Disaster Recovery: Guidance for Donors

This guidance paper goes above and beyond what donors can learn--or already have learned--from a handful of excellent guides developed by the philanthropic community since Hurricane Katrina. Much of this literature on "disaster philanthropy" has been directed at the most effective ways for donors and their agents to deliver assistance during unfolding crises and the immediate aftermath, and how donors and their agents can help provide food, water, clothing, shelter, sanitation, health care and self-governance for masses of displaced and traumatized people. Here, we discuss innovative and under-appreciated ways that donors can help American communities recover and rebuild resiliently from disasters. The goal is to give donors a fresh perspective on supporting local efforts not only to rebuild from disasters already sustained, but also to prepare to recover from potential disasters. In both cases, there are opportunities for donors to directly fund, or pool and leverage funds for a variety of recovery and rebuilding activities, programs and services

U.S. nitrogen science plan focuses collaborative efforts

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95241/1/eost15156.pd

Measurements of ambient HONO concentrations and vertical HONO flux above a northern Michigan forest canopy

Systems have been developed and deployed at a North Michigan forested site to measure ambient HONO and vertical HONO flux. The modified HONO measurement technique is based on aqueous scrubbing of HONO using a coil sampler, followed by azo dye derivatization and detection using a long-path absorption photometer (LPAP). A Na<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>-coated denuder is used to generate "zero HONO" air for background correction. The lower detection limit of the method, defined by 3 times of the standard deviation of the signal, is 1 pptv for 1-min averages, with an overall uncertainty of ±(1 + 0.05 [HONO]) pptv. The HONO flux measurement technique has been developed based on the relaxed eddy accumulation approach, deploying a 3-D sonic anemometer and two HONO measurement systems. The overall uncertainty is estimated to be within ±(8 × 10<sup>−8</sup> + 0.15 <i>F</i><sub>HONO</sub>) mol m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>, with a 20-min averaged data point per 30 min. Ambient HONO and vertical HONO flux were measured simultaneously at the PROPHET site from 17 July to 7 August 2008. The forest canopy was found to be a net HONO source, with a mean upward flux of 0.37 × 10<sup>−6</sup> moles m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>. The HONO flux reached a maximal mean of ~0.7 × 10<sup>−6</sup> moles m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> around solar noon, contributing a major fraction to the HONO source strength required to sustain the observed ambient concentration of ~70 pptv. There were no significant correlations between [NO<sub>x</sub>] and daytime HONO flux and between <i>J</i><sub>NO<sub>2</sub></sub> × [NO<sub>2</sub>] and HONO flux, suggesting that NO<sub>x</sub> was not an important precursor responsible for HONO daytime production on the forest canopy surface in this low-NO<sub>x</sub> rural environment. Evidence supports the hypothesis that photolysis of HNO<sub>3</sub> deposited on the forest canopy surface is a major daytime HONO source

Loss, Bereavement and Creativity: Meanings and Uses

Within the field of death and bereavement studies, the assumption that loss and bereavement provide the spur to creativity has become so widespread as to assume the status of a conventional wisdom. With this in mind, this article surveys the literature on the topic, extant, and contemporary, revealing its diffuseness as well as the multidisciplinary synergies produced by those working in disparate academic and clinical fields of practice. In so doing, the article explores what it means to be creative in the context of loss and bereavement, the potential for self-development and personal growth offered by creativity and loss, the theoretical premises linking creativity and loss, and the application and challenges for creative therapies in the institutional context of hospice and palliative car

Cluster analysis of the organic peaks in bulk mass spectra obtained during the 2002 New England Air Quality Study with an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer

International audienceWe applied hierarchical cluster analysis to an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) bulk mass spectral dataset collected aboard the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown during the 2002 New England Air Quality Study off the east coast of the United States. Emphasizing the organic peaks, the cluster analysis yielded a series of categories that are distinguishable with respect to their mass spectra and their occurrence as a function of time. The differences between the categories mainly arise from relative intensity changes rather than from the presence or absence of specific peaks. The most frequent category exhibits a strong signal at m/z 44 and represents oxidized organic matter most probably originating from both, anthropogenic as well as biogenic sources. On the basis of spectral and trace gas correlations, the second most common category with strong signals at m/z 29, 43, and 44 contains contributions from isoprene oxidation products. The third through the fifth most common categories have peak patterns characteristic of monoterpene oxidation products and were most frequently observed when air masses from monoterpene rich regions were sampled. Taken together, the second through the fifth most common categories represent as much as 5 µg/m3 organic aerosol mass ? 17% of the total organic mass ? that can be attributed to biogenic sources. These numbers have to be viewed as lower limits since the most common category was attributed to anthropogenic sources for this calculation. The cluster analysis was also very effective in identifying a few contaminated mass spectra that were not removed during pre-processing. This study demonstrates that hierarchical clustering is a useful tool to analyze the complex patterns of the organic peaks in bulk aerosol mass spectra from a field study

Expressions 2001

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1020/thumbnail.jp

Behind the stiff upper lip: war narratives of older men with dementia.

