Song Complexity Increases During White-Handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar) Duets

Gibbons are unique among the apes because mated pairs regularly sing in organized duets, and because the male’s song phrases increase in complexity during duets and solo bouts. These increases in complexity have not been systematically quantified for any gibbon species. Here we describe and quantify these changes to the male song, from recordings of a wild population of white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar). We found that the number of notes in male coda phrases increased over the course of song bouts, as did their maximum fundamental frequency. Our analysis of individual syllable types within the coda phrase revealed that male-specific note types, trill and quaver notes, increased in amount and in duration, respectively, within song bouts

Citizen Trust and Governments\u27 Response to Disasters

The purpose of this descriptive study is to determine if there is a difference in citizen trust in Orange County government regarding the handling of disaster. Various dimensions like competence, benevolence, and integrity can determine a citizen\u27s trust within its government. Disasters, such as man-made and natural, are described as a disruption to society through widespread damage to people and material. Counties experience man-made and natural disasters. Depending on its response to the incidents, counties can determine if the citizens view the county as a trustworthy and responsible government body. This study explored if there were differences in citizen trust in government response to different disasters and if citizens of different demographics had differing levels of trust. This study found that 1) there is no statistical difference between the average citizen trust scores between the two disasters 2) there is no statistical difference between the average citizen trust scores for the two groups, and 3) there is no statistical difference between the overall average citizen trust score between older and younger generations

Sismo-haití:proyecto de cooperación para el cálculo de la peligrosidad y el riesgo sísmico en Haití

El terremoto ocurrido el 12 de enero de 2010 en Haití devastó la ciudad de Puerto Príncipe, interrumpiendo la actividad social y económica. El proyecto Sismo-Haití surgió como respuesta a la solicitud de ayuda del país ante esta catástrofe y está siendo llevado a cabo por el grupo de investigación en Ingeniería Sísmica de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, especialistas en geología y sismología de las universidades Complutense de Madrid, Almería y Alicante, el Consejo Superior de Iinvestigaciones Científicas y técnicos locales. En el marco del citado proyecto se realizará un estudio de la amenaza sísmica, con la consiguiente obtención de mapas de aceleraciones que sirvan de base para una primera normativa sismorresistente en el país. Asimismo, se llevará a cabo un estudio de riesgo sísmico en alguna población piloto, incluyendo estudios de microzonación y vulnerabilidad sísmica, así como la estimación de daños y pérdidas humanas ante posibles sismos futuros, cuyos resultados irán dirigidos al diseño de planes de emergencia. En este trabajo se presentan los primeros avances del proyecto. Uno de los objetivos más importantes del proyecto Sismo-Haití es la formación de técnicos en el país a través de la transmisión de conocimientos y experiencia que el grupo de trabajo tiene en materia de peligrosidad y riesgo sísmico, así como en todo lo relacionado con la gestión de la emergencia

Haitians and problems of acculturation

Haitians as an ethnic group face many problems while trying to acculturate in Boston. This pilot study was conducted in an attempt to identify the major source of their problems in achieving cultural integration. The data was analyzed via descriptive statistics: frequency distributions and cross-tabulations. The central problem identified was the lack of a transitional vehicle which would make easier the adaption from a monocultural to a bicultural society. Proposal for such a transitional vehicle was made, in addition to a set of guidelines. These were developed to facilitate the task of mental health caregivers dealing with Haitian clients

Mapa preliminar de períodos predominantes del suelo en Puerto Príncipe (Haití) a partir de medidas de ruido ambiental.

The 2010 Haiti earthquake, occurred on January 12th at 16:53:09 local time (21:53:09 UTC) with epicentral distance of 15 km from the capital Port au Prince, MW 7.0 and 13 km hypocenter deep, was the strongest event in the area since happened in 1770. The maximum macroseismic intensity was estimated as X (MMI scale). The aim of this research is to obtain a preliminary zonation of Port-au-Prince in terms of predominant resonance periods of ground. A total of 36 short-period ambient noise records have been carried out on a grid of about 500x500m. H/V spectral ratio method (HVSR) has been applied to determine the predominant period at each point. The lowest values ( 0.45s) correspond to the center and western parts, composed of Pleistocene-Holocene alluvial deposits and anthropogenic land reclaimed from the sea. We have determined the ground VS30 structure inside National Palace garden, using simultaneous ambient noise measurements. An array made up of 6 sensors were used, with 5 of them uniformly distributed along a circumference and a sixth one placed in its centre. The records were analyzed by using the spatial autocorrelation method (SPAC). The VS 30 value obtained was 331m/sec, in good agreement with the average values obtained for this area by other authors, using prospecting techniques

Horizontal to vertical spectral ratio measurements in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) area damaged by the 2010 Haiti earthquake

In order to evaluate ground shaking characteristics due to surface soil layers in the urban area of Port-au-Prince, short-period ambient noise observation has been performed approximately in a 500x500m grid. The HVSR method was applied to this set of 36 ambient noise measurement points to determine a distribution map of soil predominant periods. This map reveals a general increasing trend in the period values, from the Miocene conglomerates in the northern and southern parts of the town to the central and western zones formed of Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial deposits respectively, where the shallow geological materials that cover the basement increase in thickness. Shorter predominant periods (less than 0.3 s) were found in mountainous and neighbouring zones, where the thickness of sediments is smaller whereas longer periods (greater than 0.5 s) appear in Holocene alluvial fans, where the thickness of sediments is larger. The shallow shear-wave velocity structure have been estimated by means of inversion of Rayleigh wave dispersion data obtained from vertical-component array records of ambient noise. The measurements were carried out at one open space located in Holocene alluvial deposits, using 3 regular pentagonal arrays with 5, 10 and 20m respectively. Reliable dispersion curves were retrieved for frequencies between 4.0 and 14 Hz, with phase velocity values ranging from 420m/s down to 270 m/s. Finally, the average shear-wave velocity of the upper 30 m (VS30) was inverted for characterization of this geological unit

