Enhancing Geospatial Preparedness for Disaster Management through the work of development organisations

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Geographic Information SystemsDepending on the complexity of a disaster and the local capacities, international organizations and multidisciplinary response teams might be involved in the response. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used for coordination and information sharing. However, geospatial preparedness is necessary: reliable up to date geodata, tools, and people with the knowledge to use those tools. In least-developed countries the lack of geospatial preparedness, particularly geospatial pre-disaster information, hinders disaster response. In those places, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs creates a framework for cooperation with the Coordinated Data Scramble Initiative where Information Management Officers (IMOs) from different organisations are supported by volunteers and technical communities to provide ad-hoc datasets and infrastructure to use GIS. Nevertheless, long-term solutions are needed. Before the disaster, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) might already be using GIS to implement development projects. Based on the theoretical concept of disaster management and development as a learning circle, this investigation proposes the engagement of development NGOS working in disaster-prone areas to enhance geospatial preparedness. The research was based on a multi-method approach including the study of the body of literature, authoritative reports, and repositories and databases, monitorization of the tools used during responses to real emergencies, and semi-structured interviews to IMOs. Finally, the study concluded with an online survey with a worldwide sample of more than 200 development NGOs. The result show that disaster response requires reliable and up to date geodata which is not always the case. Humanitarian missions often rely on OpenStreetMap as a source of information to overcome this limitation. Therefore, improving OpenStreetMap would improve geospatial preparedness. Many development NGOs use digital geographic information, mostly open-data. They could indeed improve geospatial preparedness allowing community empowerment while conveying relevant pre-disaster datasets to the humanitarian missions. This bottom-up approach would allow for the inclusion of information relevant to the community in the disaster response decision-making process. There is, however, a limitation; most of these development NGOs are not familiar with the platform used by the humanitarian community (i.e., OpenStreetMap). Therefore, the sustainability of this synergic approach requires further harmonization between development and humanitarian organizations working for the wellbeing of the same communitie

Effects of hybridization and life history tradeoffs on pathogen resistance in the Harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex)

A fundamental challenge faced by all organisms is the risk of infection by pathogens that can significantly reduce their fitness. The evolutionary dynamic between hosts and pathogens is expected to be a coevolutionary cycle, as pathogens evolve by increasing their level of virulence and hosts respond by increasing their level of resistance. The factors that influence the dynamics of adaptation by pathogen and host in response to one another are not well understood. Social insects live in dense colonies in high-pathogen soil environments, making them an ideal model system to study the factors influencing the evolution of pathogen resistance. In this thesis work, I investigated several alternative hypotheses to explain patterns of host resistance to entomopathogenic fungi in the harvester ant genus Pogonomyrmex: that high resistance is associated with high environmental pathogen loads, that local adaptation leads to increased resistance to coevolved pathogen populations, that life history tradeoffs increase allocation to resistance in harsher environments, and that increased genetic diversity caused by interspecific hybridization enhances inherent resistance. First, I characterized patterns of spatial variation in abundance and diversity of fungal pathogens among habitats of Pogonomyrmex species. I found 17 genera of fungi in the soil, six of which were entomopathogenic. Lower precipitation habitats, where P. rugosus occurs, had the lowest diversity, while the highest was experienced by the H lineage, one of two hybrid populations. When actual infection rates of field-caught workers were compared, the mesic-habitat P. barbatus was infected significantly more often. These results suggest that habitat does plays a role in fungal diversity, and that species are exposed to more entomopathogens may be more likely to get infected. Second, I tested experimentally whether hybridization and or habitat differences play a role in pathogen resistance by testing the effect of soil type and species identity on infection rates in pupae of the two species and their hybrids. This experiment showed P. rugosus ants had the highest inherent resistance to infection, supporting the life history tradeoff hypothesis. This suggest that Pogonomyrmex ants species are allocating their resources differently according to their environment, with more stressful environment leading to less investment in reproduction and more in protection against pathogens. Overall our study shows that environment plays a role in differences in infection risk, while genetic effects such as hybridization may not play a role in pathogen resistance

Comparison of nitrification inhibitors to restrict nitrate leaching in a maize crop irrigated under mediterranean conditions

The aim of this paper was to compare dicyandiamide (DCD) and 3,4 dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) as inhibitors of ammonium oxidation and nitrate leaching after applying fertilizer to a maize (Zea mays L.) crop grown under Mediterranean conditions. The effects of nitrification inhibitors were also compared to those of N fertilization without inhibitors and with split N application. In plots fertilized with ammonium sulphate nitrate (ASN), either DCD or DMPP lengthened ammonium presence in soil and produced lower soil NO3- concentrations (30% lower than in plots with no inhibitor). The use of DCD or DMPP achieved significant reductions in nitrate leaching. DCD showed excellent properties for controlling nitrate leaching, taking into account the fact that grain yield and N accumulated by plant were similar for the ASN-DCD and ASN treatments applied at the same N doses. The split N treatment did not offer any advantages in terms of leached nitrate, either with the use of single ammonium sulphate nitrate (ASN) or with single application of nitrification inhibitors. The nitrification inhibitors did not increase the yield but did not reduce it either. The drainage rate was the most important component of nitrate leaching. The low drainage values of the first year resulted in a sharp decline of nitrate leaching. However, the experiment of the second year, showed clear differences in nitrate leaching between treatments due to the greater drainage

Essays in Macroeconomics and International Finance

This document is a collection of essays in two issues of interest in macroeconomics and international finance. Chapter 2 introduces price promotions in a monetary DSGE model where consumers differ in their price sensitivity and look for promotions, and where firms choose their regular and promotional prices as well as the frequency of promotions. In this environment, regular and promotional prices coexist, firm-level prices show rigidity in the form of inertial reference values from which weekly prices temporarily deviate, and promotions provide a new channel of price adjustment in the face of shocks. As a result, the economy displays near neutrality with respect to monetary shocks, with an impact response of output equal to one third of the one obtained in a model with no promotions. This result contrasts sharply with those of similar studies which, using alternative rationales for price promotions, find that price promotions do not fundamentally alter the real effects of monetary shocks. Chapter 3 studies the currency substitution phenomenon and develops a two-currency model that introduces "dollarization capital" as a means to capture the economy's accumulated experience in using the foreign currency. The model is able to generate a low-inflation-high-substitution equilibrium consistent the data, and explains 1/6 of the gap between the observed currency substitution ratios and those generated by a model with no dollarization capital dynamics. The model, however, does not generate asymmetries in the relationship between inflation and currency substitution before and after high inflation episodes. Therefore, Chapter 4 presents a simple framework that creates non-linearities between inflation and currency substitution. The model has two consumers who can differ in their distance from money exchange points provided by the financial sector, who decides whether or not to pay a fixed cost necessary to install these exchange points. In this environment, a sequence of episodes of high and moderate inflation may push the financial sector into expanding the number of available money exchange points, therefore permanently reducing the consumers' cost of using the foreign currency and decreasing the inflation threshold at which households are willing to substitute foreign for domestic currency

Estructura del cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos de Peralta, República Dominicana

Most of the geotectonic units involved in the evolution of the Northern part of the Caribbean Plate can be identified in a geological cross-section through the southern-central part of the Hispaniola Island (South of the Dominican Republic). The cross-section includes from N to S: remnants of the old Caribbean ocean (Loma Caribe Peridotites and Duarte Fm of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous age), rocks of the Primitive volcanic Island Arc (Lower Cretaceous), the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc (Upper Cretaceous to Eocene), the Peralta thrust and fold Belt and the Azua Neogene Basin. The structure consists of an imbricate thrust system with associated folds, vergent towards the South, that overthrusts the Azua Basin. The thrust system evolved in a forward propagating sequence. The first thrust sheets of the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc possibly formed in Upper Eocene times during sedimentation of the Ocoa Fm in the foredeep (area of the Peralta Belt). Ocoa Fm has a syntectonic character and is associated with the uplift of the Central Mountain Range. Thrusting continued through Oligocene times progressing towards the South. By Lower Miocene times, the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc overthrusts the Peralta Belt (Frontal Thrust of the Tireo Fm). Thrusting in the Peralta Belt continued until Plio-Pleistocene times, as indicated by the age of the rocks in the footwall to the Peralta Belt Frontal Thrust. From Miocene times thrusting was coeval with wrenching that progressively became the dominant tectonic style in the region. The Eocene-Oligocene sedimentary sequences of the Peralta Belt were deposited in a back-arc basin that was subsequently deformed during the change in subduction direction that took place in the northeastern part of the Caribbean Plate in Neogene times. The Neogene Peralta Thrust and Fold Belt may be caused by the indentation of the Beata Ridge into the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc. In this context, the eastern part of the Beata Ridge may have acted as a transform boundary separating the Los Muertos trench from the Peralta Belt. The Peralta Belt accumulated part or all the shortening laterally equivalent to that in Los Muertos accretionary prism

