PARTICIPATORY FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE CLIMATE ADAPTATION IN MEXICO CITY: A Literature Review and Case Study

In the context of rapid urbanization and the increasing intensity of flood events in metropolitan areas such as Mexico City, the urban poor became particularly vulnerable to flood hazards. Hence, it is a timely manner to implement inclusive strategies for flood risk management. This study aims to fill the gap in understanding the present conditions, risks, and responses to flood hazards in Mexico City from a people-centered perspective. The paper draws on a purposive literature review and case study approach to explore how public policy can involve community-level actors in flood risk management and thereby, promote long-term sustainability. The findings show that policymakers can shift from technocratic to participatory resilience strategies by investing in generic capacity-building and poverty alleviation with geographic literacy and technological flood control innovations.

Super-heavy fermion material as metallic refrigerant for adiabatic demagnetization cooling

Low-temperature refrigeration is of crucial importance in fundamental research of condensed matter physics, as the investigations of fascinating quantum phenomena, such as superconductivity, superfluidity and quantum criticality, often require refrigeration down to very low temperatures. Currently, cryogenic refrigerators with $^3$He gas are widely used for cooling below 1 Kelvin. However, usage of the gas is being increasingly difficult due to the current world-wide shortage. Therefore, it is important to consider alternative methods of refrigeration. Here, we show that a new type of refrigerant, super-heavy electron metal, YbCo$_2$Zn$_{20}$, can be used for adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration, which does not require 3He gas. A number of advantages includes much better metallic thermal conductivity compared to the conventional insulating refrigerants. We also demonstrate that the cooling performance is optimized in Yb$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$Co$_2$Zn$_{20}$ by partial Sc substitution with $x\sim$0.19. The substitution induces chemical pressure which drives the materials close to a zero-field quantum critical point. This leads to an additional enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect in low fields and low temperatures enabling final temperatures well below 100 mK. Such performance has up to now been restricted to insulators. Since nearly a century the same principle of using local magnetic moments has been applied for adiabatic demagnetization cooling. This study opens new possibilities of using itinerant magnetic moments for the cryogen-free refrigeration

Social Class

Discussion of class structure in fifth-century Athens, historical constitution of theater audiences, and the changes in the comic representation of class antagonism from Aristophanes to Menander

Zu den Häusern des Kaisers Augustus

Michael Donderer, Zu den Häusern des Kaisers Augustus, p. 621-660. Bekanntlich wurde das Wohnhaus des Augustus auf dem Palatin zu Rom nie überbaut; die späteren Kaiserpaläste gruppierten sich um das Domizil des ersten Prinzeps. Nun lassen sich auch an anderen Orten Häuser identifizieren, die mit einiger Wahrscheinlichkeit von Augustus als zeitweilige Wohnsitze benutzt worden sind. Grundlage für die Zuschreibung ist unter anderem jedesmal das Faktum, daß vom 1. Jh.v.Chr. bis in die Spätantike keine Umbauten vorgenommen worden sind. Dies trifft für Villen in Aquileia, am Albaner See, in Licenza, Tivoli, auf Samos und in Velletri zu, nicht jedoch fur die mehrfach als Domizil des Augustus bezeichnete Meeresvilla in Antium. Der Grund für die Konservierung der Häuser liegt nicht im museal-historischen, sondern im religiösen Bereich. Vorbilder waren die präsumptiven oder realen Wohnstäàtten des Romulus und Alex- (siehe Rückseite) anders d.Gr., die postum in Heiligtümer umgewandelt worden waren. Am ehesten dürften die Häuser des Augustus nach seinem Tod als Stätten des kaiserlichen Familienkultes gedient haben.Donderer Michael. Zu den Häusern des Kaisers Augustus. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité, tome 107, n°2. 1995. pp. 621-660