Improving Emergency Plans through Public Engagement

Emergency plans are fundamental for the speedy and effective response in disaster situations. Plans are often constructed by teams of experts, who apply their knowledge to define response procedures, but lack part of location-specific knowledge that can be very relevant to make decisions during responses. Such knowledge is, however, in the minds of people who use those spaces every day, but are not involved in the planning processes. In this paper, we advocate for citizens' involvement in emergency plan elaboration via Public Participation, a mechanism long time used in other areas of e-government. We define a process for the elicitation of citizen's knowledge via public participation, and present the results of a study on its potential impact, where individuals used different collaborative tools to volunteer knowledge to be used in emergency plan improvement.Penadés Gramage, MC.; Vivacqua, AS.; Borges, M.; Canos Cerda, JH. (2011). Improving Emergency Plans through Public Engagement. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/1133

A qualidade paisagística e a gestão do território em áreas de forte pressão imobiliária: uma abordagem sobre a sustentabilidade na zona oeste da cidade do Rio de Janeiro

O estudo apresenta uma breve análise sobre a qualidade da paisagem e a gestão do território relacionadas a produção habitacional no Brasil tendo como área de estudo a região da Zona Oeste da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro administrativamente denominada Área de Planejamento 4 – AP4, onde estão situados os bairros de maior crescimento demográfico na primeira década do século XXI. Para a análise em questão foram estabelecidos indicadores socioambientais e econômicos que apontam para o baixo índice de sustentabilidade observado na região em contraponto a forte pressão imobiliária destinada especialmente às camadas de renda média e alta da população. O resultado obtido aponta para a necessidade urgente de transformação no modo de apropriação do uso do solo tendo como finalidade a obtenção de maior eficiência socioambiental com reflexos positivos sobre os fatores socioeconômicos com base na gestão sustentável da paisagem urbana.Área temática 4: Ciudad, Territorio y Paisaje. Gestión - Eje InvestigaciónFacultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

A qualidade paisagística e a gestão do território em áreas de forte pressão imobiliária: uma abordagem sobre a sustentabilidade na zona oeste da cidade do Rio de Janeiro

O estudo apresenta uma breve análise sobre a qualidade da paisagem e a gestão do território relacionadas a produção habitacional no Brasil tendo como área de estudo a região da Zona Oeste da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro administrativamente denominada Área de Planejamento 4 – AP4, onde estão situados os bairros de maior crescimento demográfico na primeira década do século XXI. Para a análise em questão foram estabelecidos indicadores socioambientais e econômicos que apontam para o baixo índice de sustentabilidade observado na região em contraponto a forte pressão imobiliária destinada especialmente às camadas de renda média e alta da população. O resultado obtido aponta para a necessidade urgente de transformação no modo de apropriação do uso do solo tendo como finalidade a obtenção de maior eficiência socioambiental com reflexos positivos sobre os fatores socioeconômicos com base na gestão sustentável da paisagem urbana.Área temática 4: Ciudad, Territorio y Paisaje. Gestión - Eje InvestigaciónFacultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

A qualidade paisagística e a gestão do território em áreas de forte pressão imobiliária: uma abordagem sobre a sustentabilidade na zona oeste da cidade do Rio de Janeiro

O estudo apresenta uma breve análise sobre a qualidade da paisagem e a gestão do território relacionadas a produção habitacional no Brasil tendo como área de estudo a região da Zona Oeste da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro administrativamente denominada Área de Planejamento 4 – AP4, onde estão situados os bairros de maior crescimento demográfico na primeira década do século XXI. Para a análise em questão foram estabelecidos indicadores socioambientais e econômicos que apontam para o baixo índice de sustentabilidade observado na região em contraponto a forte pressão imobiliária destinada especialmente às camadas de renda média e alta da população. O resultado obtido aponta para a necessidade urgente de transformação no modo de apropriação do uso do solo tendo como finalidade a obtenção de maior eficiência socioambiental com reflexos positivos sobre os fatores socioeconômicos com base na gestão sustentável da paisagem urbana.Área temática 4: Ciudad, Territorio y Paisaje. Gestión - Eje InvestigaciónFacultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Crowdsourcing as a way to increase situational awareness of C&C Centers for emergency response

Rescue operations in most disasters are heavily dependent on accurate situational awareness. Having accurate and complete information is the key for making good decisions. A large amount of such information is contextual, that is, it is variable and needs to be taken from the disaster scenario by different means. While "Be safe! Stay away! Let professionals do the work!" is the typical approach of rescue operators with regard to people, there are also advantages of public engagement considering that Citizens generally have a better knowledge of the stricken area and know the daily routines of their family, friends and neighbors. This means that they can help in describing affected areas as well as in localizing possible victims. Inspired by the last sentence, we propose a framework based on these concepts and describe the set of actions that would make it possible. The framework named PENSAD stands for Public Engagement to increase Situational Awareness in Disasters .Da Silva Borges, M.; Vivacqua, AS.; Canos Cerda, JH.; Penades Gramage, MC.; Ruiza-Zafra, Á. (2014). Crowdsourcing as a way to increase situational awareness of C&C Centers for emergency response. ACM Digital Library. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/65293

Antrum Approach Planning for Removal of Impacted Tooth Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

Due to the great number of structures in the maxillofacial region, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an important procedure in presurgical planning for removal of impacted teeth. Most of the information provided by this imaging technique cannot be visualized in conventional radiographs. In addition, CBCT reduces patient exposure to radiation in comparison with helical computed tomography and provides dental practitioners with easy access. We report the clinical case of a patient who underwent a surgical procedure for removal of an impacted maxillary premolar. CBCT-assisted presurgical treatment was used, enabling a more conservative surgical access, a less traumatic and less time consuming procedure than conventional surgical intervention

Coefficient shifts in geographical ecology: an empirical evaluation of spatial and non-spatial regression

Copyright © 2009 The Authors. Copyright © ECOGRAPHY 2009.A major focus of geographical ecology and macro ecology is to understand the causes of spatially structured ecological patterns. However, achieving this understanding can be complicated when using multiple regressions, because the relative importance of explanatory variables, as measured by regression coefficients, can shift depending on whether spatially explicit or non-spatial modelling is used. However, the extent to which coefficients may shift and why shifts occur are unclear. Here, we analyze the relationship between environmental predictors and the geographical distribution of species richness, body size, range size and abundance in 97 multi-factorial data sets. Our goal was to compare standardized partial regression coefficients of non-spatial ordinary least squares regressions (i.e. models fitted using ordinary least squares without taking autocorrelation into account; “OLS models” hereafter) and eight spatial methods to evaluate the frequency of coefficient shifts and identify characteristics of data that might predict when shifts are likely. We generated three metrics of coefficient shifts and eight characteristics of the data sets as predictors of shifts. Typical of ecological data, spatial autocorrelation in the residuals of OLS models was found in most data sets. The spatial models varied in the extent to which they minimized residual spatial autocorrelation. Patterns of coefficient shifts also varied among methods and datasets, although the magnitudes of shifts tended to be small in all cases. We were unable to identify strong predictors of shifts, including the levels of autocorrelation in either explanatory variables or model residuals. Thus, changes in coefficients between spatial and non-spatial methods depend on the method used and are largely idiosyncratic, making it difficult to predict when or why shifts occur. We conclude that the ecological importance of regression coefficients cannot be evaluated with confidence irrespective of whether spatially explicit modelling is used or not. Researchers may have little choice but to be more explicit about the uncertainty of models and more cautious in their interpretation

Proteomic Analysis Reveals That Iron Availability Alters the Metabolic Status of the Pathogenic Fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a thermodimorphic fungus and the causative agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). The ability of P. brasiliensis to uptake nutrients is fundamental for growth, but a reduction in the availability of iron and other nutrients is a host defense mechanism many pathogenic fungi must overcome. Thus, fungal mechanisms that scavenge iron from host may contribute to P. brasiliensis virulence. In order to better understand how P. brasiliensis adapts to iron starvation in the host we compared the two-dimensional (2D) gel protein profile of yeast cells during iron starvation to that of iron rich condition. Protein spots were selected for comparative analysis based on the protein staining intensity as determined by image analysis. A total of 1752 protein spots were selected for comparison, and a total of 274 out of the 1752 protein spots were determined to have changed significantly in abundance due to iron depletion. Ninety six of the 274 proteins were grouped into the following functional categories; energy, metabolism, cell rescue, virulence, cell cycle, protein synthesis, protein fate, transcription, cellular communication, and cell fate. A correlation between protein and transcript levels was also discovered using quantitative RT-PCR analysis from RNA obtained from P. brasiliensis under iron restricting conditions and from yeast cells isolated from infected mouse spleens. In addition, western blot analysis and enzyme activity assays validated the differential regulation of proteins identified by 2-D gel analysis. We observed an increase in glycolytic pathway protein regulation while tricarboxylic acid cycle, glyoxylate and methylcitrate cycles, and electron transport chain proteins decreased in abundance under iron limiting conditions. These data suggest a remodeling of P. brasiliensis metabolism by prioritizing iron independent pathways