Desarrollo de la aplicación web SISMO-HAITÍ para difusión de resultados de peligrosidad sísmica en la isla de La Española

Tras el catastrófico terremoto ocurrido en Haití el 12 de enero de 2010, de magnitud Mw 7 y profundidad de 10 km, (fuente: USGS) con un epicentro próximo a la capital, Puerto Príncipe (15 km), el país quedo en una situación catastrófica y de extrema pobreza, con necesidades básicas en salud, nutrición, educación y habitabilidad. Pocos meses después se inició el proyecto de cooperación SISMO-HAITI, financiado y coordinado por el Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería Sísmica (GIIS) de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), con participación de otras universidades españolas y del CSIC y siendo la contraparte Haitiana el Observatorio de Vulnerabilidad y Medio Ambiente (ONEV). Uno de los objetivos del proyecto es el cálculo de peligrosidad sísmica en la Isla de La Española que constituya la base para la elaboración del primer código sísmico del país. El trabajo que aquí se presenta es una aplicación web desarrollada con el Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG) del proyecto SISMO-HAITI. En esta aplicación se integran los diferentes mapas generados para el cálculo de la peligrosidad sísmica, así como los mapas resultantes, que pueden ser analizados e interpretados con mayor facilidad gracias a la aplicación. Para analizar la influencia de los diferentes inputs de cálculo se ha introducido el catálogo sísmico, las diferentes zonificaciones sismo genéticas y las principales fallas tectónicas. Toda esta información se puede superponer geográficamente con posibilidad de realizar consultas cruzadas en las correspondientes bases de datos, permitiendo el análisis de sensibilidad de éstos en los resultados. El desarrollo de esta aplicación web se ha creado a través de ArcGis Server 1

A first approach to earthquake damage estimation in Haiti: advices to minimize the seismic risk

This study is in the frame of the cooperative line that several Spanish Universities and other foreign partners started with the Haitian government in 2010. According to our studies (Benito et al. in An evaluation of seismic hazard in La Hispaniola, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 33rd General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission, Moscow, Russia, 2012) and recent scientific literature, the earthquake hazard in Haiti remains high (Calais et al. in Nat Geosci 3:794–799, 2010). In view of this, we wonder whether the country is currently ready to face another earthquake. In this sense, we estimated several damage scenarios in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien associated to realistic possible major earthquakes. Our findings show that almost 50 % of the building stock of both cities would result uninhabitable due to structural damage. Around 80 % of the buildings in both cities have reinforced concrete structure with concrete block infill; however, the presence of masonry buildings becomes significant (between 25 and 45 % of the reinforced concrete buildings) in rural areas and informal settlements on the outskirts, where the estimated damage is higher. The influence of the soil effect on the damage spatial distribution is evident in both cities. We have found that the percentage of uninhabitable buildings in soft soil areas may be double the percentage obtained in nearby districts located in hard soil. These results reveal that a new seismic catastrophe of similar or even greater consequences than the 2010 Haiti earthquake might happen if the earthquake resilience is not improved in the country. Nowadays, the design of prevention actions and mitigation policies is the best instrument the society has to face seismic risk. In this sense, the results of this research might contribute to define measures oriented to earthquake risk reduction in Haiti, which should be a real priority for national and international institutions.This work was developed thanks to the financial support of the Technical University of Madrid, through the series of projects SISMO-HAITI

An evaluation of seismic hazard in La Hispaniola, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

An evaluation of the seismic hazard in La Hispaniola Island has been carried out, as part of the cooperative project SISMO-HAITI, supported by the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and developed by several Spanish Universities, the National Observatory of Environment and Vulnerability) ONEV of Haiti, and with contributions from the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN) and University Seismological Institute of Dominican Republic (ISU). The study was aimed at obtaining results suitable for seismic design purposes. It started with the elaboration of a seismic catalogue for the Hispaniola Island, requiring an exhaustive revision of data reported by more than 20 seismic agencies, apart from these from the PRSN and ISU. The final catalogue contains 96 historical earthquakes and 1690 instrumental events, and it was homogenized to moment magnitude, Mw. Seismotectonic models proposed for the region were revised and a new regional zonation was proposed, taking into account geological andtectonic data, seismicity, focal mechanisms, and GPS observations. In parallel, attenuation models for subduction and crustal zones were revised in previous projects and the most suitable for the Caribbean plate were selected. Then, a seismic hazard analysis was developed in terms of peak ground acceleration, PGA, and spectral accelerations, SA (T), for periods of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2s, using the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) methodology. As a result, different hazard maps were obtained for the quoted parameters, together with Uniform Hazard Spectra for Port au Prince and the main cities in the country. Hazard deaggregation was also carried out in these towns, for the target motion given by the PGA and SA (1s) obtained for return periods of 475, 975 and 2475 years. Therefore, the controlling earthquakes for short- and long-period target motions were derived. This study was started a few months after the 2010 earthquake, as a response to an aid request from the Haitian government to the UPM, and the results are available for the definition of the first building code in Haiti

Estimación del riesgo sísmico en Puerto Príncipe (Haití) como base para la elaboración de planes de emergencia

En este trabajo se realiza una propuesta de cálculo de riesgo sísmico en términos de daño físico para un escenario realista en Puerto Prínicpe (Haití). Los resultados del modelo propuesto se calibran con datos del sismo de enero de 2010