Landslides since its foundation in 2004. Prof. Peter Bobrowsky is the President of the International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Senior Scientist of Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Prof. Kaoru Takara is the Executive Director of the International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies (GSAIS) in Human Survivability (Shishu-Kan), Kyoto University.

This book is a part of ICL new book series "ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction" founded in 2019. Peer-reviewed papers submitted to the Fifth World Landslide Forum were published in six volumes of this book series. This book contains the following parts: * Impact of Large Ground Deformations near Seismic Faults on Critically Important Civil Infrastructures* Recent Progress in the Landslide Initiating Science* Earth Observation and Machine Learning in Landslide Science* General Landslide Studies Professor Zeljko Arbanas is the Vice President of International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Professor of Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, Croatia. He is the Assistant Editor-in-Chief of International Journal Landslides. Professor Peter Bobrowsky is the President of International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Senior Scientist of Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Professor Kazuo Konagai is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Principal Researcher at the ICL Headquarters. He serves as the Secretary-General of the Fifth World Landslide Forum. Professor Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President and the Secretary-General of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal Landslides since its foundation in 2004. Professor Kaoru Takara is the Executive Director of International Consortium on Landslides. He is a Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies (GSAIS) in Human Survivability (Shishu-Kan), Kyoto University.

The book, after two introductory chapters on seismic design principles and structural seismic analysis methods, proceeds with the detailed description of seismic design methods for steel building structures. These methods include all the well-known methods, like force-based or displacement-based methods, plus some other methods developed by the present authors or other authors that have reached a level of maturity and are applicable to a large class of steel building structures. For every method, detailed practical examples and supporting references are provided in order to illustrate the methods and demonstrate their merits. As a unique feature, the present book describes not just one, as it is the case with existing books on seismic design of steel structures, but various seismic design methods including application examples worked in detail. The book is a valuable source of information, not only for MS and PhD students, but also for researchers and practicing engineers engaged with the design of steel building structures.

Most landslides are triggered by rainfall. In previous studies, slope stability is often evaluated based on the infiltration analysis. Hydro-mechanical coupling is significant to rainfall-caused landslide evolution. This book covers theoretical models of unsaturated infiltration, and provides hydro-mechanical models for rainfall-induced landslides. The influences of rainfall patterns, boundary conditions, layered structures, and SWCC hysteresis on the coupled unsaturated infiltration and deformation are discussed. Laboratory testing of rainfall-induced landslides is performed to study the developing process of landslide upon rainfall infiltration. The results provide a better understanding of rainfall-induced landslides.

In the early months of 2020, the world's attention was riveted on Australia, where the nation's iconic wildlife fought for survival in the face of unprecedented wildfires. Images of koalas drinking from firefighters' water bottles went viral and became the global face of a catastrophe that would kill as many as three billion animals. Known as the Black Summer, the fire season was responsible for more wildlife deaths and near-extinctions than any other single event in Australian history. Flames of Extinction, written by a journalist at the heart of this news coverage, is the first book to tell the stories of Australia's record-setting fires, focusing on the wild animals and plants that will be forever changed. As news of the fires spread around the world, journalist John Pickrell was inundated with requests for articles about the danger to Australia's wildlife. The picture seemed grim, from charred koalas to flames that burned so hot not even animal skeletons remained. But Pickrell's reporting exposed a larger picture of hope. Flames of Extinction tells the story of the scientists, wildlife rehabilitators, and community members who came together to save wildlife and protect them in the future. As climate change intensifies and devastating wildfires become more commonplace, Australia's Black Summer offers a poignant warning to the rest of the world. Through evocative and urgent storytelling, Flames of Extinction puts readers on the ground to witness the aftermath of one of Australia's greatest tragedies and inside the inspiring effort to save lives.

This book summarizes the research being pursued as part of the Erasmus+ CBHE KA2 project entitled "Development of master curricula for natural disasters risk management in Western Balkan countries" (NatRisk), which aims to educate experts on the prevention and management of natural disasters in the Western Balkan region in line with national and EU policies. The project has successfully developed and implemented master curricula and educational training in the field of natural disasters risk management, and a methodology for the identification and prevention of natural disasters. Consisting of 11 chapters, the book analyzes and discusses topics such as risk assessment tools and quality methods, the different approaches for civil-military collaboration, natural disasters risk management in Bosnia and Herzegovina, leadership models for managing crises resulting from natural disasters, natural disasters in industrial areas, natural risk management in geotechnics, flood risk modeling, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference models for flood prediction, collapse prediction of masonry arches, an algorithm for fire truck dispatch in emergency situations, and processing drought data in a GIS environment.

This richly illustrated book describes statistical extreme value theory for the quantification of natural hazards, such as strong winds, floods and rainfall, and discusses an interdisciplinary approach to allow the theoretical methods to be applied. The approach consists of a number of steps: data selection and correction, non-stationary theory (to account for trends due to climate change), and selecting appropriate estimation techniques based on both decision-theoretic features (e.g., Bayesian theory), empirical robustness and a valid treatment of uncertainties. It also examines and critically reviews alternative approaches based on stochastic and dynamic numerical models, as well as recently emerging data analysis issues and presents large-scale, multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art case studies. Intended for all those with a basic knowledge of statistical methods interested in the quantification of natural hazards, the book is also a valuable resource for engineers conducting risk analyses in collaboration with scientists from other fields (such as hydrologists, meteorologists, climatologists).

This book presents a comprehensive selection of applications employed in environmental remote sensing using optical and thermal infrared satellite-sensors aiming to map natural resources, crops, groundwater, surface water, aquatic ecosystem, land degradation, air quality, renewable energy, regional resources, and climate-related geophysical processes. The technologies presented in this book also include satellite images, space-borne radar sensors focusing on the most versatile one, data from synthetic aperture radar (SAR), scatterometers and radar altimeters in Egypt. This volume also presents a thorough explanation of the remote sensing role showing physical fundamentals of the climate change phenomenon including gas emissions, and the impact on resources concerning the sustainable development of Egypt. Besides, the book includes an analysis of oil pollution in both Mediterranean and Red Seas This book is intended for environmental policymakers working in Egypt as well as scientists working with remote sensing technologies in highly populated arid regions.

After the storm, a community comes togetherFramed by the stories of Hurricane Maria evacuees, Tossed to the Wind is the gripping account of the wreckage, despair, and displacement left in the wake of one of the deadliest natural disasters on U.S. soil. It is also a story of hope and endurance as Puerto Ricans on the island shared what little they had and the diaspora in Florida offered refuge.Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as a high-end Category 4, and the storm surge, flash flooding, and countless landslides created widespread devastation. One hundred percent of the island lost drinking water and electricity. More than 3 million U.S. citizens lived for months without power, making it the worst blackout in American history. The slow recovery led to a mass evacuation. Thousands gathered what they had left and traveled to central Florida-already home to 1 million Puerto Ricans. In Tossed to the Wind, Maria Padilla and Nancy Rosado interview Puerto Ricans from all walks of life who now live in Orlando and Kissimmee, who fight every day to pick up the pieces of their world after Hurricane Maria. In their own words, evacuees describe families living temporarily out of motels, parents anxious about providing for their children, children starting new schools, and everyone worried about the families and friends they left behind. Told from the midst of chaos and incomprehensible loss, these are the stories-filled with pain and wisdom, sadness and laughter-that showcase the strength and resolve of Puerto Ricans.

The recent explosion of global and regional seismicity data in the world requires new methods of investigation of microseismicity and development of their modelling to understand the nature of whole earth mechanics. In this book, the author proposes a powerful tool to reveal the characteristic features of global and regional microseismicity big data accumulated in the databases of the world. The method proposed in this monograph is based on (1) transformation of stored big data to seismicity density data archives, (2) linear transformation of microseismicity density data matrixes to correlated seismicity matrixes by means of the singular value decomposition method, (3) time series analyses of globally and regionally correlated seismicity rates, and (4) the minimal non-linear equations approximation of their correlated seismicity rate dynamics. Minimal non-linear modelling is the manifestation for strongly correlated seismicity time series controlled by Langevin-type stochastic dynamic equations involving deterministic terms and random Gaussian noises. A deterministic term is composed minimally with correlated seismicity rate vectors of a linear term and of a term with a third exponent. Thus, the dynamics of correlated seismicity in the world contains linearly changing stable nodes and rapid transitions between them with transient states. This book contains discussions of future possibilities of stochastic extrapolations of global and regional seismicity in order to reduce earthquake disasters worldwide. The dataset files are available online and can be downloaded at springer.com.