**1. Introduction**

486 Smart Actuation and Sensing Systems – Recent Advances and Future Challenges

Enrico Zenerino, Joaquim Girardello Detoni and Andrea Tonoli

*Mechatronics Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Italy*

*Mechatronics Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Italy*

*Mechatronics Lab, Politecnico di Torino, Italy*

*Magnetics*, Vol. 43, No. 11, pp. (3940-3950).

*system,* IEEE, ISBN 978-1-4244-6789-1

Physics Publishing.

IEEE, ISBN 978-4577-0752-0

Vol.59, pp. (154-159)

*Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Italy*

*Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Italy*

*Harvesting from Low-Speed Flows,* IEEE, ISBN 978-1-4244-4193-8

Implementation in in Developing Cuntries, Third Printing

Vol.19, (August 2009), pp. (1-8), ISSN 0960-1317/09/094010

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**Author details**

Marcello Chiaberge

Diego Boero

**6. References**

Magnetoelastic materials belong to the wide category of smart materials because of their capability of coupling mechanical quantities (force, strain) to magnetic ones (field, induction) and viceversa. Recently, they have received a lot of interest for actuating and sensing purposes. Moreover, in the general framework of recovering some environmental energy, this kind of smart materials have been considered to recover the mechanical energy of vibrations [51].

Indeed, by employing the inverse magnetostriction or *Villari Effect* [26], it is possible to scavenge the vibration energy by means of the induced magnetization change in the material to generate electrical power. This opens the possibility to have a regenerative source of electrical power, especially useful in harsh environments. For this reason, this kind of technology can result of great interest in several application fields, such as health monitoring of civil infrastructure (bridges, buildings), automotive and biomedical tasks. Magnetostrictive alloys (Terfenol, Galfenol, Metglas) are actually the most known and employed magneto-elastic materials in this kind of applications. Nevertheless, they have interesting properties like high energy densities, high bandwidth, absence of depolarization phenomena that make them complementary to the piezoelectrics.

Energy harvesting techniques from vibrations have a promising future in civil engineering, where a strong need of structural monitoring of the health of ageing bridges and structures is occurring [17]. Indeed, for all civil infrastructure in general, it is possible to infer the structural health by measuring accelerations and resonant frequencies [21, 31]. Usually, the resonant frequencies are measured in suitable places along the structure by using the vibrations induced by wind or traffic [4, 27, 30]. Moreover, the sensors can detect other local environment parameters as well, namely temperature, wind speed, humidity, etc. Once the data are measured, among all the possible transmission techniques, the wireless method is

©2012 Visone et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0),which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

#### 2 Will-be-set-by-IN-TECH 488 Smart Actuation and Sensing Systems – Recent Advances and Future Challenges

undoubtedly the more effective because, for example, it reduces costs with respect to periodic human intervention and it improves reliability with respect to wired solutions. The use of sensors together with wireless transmission results in the so called wireless sensors networks (WSN) [7]. Of course, in the same line of reasoning, the source of electrical power for the WSN should be self-contained too. The easiest choice could be then the use of batteries but, due to the limited life-span of them, an increment of the sensors maintenance whole costs should be considered, with the aggravation of workers safety concerns because the sensors can be located in inconvenient places along the bridge. Then, smart renewable energy methods should be used instead. Solar and thermal harvesting have been proposed [43] but these solutions can be both costly and bulky. Nevertheless, bridges as many other civil infrastructure vibrate because of the wind action and of traffic loadings or, when presents, for trains traffic loadings. The possibility to convert this ambient mechanical energy, otherwise wasted, into electrical energy is very attractive in those applications [36, 39]. So, together with measurements purposes, vibrations can be harvested to feed the sensors.

It is worth that this type of conversion could be performed by means of linear electromagnetic generators too [20, 47]. In those devices, a proof mass oscillates with the structure, making a permanent magnet move linearly in a coil. This solution is undoubtedly well assessed and reliable. But, usually, this type of device has a narrow bandwidth that can be broaden at the cost of a very sophisticate mechanical construction. Another conversion technique, as already introduced, can make use of smart materials instead. These devices can be in principle less bulky and with higher reliability, because of their simpler mechanical design and construction.

Another field of application for energy harvesting from vibration is the automotive one. In fact, on one hand, the society is looking forward for vehicles more and more efficient. On the other hand, moving vehicle are site of vibrations of two different kinds. The first is due to the *internal* combustion engine operations and so, whenever the engine is on, a source of vibration is present. These vibrations are usually damped by means of engine rubber supports or even more complicated ways, while they could be used to recover some more energy. Obviously, the vibrations level is higher in big vehicles like trucks or tractors. A second source of vibrations can be referred as *external* and it is intrinsically related to the vehicle movement and interaction with the roads irregularities. It is apparent that both of them can be exploited to scavenge electrical power, instead of wasting the energy in rubber damping or shock absorbing. Also in this case, the harvested power can be used to recharge the vehicle battery or for feeding monitoring sensor nodes. A typical example is a tyre pressure sensor, [46]. In this case, the knowledge of the tyre health and pressure status allows to reduce the fuel consumption and to limit accidents. Another example of application on vehicles is the mechanical energy harvesting on the suspension system. Noting that the electrical energy transfer on the load (*e.g.* the battery) is strictly related to the mechanical source damping, this kind of solution can be conceived also for obtaining shock absorption, [54]. This additional feature is very attractive for enhancing the comfort of the passengers, particularly for workers (*e.g.* on trucks or tractors).

The harvesting from vibrations can be also considered in flying vehicles. In this case the vibrations are induced on the wings by the movement in the air flow. In [2], a sheet of piezoelectric material on the wings of an unmanned plane is applied making a harvester in a sort of unimorph cantilever arrangement.

Another potential huge field of application for vibrations harvesting is the biomedical one [32]. In this case the source of vibrations is the human gait (walking and running) and it could be used to power devices aimed to monitor human health conditions, [18], out of personal multimedia readers, smartphone, etc. In this framework of human activities induced vibrations, even the movement of the heart muscle has been conceived as a possible energy source to feed internal biomedical devices as pacemakers, [23].

Aim of this chapter is to discuss the main achievements and the open challenges in the field of vibrations energy harvesters based on magnetostrictive materials. This is a very attractive field involving the modeling of active materials that, with their complex behavior, are the link between the mechanical and the electrical *worlds* and so represent the path by which a *smart* electromechanical conversion can take place.

