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October 2024 In the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes or pandemics, small businesses in affected areas often experience a sharp liquidity crunch that endangers their survival. To meet [...]

With the construction and development of smart cities, higher requirements have been put forward for the prediction and control of major natural disasters. For the prevention of earthquake disasters in super high-rise buildings, the rubber bearings of high-rise seismic isolation structures may have the risk of tensile damage in high-intensity areas, which has always been an urgent problem to be solved. In this paper, a unidirectional horizontal compression-shear experiment with 400% large deformation was conducted on the laminated rubber bearing (LNR500), and the relationship curve of vertical displacement with horizontal displacement of the bearing was obtained. According to the experimental data, an ideal elastic-plastic principal structure model was selected for the steel and a Yeoh principal structure model was selected for the rubber material, and the finite element analysis was carried out for the bearing. The time course curves of displacement, velocity and acceleration of the vertical and horizontal deformation of the laminated rubber bearing under the earthquake were obtained., Author(s): Denglian Yang [1]; Yanli Liu (corresponding author) [1] 1. Introduction The commonly used form of seismic isolation in the foundation isolation can be divided into rubber bearing, friction pendulum [...]

For Halloween in 2015, The Guardian published a piece on the fears of a range of authors including novelist Michel Faber. Faber recalled the sense of alarm he felt as [...]

Following the research on human decision-making under risk and uncertainty, the purpose of this paper is to analyze evacuees' risky route decision behavior and its effect on traffic equilibrium. It examines the possibility of applying regret theory to model travellers' regret-taking behavior and network equilibrium in emergency context. By means of modifying the utility function in expected utility theory, a regret-based evacuation traffic equilibrium model is established, accounting for the evacuee's psychological behavior of regret aversion and risk aversion. Facing two parallel evacuation routes choice situation, the effect of evacuees' risk aversion and regret aversion on traffic equilibrium is numerically investigated as well as the road capacity reduction from natural disaster. The findings reveal that evacuees prefer the riskless route with the lower travel time as the increase of the regret aversion degree. The equilibrium tends to be achieved when more evacuees choose the safer route jointly affected by risk aversion and regret aversion. Moreover, an optimization model for disaster occurring possibility is formulated to assess the traffic system performance for evacuation management. These findings are helpful for understanding how the regret aversion and risk aversion influence traffic equilibrium., Author(s): Ze Wang (corresponding author) [1,2]; Haiqiang Yang [3]; Linglin Ni [4] 1. Introduction Traffic equilibrium is a key process of transportation demand analysis and planning. The assumption of the [...]

An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale and a tsunami as occurred in Chile on February 27, 2010, produce a break in the children's lives. In some cases, it has an impact on their mental health, therefore further help to elaborate their experiences is needed. The teachers are first-line agents to support their students, hence this study seeks to illustrate the socio--emotional practices deployed during a structured activity designed to work on the children's experiences of the earthquake. This activity was filmed considering 13 teachers within two schools in one of the worst affected areas. To analyze these data, an observation guide was developed and socioemotional practices used by the teachers to address the earthquake are described. From this guide two patters of teachers were configured: Sensitivity to the emotional needs of their students and ambivalent. Central and South America do not have the sufficient financial and professional resources to deal with the emotional impact that bring disaster, so the importance of recognizing the socio-emotional practices of teachers is key. It is also important to prepare them to deal with natural disasters that are frequent in the region. Keywords: Crisis intervention with children, socioemotional practices of teachers, Earthquake and Tsunami 2010 in Chile Un terremoto de 8.8 en la escala de Richter y un tsunami como el ocurrido en Chile el 27 de Febrero de 2010, produce un quiebre en la vida de los ninos. En algunos casos, tiene repercusiones en la salud mental, por lo que es necesario ayudarlos a elaborar esta experiencia. Los profesores son agentes de primera linea para apoyar a sus estudiantes, por lo que el presente estudio busca ilustrar las practicas socioemocionales que desplegaron durante una actividad estructurada para trabajar sobre la experiencia del terremoto. Se filmo la aplicacion de esta actividad en 13 profesores en dos colegios de una de las zonas mas afectadas. Para analizar estos datos, se desarrollo una pauta de observacion y se describen las practicas socioemocionales que utilizaron los profesores para abordar el tema del terremoto. A partir de esta, se configuraron dos patrones de profesores: sensibilidad a las necesidades afectivas de sus alumnos y ambivalente. Centro y Sur America no cuentan con los recursos economicos y profesionales suficientes para enfrentar las secuelas emocionales que acarrean las catastrofes, por lo que se discute la importancia de reconocer las practicas socioemocionales de los profesores y de prepararlos en el abordaje de desastres naturales que son usuales en la region. Palabras claves: Intervencion en crisis con ninos, Practicas socioemocionales docents, Terremoto y Tsunami 2010 en Chile, El 27 de Febrero de 2010, Chile una vez mas, fue victima de un terremoto. Este evento afecto a la zona centro sur, en la cual habita alrededor del 80% [...]

