Assessing Vulnerability Before, During and After a Natural Disaster in Fragile Regions: Case Study of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Current approaches of measuring vulnerability to natural hazards generally use a rather static perspective that focuses on a single point in time?often before a hazardous event occurs. In contrast, the paper argues that vulnerability assessment should also take into account the changing dynamics during and after a disaster. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka and Indonesia within the context of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The author presents concepts for measuring revealed vulnerabilities and methods of assessing the recovery process, and highlights the differing ways in which the tsunami affected the ongoing civil conflicts in both regions.vulnerability, dynamics, transition, natural hazards, fragile regions, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, coastal regions, tsunami

Very cold and massive cores near ISOSS J18364-0221: Implications for the initial conditions of high-mass star-formation

We report the discovery of two very cold and massive molecular cloud cores in the region ISOSS J18364-0221. The object has been identified by a systematic search for very early evolutionary stages of high-mass stars using the 170 micron ISOPHOT Serendipity Survey (ISOSS). Submm continuum and molecular line measurements reveal two compact cores within this region. The first core has a temperature of 16.5 K, shows signs of ongoing infall and outflows, has no NIR or MIR counterpart and is massive enough (M ~ 75 M_sun) to form at least one O star with an associated cluster. It is therefore considered a candidate for a genuine high-mass protostar and a high-mass analog to the Class 0 objects. The second core has an average gas and dust temperature of only ~ 12 K and a mass of M ~ 280 M_sun. Its temperature and level of turbulence are below the values found for massive cores so far and are suggested to represent the initial conditions from which high-mass star formation occurs.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Assessing vulnerability before, during and after a natural disaster in fragile regions: Case study of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia

Current approaches of measuring vulnerability to natural hazards generally use a rather static perspective that focuses on a single point in time - often before a hazardous event occurs. In contrast, the paper argues that vulnerability assessment should also take into account the changing dynamics during and after a disaster. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka and Indonesia within the context of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The author presents concepts for measuring revealed vulnerabilities and methods of assessing the recovery process, and highlights the differing ways in which the tsunami affected the ongoing civil conflicts in both regions

An infrared-submillimeter study of star-forming regions selected by the ISOSS 170um survey

Using the ISOPHOT Serendipity Survey (ISOSS) at 170um a sample of galactic star-forming regions exhibiting very cold dust temperatures (< 20 K) and high masses (> 100 M_sun) has been established. We characterise the star-forming content of five regions that were selected as potential sites for early stage high-mass star formation using SCUBA (JCMT) and Spitzer observations. In every region we identify one to four submillimeter clumps with projected sizes between 0.1 and 0.4 pc. The dust temperatures range from 11.6 to 21.3 K and the estimated clump masses are 2 to 166 M_sun. Towards the majority of submillimeter peaks we find point sources in the near- to mid-infrared. Most are interpreted as low-mass young stellar objects but we also detect very red sources. They probably represent very young and deeply embedded protostars that continue to accrete clump material and may reach higher masses. Several candidate intermediate-mass proto- or pre-main-sequence stars embedded in the clumps are identified. A subset of four clumps may be massive enough (> 100 M_sun) to form high-mass stars and accompanying clusters. The absence of stellar precursors with current masses in the high-mass regime leave the type of star formation occuring in the clumps unsettled. We confirm the presence of large fractions of cold material as derived from large-scale far-infrared measurements which dominates the emission of most clumps and suggests that the star-forming process will continue.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

” in schwedischer und dänischer Übersetzung

The article discusses the very frequent occurrence of indirect (reported) speech in Grass’ novel Der Butt. It presents strategies which have been chosen by the Swedish (resp. Danish) translator of the novel. By means of graphemic, syntactic, lexical and other indicators the translation substitutes the morphological category of subjunctive in the original text. Nevertheless it fails quite often to indicate clearly whether the construction in question is reported speech or the author’s commentary

Integrating Remote Sensing and Social Science - The correlation of urban morphology with socioeconomic parameters

The alignment, small-scale transitions and characteristics of buildings, streets and open spaces constitute a heterogeneous urban morphology. The urban morphology is the physical reflection of a society that created it, influenced by historical, social, cultural, economic, political, demographic and natural conditions as well as their developments. Within the complex urban environment homogeneous physical patterns and sectors of similar building types, structural alignments or similar built-up densities can be localized and classified. Accordingly, it is assumed that urban societies also feature a distinctive socioeconomic urban morphology that is strongly correlated with the characteristics of a city’s physical morphology: Social groups settle spatially with one’s peer more or less segregated from other social groups according to, amongst other things, their economic status. This study focuses on the analysis, whether the static physical urban morphology correlates with socioeconomic parameters of its inhabitants – here with the example indicators income and value of property. Therefore, the study explores on the capabilities of high resolution optical satellite data (Ikonos) to classify patterns of urban morphology based on physical parameters. In addition a household questionnaire was developed to investigate on the cities socioeconomic morphology

The implementation of sustainable development in regional planning documents. Objectives, opportunities and problems - case studies from Germany and Poland