Different modeling strategies will be considered, ranging from the basic linear one [22, 45] allowing to understand the device working principles to the more accurate nonlinear approaches [10, 50], outlining their impact on the practical design of the harvester. To this aim, some detail on the experimental setup for material characterization, [1, 11], the modeling of the mechanical source and its coupling to the active material will be presented.

Finally, many open problems will be also reviewed, such as the power conversion stage requirements, the main arrangements (bulk or cantilevers) of magnetostrictive harvesters in connection to the different fields of applications.

The chapter is structured as follows:

2 Will-be-set-by-IN-TECH

undoubtedly the more effective because, for example, it reduces costs with respect to periodic human intervention and it improves reliability with respect to wired solutions. The use of sensors together with wireless transmission results in the so called wireless sensors networks (WSN) [7]. Of course, in the same line of reasoning, the source of electrical power for the WSN should be self-contained too. The easiest choice could be then the use of batteries but, due to the limited life-span of them, an increment of the sensors maintenance whole costs should be considered, with the aggravation of workers safety concerns because the sensors can be located in inconvenient places along the bridge. Then, smart renewable energy methods should be used instead. Solar and thermal harvesting have been proposed [43] but these solutions can be both costly and bulky. Nevertheless, bridges as many other civil infrastructure vibrate because of the wind action and of traffic loadings or, when presents, for trains traffic loadings. The possibility to convert this ambient mechanical energy, otherwise wasted, into electrical energy is very attractive in those applications [36, 39]. So, together with

It is worth that this type of conversion could be performed by means of linear electromagnetic generators too [20, 47]. In those devices, a proof mass oscillates with the structure, making a permanent magnet move linearly in a coil. This solution is undoubtedly well assessed and reliable. But, usually, this type of device has a narrow bandwidth that can be broaden at the cost of a very sophisticate mechanical construction. Another conversion technique, as already introduced, can make use of smart materials instead. These devices can be in principle less bulky and with higher reliability, because of their simpler mechanical design and construction. Another field of application for energy harvesting from vibration is the automotive one. In fact, on one hand, the society is looking forward for vehicles more and more efficient. On the other hand, moving vehicle are site of vibrations of two different kinds. The first is due to the *internal* combustion engine operations and so, whenever the engine is on, a source of vibration is present. These vibrations are usually damped by means of engine rubber supports or even more complicated ways, while they could be used to recover some more energy. Obviously, the vibrations level is higher in big vehicles like trucks or tractors. A second source of vibrations can be referred as *external* and it is intrinsically related to the vehicle movement and interaction with the roads irregularities. It is apparent that both of them can be exploited to scavenge electrical power, instead of wasting the energy in rubber damping or shock absorbing. Also in this case, the harvested power can be used to recharge the vehicle battery or for feeding monitoring sensor nodes. A typical example is a tyre pressure sensor, [46]. In this case, the knowledge of the tyre health and pressure status allows to reduce the fuel consumption and to limit accidents. Another example of application on vehicles is the mechanical energy harvesting on the suspension system. Noting that the electrical energy transfer on the load (*e.g.* the battery) is strictly related to the mechanical source damping, this kind of solution can be conceived also for obtaining shock absorption, [54]. This additional feature is very attractive for enhancing the comfort of the passengers, particularly for workers

The harvesting from vibrations can be also considered in flying vehicles. In this case the vibrations are induced on the wings by the movement in the air flow. In [2], a sheet of

measurements purposes, vibrations can be harvested to feed the sensors.

(*e.g.* on trucks or tractors).


**4. Conclusions**

Twenty-nine *NnDofs* were identified in lotus species divided into six subfamilies, the physicochemical properties of which vary and all of which contain conserved zinc finger structures. Segmental duplications may be the primary mode of amplification for the NnDofs gene family. In addition, some *NnDofs* have distinct expression specificities in different tissues and developmental stages. Most of the *NnDofs* were significantly regulated by salt stress treatments. Therefore, *NnDofs* may be engaged in multiple cross-regulatory networks related to lotus development and salt stress responses, and their interactions would help to explain the dynamics of co-regulatory functions of signaling differently in various biological processes. This study provides a foundation for further investigation into the functional properties of the *Dof* gene family in lotus, particularly its role in salt stress resistance.


**5. Conclusions**

This study analyzed the relationship between salt intake and the risk of sarcopenia in the Japanese population. As a result, the parameters related to obesity were significantly increased and the parameters related to muscle strength were significantly decreased in the group of high-salt intake compared with the low-salt intake group. In addition, the results were more significant in the older group than the younger group. Excessive salt intake may be associated with risk of sarcopenia, although further analysis is needed.

**Author Contributions:** Y.Y. and K.K. conceived of and designed the research; Y.Y., K.K., M.M., M.Y., K.A. and T.K. performed the experiments; Y.Y., K.K., M.M. and M.Y. analyzed the data; Y.Y., K.K., T.S., R.M., M.K., K.Y., S.M. and K.T. interpreted the results of the experiments; Y.Y. and T.S. prepared the figures; Y.Y. drafted the manuscript; Y.Y., K.K., T.S., M.M., M.Y., K.A., T.K., R.M., M.K., K.Y., S.M. and K.T. edited and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research KAKENHI from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan (19H03995,18K17975); Y.Y. and K.K., K.K. and M.M. were recipients of a Grant-in-Aid for Research Fellowships of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists (19J01099, 20J20892).

**Acknowledgments:** We wish to thank the members of S.M.'s laboratory (University of Tsukuba) for their technical assistance.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.


**2.4 Educational sector**

The education sector is undergoing a technological transition; yet, there are numerous challenges with this. Virtual classrooms are taking over traditional classrooms. The real question is how might Blockchain technology help educational institutions and students'study more effectively [12].

This topic can be answered in a variety of ways; however, it will focus on three major segments to describe the advantages of Blockchain solutions and for whom it is beneficial:

#### *Information Systems Management*

It is worth emphasizing that the application of Blockchain in academia is still in its early stages, which has an impact on the availability and quality of research on the subject. The majority of existing solutions employ Blockchain as a secure system for validating and distributing personal student data and academic diplomas, along with educational organizations' databases.


*Article* **Self-Rated Health Status of Upper Secondary School Pupils and Its Associations with Multiple Health-Related Factors**

**Armando Cocca 1,\* , Martin Niedermeier 1 , Vera Prünster 1 , Katharina Wirnitzer 1,2,3 , Clemens Drenowatz 4 , Klaus Greier 1,5 , Karin Labek 6 and Gerhard Ruedl 1**

**Abstract:** Health is an essential part of any individual, and gains particular importance in youth, as a good health at this age is more likely to reduce health risks both in the short and long term. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of physical and contextual parameters on youths' perceived health. A total of 919 adolescents completed questionnaires on self-rated health status, electronic media use, leisure time and club physical activity, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and back pain, as well as performed the German Motor Performance Test. Participants with very good health had significantly higher physical fitness, leisure time exercise, and participated in sports clubs more often than those with poorer health. Electronic media use was significantly higher for those with poor/very poor health. Future intervention programs to improve youth health status should not only focus on active lifestyle but might also consider the impact of socioenvironmental factors, such as daily media use.

**Keywords:** youth; perceived health; physical fitness; structured sport activities; screen time


**1. Introduction**

224 Petri Nets – Manufacturing and Computer Science

ISBN 978-3-540-73093-4

Germany

Diaz, M. (2009). *Petri Nets: Fundamental Models, Verification and Applications*, John Willey &

Goetz, B.; Peierls, T., Bloch, J.; Bowbeer, J.; Holmes, D. & Lea, D. (2006). *Java Concurrency in*

Jensen, K.; Kristensen, L. M. (2009). *Coloured Petri Nets: Modelling and Validation of Concurrent*

Jensen, K.; Rozenberg, G. (1991). *High-Level Petri Nets: Theory and Application*, Springer, ISBN

Köhler, M.; Rölke, H. (2007). Web Services Orchestration with Super-Dual Object Nets, *ICATPN 2007, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4546*, Springer-Verlag, pp. 263–280,

Lea, D. (1999). *Concurrent Programming in Java, Second Edition*, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-

Martiník, I. Bi-relational P/T Petri Nets and the Modeling of Multithreading Object-oriented Programming Systems, *Communications in Computer and Information Science.* 188 CCIS

Reisig, W. (2009). *Elements of Distributed Algorithms*, Springer, ISBN 3-540-62752-9, Berlin,

Subramaniam, V. (2011). *Programming Concurrency on the JVM: Mastering Synchronization,*

*STM and Actors*, Pragmatic Bookshelf, ISBN<PHONE_NUMBER>760, Dallas, USA

*Practice*, Addison-Wesley, ISBN<PHONE_NUMBER>606, Reading, United Kingdom

Sons, ISTE Ltd., ISBN: 978-0-470-39430-4, London, United Kingdom

*Systems*, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-00283-0, Berlin, Germany

3-540-54125-x, London, United Kingdom

31009-0, Reading, United Kingdom

(Part 1), (July 2011), pp. 222-236. ISSN 1865-0929

Fluid models have been used and investigated in queuing theory [1]. Recently, the concept of fluid models was used in the context of Stochastic Petri Nets, referred to as *Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets* (FSPNs) [2-6]. In FSPNs, the fluid variables are represented by fluid places, which can hold fluid rather than discrete tokens. Transition firings are determined by both discrete and fluid places, and fluid flow is permitted through the enabled timed transitions in the Petri Net. By associating exponentially distributed or zero firing time with transitions, the differential equations for the underlying stochastic process can be derived. The dynamics of an FSPN are described by a system of first-order hyperbolic *partial differential equations* (PDEs) combined with initial and boundary equations. The general system of PDEs may be solved by a standard discretization approach. In [6], the problem of immediate transitions has also been addressed in relation to the fluid levels, by allowing fluid places to be connected to immediate transitions. The transportation of fluid in zero time is described by appropriately chosen boundary conditions.

In a typical multiple-issue processor, instructions flow through pipeline and pass through separate pipeline stages connected by buffers. An open multi-chain queuing network can present this organization, with each stage being a service center with a limited buffer size. Considering a machine that employs multiple execution units capable to execute large number of instructions in parallel, the service and storage requirements of each individual instruction are small compared to the total volume of the instruction stream. Individual instructions may then be regarded as *atoms of a fluid* flowing through the pipeline. The objective of this approach is to approximate large buffer levels by continuous fluid levels and decrease state-space complexity. Thus, in the first part of this chapter, we employ an

© 2012 Mitrevski and Kotevski, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 Mitrevski and Kotevski, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

#### 226 Petri Nets – Manufacturing and Computer Science

analytical model based on FSPNs, derive the state equations for the underlying stochastic process and present performance evaluation results to illustrate its usage in deriving measures of interest. The attempt to capture the dynamic behavior of an ILP processor with aggressive use of prediction techniques and speculative execution is a rare example that demonstrates the usage of this recently introduced formalism in modeling actual systems. Moreover, we take into consideration numerical transient analysis and present numerical solution of a FSPN with more than three fluid places. Both the application of finitedifference approximations for the partial derivatives [7,8], as well as the discrete-event simulation of the proposed FSPN model [9,10], allow for the evaluation of a number of performance measures and lead to numerous conclusions regarding the performance impact of predictions and speculative execution with varying parameters of both the microarchitecture and the operational environment. The numerical solution makes possible the probabilistic analysis of the dynamic behavior, whereas the advantage of the discreteevent simulation is the much faster generation of performance evaluation results. Since the modeling framework is implementation-independent, it can be used to estimate the performance potential of branch and value prediction, as well as to assess the operational environment influence on the performance of ILP processors with much more aggressive, wider instruction issue.

Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets:

From Fluid Atoms in ILP Processor Pipelines to Fluid Atoms in P2P Streaming Networks 227

(http://simpy.sourceforge.net) – an object-oriented, process-based discrete-event simulation language based on standard Python (http://www.python.org), which provides the modeler with components of a simulation model including processes (for active components) and resources (for passive components) and provides monitor variables to aid in gathering

Most of the recent microprocessor architectures assume *sequential programs* as input and use a *parallel execution* model. The hardware is expected to extract the parallelism out of the instruction stream at run-time. The efficiency is highly dependent on both the hardware mechanisms and the program characteristics, i.e. the *instruction-level parallelism* (ILP) the programs exhibit. Many ILP processors *speculatively* execute control-dependent instructions before resolving the branch outcome. They rely upon *branch prediction* in order to tolerate the effect of *control dependences*. A branch predictor uses the current fetch address to predict whether a branch will be fetched in the current cycle, whether that branch will be taken or not, and what the target address of the branch is. The predictor uses this information to decide where to fetch from in the next cycle. Since the branch execution penalty is only seen if the branch was mispredicted, a highly accurate branch predictor is a very important

mechanism for reducing the branch penalty in a high performance ILP processor.

