Choice and constraint in flood hazard mitigation: the environmental attitudes of floodplain residents and engineers

This research examines the importance of environmental factors in the choice, promotion and implementation of flood defence schemes in England and Wales. It focuses on the attitudes of National Rivers Authority (NRA) engineers and floodplain residents to low-frequency flood events and investigates the role of NRA engineers in influencing, the choices of floodplain residents. The theoretical focus includes an examination of the appropriateness of the dominant (North American) hazards research paradigm as an explanatory model in the British context and the development of a conceptual model applicable to this socio-political and cultural milieu. The research extends existing, primarily quantitative, research designs to include more qualitative approaches which provide descriptive richness and context beyond that afforded by quantitative data alone. The quantitative and qualitative studies of floodplain residents show environmental factors to be an important influence on their attitudes to proposals for flood hazard mitigation and to existing flood defence schemes. This is conceptualised as a 'risk-environment trade-off. The case studies of floodplain residents further identify an unmet information need concerning both flood risk and flood defence. The qualitative study of NRA engineers highlights the differences in perception and attitude between engineers and residents to flood risk, flood defence, public consultation and environmental factors. It underlines the complexity of the interactions which occur between individual, institutional and societal levels. The research concludes that the dominant paradigm model is inappropriately focused at the individual level and does not take sufficient account of institutional and structural influences. Furthermore, the concentration on choice rather than constraint ignores the social conflict and self-interest of actors in the decision-making environment. The research suggests that a systems approach is inadequate for dealing with the complexities of flood hazard mitigation

The missing half of the Sendai framework: Gender and women in the implementation of global disaster risk reduction policy

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) is the guiding international policy structure for disaster risk reduction activities, shaping DRR strategies and practices across the world. Its targets, priorities, and supporting documents are critical in influencing the direction of programming and funding streams for national and local level DRR interventions, and its indicators play a vital role in setting benchmarks and monitoring progress. The Framework has made progress by drawing attention to the diverging ways in which women experience disasters, and highlighted their increased vulnerability in certain disaster situations. But how far does the Sendai Framework really go towards delivering a gender responsive strategy for disaster risk reduction? Five years into its implementation, this paper analyses the relevance of the SFDRR for women in the context of disasters. It argues that although the framework has made headway in promoting the inclusion of women and girls in disaster policy and programming, on the whole it represents a missed opportunity for addressing fundamental gender based issues in DRR. Recommendations are offered for mitigating several SFDRR shortcomings during its current process of implementation. These include outlining a more refined conceptualization of gender, improved inclusion of women and sexual minorities in its indicators and implementation documents, and greater alignment with parallel policy frameworks and other indicator systems

The measurement errors in the Swift-UVOT and XMM-OM

The probability of photon measurement in some photon counting instrumentation, such as the Optical Monitor on the XMM-Newton satellite, and the UVOT on the Swift satellite, does not follow a Poisson distribution due to the detector characteristics, but a Binomial distribution. For a single-pixel approximation, an expression was derived for the incident countrate as a function of the measured count rate by Fordham, Moorhead and Galbraith (2000). We show that the measured countrate error is binomial, and extend their formalism to derive the error in the incident count rate. The error on the incident count rate at large count rates is larger than the Poisson-error of the incident count rate.Comment: 4 pages, 2 postscript figures, submitted to MNRA

Intrinsic myocardial recovery from the negative inotropic effects of acute hypercapnia

The inotropic effects of hypercapnia have been examined in the isometric papillary muscle preparation from the cat. The initial stage of depression which resulted from the acute induction of hypercapnia was followed by a significant degree of spontaneous recovery during the next hour. When the carbon dioxide concentration was returned to normal a temporary rebound in performance to well above control levels was observed. These findings are interpreted as being due to slow changes arising within heart muscle itself which partially compensate for the direct inotropic depressant effect of hypercapni

Observation of O+ 4P-4D0 lines in proton aurora over Svalbard

Spectra of a proton aurora event show lines of O+ 4P-4D0 multiplet (4639–4696 Å) enhanced relative to the N2 +1N(0,2) compared to normal electron aurora. Conjugate satellite particle measurements are used as input to electron and proton transport models, to show that p/H precipitation is the dominant source of both the O+ and N2 +1N emissions. The emission cross-section of the multiplet in p collisions with O and O2 estimated from published work does not explain the observed O+ brightness, suggesting a higher emission cross-section for low energy p impact on O

Razlike u kemijskom sastavu i antioksidacijskoj sposobnosti različitih genotipova himalajske maslinice (Elaeagnus umbellate Thunb.)

