Strategy Options for Disaster Risk Reduction Through Institutional Improvements and Enhanced Financial Sustainability: Recommendations

This presentation was commissioned by the Natural Disaster Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on June 13th and 14th, 2005.Disasters, Management Network Gestión de la Red

Internacionalización y globalización : notas sobre su incidencia en las condiciones y expresiones del riesgo en América Latina

El riesgo se explica en relación con una construcción social, producto de la relación dinámica,\ud cambiante y dialéctica entre los diversos tipos de amenaza y vulnerabilidad humana,\ud los procesos que contribuyen a la conformación del riesgo derivan de las modalidades\ud o estilos de crecimiento o acumulación económicas experimentadas en la\ud sociedad a lo largo de la historia. En América Latina, en general, el capitalismo en sus\ud distintas fases y formas ha conducido a la conformación de condiciones particulares de\ud riesgo. La globalización, como proceso objetivo, y las políticas impulsadas y sustentadas\ud en los principios del neoliberalismo cimientan nuevas expresiones del riesgo y del\ud desastre, surgen así nuevas formas de riesgo en el ámbito territorial y social, asociadas\ud con la conformación de zonas de libre comercio, corredores comerciales o logísticos,\ud grandes ciudades articuladoras de la nueva territorialidad de los procesos económicos y\ud la consecuente exclusión social de amplios sectores de la población

Alternatives for sustained disaster risk reduction

The daily media is filled with images of catastrophic events which seem increasingly frequent and violent In parallel there are a large range of scientific studies debates in the policy arena, and a growing number of international institutions focused on disaster reduction. But a paradox remains that despite advances in technology, disasters continue to increase, affecting many individuals in rich as well as poor countries

The history of disaster incidents and impact in Nepal 1900-2005: ecological, geographical, and development perspectives

The people of Nepal today are exposed to perennial local disaster events and profound vulnerability to disaster. The combined efforts of government, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and Nepalese communities are needed to avert the impacts of disaster events. Much more can be done immediately to reduce the impacts by reviewing the scope and distribution of past disaster events. This article provides an overview of Nepal’s disaster vulnerability through an analysis of the record of disaster events that occurred from 1900 to 2005. The data were generated from historical archives and divided into incidents at the district, subnational, and national levels. Statistical and Geographical Information System (GIS) analyses were carried out to generate district level disaster vulnerability maps. It is concluded that small-scale, local disasters have a greater cumulative impact in terms of casualties than large-scale, national disasters

The Devonian of the Bear River Range, Utah

The geological column in northern Utah has had very little detailed study. Those who have made reports on this section have done so only in a very general way, making no detailed sections of any part of the column, excepting that of the Cambrian made by Walcott. Other work has been done by Mansfield in southeastern Idaho and a general section of the Devonian made in Green Canyon, Bear River Range, Utah by kindle

‘The Power of Naming’ : Co-option in Fine Art practice

At every possible level, from undergraduate study to postgraduate research and teaching, art school practitioners working in the field of fine art have to negotiate the relationship between theory and practice. This practice-led research project involves an investigatory journey in which I explore the terrains of 'interest' that have opened up, stimulated, and then informed, my studio and exhibition practices since I was an undergraduate art student. It is a journey that plots a shift from illustrative to poetic forms of creative practice. My central concern has been to understand how these theoretical terrains of interest interact with the practical production of artworks whilst remaining separate, self-sufficient entities. As a result, my aim has been to produce a doctoral submission in which the exhibition of artworks has an equivalent role to the thesis. In practice-led research neither should be subservient to the other. My thesis proposes that the most persuasive way to respond to my topic is through an exploration of the indexical sign (as defined by C. S. Peirce) and the power of naming (as described in Michel Foucault‘s critique of the scientific systems of classification, resemblance, signs and signatures). My chapters explore, firstly, my interests in natural history classification and the political interpretations that critique the history of these systems and ideas; secondly, my interests in the forensic theories that notice the physical signs at a crime scene and then interpret them as indicators of criminal intentions; and lastly, my interest in the productive conflict created through the juxtaposition of poetic artworks and forensic titles, a combination that either ignores or celebrates the indexical nature of my studio techniques. A period of living and working in Japan, where I studied the martial art of Kendo, was responsible for transforming my fascination with lists and glossaries into an interest in the creative tension between waza and keiko, ii between rigorous technique and intuitive freedom. The conclusion of my research journey applies a range of ideas about, and methodological engagements with, the power of naming to the realm of practice-led research which is, for this researcher, situated on the shadowy side of the poetics of exhibition reception

Encouraged by a Little Progress: Voting Rights and the Contests over Social Place and Civil Society in Tennessee\u27s Fayette and Haywood Counties, 1958-1964