A variety of branch prediction schemes have been explored [11] – they range between *fixed*, *static displacement-based*, *static with profiling*, and various dynamic schemes, like *Branch History Table with n-bit counters*, *Branch Target Address Cache*, *Branch Target Instruction Cache*, *mixed*, *two-level adaptive*, *hybrid*, etc. Some research studies have also proposed concepts to implement high-bandwidth instruction fetch engines based on *multiple branch prediction*. Such concepts include *trace cache* [12] or the more conventional *multiple-block fetching* [13].

On the other hand, given that a majority of static instructions exhibit very little variations in values that they produce/consume during the course of a program's execution [14], *data dependences* can be eliminated at run-time by predicting the outcome values of instructions (*value prediction*) and by executing the true data dependent instructions. In general, the outcome value of an instruction can be assigned to registers, memory locations, condition codes, etc. The execution is *speculative*, as it is not assured that instructions were fed with correct input values. Since the correctness of execution must be maintained, speculatively executed instructions retire only if the prediction was proven correct – otherwise, they are

Several architectures have been proposed for value prediction [15] – *last value predictor*, *stride predictor*, *context predictors* and *hybrid approaches* in order to get good accuracy over a set of programs due to the different data value locality characteristics that can be exploited only by different schemes. Based on instruction type, value prediction is sometimes identified as prediction of the outcome of *arithmetic instructions* only, and the prediction of the outcome of

*memory access instructions* as a different class, referred to as *memory prediction*.

**2. Part A: Fluid atoms in ILP processor pipelines**

statistics.

discarded.

Another challenging task in the application of FSPNs is the modeling and performance analysis of *Peer-to-Peer* (P2P) live video streaming systems. Web locations offering live video content increasingly attract more and more visitors, which, if the system is based on the client/server architecture, leads to sustainability issues when clients rise above the upload capabilities of the streaming servers. Since IP Multicast failed to satisfy the requirements of an affordable, large scale live video streaming, in the last decade the science community intensively works in the field of P2P networking technologies for live video broadcast. P2P live video streaming is a relatively new paradigm that aims for streaming live video content to a large number of clients with low cost. Even though many such applications already exist, these systems are still in their early stages and prior to creation of such a system it is necessary to analyze performance via representative model that provides significant insight into the system's behavior. Nevertheless, modeling and performance analysis of P2P live video streaming systems is a complex combinatorial problem, which requires addressing many properties and issues of such systems. Inspired by several research articles concerned with modeling of their behavior, in the second part of this chapter, we present how FSPNs can be used for modeling and performance analysis of a mesh based P2P live video streaming system. We adopt fluid flow to represent bits as *atoms of a fluid* that travel through fluid pipes (network infrastructure). If we represent peers with discrete tokens and video bits as fluid, then we have numerous possibilities to evaluate the performance of the system. The developed model is simple and quite flexible, providing performance evaluation of a system that accounts for a number of system features, such as: network topology, peer churn, scalability, peer average group size, peer upload bandwidth heterogeneity, video buffering, control traffic overhead and admission control for lesser contributing peers. In this particular case, discrete-event simulation (DES) is carried out using SimPy (http://simpy.sourceforge.net) – an object-oriented, process-based discrete-event simulation language based on standard Python (http://www.python.org), which provides the modeler with components of a simulation model including processes (for active components) and resources (for passive components) and provides monitor variables to aid in gathering statistics.


**1. Introduction**

Near real-time and statistical information about flooded areas is essential for several public services, i.e., emergency, rescue, recovery, spatial planning, habitat monitoring, and adaption to climate change. Satellite remote sensing can provide timely and operational data as well as statistical spatial information about inundated areas covered with water. Two types of satellite imagery are available for monitoring surface flood dynamics: optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Optical satellite remote sensing can only be applied in cloud-free situations. However, floods often occur during long-lasting periods of precipitation and persistent cloud cover. Therefore, SAR systems are usually a preferred tool for the monitoring of floods from space. A smooth open water surface is characterized by a low SAR backscatter, and this difference in backscatter response generally allows flood mapping [1]. Over the last decade, various methods for deriving the flood extent from SAR data have been proposed [2–18]. Based on summaries by Martinis et al. [18] and Liang and Liu [8], the most commonly applied methodology for flood mapping from a single image is histogram thresholding, which can be used in combination with different image processing approaches. Temporal change detection techniques [19,20] and coherence analysis [21] have also been used for open water mapping. However, temporal change detection approaches require two images and can therefore be limited by the temporal coverage of satellite imagery. To improve flood mapping accuracy, the advantages of ancillary data, such as the DEM (digital elevation model) derived HAND (height above the nearest drainage) index and the catchment derived DIST (distance from drainage) index as well as land use map, have been demonstrated in several studies [17,18,20,22]. Most of the proposed approaches

**Citation:** Sipelgas, L.; Aavaste, A.; Uiboupin, R. Mapping Flood Extent and Frequency from Sentinel-1 Imagery during the Extremely Warm Winter of 2020 in Boreal Floodplains and Forests. *Remote Sens.* **2021**, *13*, 4949. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rs13234949

Academic Editor: Alban Kuriqi

Received: 15 October 2021 Accepted: 2 December 2021 Published: 6 December 2021

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

for flood mapping are semi-automatic. A fully automatic methodology that integrates split thresholding and fuzzy logic classification has been proposed and applied by Martinis et al. [18] for the processing of TerraSAR-X, and by Twele et al. [23] for the processing of Sentinel-1 (S1).

Recent studies by Grimaldi et al. [24] and Tsyganskaya et al. [25] have summarized the approaches of flood mapping under the forest canopy. The study by Grimaldi et al. [24] shows that the most commonly applied method for the detection of flooded areas under vegetation is the identification of increased backscatter values compared to other objects. The penetration depth of the SAR signal into vegetation is higher for longer wavelengths, so the use of the L-band has been recommended [26–28]. However, several studies [20,29,30] have demonstrated the capabilities of C-band and X-band data in the identification of flooded vegetation, especially in the case of sparse forests and leaf-off conditions. Copolarized signals (HH or VV) are preferred over cross-polarized signals for mapping water under vegetation. Studies have indicated that the use of HH-polarization leads to more accurate results compared to VV-polarization [31,32]. Moreover, the use of polarimetric decomposition and/or interferometric SAR coherence has been utilized for the mapping of floods under vegetation [33]. However, the availability of full polarimetric data is often limited in terms of spatial extent and temporal coverage.

Estonia is known for its large seasonal riverside areas that are flooded over annually. The surface area of the Estonian floodplain grasslands with a high nature conservation value is estimated to be 16,000 hectares. According to the EU Habitats Directive, northern boreal alluvial meadows (habitat type code 6450) are grasslands situated on the banks of large rivers, in sections with slow flow, which are frozen in the winter and flooded in the spring–summer period. However, extremely warm winters in Estonia during the last five years have also caused large flooding during winter [34]. Extreme changes in inundation extent, depth, and duration define phonological patterns, animal migration routes, and human living spaces [35]. Therefore, it is important to monitor the temporal and spatial changes in flooded areas.

The boreal forest encompasses approximately 30% of the global forest area and provides critical services to local, regional, and global populations. Communities benefit from ecosystem services provided by forests for fishing, hunting, leisure activities, and economic opportunities [36]. Countries such as Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Russia extract wood from boreal regions for their forest industries [36]. Flooding causes disturbances in forest management, resulting in economic losses. The vulnerability of the forest ecosystem in a changing climate has been discussed in Gauthier et al. [36] and Hari and Kulmala [37]. Previous studies have expressed the importance of flood monitoring in areas with emerging vegetation for a comprehensive evaluation of the economic and environmental costs of floods [38–40]. Recent mild winters in Estonia have affected the forest industry. Forest management is impossible due to unfrozen soils and floods [41]. However, the spatial extent and duration of floods during the winter period in Estonia is still unknown.

At the European scale, two flood-monitoring services are provided. The (1) Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) [42] provides a free-of-charge mapping service in cases of natural disasters, man-made emergencies, and humanitarian crises throughout the world. This service can be triggered by request in the case of an emergency. The (2) Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) provides a pan-European, high-resolution product known as Water and Wetness. This product shows the occurrence of water and wet surfaces over the 2009–2018 period. Thematic maps were produced for the years 2015 and 2018. These layers are compiled from multi-temporal high-resolution optical and radar satellite imagery [43].

However, these services do not provide information about the inter-annual variability of water extent on the floodplains, nor information about the flooded forest areas. Therefore, the current study was initiated with the following aims:

• Set up an optimal automatic workflow for open-water and flooded forest mapping from S1 data.


**7.4 Finally, the 'Greening'**

*Plant Communities and Their Environment*

fertiliser is applied shortly before flowering.

of OGA is effective to chase off harmful insects.

*7.3.8 The diversification or the counter-season production*

personal activity or as a collective one.

*7.3.7 Biological insect control*

investment loss.

*7.3.6 OGA*

can boost the yield. Based on this knowledge, micro-dosing as fertiliser strategy has been developed [127, 128]. Micro-dosing means a placed fertilisation (in contrast to broadcast application) into the sowing pocket at sowing or early in the season, where the nutrients are needed most. Only 2 kg of phosporus are able to double the yield on the poorest sites. Micro-dosing at sowing supports the early establishment of the plant. Once the crop is established and crop loss ha not to be expected, further fertilisation can be done without the risk of

However, for the poorest farmers in remote areas, even market access to fertiliser is limited. They can rely on wood ash as local fertiliser, since cooking is done with firewood. Wood ash provides soluble phosphours, potassium, calcium and other micro-nutrients. It can be considered as a complex fertiliser, since it stems from plants. Consequently, it provides most nutrients needed by plants. two grams of wood ash placed into the sowing pocket but at little distance to pearl millet seeds has proven to be effective in increasing yield on poor sites. For legumes, this local

OGA is fermented human urine that is used as liquid fertiliser. It is an autochthonous innovation developed by the farmer organisation Fuma Gaskiya in the Maradi area of Niger taking Asian practices as example. It mainly contains nitrogen and potassium as fertilising compounds and has shown to consistently increase pearl millet biomass and grain yield. It is a resource that is locally available for free. It is placed application makes it efficient in annihilating the nitrogen constraint of crop production. Combined with wood ash application (as source for soluble phosphorus), two local resources can be used to fight the notorious soil deficiency with respect to these nutrients. In addition, it is reported by farmers that the smell

The head miner became a major during the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s. Pesticide control is out of reach for subsistence farmers. In consequence, a biological control mechanism using the parasitoid wasp *Habrobracon hebetor* was developed. The parasitoid can potentially be produced locally. However, there is still no agro-enterprise that has taken up this innovation. Perhaps, production is too sophisticated and potential price levels or too high for application by subsistence

Food security shall be enlarged by intensified and irrigated vegetable production. It constitutes by now a widely accepted activity, wherever the bases are given (**Figure 21C**). It ranges from the vegetable and fruit production in the vicinity of towns or to intensive onion production for export [83, 129]. It can be run on as

Thus, these small-scale projects proved chances on the personal of village level

to earn its own living and to build sustainable base for villages. They fulfil the demand for participativity and local decision on the projects. Moreover, they are less endangered by the overall insecurity and they may develop their systems by own experiences, and guaranteeing thus a long performance, independently from

**90**

external pressures.

farmers.

After all there is an augmentation in the plant cover. It is evident too in the southern Sahara and the northern Sahel as well as in the Park region of the southern Sahel, from where it was taken by [130, 131] as a sign of a principal 'regreening'. But there is still degradation of ecosystems parallel to that recovery in some regions [7, 12].

## **7.5 In the long run – future prospects**

Finally, the green future of the Sahelian areas needs a landscape approach where the different stakeholders jointly act in a way it takes into account that the multiple angles of natural and socio-economic environment. Short-term action by decision makers who want to see short-term results and who are driven by the dogma of novelty – in particular in science – will not lead to a sound outcome. In contrast, the basics need to be understood, more participatory action is needed, and long-term development concepts need to be supported. Agriculture has to and is able to support the landscape productivity and thus 'greening'. No sophisticated approaches are needed, but the insight that subsistence oriented agriculture needs innovations that are simple, affordable and based on local resources. In a long-term, a re-integration of crop and livestock production is inevitable to partly close the nutrient cycle.