Estructura del cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos de Peralta, República Dominicana

En un corte geológico completo de la parte centro-meridional de la Isla La Española (Sur de la República Dominicana) se identifican las unidades que registran la evolución completa del margen Norte de la Placa del Caribe desde el Jurásico Superior. El corte incluye, de Norte a Sur, a las rocas que representan el antiguo oceáno protocaribeño (Peridotitas de Loma Caribe y Fm Duarte; Jurásico Superior-Cretácico Inferior), las rocas del Arco Isla volcánico Primitivo (Cretácico Inferior), el Arco Isla Circum-Caribeño (Cretácico Superior-Eoceno), el Cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos de Peralta y la Cuenca neógena de Azua. La estructura del corte geológico consiste en un sistema de cabalgamientos imbricado con pliegues asociados, vergente al Sur, emplazado sobre la Cuenca de Azua. La secuencia de propagación de estructuras, se interpreta como una secuencia de emplazamiento de bloque inferior. Las primeras imbricaciones en el Arco Isla Circum-Caribeño se formaron posiblemente en el Eoceno Superior, coincidiendo con el depósito de la Fm Ocoa en la cuenca frontal (Cinturón de Peralta). Esta formación es de marcado carácter sintectónico y su depósito se asocia con un fuerte levantamiento de la zona axial de la Cordillera Central. El resto de los cabalgamientos del Arco Isla Circum-Caribeño se habrían formado a lo largo del Oligoceno, durante la propagación de la deformación hacia el antepaís. En el Mioceno Inferior todo este conjunto llegó a superponerse al Cinturón de Peralta mediante su cabalgamiento frontal. El desarrollo de las estructuras en el Cinturón de Peralta llega hasta el Plio-Pleistoceno, ya que el cabalgamiento frontal del Cintrón de Peralta cobija a rocas de esta edad. A partir del Mioceno la evolución de los cabalgamientos coexiste con una tectónica de desgarre que progresivamente pasa a ser la tectónica dominante. En el Cinturón de Peralta los pliegues y cabalgamientos se desarrollan sobre series sedimentarias eocenas y oligocenas depositadas en un contexto de cuenca trasera de arco que son deformadas posteriormente por efecto de la inversión de la subducción de la par te nororiental de la Placa del Caribe. Durante el Neógeno, se interpreta que la indentación de la Cresta de Beata puede haber sido la causante de la formación del Cinturón de pliegues y cabalgamientos de Peralta. El límite oriental de la Cresta de Beata ha podido actuar como un límite trasformante que separa la subducción en la fosa de los Muertos del Cinturón de Peralta. El Cinturón de Peralta constituye la unidad equivalente lateral del prisma de acreción de Los Muertos y acumula parte del acortamiento ocurrido.Most of the geotectonic units involved in the evolution of the Northern part of the Caribbean Plate can be identified in a geological cross-section through the southern-central part of the Hispaniola Island (South of the Dominican Republic). The cross-section includes from N to S: remnants of the old Caribbean ocean (Loma Caribe Peridotites and Duarte Fm of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous age), rocks of the Primitive volcanic Island Arc (Lower Cretaceous), the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc (Upper Cretaceous to Eocene), the Peralta thrust and fold Belt and the Azua Neogene Basin. The structure consists of an imbricate thrust system with associated folds, vergent towards the South, that overthrusts the Azua Basin. The thrust system evolved in a forward propagating sequence. The first thrust sheets of the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc possibly formed in Upper Eocene times during sedimentation of the Ocoa Fm in the foredeep (area of the Peralta Belt). Ocoa Fm has a syntectonic character and is associated with the uplift of the Central Mountain Range. Thrusting continued through Oligocene times progressing towards the South. By Lower Miocene times, the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc overthrusts the Peralta Belt (Frontal Thrust of the Tireo Fm). Thrusting in the Peralta Belt continued until Plio-Pleistocene times, as indicated by the age of the rocks in the footwall to the Peralta Belt Frontal Thrust. From Miocene times thrusting was coeval with wrenching that progressively became the dominant tectonic style in the region. The Eocene-Oligocene sedimentary sequences of the Peralta Belt were deposited in a back-arc basin that was subsequently deformed during the change in subduction direction that took place in the northeastern part of the Caribbean Plate in Neogene times. The Neogene Peralta Thrust and Fold Belt may be caused by the indentation of the Beata Ridge into the Circum-Caribbean Island Arc. In this context, the eastern part of the Beata Ridge may have acted as a transform boundary separating the Los Muertos trench from the Peralta Belt. The Peralta Belt accumulated part or all the shortening laterally equivalent to that in Los Muertos accretionary prism

“White Niggers” and Middle-Class Slaves: The Race Metaphor at the Service of Anglocentrism in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre.

