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Along with the recent development of various theories of the body, Lacan’s body theory aligns with postmodern thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who consider the body to be social and not biological. Lacan emphasizes the body for the Real, the passive condition of the body in terms of formation, identity, and understanding. This condition of the body is further evident in the condition of bodies of women and laborers under patriarchy and capitalism, respectively. Lacan’s ‘not all’ position, which is envisioned in the logical square diagram, allows women a way to question the system of patriarchy and opens up alternative sexual identities. Lacan’s approach to feminine sexuality, when applied to women’s spirituality, emphasizes multiple narratives of body, gender roles, and sexualities. In the social discernment and analyses of liberation theology, the capitalist discourse can be applied as a tool to understand how people are manipulated by late capitalist society without being aware of it. Lacan’s theory of a ‘body without a head’ reflects the current condition of the human body, existing in a state of lack, but including possibilities for transforming society.

Purpose This study aims to determine the optimal value of concession period length in combination with capital structure in build–operate–transfer (BOT) contracts, based on direct negotiation procurement and considering the conflicting financial interests of different parties involved in the project. Design/methodology/approach The financial model of a BOT project is developed considering all the influencing factors. Then, fuzzy set theory is used to take into account the existing risks and uncertainties. Bilateral bargaining game based on alternating-offers protocol is applied between the government and the sponsor to divide project financial benefit considering the lender’s requirements. Finally, concession period and equity level will be determined simultaneously according to the sponsor’s and government’s share of project financial benefit and the lender’s requirements. Findings The proposed model is implemented on a real case study, and a fair and efficient agreement on concession period length and capital structure is achieved between the government and the sponsor considering the lender’s requirements. It is revealed that being the first proposer in the bargaining process will affect the concession period length; however, it will not affect the equity level. Moreover, it is shown that considering income tax as a part of government’s financial benefit increases the length of concession period. Research limitations/implications The presented model concentrates on direct negotiation procurement in BOT projects where the sponsor and government bargain on dividing financial benefits of project. It is assumed that the product/service price is determined before according to market analysis or users’ affordability. All the revenue of project during concession period is assumed to belong to the sponsor. Practical implications The proposed model provides a practical tool to aid BOT participants to reach a fair and efficient agreement on concession period and capital structure. This could prevent failing or prolonging the negotiation and costly renegotiation. Originality/value By investigation of previous studies, it is revealed that none of them can determine the optimal value of concession period length and capital structure simultaneously considering the BOT negotiation process and different financial interests of parties involved in the project. The proposed model presents a new approach to determine the financial variables considering the conflicting interests of involved parties. The other novelty aspects of the presented model are as follows: introducing a new approach for calculating the sponsor and the government’s share of project financial benefit that will affect the determination of the concession period length and considering the effect of existing risks and uncertainties on final agreement between the involved parties using fuzzy set theory.

Precipitation is one of the main components in water budget balance and its trend analysis could help to understand the hydrological features of a basin in the future. In this study, 10 subbasins in western Iran are selected. One rain gauge station is chosen as a control station and three more are selected upstream, in the middle, and downstream of each subbasin. Average monthly and annual rainfall time series are analyzed and then the trends are investigated. Analysis of mentioned time series of control stations reveals that 51% of time series have decreasing trends, while 49% experience increasing trends. Six out of 10 studied subbasins have decreasing trend of average annual rainfall time series all over the basin. Among the most rainy months in the country (November to May), in November 68% of the stations have upward trend, while in March 92% of the stations have downward trend.

From risk to opportunity" implies that in facing risk, humanity has an ability not only to avoid it turning into a disaster, but also to use the threat as an opportunity to transform society into a higher level of sustainability. The means of transformation include increase of social capital in communities, promotion of development, both structural and non-structural, integrated with risk reduction and building resiliency. In the case of floods, this concept should be completed by best use of flood flows. In order to implement this concept, a paradigm shift is necessary from focusing on emergency response and recovery to risk management before disaster occurs. This process should be supported by vulnerability monitoring and development of tools such as standard scales for measuring risk and preparedness level in an integrated approach in order to build capacity for better response to floods by taking advantage of their benefits while at the same time minimizing their social, economic and environmental risks. This shift should be reflected in the post-Hyogo Framework for Action to start in 2015.

This study tests whether the lack of conventional ground-based snow observation for Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) can be overcome by using other Hydro-meteorological data. To this end, two different methods are described. The first one is introducing a methodology using a Distributed Hydrological Model (DHM) to estimate SWE, when the available data are just precipitation and river discharge. For the second one, a distributed version of a Temperature-index snow model is developed and applied, when the ground-based data is limited to precipitation and temperature. Two methods are applied in the upstream of Karaj basin (850 km2), which is the most important water resources of Tehran, the capital of Iran. The estimated SWE is used for snow melt runoff forecast. It is found that forecast runoff correlates well with observed natural discharge. This high correlations suggest that a reliable SWE estimation and snowmelt runoff forecasting can be constructed using the methods in the absence of snow observation.

In this paper a blind test methodology is described and applied for inter-comparison of hydrological models using publicly available global data sets. The model inter-comparison involves making “blind”prediction of selected hydrological responses in the Mae Chaem basin (3853km2) which is located in the North West of Thailand. Moreover the value of the publicly available data sets (e.g. various satellite-based precipitations) is investigated to determine their suitability for Prediction in Ungauged Basin (PUB). The distributed hydrological model BTOPMC is applied for runoff simulation. Transfer parameters from proxy catchment and a limited measurement method are used for model parameters estimation. Though each of the satellite-based precipitations underestimated the flow, GPCP was found best among them and it showed that the application of satellite-based data in PUB is encouraging. The study also prepared a base for model inter-comparison in the Mae Chaem basin.

The 5th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM5) was held on September 27-29, 2011 in Tokyo under the umbrella title “Floods: from risk to opportunity” focused on flood management and disaster mitigation measures in its plenary, oral, and poster sessions. Out of over 250 presented papers, 120 manuscripts – far more than expected – were contributed for post-publication in the Journal of Flood Risk Management, the IAHS Red Book and the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR). Editorial staff members of the JDR, which was independent of ICFM5, attended the conference to survey research activities in related study fields and to announce JDR strategies to participants. The ICHARM scientific committee supervising ICFM5 post-publications is well acquainted with JDR, which is one of the reasons for agreeing on this special issue. The 13 manuscripts presented for consideration by JDR concern the following topics: – Flood forecasting – Basic tools for evaluating inundation flows – Flood management practices and policies – Flood plain management – Relations between human activities and floods These topics range from novel studies to public statements and have been reviewed as papers, reviews, and survey reports. This resulted in 9 papers recommended for the special issue – 4 topics for papers, 1 topic for review, and 4 topics for reports. We thank the authors for their contributions and revisions and the reviewers for their invaluable comments. We also thank the ICHARM committee members for introducing authors to special publications for JDR.