The decade long experience of our colleagues from university of Abdou Moumouni university of Niamey [132, 133] came to the general conclusion on regeneration possibilities of degraded landscapes (see **Figure 21**). Damage and degradation of *Acacia-albida*-parks and Combretaceae-savannas in the Southeast of Niger (stages 1 and 2) diminished the resources for the local population in such a dimension that an intervention was necessary. The classical stonewalls on the slopes alone provoked runnels climbing up the slope and aggravated the situation (stage 3). Thus, it was necessary to intervene at all points and for a long period in order to stop further linear erosion and to allow the auto-regeneration of vegetation and soil (stage 4). Especially on silty-clayey grounds, it will take time to collect sufficient organic material on the surface to allow an implantation of grasses and herbs as further stages of succession. Mulching, however, turned out to be successful to attract ants of termites to transport

### **Figure 23.**

*Experiences with the regeneration of an overexploited* Faidherbia*-park Southwest of Niamey [69, 132], modified.*

fines from the deeper parts of the sediments up to the surface (see also [134]). And finally, also follows the ideas of the different 'Tassa' initiatives (see above).

Supported by strong farmer organisations, farmers can make significant progress indepently from the national political situation. Agricultual research should not only focus on single management measures but also adopt a farming systems approach, where combined innovations are researched always under the paradigm of adoptability taking the farmers' view into account [135, 136].

In the long-term, a part of the population needs to gain its living from activities outside agriculture. The pre-requisites to reach this goal are infrastructure and education. The latter should begin in rural areas with agriculture becoming a regular subject in grammar schools (**Figure 23**).


**4. Results**

#### *4.1. Depositional Environments Characterization*

The first step of the interpretation was the identification of reflection discordances and lapouts such as onlaps, downlaps, offlaps, toplaps, and truncations [51]. The direction of the presented profile is SW–NE, which is parallel to the main deposition direction (see Figure 1).

A detailed interpretation of the chronostratigraphic horizons and the Wheeler diagram are presented in Figure 2. The heterogeneous sequence exhibits high diversity and complexity in its chronostratigraphic horizons. The whole analyzed interval, which spans approximately 170 ms (about 300 m), consists of 17 depositional sequences and 18 sequence boundaries (SB).

**Figure 2.** Detailed interpretation of (**a**) chronostratigraphic horizons in structural domain showed against the migrated seismic section (**b**) and Wheeler diagram transformed from seismic data. (**c**) Model presenting a chronostratigraphic nature of the stratigraphic units (Reproduced from Qayyum et al. [52], John Wiley & Sons Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists, 2015, Page: 340).

Within the interpreted seismic interval (Figure 3, red frame), it was possible to indicate two kinds of depositional sequences connected to different types of sequence boundaries: the type I depositional sequence with sequence boundary no 1 (SB1) and the type II depositional sequence with sequence boundary no 2 (SB2).

Depositional sequences (type I) linked to SB1 are characterized by subaerial unconformities. These sequences change their character basinward into correlative conformities. The configuration of chronostratigraphic horizons of type I enables the identification of architectural elements that are typical of falling stage system tract (FSST) deposits that manifest hydrocarbon potential (incised valleys, slope fans and basin floor fans) [53]. These elements are also characterized by anomalous values of seismic attributes (see next subsection). The complete type I sequence consists of four depositional systems: falling stage system tract (FSST: Figure 3, brown—slope fan, yellow—basin floor fan), lowstand system tracks (LST: Figure 3, pink—lowstand wedge), transgressive system tracks (TST: Figure 3, green) and highstand system tract (HST: Figure 3, orange). In the bases of these sequences, it was possible to identify the borders of SB1, which are characterized by terrestrial and marine erosion [47].

**Figure 3.** Detailed interpretation of (**a**) chronostratigraphic horizons in structural domain and (**b**) Wheeler diagram transformed from seismic data.

Sequence boundaries (SB2) that are associated with type II deposition manifest the aggradational deposition of the falling stage system tract (FSST). At the shelf margin, aggradational deposition can be found, but the shelf area is not intensively eroded. Additionally, at the slope and basin floor, there is a lack of fans. The influence of tectonic activity is visible. At the base of the slope, and also basinwards (e.g., slope fans—sf; basin floor fans—bff), there exist areas where there is a lack of older deposits that cannot be linked to a gap in sedimentation, but can be linked to the erosional cut (underwater erosion). Three levels/areas with high erosional relief can be defined and are generated by a cohesive debris floor (mudflow). Such processes might be linked to early forced regression [51]. The type II depositional sequence consists of an early falling stage system tract (FSST, Figure 3, purple), which corresponds to forced regression in type I sequences (or, e.g., forced regression of the shelf margin wedge), TST (Figure 3, green) and HST (Figure 3, orange). The lower boundary of these sequences (SB2) is characterized by an erosional surface in a proximal shelf zone. Basinwards, this boundary becomes correlative conformity.

Higher up in the profile, after each type I depositional sequence, a change in the depositional axis can be observed. The character of the sequence elements is also modified (type II depositional sequence). The direction of the siliciclastic material transport is SW, but the sea level drop is not rapid, and the shelf area is not substantially eroded. These circumstances do not favor fan creation within the slope and basin floor. At the shelf margin, aggradational deposition of falling stage system tracts (FSSTs) takes place.

The facies that dominate the shelf (mainly in the SW part of the cross-section) are transgressive deposits (TST, Figure 3, green), their architecture indicates shelf edge progradation. A substantial part of these deposits are highstand deltas (Figure 3, orange) that are built of clinoforms and deposits corresponding to the shallow sea level.

The heterogeneous complex has retrogradational–progradational characteristics with significant thickness changes in specific depositional elements and a diverse architecture. This is a result of few components that changed over time: sediment flux directions, subsidence and eustatic sea level changes. The primary influence on the deposition must have been related to relative sea level changes linked to subsidence rate fluctuations. The high distribution rate in the sedimentary basin seems to limit fluvial erosion and move the shelf margin forward into the area of higher subsidence (depocenter).

Some of the depositional sequences are characterized by the lack of a link between the shelf and deep basin sediments (see Figure 4a,b, around the second "TST" from the left). This is the result of an erosional cut in the older deposits caused by younger deposits. This suggests that the rebuilding of the sedimentary basin architecture took place, which is most likely linked to tectonic processes. We observe a shift in the basin axis, which is crucial information from a prospecting point of view.

#### *4.2. Seismic Signatures for Unconventional Targets Prospecting*

The interpretation of possible prospecting targets took into account the results of the sweetness attribute and spectral decomposition. These two attributes give similar results, but their images are slightly di fferent. The sweetness attribute (Figure 4c) reveals more details that are associated with the definition of the attribute and instantaneous character. The value of the attribute is assigned to each sample at every time point. The amplitude image of the frequency slice (Figure 4d) is more blurred than for the sweetness attribute. This is a result of the averaging e ffect of the FFT computed within the specific time window. Nonetheless, for the presented low frequency volume (20 Hz), it is possible to indicate the anomalous zones. These zones are a ffiliated with the attenuation of high frequencies, which results in a shift in the dominant frequencies in the lower part of a spectrum. The presented image indicates such regions (Figure 4d).

The zones of the highest hydrocarbon potential are linked to the FSST, especially the slope fans and basin floor fans (Figure 4a, yellow; Figure 4c,d, bright colors—high amplitudes). Elements of the transgressive sequence are also prominent (Figure 4a, brown). The transgressive sequence is built of the fine clastic material and can play the role of a caprock (see Figure 4, "TST"—green). There also exist anomalies suggesting hydrocarbon saturation in a transgressive sequence at the shelf, but they have limited volume (Figure 4, "TST"—green, Figure 4c,d, bright colors—high amplitudes). The high-resolution seismic image enabled us to indicate the potential hydrocarbon saturation in the incised valley (see Figure 4, "IVF").

From a hydrocarbon prospecting point of view, transgressive deposits might be prominent exploration targets (TST, Figure 4a, green, Figure 4b). The main prism of these sediments is deposited in the SW part of the section, near the shelf. The interpretation of the seismic reflection pattern in the zone of maximal thickness indicates development towards the shelf. However, TST deposits manifest a retrogradational character and hence cannot be the most prominent from a hydrocarbon prospecting point of view. The most promising areas for hydrocarbon prospecting are as follows: (1) transgressive sequences that fill incised valleys; (2) onshore barriers in the central part of a profile; (3) transgressive deposits covering slope fans.


**2. Barriers to quality inclusion in early childhood**

The primary challenges and barriers to inclusion in EC settings include EC personnel's knowledge, skills, and expertise, within and cross-agency collaboration, and beliefs and attitudes among EC personal and families regarding children with special needs [16]. Many EC professionals, especially those trained as general EC professionals and not dually endorsed in EC/ECSE, do not have the knowledge, skills, and resources to serve children with disabilities. IDEA requires that EC personnel either have the expertise or are supervised by someone who does [16, 17]. The other challenge deals with agency and cross-agency collaboration in EC programs, communities, and systems at local, state, and national levels [11]. The challenges include the agreements for EC programs to cooperatively provide services to children who meet the eligibility requirements to receive early intervention (EI) or ECSE services. Some examples of such collaborative arrangements involve shared responsibility, communication, shared assessments, and planning and shared resources [16].

Challenges of attitude and beliefs involve fears and inadequate or misleading information that can contribute to EC personnel and families' reluctance to include children in inclusive EC settings. EC educators and professionals with more positive attitudes toward teaching children in inclusive classrooms are more likely to implement evidence-based practices related to goals in children's IEPs, create accessible environments, and use appropriate strategies to promote positive developmental and educational outcomes for children with disabilities and their families [13, 16, 17]. Policies and procedure challenges including personnel policies (e.g., training, recruiting, and retaining personnel), fiscal policies (e.g., funding streams, state reimbursements, and legislations), and conflicting policies across programs

(e.g., Head Start, child care, state preschool, state quality ratings and improvement system, school district), are also among barriers to implementation of quality inclusion in EC.

Today, the common assumption for teaching children and students with disabilities is to consider their general education classroom presence. However, there has been a movement to emphasize the quality of learning taking place along with the quantity of time spent in general educational settings [4, 18, 19]. Placement in a general education setting alone does not guarantee improved outcomes. Adequate supports for learning and participation must also be in place [20]. The focal point in the current efforts to promote inclusion and access to the general education curriculum has shifted primarily from where children or students should receive their education to what and how they need to be taught and what outcomes should be achieved [21].

#### **3. EC leadership and quality inclusion**

EC leaders are best positioned to drive and bring about change in all children's education and lives and develop a vision and belief that inclusion is essential in their communities. EC leaders set the tone, manner and philosophy of EC programs [22]. The manner with which EC local leaders approach inclusion affects how personnel and families feel about inclusion and their capacity to provide quality inclusive education to children with disabilities. EC leaders are also best positioned to establish a unified purpose for quality inclusion in EC education by getting intentionally and strategically engaged in cross-agency collaboration and efficient and sustainable infrastructures across different EC settings. EC leaders can increase equitable opportunities for all children and their families by making the inclusion of children with disabilities a priority in their decision-making about program design and resource allocation. The EC leaders also play a pivotal role in quality inclusion by building and supporting a competent workforce with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to implement and sustain quality inclusive practices. In addition, EC leaders can deliberately shift policy to ensure the appropriate professional standards, embedded professional development, and dedicated system of supports that promote responsive practices, positive attitudes and beliefs about inclusion, and knowledge of disability among the key stakeholders that are so crucial to this effort [16]. Considering the pivotal role of EC leaders play in implementing and advancing inclusion, the recommendations below aim to help EC leaders better execute and sustain quality inclusion in EC programs and settings.

In this chapter, EC leaders refer to all change agents at local and program levels involved with leadership or administration positions to implement and provide educational and developmental services to young children from birth through 5 years of age in local educational settings. Local-level and program-level EC leaders' role in making quality inclusion happen is crucial and fundamental to young children and their families. No matter what higher-level decisions, policies, and procedures are available, the local leaders are the acting agents closer to practice and responsible for implementing, transferring, and translating the decisions, policies, procedures, and evidence-based practices into everyday practice settings.

The local-level EC leaders can affect financing, contracting, staffing, transportation, and curricular procedures that might affect EC inclusion. The program level EC leaders might include school district and community-based early childhood program officials such as child care, Head Start, school districts, and other early care and education settings that can impact financing, contracting, staffing, transportation, curricular procedures, and policies and procedures that either promote

**317**

*Quality Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities: Taking a Stance to Support Early…*

tices. Starting with the vision can be designed to help the EC leaders to:

• Decide who will take the lead on each strategy.

**5. Effective determination of services**

• Think about specific strategies needed to meet the program's goals around

• Record the anticipated date of completion and note any progress made.

• Mobilize the resources of the program to enable the vision to be realized.

• Identify the major hurdles that are likely to be faced in implementing the

• Monitor the progress toward fulfilling the mission and realizing the goals and

The LRE requirements under Part B of IDEA support the education of children with disabilities in regular classes alongside their typically developing peers in EC programs that provide early care and education to children birth through age five. Typically developing children are not identified as having a developmental disability/delay and do not have an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) or IEP. IFSP is used in early intervention for children ages birth through two and their families and focuses on the child and family and the services that a family needs to enhance their child's development. IEP is used in special education for children ages three to 21 and focuses on their educational needs [24]. There are several settings where children may be placed to receive special education and related services that include home, regular EC classrooms, special EC classroom, service provider location, and/or community service provision settings. IFSP/IEP team must consider the continuum of placement options and determine the setting appropriate for the individual child. EC leaders need to monitor the process to make sure as a program:

• There is a multidisciplinary approach through collaboration and consultation during IFSP/IEP meetings between professionals from different disciplines and backgrounds, including ECSE teacher, EC teacher, educational assistant

or hinder EC inclusion [16]. The recommendations below aim to provide supporting strategies and initiatives for local EC leaders to build quality inclusive EC programs.

As the leader of an EC program, developing a vision statement for inclusion will help guide the leaders in designing and implementing his/her efforts toward more inclusive practices. It creates a consistency of purpose in the program. A vision by itself is generally vague. The leader articulates the vision in more specific terms through the mission and belief statements and establishes the goals, objectives, strategies, and action tactics [23]. For EC programs, as leaders reflect on the ideas, concepts, and values they have identified around EC inclusion, and their program's mission, they can use the vision and mission development results as guidance in developing an action plan to move forward toward implementing inclusive prac-

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96511*

**4. Starting with the vision**

inclusion.

actions.

objectives.

*Quality Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities: Taking a Stance to Support Early… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96511*

or hinder EC inclusion [16]. The recommendations below aim to provide supporting strategies and initiatives for local EC leaders to build quality inclusive EC programs.


**4. Discussion**

#### *4.1. Erosion Variability*

Variability exists in erosion statistics between the three geomorphic areas, such that channels had the highest variability and interfluves the lowest (Table 2), with sidewalls having intermediate variability. In particular, for both the overall annual dataset and for each seasonal partition, the mean and standard deviation were of similar magnitudes. Similar behavior was observed in a previous study in the same study area [13] and a study of gully erosion in the Karoo region of Africa [23]. Channels were dynamic and acted as both source and sink for sediment loads. Slugs of sediments gathered intermittently in the channel areas and were transported with channel flow following precipitation. Soil erosion was dominant in the gully sidewalls, however, the variability was moderate compared to channel erosion data, implying that sidewalls were less responsive with regard to erosion. In contrast, in the interfluve, the lesser amount of erosion and variability reflected the limited sediment yield, which may be due to the presence of vegetation that retarded erosion and lower gradient. Additionally, differences in soil cover thickness, soil types, moisture content, slope aspect and angle within the different geomorphic settings may explain the range of variability, however, that is beyond the scope of this paper and will be studied in the future.

#### *4.2. Erosion-Precipitation Relationships*

Seasonally, a comparison of erosion variables and precipitation parameters shows the same trend. Ordering seasonal precipitation parameters (Duration and TotAcc) and erosion variables from greatest to least, winter was greatest, followed by spring, summer and lastly, autumn. We see in Table 2 that winter months were the most dynamic, with the greatest mean erosion and the largest standard deviation of all seasons, and this pattern was consistent across channels, interfluves, and sidewalls for all erosion variables. This may be explained by the character of the winter precipitation: greater total accumulation and duration during these months associated with frontal precipitation events. Prior research has also demonstrated that freeze-thaw events are significant drivers of erosion in winter months at this site [14,19]. A similar pattern existed for spring, likely influenced by precipitation accumulation and duration as well as antecedent winter freeze-thaw activity [19]. Next, summer erosion and precipitation (Duration and TotAcc) ranked third, but interestingly, summer experienced the highest precipitation intensity of all seasons (both for AvgInt and MaxInt) (Table 1). This reflected the dominance of convectional precipitation events in summer. Autumn experienced the minimum erosion and precipitation accumulation and duration, but greater maximum precipitation intensity than the annual average. This suggests that autumn precipitation events were short duration, high-intensity events that did not produce much precipitation depth and had little erosive power.

During winter 2016–2017, precipitation variables were near normal levels for the winter season, however, erosion for all geomorphic areas was very low (Figure 3). We examined temperature during this time period to determine whether the reduced freeze-thaw activity may have played a part, but, while winter 2016–2017 had less intense freeze-thaw activity than other winters during the study period, freeze-thaw events occurred. The timing of the greatest precipitation accumulation and duration was late autumn/early winter, and because these events were coincident, they indicate a period of low-intensity precipitation that may have encouraged more infiltration and less runoff, leading potentially to less erosion during this period. Lower hydrostatic pressure in unsaturated soils increases cohesion [24] which may be a significant factor associated with reduced erosion in late autumn and early winter of that year.

Average Intensity and Maximum Intensity of precipitation were very different, with approximately three orders of magnitude between the generally low average precipitation intensities and maximum intensity for the full dataset and each seasonal partition (Table 1). Future research at this site should assess the soil's infiltration capacity and explore different metrics that may better capture the relation between precipitation intensity and erosion. For example, measuring the rainfall duration when the

rain rate exceeds the soil's infiltration capacity would generate a metric of the length of time during which there was a high probability of runoff generation.


**Abstract**

The years 2020 and 2021 have confirmed that planet Earth is facing an environmental crisis due to global warming but augmented through industrial decimation of natural and wildlife areas, the consequences of pollution and even the ongoing population explosion. This chapter will examine religion and spirituality through four ideal types, namely the abrahamic, the dharmic, the secular and the pagan. How do individual religiosities conform to a relevant type, how do they contrast with one another and what similarities do they exhibit with each other? Further, what are the causes of the environmental crisis that our host planet is facing, what roles have the world's religions played in causing or furthering the terrestrial catastrophe and most importantly, what might be the various contributions that could emerge from the spiritual frameworks possibly to alleviate ecological problems and even restore the planet's natural balance? Specifically, what are the detriments and advantages to be noted in the world's major religions?

**Keywords:** ecology, global warming, spirituality, religion, abrahamic, dharmic, secular, pagan