Between 1958 and 1964 the citizens of black-majority populations in adjoining West Tennessee counties struggled to claim and exercise citizens\u27 rights to participate in civil society. Voting rights activism amon the black community was answered with an economic embargo conducted by county officials and the busines community. Voting rights were the fracture point in civic society as both counties made the change from tenant to mechanized agriculture and wrestled over the civil and economic position of a no-longer-necessary laboring population. This study examines voter registration as a catalyst of socioeconomic change and social discourse in rural America. During the 1960s traditional plantation agriculture and sharecropping collapsed for good under the weight of postwar economic modernization, civic awareness among the black poulace, and the inability to provide a defensible legal argument for traditional segregation against challenges by federal liberalism. Chapters examine the general economic and social setting prior to 1958 and social assumptions in dependency/paternalism relationships, including the stated and unstated concept of place in these stratified societies; the awakening and assertion of civic participation among the black populace and why voting challenged well-established dependency/paternalism relationships; tactics of economic repression adipted to coerce registered voters to leave the county or return to dependence; the role of federal investigators and the Justice Department in combating segregation and replacing one form of liberalism with another; the efforts and results of activists from outside Tennessee; and the range of responses among the white communities. Includes a timeline of the local conflict (1940-2012) as an appendix. This work argues that the political challenge over voting in these two counties represented fundamental opposing perspectives and differing interpretations of the nature of rights within the public sphere. Racism and segregation involves abstract views about the fundamental way American civil society is constructed, for which color served as a convenient marker

Is the Ketogenic Diet Effective for Treatment in Controlling Seizures in Children with Epilepsy?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not the ketogenic diet is an effective treatment in controlling seizures in children with epilepsy. Study Design: Review of three randomized control trials (RCTs) published in the year 2016. Data Sources: Three RCTs were selected using Medline, PubMed, and Academic Search Premier. Studies were selected that reviewed the ketogenic diet (KD) in controlling seizures in children with epilepsy. All articles were chosen according to date of publication, relevance of topic, effect on quality of life, and patient-oriented evidence that matters (POEM). Outcomes Measured: Seizure diaries and various scoring tests including the Hague Restrictions in Childhood Epilepsy Scale (HARCES) were utilized to assess control of seizures with number of occurrences. Results: All three RCTs found that there were significant improvements in seizure control and frequency when using the KD as treatment in management of epilepsy in children. Study Ijiff et al. found seizures to be less severe after four months of using the KD as compared to care as usual (p=.038) based on the HARCES (Ijiff DM, Postulart D, Lambrechts, DAJE, et al. Epilepsy Behav. 2016; 60:153-157. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.04.033). Lambrechts et al. analyzed seizure diaries revealing a significant improvement of seizure frequency among patients on the KD in comparison to the care as usual group (p=0.024) (Lambrechts, DAJE, Kinderen RJA, Vles JSH, Louw AJA, Aldenkamp AP, Majoie HJM. Acta Neurol Scand. 2017;135(2):231-239. doi: 10.1111/ane.12592). The third article, Kim et al. compared the use of KD and modified Atkin’s diet (MAD), concluding that while the KD was effective in controlling seizures, there was no significant difference between the two diets (p=0.314) (Kim DW, Kang HC, Park JC, Kim HD. Pediatrics. 2004;114(6):1627‐1630. doi: 10.1542/peds.2004-1001). Conclusions: All three studies concluded that the ketogenic diet was effective in controlling seizures in children with epilepsy. Two found statistically significant improvement in seizure control with use of the KD when compared to care as usual, but one study found no statistical significance when comparing the KD and MAD. While the KD has been found to improve seizure control and frequency, more research is indicated to investigate other possible therapeutic diets and their outcomes

Effects of Context on Target Localization

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the presence of non-target objects can influence the planning of a movement towards a remembered target location. One specific aim was to examine how the temporal effects of the task could affect movement planning. The final aim of this thesis was to examine whether or not the mere presence of extrinsic cues can suppress the encoding of intrinsic cues. It was found that when non-target objects are presented simultaneously with the target, interference occurs; however, if the non-target objects are presented at least 250 ms in advance of the targets performance improved. The results also revealed that uncertainty regarding trial type altered participants’ response strategy. It appears as though when participants can anticipate when the response is required, they plan the movement as the trial progresses, however, it appears as though when there is uncertainty participants either suppress their movement plan or hold the representation of target location and only plan the movement when uncertainty has been resolved. Furthermore, the results of Experiments 3 and 4 indicated that participants automatically encode target location within an extrinsic reference frame when non-target objects are available. The principal conclusion was that movement planning is clearly affected by the presence of non-target objects