Evaluation of vulnerability factors for cyclones:the case of Patuakhali, Bangladesh

Tropical cyclones are considered as the most severe natural disasters in Bangladesh; they cause extensive damage, create losses in the country[U+05F3]s economy, and affect social settings. The impact of natural disasters has been further intensified due to various vulnerability factors within the Bangladeshi community such as low income; shortages of food; lack of assets such as land and permanent housing; dense population, illiteracy. This study evaluates the vulnerability factors for cyclones in the community based in the Patuakhali region of south western Bangladesh. The bottom-up research approach was adopted for the study, whereby the local community was consulted for their viewpoints by using focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews. Different community groups and social categories including both men and women, from different age groups and livelihoods, participated in the study. The study revealed how the community[U+05F3]s vulnerability to cyclones has been further aggravated by socio-economic factors such as social status, political influences and economic conditions. The majority of the community in Patuakhali has been "knowingly" vulnerable to cyclone disaster as a result of the lack of alternatives especially in terms of their livelihood patterns. The vulnerability of women, due to their lack of authority, domestic work, and fear of exposure within the society was also highlighted. The study revealed how vulnerability factors are interlinked with each other making them further difficult to manage. This calls for multi-faceted disaster risk reduction strategies that targets vulnerability factors deriving from different origins and root causes. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Validation of the drinking motives questionnaire - revised in six European countries

Highlights •This paper assesses the validity of the DMQ-R (Cooper, 1994) among university students in six different European countries. •Results provide support for similar DMQ-R factor structures across countries. •Drinking motives have similar meanings among European university students.

Chemical and mineral composition of rocks from the Philippine Sea

The book is devoted to geology of the Philippine Sea floor. This region is studied most extensively among other marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. Rocks of the sedimentary and basalt layers within this sea have been studied during five legs of D/S Glomar Challenger. International geological expedition on board R/V Dmitry Mendeleev carried out according to the Project ''Ophiolites of Continents and Comparable Rocks of the Ocean Floor''obtained unique collection of rocks from the second and third layers of the ocean crust in the Philippine Sea. The book provides detailed petrographic and geochemical description of igneous and sedimentary formations from the Philippine Sea and compares them with rocks of the continental ophiolite association. An analysis of structure and history of the ocean crust formation in the region is based on all known geological information. The main periods of tectonic movement activation and nature of their manifestations within the sea are shown.

Select Document: Sir George Radcliffe’s “Original of Government” (1639) and Absolutist Political Theory in Stuart Ireland

A seventeenth-century manuscript miscellany, which once belonged to Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, contains a short treatise on the origins of government by Sir George Radcliffe. Radcliffe was legal assistant to Sir Thomas Wentworth, lord deputy of Ireland (from January 1640 earl of Strafford and lord lieutenant). The treatise insisted on the divine origin of all human political power and implied that the best form of government was absolute monarchy, in which the monarch was free of all human law and subject to divine restraint alone. It will be suggested below that the composition of this treatise can be dated to the summer of 1639. This introduction will offer an outline of Radcliffe’s education and political career, explain the genesis of his treatise on government, point out some pertinent aspects of its argument, and finally assess the document’s significance.

Stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services of the Wami River and Estuary

Management of riverine and coastal ecosystems warrants enhanced understanding of how different stakeholders perceive and depend upon different kinds of ecosystem services. Employing a mixed methods approach, this study compares and contrasts the use and perceptions of upstream residents, downstream residents, tourism officials, and conservation organizations regarding the value of 30 ecosystem services provided by the Wami River and its estuary in Tanzania, and investigates their perceptions of the main threats to this system. Our findings reveal that all of the stakeholder groups place a high value on the provision of domestic water, habitat for wild plants and animals, tourism, and erosion control, and a relatively low value on the prevention of saltwater intrusion, refuge from predators, spiritual fulfillment, nonrecreational hunting, and the provision of traditional medications and inorganic materials for construction. Differences emerge, however, between the groups in the value assigned to the conservation of riverine and estuarine fauna and the provision of raw materials for building and handicrafts. Declining fish populations and an increasing human population are identified by the residents and conservation employees, respectively, as their prime concerns regarding the future conditions of the Wami River and its estuary. These groups also acknowledge increasing salinity levels and the loss of mangroves as other key concerns. The identification of these mutual interests and shared concerns can help build common ground among stakeholders while the recognition of potential tensions can assist managers in balancing and reconciling the multiple needs and values of these different groups.

The critical in Ken

That Kenneth Frampton has had a significant impact on architectural thinking in Australia was recently demonstrated by his visit, which included two well-attended public lectures and a one-day symposium dedicated to his thinking and writing. Billed as part of the Year of the Built Environment celebrations, these were hosted by the New South Wales chapter of the RAIA, the UNSW Faculty of the Built Environment and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Richard Francis-Jones of FJMT coordinated the symposium, which comprised presentations divided into two sessions, entitled - predictably through no doubt with good intentions - 'Theory' and 'Practice', with four academics and four practitioners in each. Frampton sat to the side throughout, and delivered his own response between them,noting his discomfort in seemingly straddling this divide, as an architect first, then writer and academic, later. Predictably, the familiar Critical Regionalism argument was the mainstay of the day, perhaps the easiest to handle and now almost automatic, despite the fact that Frampton noted when questioned that he hasn't talked much about it in the last 10 years.

A new method for improving reliability and line loss in distribution networks

In this paper, both Distributed Generators (DG) and capacitors are allocated and sized optimally for improving line loss and reliability. The objective function is composed of the investment cost of DGs and capacitors along with loss and reliability which are converted to the genuine dollar. The bus voltage and line current are considered as constraints which should be satisfied during the optimization procedure. Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization as a heuristic based technique is used as the optimization method. The IEEE 69-bus test system is modified and employed to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The results illustrate that the lowest cost planning is found by optimizing both DGs and capacitors in distribution networks.

Voltage unbalance reduction in low voltage distribution networks with rooftop PVs

Voltage Unbalance (VU) is a power quality issue arising within the low voltage residential distribution networks due to the random location and rating of single-phase rooftop photovoltaic cells (PVs). In this paper, an analysis has been carried out to investigate how PV installations, their random location and power generation capacity can cause an increase in VU. Several efficient practical methods are discussed for VU reduction. Based on this analysis, it has been shown that the installation of a DSTATCOM can reduce VU. In this paper, the best possible location for DSTATCOM and its efficient control method to reduce VU will be presented. The results are verified through PSCAD/EMTDC and Monte Carlo simulations.

A novel winding structure in planar inductors to decrease the overall capacitive couplings

This paper presents a new method for winding configuration in planar magnetic elements with more than two layers. It has been proven by 3D Finite Element method and mathematical modeling that this suggested configuration results in reduction of the equivalent capacitive coupling in the planar inductor

A resonant based Marx generator

The configuration proposed in this paper aims to generate high voltage for pulsed power applications. The main idea is to charge two groups of capacitors in parallel through an inductor and take the advantage of resonant phenomena in charging each capacitor up to a double input voltage level. In each resonant half a cycle, one of those capacitor groups are charged, and finally the charged capacitors will be connected together in series and the summation of the capacitor voltages can be appeared at the output of the topology. This topology can be considered as a modified Marx generator which works based on the resonant concept. Simulation models of this converter have been investigated in Matlab/SIMULINK platform and the attained results fully satisfy the proper operation of the converter.

Exposure to ultrafine particles and PM2.5 in four Sydney transport modes

Concentrations of ultrafine (<0.1µm) particles (UFPs) and PM2.5 (<2.5µm) were measured whilst commuting along a similar route by train, bus, ferry and automobile in Sydney, Australia. One trip on each transport mode was undertaken during both morning and evening peak hours throughout a working week, for a total of 40 trips. Analyses comprised one-way ANOVA to compare overall (i.e. all trips combined) geometric mean concentrations of both particle fractions measured across transport modes, and assessment of both the correlation between wind speed and individual trip means of UFPs and PM2.5, and the correlation between the two particle fractions. Overall geometric mean concentrations of UFPs and PM2.5 ranged from 2.8 (train) to 8.4 (bus) × 104 particles cm-3 and 22.6 (automobile) to 29.6 (bus) µg m-3, respectively, and a statistically significant difference (p <0.001) between modes was found for both particle fractions. Individual trip geometric mean concentrations were between 9.7 × 103 (train) and 2.2 × 105 (bus) particles cm-3 and 9.5 (train) to 78.7 (train) µg m-3. Estimated commuter exposures were variable, and the highest return trip mean PM2.5 exposure occurred in the ferry mode, whilst the highest UFP exposure occurred during bus trips. The correlation between fractions was generally poor, and in keeping with the duality of particle mass and number emissions in vehicle-dominated urban areas. Wind speed was negatively correlated with, and a generally poor determinant of, UFP and PM2.5 concentrations, suggesting a more significant role for other factors in determining commuter exposure.

High bandwidth voltage and current control design for voltage source converters

In this paper, two different high bandwidth converter control strategies are discussed. One of the strategies is for voltage control and the other is for current control. The converter, in each of the cases, is equipped with an output passive filter. For the voltage controller, the converter is equipped with an LC filter, while an output has an LCL filter for current controller. The important aspect that has been discussed the paper is to avoid computation of unnecessary references using high-pass filters in the feedback loop. The stability of the overall system, including the high-pass filters, has been analyzed. The choice of filter parameters is crucial for achieving desirable system performance. In this paper, the bandwidth of achievable performance is presented through frequency (Bode) plot of the system gains. It has been illustrated that the proposed controllers are capable of tracking fundamental frequency components along with low-order harmonic components. Extensive simulation results are presented to validate the control concepts presented in the paper.

R&D investment in green building initiatives in Western Australia

This paper reports on a current case study of green building initiatives implemented by the Western Australian government in the past decade. The intent is to provide a qualitative understanding of past R&D investments in the Australian built environment. The case method was selected to illustrate three sector-based investments, one of which is reported on here. The conceptual framework underpinning interview design and data analysis uses dynamic capability, absorptive capacity and open innovation theories to better understand the organisational environment in which these initiatives were implemented. Data has been thematically coded to criteria identified from the literature to illustrate organisational characteristics which may have contributed to dissemination and impact. The results will be combined with two further case studies (construction safety and digital modelling), to inform this research. This industry supported project will conclude by developing policy guidelines for future R&D investment in the built environment.

Rank minimization across appearance and shape for AAM ensemble fitting

Active Appearance Models (AAMs) employ a paradigm of inverting a synthesis model of how an object can vary in terms of shape and appearance. As a result, the ability of AAMs to register an unseen object image is intrinsically linked to two factors. First, how well the synthesis model can reconstruct the object image. Second, the degrees of freedom in the model. Fewer degrees of freedom yield a higher likelihood of good fitting performance. In this paper we look at how these seemingly contrasting factors can complement one another for the problem of AAM fitting of an ensemble of images stemming from a constrained set (e.g. an ensemble of face images of the same person).