Fruit from six genotypes of autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellate Thunb.); Brilliant Rose, Delightful, Jewel, Natural 1, Natural 2 and Sweet N Tart; were evaluated for fruit quality, phenolic content, carotenoids, antioxidants, antioxidant capacity, and antioxidant enzyme activity. The fruit soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acids (TA), total carotenoids, and total phenolic content varied with genotypes. Soluble solids content (SSC) in six genotypes of autumn olive ranged from 10.6 to 18.4 %, while titratable acids ranged from 0.79 to 1.29 %. Jewel had the highest SSC and Sweet N Tart had the highest TA. Fructose and glucose were the two predominant sugars, and malic acid was the predominant organic acid found in autumn olive fruit. Jewel and Sweet N Tart cultivars had the highest sugar and organic acid content among the six genotypes. Autumn olive had potent free radical scavenging activities for 2,2-di(4-tert-octylphenyl)-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH·), 2,2’-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS+·), peroxyl radical (ROO·), superoxide radicals (O2–·), hydroxyl radicals (·OH), and singlet oxygen (1O2). Autumn olive also had high activities of antioxidant enzymes including glutathione peroxidase (GHS-POD), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (AsA-POD), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDAR). Among the six genotypes, Brilliant Rose and Jewel had the highest levels of antioxidants and antioxidant enzyme activity.Ocijenjena je kakvoća plodova, udio fenola, karotenoida, antioksidansa, te antioksidativna sposobnost i aktivnost enzima u plodovima šest genotipova himalajske maslinice (Elaeagnus umbellate Thunb.); Brilliant Rose, Delightful, Jewel, Natural 1, Natural 2 i Sweet N Tart. Udio topljivih tvari, titracijska kiselost, te udio ukupnih karotenoida i fenola ovisio je o genotipu ploda. Udio topljivih tvari iznosio je od 10,6 do 18,4 %, dok je titracijska kiselost bila od 0,79 do 1,29 %. Najviše topljivih tvari sadržavao je genotip Jewel, a najveću titracijsku kiselost imao je genotip Sweet N Tart. U plodu himalajske maslinice najveći je udio fruktoze i glukoze, dok je jabučna kiselina dominantna organska kiselina. Kultivari Jewel i Sweet N Tart imaju najviše šećera i organskih kiselina. Himalajska maslinica sadrži spojeve koji imaju izrazitu sposobnost uklanjanja slobodnih radikala poput 2,2-di(4-tert-oktilfenil)-1-pikrilhidrazil (DPPH˙), diamonijeve soli 2,2\u27-azinobis(3-etilbenzotiazolin-6-sulfonske kiseline) (ABTS˙+), peroksilnog radikala (ROO˙), superoksidnog radikala (O2˙-) i hidroksilnog radikala (˙OH) te singletnog kisika (¹O2). U plodovima himalajske maslinice aktivni su i antioksidativni enzimi, kao što su glutation-peroksidaza, glutation-reduktaza, superoksid-dismutaza, askorbat-peroksidaza, dehidroaskorbat-reduktaza i monodehidroaskorbat-reduktaza. Od šest ispitanih genotipova Brilliant Rose i Jewel imali su najveći udio antioksidansa i najjaču antioksidativnu enzimsku aktivnost

The Effects of Varying Composition and Build Direction on Direct Metal Deposition Fabricated Inconel 718

Inconel 718 (IN718) is a popular wrought superalloy, and is currently being investigated for additive manufacturing (AM) applications in the aerospace industry. However, overaging and the presence of microcracks have caused a significant reduction in properties. The purpose of this study is to meet or exceed the mechanical properties of wrought IN718 by varying the composition and build direction of the AM alloy. Alternative compositions were selected with Oerlilon Metco’s Rapid Alloy Development (RAD) software, and differ in niobium content, which increases the fraction of the primary strengthening phase (γʺ). Direct metal deposition (DMD) was used to fabricate the samples, which then underwent a heat treatment to precipitate γʺ. Tensile testing, metallography, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed on the samples. Tensile testing found that the AM samples could exceed wrought strength with the appropriate composition and build direction. The horizontal build containing the highest niobium percentage achieved an average yield strength of 1400 MPa, higher than the 1218 MPa for the wrought. Samples in the horizontal build direction were consistently stronger than vertical alternatives due to their anisotropic grain morphology. Despite comparable strength, AM samples of all compositions had significantly reduced ductility with an average range of 1-3% elongation compared to an average of 21% for the wrought samples. Microstructural analysis revealed dendritic structures and cracks between print layers in the AM samples, which contributed to this reduction in ductility

Operationalizing risk perception and preparedness behavior research for a multi-hazard context

Increasingly, citizens are being asked to take a more active role in disaster risk reduction (DRR), as decentralization of hazard governance has shifted greater responsibility for hazard preparedness actions onto individuals. Simultaneously, the taxonomy of hazards considered for DRR has expanded to include medical and social crises alongside natural hazards. Risk perception research emerged to support decision-makers with understanding how people characterize and evaluate different hazards to anticipate behavioral response and guide risk communication. Since its inception, the risk perception concept has been incorporated into many behavioral theories, which have been applied to examine preparedness for numerous hazard types. Behavioral theories have had moderate success in predicting or explaining preparedness behaviors; however, they are typically applied to a single hazard type and there is a gap in understanding which theories (if any) are suited for examining multiple hazard types simultaneously. This paper first reviews meta-analyses of behavioral theories to better understand performance. Universal lessons learnt are summarized for survey design. Second, theoretically based preparedness studies for floods, earthquakes, epidemics, and terrorism are reviewed to assess the conceptual requirements for a ‘multi-hazard’ preparedness approach. The development of an online preparedness self-assessment and learning platform is discussed

20 years of Radical Disaster Interpretations: reflections and aspirations (RADIX @ 20!). Conversation on disasters: deconstructed on 13 October 2021

Purpose: This conversation presents the reflections from five prominent disaster scholars and practitioners on the purpose of Radix – the Radical Disaster Interpretations network – as the authors celebrate its 20th anniversary. / Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the conversations that took place on Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast livestream on the 13th October 2021. / Findings: The conversation reflects on personal and professional journeys in disaster studies over the past 20 years and on what needs changing in order to make disaster interpretations more radical. / Originality/value: The conversation contributes to the ongoing discussions around explorations of radical pathways for understanding and preventing disasters