The concept of the stiff upper lip stands as a cultural metaphor for the repression and figurative ¿biting back¿ of traumatic experience, particularly in military contexts. For men born in the first half of the 20th century, maintaining a stiff upper lip involved the ability to exert high levels of cognitive control over the subjective, visceral and emotional domains of experience. In the most common forms of dementia, which affect at least one in five men now in their 80s and 90s, this cognitive control is increasingly lost. One result is that, with the onset of dementia, men who have in the intervening years maintained a relative silence about their wartime experiences begin to disclose detailed memories of such events, in some cases for the first time. This article draws on narrative biographical data from three men with late-onset dementia who make extensive reference to their experience of war. The narratives of Sid, Leonard and Nelson are used to explore aspects of collective memory of the two World Wars, and the socially constructed masculinities imposed on men who grew up and came of age during those decades. The findings show that in spite of their difficulties with short term memory, people with dementia can contribute rich data to cultural studies research. Some aspects of the narratives discussed here may also be considered to work along the line of the counter-hegemonic, offering insights into lived experiences of war that have been elided in popular culture in the post-War years

Speciation of OH reactivity above the canopy of an isoprene-dominated forest

Measurements of OH reactivity, the inverse lifetime of the OH radical, can provide a top–down estimate of the total amount of reactive carbon in an air mass. Using a comprehensive measurement suite, we examine the measured and modeled OH reactivity above an isoprene-dominated forest in the southeast United States during the 2013 Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) field campaign. Measured and modeled species account for the vast majority of average daytime reactivity (80–95 %) and a smaller portion of nighttime and early morning reactivity (68–80 %). The largest contribution to total reactivity consistently comes from primary biogenic emissions, with isoprene contributing ∼  60 % in the afternoon, and ∼  30–40 % at night and monoterpenes contributing ∼  15–25 % at night. By comparing total reactivity to the reactivity stemming from isoprene alone, we find that ∼  20 % of the discrepancy is temporally related to isoprene reactivity, and an additional constant ∼  1 s^(−1) offset accounts for the remaining portion. The model typically overestimates measured OVOC concentrations, indicating that unmeasured oxidation products are unlikely to influence measured OH reactivity. Instead, we suggest that unmeasured primary emissions may influence the OH reactivity at this site

What "best practice" could be in Palliative Care: an analysis of statements on practice and ethics expressed by the main Health Organizations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In palliative care it would be necessary to refer to a model. Nevertheless it seems that there are no official statements which state and describe that model. We carried out an analysis of the statements on practice and ethics of palliative care expressed by the main health organizations to show which dimensions of end-of-life care are taken into consideration.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The official documents by the most representative health organisations committed to the definition of policies and guidelines for palliative and end-of-life care had been considered. The documents were analysed through a framework of the components of end-of-life care derived from literature, which was composed of 4 main "areas" and of 12 "sub-areas".</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 34 organizations were identified, 7 international organisations, and 27 organisations operating on the national level in four different countries (Australia, Canada, UK and United States). Up to 56 documents were selected and analysed. Most of them (38) are position statements. Relevant quotations from the documents were presented by "areas" and "sub-areas". In general, the "sub-areas" of symptoms control as well as those referring to relational and social issues are more widely covered by the documents than the "sub-areas" related to "preparation" and to "existential condition". Indeed, the consistency of end-of-life choices with the patient's wishes, as well as completion and meaningfulness at the end of life is given only a minor relevance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>An integrated model of the best palliative care practice is generally lacking in the documents. It might be argued that the lack of a fixed and coherent model is due to the relevance of unavoidable context issues in palliative care, such as specific cultural settings, patient-centred variables, and family specificity. The implication is that palliative care staff have continuously to adapt their model of caring to the specific needs and values of each patient, more than applying a fixed, although maybe comprehensive, care model.</p