Since the signing of the Agenda 21 and the HABITAT resolutions, sustainable development has become an important principle for spatial planning in Europe. The European Minister Conference on Regional and Spatial Planning (CEMAT), for example, resolved "Guidelines for sustainable spatial planning on the European Continent" during its meeting in Hanover in 2000. Although the principle of sustainable development has gained popularity in regional planning it has not been widely implemented. The main weaknesses in terms of the implementation are the vague definition of sustainability and the variety of goals which have been developed for the principle of sustainable development. With the amendment of the Legislation in Germany (Federal Regional Planning Act and the Building Code) in 1998, sustainable development has been established as a guiding principle for spatial planning in Germany. In order to meet the demands of sustainable spatial development implementation must occur in the state legislation as well as in the regional planning documents and strategies. The regional planning authorities of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) have developed a new generation of regional plans. Although ecological, social and economical aims have been included in these plans, many conflicts between the different goals still remain. In Poland, since the change of the political and economical system in 1988/89, sustainable development has also become a main principle for the further development of the country. In 1998 the principle of sustainable development was integrated into the new Polish constitution. The Polish system of regional planning is still being developed in consequence of the reform of the territorial and administrative structure of the country in 1999. Although the reform is not finished yet, guiding documents for the new regions (voivodships) already exist. These are the 'Preconditions for development' and 'Development Strategies', which contain the main goals for the development of the voivodships. They are necessary to get financial support from the central government for regional projects. The paper will examine the question of how sustainable spatial development has already been implemented in the legal basis and in fundamental documents of regional planning in the region (voivodship) of West Pomerania (Poland) and North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The main focus will be on the goals related to sustainable regional development, such as containing urban sprawl, open space protection, improved mobility. Equally important is the description of the structure of regional planning in North-Rhine-Westphalia compared to the situation in West Pomerania (Poland). The relationship between the state-, regional- and local-planning institutions will be analyzed. Specific attention will be given to the role of regional plans within the two different regions. Finally, the paper will deal with the limitations in implementing sustainable spatial development in regional planning documents. In this context the paper will examine the practical problems of integrating sectoral planning approaches, such as transportation, within regional planning processes to achieve sustainable development

Nest architecture of Oxaea austera (Andrenidae, Oxaeinae) and its significance for the interpretation of Uruguayan fossil bee cells

Oxaea austera nests in hard, red lateritic soils with dense grass cover. Some characters of Oxaea austera nests conform to the known architecture of the oxaeine nests such as the long, vertical shaft and the radiating, horizontal tunnels connected to vertical cells. The presence of more than one cell per lateral, cells at different depths containing larvae at different stages, and discrete walls in the main and laterals are described for the first time for Oxaeinae. One cell was located at the end of each lateral with others (2–4) near them, in some cases arranged in a row just beneath the lateral. Cells are oriented vertically and consist of a chamber, a spiral closure and an antechamber connected with a lateral. The chamber and antechamber are surrounded by a thick discrete wall. Each nest was occupied by at least two active females indicating communal nesting. They also contained older cells, suggesting the reutilization of the nests by successive generations. Both behaviors may be a response to the difficulties of excavation in hard soils. Communal nesting may be also a defensive behavior against nest cleptoparasites. The shape, size, discrete walls of lateritic soil material, spiral closure, and antechamber of O. austera cells closely resemble the fossil bee cells included in the ichnogenus Palmiraichnus from the early Eocene Asencio Formation of Uruguay. This new evidence reinforces the proposal of extinct representatives of Oxaeinae as it constructor.Fil: Sarzetti, Laura Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Genise, Jorge Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez, María Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentin

Infrared spectroscopy of intermediate mass young stellar objects

In this paper we present Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopy for 14 intermediate-mass young stellar objects. We use Spitzer spectroscopy to investigate the physical properties of these sources and their environments. Our sample can be divided into two types of objects: young isolated, embedded objects with spectra that are dominated by ice and silicate absorption bands, and more evolved objects that are dominated by extended emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pure H2 rotational lines. We are able to constrain the illuminating FUV fields by classifying the PAH bands below 9micron. For most of the sources we are able to detect several atomic fine structure lines. In particular, the [NeII] line appearing in two regions could originate from unresolved photodissociation regions (PDRs) or J-shocks. We relate the identified spectral features to observations obtained from NIR through submillimeter imaging. The spatial extent of several H2 and PAH bands is matched with morphologies identified in previous Spitzer/IRAC observations. This also allows us to distinguish between the different H2 excitation mechanisms. In addition, we calculate the optical extinction from the silicate bands and use this to constrain the spectral energy distribution fit, allowing us to estimate the masses of these YSOs.Comment: 21 pages, 26 figures, accepted to Ap

Mapping temporally-variable exposure to flooding in small Mediterranean basins using land-use indicators

This article deals with mapping exposure (or external vulnerability) to flood risk in two typical Mediterranean ephemeral streams: the Barranco de Carraixet and the Rambla de Poyo. The floodplains of both streams are within the metropolitan area of the city of Valencia (Spain"s third largest city). Following the Mediterranean model, they are very fertile areas (with intense periurban and highly productive agriculture) which have recently absorbed the great urban expansion of the metropolis. Hydrologically these basins remain dry for most of the year, but become particularly dangerous during flash-flood events. They generate a risk pattern highly dependent on exposure since, in general, the hazard factor is very difficult to map, given the unpredictable nature of flash-floods. This work constitutes a proof of concept based on simple estimators obtained from land uses. External vulnerability or exposure is evaluated as a function of economic land value and human exposure to hazard. Land value is directly taken from the cadastre whilst human exposure is indirectly estimated from the location of population in relation to timeeactivity profiles. The temporal dimension is introduced and three exposure scenarios have been mapped, related to different time periods: working days, nights, weekends and holidays. The results show different patterns of exposure for each plain. In Carraixet floodplain exposure is greater at night and on weekends and holidays than during working hours, on account of the dominant agricultural and residential land uses. In the Poyo plain there are no major contrasts in absolute terms between day and night time, although spatial patterns of exposure vary from day to night: during the day, exposure is higher in industrial and commercial areas (around communication routes) whilst at night residential areas show more exposure