Las novelas Jane Eyre (1847) de Charlotte Brontë y Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) de Jean Rhys tienen en común, a pesar de haber sido escritas con más de cien años de diferencia, algunos aspectos en la descripción de sus heroínas que, no sin ciertas ambivalencias, muestran su conformidad con el discurso del Imperio. Este trabajo analiza el uso de un elemento, la metáfora de la raza, en la reivindicación de ambas heroínas, así como las implicaciones de racismo en otros personajes de cada novela. Las protagonistas, Jane Eyre y Antoinette Cosway, una institutriz y una criolla blanca respectivamente, representan el estado intermedio y la falta de arraigo de diferentes grupos sociales en la metrópolis y en las colonias, ambos privilegiados y oprimidos al mismo tiempo. Cada autora emplea analogías raciales para describir la lucha de sus heroínas y sacarlas de entre los márgenes sociales, pero en el proceso estas maltratan terriblemente a otros personajes que han sido históricamente oprimidos. A pesar de algunos elementos más compasivos, la ceguera de ambas autoras frente a realidades racistas las sitúa dentro de los márgenes de la tradición narrativa anglosajona. Despite having been written more than one hundred years apart, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) share some common features in the depiction of their heroines that, not without certain ambivalences, show their compliance with the discourse of the Empire. This dissertation analyses the use of one device, the metaphor of race, in the vindication of both heroines, and the implications that racialism has for other characters in each novel. The protagonists, Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway, a governess and a white creole respectively, epitomise the in-betweenness and lack of belonging of different social groups in the metropolis and in the colonies, both privileged and oppressed at the same time. Each author uses racial analogies to depict their heroines’ struggles and to bring them out of the margins of society, but in doing so they terribly mistreat other characters historically oppressed. Despite sympathetic elements in both novels, the blindness of their authors’ efforts towards racialised realities locates both authors within the tradition of Anglophone fiction. <br /

Borges y sus editores: itinerarios de <i>Fervor de Buenos Aires</i> (1923-1977)

En el marco del campo de estudios sobre las relaciones entre editores y escritores (Undsel 2004), este trabajo propone el estudio de un caso singular: el de Fervor de Buenos Aires, el inaugural poemario de Jorge Luis Borges. Publicado por primera vez en 1923, fue reeditado de distintas formas y a través de diferentes editoriales. Cada una de estas distintas ediciones presenta un complejo sistema de correcciones y borramientos. En este artículo nos centraremos en el estudio del recorrido editorial del libro donde se materializa ese sistema de correcciones y borramientos.In the context of studies on the relationship between publishers and writers (Undsel 2004), this paper approaches a singular case: Fervor de Buenos Aires, the inaugural book of poems by Jorge Luis Borges. First published in 1923, it was reissued in various forms and by diverse publishers. Each different edition presents a complex system of corrections and erasures. In this article we focus on the study of its editorial itinerary, in which such system of corrections and erasures is materialized.Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IdIHCS

Borges y sus editores: itinerarios de <i>Fervor de Buenos Aires</i> (1923-1977)

En el marco del campo de estudios sobre las relaciones entre editores y escritores (Undsel 2004), este trabajo propone el estudio de un caso singular: el de Fervor de Buenos Aires, el inaugural poemario de Jorge Luis Borges. Publicado por primera vez en 1923, fue reeditado de distintas formas y a través de diferentes editoriales. Cada una de estas distintas ediciones presenta un complejo sistema de correcciones y borramientos. En este artículo nos centraremos en el estudio del recorrido editorial del libro donde se materializa ese sistema de correcciones y borramientos.In the context of studies on the relationship between publishers and writers (Undsel 2004), this paper approaches a singular case: Fervor de Buenos Aires, the inaugural book of poems by Jorge Luis Borges. First published in 1923, it was reissued in various forms and by diverse publishers. Each different edition presents a complex system of corrections and erasures. In this article we focus on the study of its editorial itinerary, in which such system of corrections and erasures is materialized.Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IdIHCS

Fervor de Buenos Aires: ”un libro entonado en presente” Entrevista de Gabriela Raidé y Rodrigo Muryán a Sebastián Hernaiz

Entrevista de Gabriela Raidé y Rodrigo Muryán a Sebastián Hernaiz sobre Fervor de Buenos Aire