The Savage Effects of Global Warming: How Heat Influences Aggression in the City. Sara M. Wallace and Jeffrey K. Lake, Adrian College Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have been leading [...]

Objective: In this study, we examined the influence of pre-disaster perceived social support on post-disaster psychological distress among survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Method: Participants (N = 386) were low-income mothers between 18 and 34 years of age at baseline (M = 26.4, SD = 4.43). The majority (84.8%) was African American; 10.4% identified as Caucasian, 3.2% identified as Hispanic, and 1.8% identified as other. Participants were enrolled in an educational intervention study in 2004 and 2005. Those who had completed a 1-year follow-up assessment prior to Hurricane Katrina were reassessed approximately 1 year after the hurricane. Measures of perceived social support and psychological distress were included in pre- and post-disaster assessments. Using structural equation modeling and multiple mediator analysis, we tested a model wherein pre-disaster perceived social support predicted post-disaster psychological distress both directly and indirectly through its effects on pre-disaster psychological distress, exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and post-disaster perceived social support. We predicted that higher pre-disaster perceived social support would be predictive of lower pre-disaster psychological distress, lower hurricane-related stressors, and higher post-disaster perceived social support, and that these variables would, in turn, predict lower post-disaster psychologically distress. Results: Our analyses provide partial support for the hypothesized model. Although pre-disaster perceived social support did not exert a direct effect on post-disaster psychological distress, the indirect effects of all 3 proposed mediators were significant. Conclusions: Pre-disaster social support can decrease both exposure to natural disasters and the negative psychological effects of natural disaster exposure. These findings underscore the importance of bolstering the post-disaster social support networks of low-income mothers. Keywords: natural disasters, social support, low-income populations, mothers DOI: 10.1037/a0018317

Byline: Paul S. Davies (1), Jeffrey Hemmeter (2) Keywords: Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Katrina; Rita; Hurricane; Administrative data; Natural hazards; Natural disasters; Welfare; Well-being; Environment Abstract: Approximately 350,000 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients--elderly and disabled individuals with low incomes and assets--lived in the areas directly affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August 2005. We show that recipients from affected areas were more likely to leave the program, have more volatile participation patterns, and leave the area in the 2 years following the hurricanes than were recipients from unaffected areas. Among recipients from more severely affected areas relative to those from unaffected states, the odds of dying were 40% greater and the odds of leaving SSI for other reasons were 23% greater. Additionally, 31% of recipients from more severely affected areas had experienced a non-payment month, with 46% subsequently returning to the rolls (compared with 23% and 41% of recipients from unaffected states). Nearly 60% of SSI recipients from more severely affected areas lived in a different county or parish 2 years after the hurricanes, compared with about 12% from unaffected areas. In all, our findings demonstrate that natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita can have large and persistent impacts on SSI recipients, including effects on program status, mortality, and geographic location. Author Affiliation: (1) Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Administration, 500 E Street SW, Room 922, Washington, DC, 20254, USA (2) Office of Program Development and Research, Social Security Administration, 6401 Security Blvd, 3-C-25 Operations, Baltimore, MD, 21235, USA Article History: Registration Date: 24/11/2009 Online Date: 13/12/2009 Article note: The findings and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Social Security Administration or any agency of the Federal government.

