An exhaustive knowledge of flood risk in different spatial locations is essential for developing an effective flood mitigation strategy for a watershed. In the present study, a risk-vulnerability analysis to flood is performed. Four components of vulnerability to flood: 1) physical, 2) economic, 3) infrastructure and 4) social; are evaluated individually using a Geographic Information System (G...

Floods are one of the most common hazards in the world, affect ing people’s lives and livelihoods. Flood hazard mapping and flood shelters suitability analysis are v ital elements in appropriate land use planning for flood-prone areas. This paper describes application of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in identifying flood hazard zones and flood shelters and are t...

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can spread by water. It often causes acute gastrointestinal illness in older adults who are hospitalized and/or receiving antibiotics; however, community-associated infections affecting otherwise healthy individuals have become more commonly reported. A case-crossover study was used to assess emergency room (ER) and outpatient visits for C. difficile in...

Inland riverine flooding from tropical cyclones (TCs) is responsible for significant economic losses in the United States. Yet, most hurricane loss assessment efforts are focused on coastal areas. Hurricane Irene, which struck the U.S. east coast in 2011, provides a recent and poignant example: while intense media coverage and preparation and evacuation activities focused on the projected coast...

Flood hedging reservoir operation is when a pre-storm release creates a small flood downstream to reduce the likelihood of a more damaging but uncertain larger flood in the future. Such pre-storm releases before a flood can increase reservoir storage capacity available to capture more severe flood flows, but also can immediately increase downstream flood damage and reduce stored water supply. T...

A fundamental challenge in understanding the global nitrogen cycle is the quantification of denitrification on large heterogeneous landscapes. Because floodplains are important sites for denitrification and nitrogen retention, we developed a generalized floodplain biogeochemical model to determine whether dams and flood-control levees affect floodplain denitrification by altering floodplain inu...

Rice blast, an erratic niche disease incited by Magnaporthe grisea Cav., frequently limits rough rice yields and grower cultivar options in Arkansas rice production areas. Scientists poorly understand why some blast-susceptible varieties such as ‘Newbonnet’, ‘LaGrue’, ‘Mars’, and ‘Cypress’ become increasingly more blast resistant if grown in continuously flooded soil. A greenhouse depth-of-floo...

This paper provides a case study of a method to estimate the value of additional information, before its acquisition, to aid decision making in the face of uncertainty. The approach employs conditional simulation in a Monte Carlo framework to conduct a Bayesian assessment of the value of information in an explicitly spatial setting. This paper demonstrates the procedure as applied by a hypothet...