Byline: Allison Plyer (1), Joy Bonaguro (2), Ken Hodges (3) Keywords: Disaster; Hurricane Katrina; Population displacement; Population estimates; Natural disasters; Natural hazards; Demography; Demographic data Abstract: After a large scale evacuation, authorities need to know the new and frequently changing population distributions in order to meet needs for housing, schools, health care, and other services. This paper reviews literature from the fields of demography and other disciplines to identify available administrative data sets that can form the basis of sound, relevant, and timely county-level population estimates following a catastrophic U.S. event. The most appropriate data to estimate population in damaged counties will be disaster-specific data such as housing damage estimates and FEMA applicant counts initially, and later electric accounts and USPS active residences. In heavily damaged counties, data on electric accounts and USPS active residences may not be consistently collected for many months, during which time sample surveys may be needed. For counties that receive an influx of population, school enrollment data provide the most appropriate basis for population estimates. Population estimates for large, heavily damaged counties are highly uncertain. Sensitivity analysis when using estimates for planning in these areas is recommended. The Census Bureau can build on this research by codifying recommendations to local authorities for developing frequent post-disaster population estimates. Author Affiliation: (1) Greater New Orleans Community Data Center at Nonprofit Knowledge Works, Tulane University, 1600 Constance St, New Orleans, LA, 70130, USA (2) University of California, Berkeley, USA (3) Nielsen Claritas, Schaumburg, USA Article History: Registration Date: 13/11/2009 Online Date: 29/11/2009

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00540.x Byline: Zdravko Marjanovic (2), Esther R. Greenglass, (*), C. Ward Struthers (*), Cathy Faye (*) Abstract: The present investigation explores how judgments of responsibility influence affective and helping reactions toward natural-disaster victims. Guided by Weiner's (1995, 2006) theory of social motivation, we hypothesized that judging victims responsible for a disaster would indirectly lead to low rates of helping. Two studies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, a bogus earthquake was used to test experimentally the effects of responsibility judgments (low, high). In Study 2, we surveyed attitudes about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our results showed that Weiner's model was supported across studies. Responsibility judgments led to anger and sympathy, and sympathy led to helping intentions, which in turn led to helping behavior. Comparisons across studies and the relationship between helping intentions and behavior are discussed. Author Affiliation: (*)York University Article note: (2) Zdravko Marjanovic, Department of Psychology, York University, Behavioural Sciences Building, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3. E-mail: zvic@yorku.ca

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2009.02.014 Byline: Poul E. Heegaard (a), Kishor S. Trivedi (b) Keywords: Survivability; End-to-end performance; Analytical models; Simulation Abstract: Critical services in a telecommunication network should be continuously provided even when undesirable events like sabotage, natural disasters, or network failures happen. It is essential to provide virtual connections between peering nodes with certain performance guarantees such as minimum throughput, maximum delay or loss. The design, construction and management of virtual connections, network infrastructures and service platforms aim at meeting such requirements. In this paper we consider the network's ability to survive major and minor failures in network infrastructure and service platforms that are caused by undesired events that might be external or internal. Survive means that the services provided comply with the requirement also in presence of failures. The network survivability is quantified as defined by the ANSI T1A1.2 committee which is the transient performance from the instant an undesirable event occurs until steady state with an acceptable performance level is attained. The assessment of the survivability of a network with virtual connections exposed to link or node failures is addressed in this paper. We have developed both simulation and analytic models to cross-validate our assumptions. In order to avoid state space explosion while addressing large networks we decompose our models first in space by studying the nodes independently and then in time by decoupling our analytic performance and recovery models which gives us a closed form solution. The modeling approaches are applied to both small and real-sized network examples. Three different scenarios have been defined, including single link failure, hurricane disaster, and instabilities in a large block of the system (transient common failure). The results show very good correspondence between the transient loss and delay performance in our simulations and in the analytic approximations. Author Affiliation: (a) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Telematics, 7491 Trondheim, Norway (b) Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA