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Adapting to Climate Sensitive Hazards through Architecture
Allison Hoadley Anderson
In architecture, mitigation reduces the magnitude of climate change by reducing demand for resources; anticipatory adaptation improves performance against hazards; and planned adaptation creates policies and codes to support adaptation.
Adaptation prepares for a future with intensifying climate conditions. The built environment must prepare for challenges that may be encountered during the service life of the building, and reduce human exposure to hazards. Structures are responsible for about 39% of the primary energy consumption worldwide and 24% of the greenhouse gas emissions, significantly contributing to the causes of climate change. Measures to reduce demand in the initial construction and over the life cycle of the building operation directly impact the climate.
Improving performance against hazards requires a suite of modifications to counter specific threats. Adaptation measures may address higher temperatures, extreme precipitation, stormwater flooding, sea-level rise, hurricanes, drought, soil subsidence, wildfires, extended pest ranges, and multiple hazards. Because resources to meet every threat are inadequate, actions with low costs now which offer high benefits under a range of predicted future climates become high-priority solutions.
Disaster risk is also reduced by aligning policies for planning and construction with anticipated hazards. Climate adaptation policies based on the local effects of climate change are a new tool to communicate risk and share resources. Building codes establish minimum standards for construction, so incorporating adaptation strategies into codes ensures that the resulting structures will survive a range of uncertain futures.
Agency Coordination and Cross-Sector Collaboration in Fragile States
Abdul-Akeem Sadiq and Jenna Tyler
Despite myriad descriptions and indicators used to define a fragile state, the international community has come to an agreement that a fragile state lacks the ability to maintain physical control of its territorial boundaries, provide basic public services, facilitate economic growth, and interact as a full member of the international community. Fragile states have historically experienced a disproportionate amount of natural disaster-related losses. For example, from 2005 to 2009, more than 50% of those impacted by a natural disaster lived in a fragile state, resulting in over $200 billion in losses. When natural disasters occur in such areas, they exacerbate already weak governance structures and further undermine their governments' capability to respond to the crisis while simultaneously addressing challenges related to poverty and conflict. To remedy these and other complex issues inherent in fragile states, scholars are beginning to recognize the importance of investigating how fragile states can mitigate natural disaster losses through effective agency coordination and cross-sector collaboration. Agency coordination, in the context of natural disaster response, refers to the integration of facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication by public agencies for supporting incident response activities. Cross-sector collaboration refers to the sharing of information and resources by organizations in two or more sectors to achieve an outcome that cannot be produced by organizations in one sector alone. Because forecasts suggest that natural disaster-related losses will only increase in fragile states owing to population growth, urbanization, and climate change, there is a pressing need to understand the ways public organizations not only coordinate before, during, and after a natural disaster, but also how they collaborate across organizational sectors.
Agenda Setting and Natural Hazards
Rob A. DeLeo
Agenda setting describes the process through which issues are selected for consideration by a decision-making body. Among the myriad of issues policymakers can consider, few are more vexing than natural hazards. By aggregating (or threatening to aggregate) death, destruction, and economic loss, natural hazards represent a serious and persistent threat to public safety. While citizens rightfully expect policymakers to protect them, many of the policy challenges associated natural hazards fail to reach the crowded government agenda. This article reviews the literature on agenda setting and natural hazards, including the strain between preparing for emerging hazards, on the one hand, and responding to existing disasters, on the other hand. It considers the extent to which natural hazards pose distinctive difficulties during the agenda-setting process, focusing specifically on the dynamics of issue identification, problem definition, venue shopping, and interest group mobilization in natural hazard domains. It closes by suggesting a number of future avenues of agenda-setting research.
Assessment and Adaptation to Climate Change-Related Flood Risks
Brenden Jongman, Hessel C. Winsemius, Stuart A. Fraser, Sanne Muis, and Philip J. Ward
The flooding of rivers and coastlines is the most frequent and damaging of all natural hazards. Between 1980 and 2016, total direct damages exceeded $1.6 trillion, and at least 225,000 people lost their lives. Recent events causing major economic losses include the 2011 river flooding in Thailand ($40 billion) and the 2013 coastal floods in the United States caused by Hurricane Sandy (over $50 billion). Flooding also triggers great humanitarian challenges. The 2015 Malawi floods were the worst in the country's history and were followed by food shortage across large parts of the country.
Flood losses are increasing rapidly in some world regions, driven by economic development in floodplains and increases in the frequency of extreme precipitation events and global sea level due to climate change. The largest increase in flood losses is seen in low-income countries, where population growth is rapid and many cities are expanding quickly. At the same time, evidence shows that adaptation to flood risk is already happening, and a large proportion of losses can be contained successfully by effective risk management strategies. Such risk management strategies may include floodplain zoning, construction and maintenance of flood defenses, reforestation of land draining into rivers, and use of early warning systems.
To reduce risk effectively, it is important to know the location and impact of potential floods under current and future social and environmental conditions. In a risk assessment, models can be used to map the flow of water over land after an intense rainfall event or storm surge (the hazard). Modeled for many different potential events, this provides estimates of potential inundation depth in flood-prone areas. Such maps can be constructed for various scenarios of climate change based on specific changes in rainfall, temperature, and sea level.
To assess the impact of the modeled hazard (e.g., cost of damage or lives lost), the potential exposure (including buildings, population, and infrastructure) must be mapped using land-use and population density data and construction information. Population growth and urban expansion can be simulated by increasing the density or extent of the urban area in the model. The effects of floods on people and different types of buildings and infrastructure are determined using a vulnerability function. This indicates the damage expected to occur to a structure or group of people as a function of flood intensity (e.g., inundation depth and flow velocity).
Potential adaptation measures such as land-use change or new flood defenses can be included in the model in order to understand how effective they may be in reducing flood risk. This way, risk assessments can demonstrate the possible approaches available to policymakers to build a less risky future.
Assessment of Earthquake Performance of Structures by Hybrid Simulation
Amr Elnashai and Hussam Mahmoud
With current rapid growth of cities and the move toward the development of both sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems, it is vital for the structural engineering community to continue to improve their knowledge in earthquake engineering to limit infrastructure damage and the associated social and economic impacts. Historically, the development of such knowledge has been accomplished through the deployment of analytical simulations and experimental testing. Experimental testing is considered the most accurate tool by which local behavior of components or global response of systems can be assessed, assuming the test setup is realistically configured and the experiment is effectively executed. However, issues of scale, equipment capacity, and availability of research funding continue to hinder full-scale testing of complete structures. On the other hand, analytical simulation software is limited to solving specific type of problems and in many cases fail to capture complex behaviors, failure modes, and collapse of structural systems. Hybrid simulation has emerged as a potentially accurate and efficient tool for the evaluation of the response of large and complex structures under earthquake loading. In hybrid (experiment-analysis) simulation, part of a structural system is experimentally represented while the rest of the structure is numerically modeled. Typically, the most critical component is physically represented. By combining a physical specimen and a numerical model, the system-level behavior can be better quantified than modeling the entire system purely analytically or testing only a component. This article discusses the use of hybrid simulation as an effective tool for the seismic evaluation of structures. First, a chronicled development of hybrid simulation is presented with an overview of some of the previously conducted studies. Second, an overview of a hybrid simulation environment is provided. Finally, a hybrid simulation application example on the response of steel frames with semi-rigid connections under earthquake excitations is presented. The simulations included a full-scale physical specimen for the experimental module of a connection, and a 2D finite element model for the analytical module. It is demonstrated that hybrid simulation is a powerful tool for advanced assessment when used with appropriate analytical and experimental realizations of the components and that semi-rigid frames are a viable option in earthquake engineering applications.
Benefit-Cost Analysis of Economic Resilience Actions
Adam Rose
Economic resilience, in its static form, refers to utilizing remaining resources efficiently to maintain functionality of a household, business, industry, or entire economy after a disaster strikes, and, in its dynamic form, to effectively investing in repair and reconstruction to promote accelerated recovery. As such, economic resilience is oriented to implementing various post-disaster actions (tactics) to reduce business interruption (BI), in contrast to pre-disaster actions such as mitigation that are primarily oriented to preventing property damage. A number of static resilience tactics have been shown to be effective (e.g., conserving scarce inputs, finding substitutes from within and from outside the region, using inventories, and relocating activity to branch plants/offices or other sites). Efforts to measure the effectiveness of the various tactics are relatively new and aim to translate these estimates into dollar benefits, which can be juxtaposed to estimates of dollar costs of implementing the tactics. A comprehensive benefit-cost analysis can assist public- and private sector decision makers in determining the best set of resilience tactics to form an overall resilience strategy.
Bureaucratic Policymaking on Natural Hazards
Kristin O'Donovan
Bureaucratic politics, discretion, and decision-making for natural hazards governance present an important challenge of the use of autonomous bureaucratic discretion in the absence of political accountability. Understanding how these factors influence discretion and policymaking is of critical importance for natural hazards because the extent to which bureaucrats are able to make decisions means that communities will be safer in the face of disaster. But the extent to which they are held accountable for their decisions has significant implications for public risk and safety. Bureaucrats are unelected and cannot be voted out of office.
There are two significant areas that remain regarding the use of bureaucratic discretion in natural hazards policy. One key area is to consider the increasing emphasis on networked disaster governance on bureaucratic discretion and decision-making. The conventional wisdom is that networks facilitate disaster management much better than command and control approaches. However, the extent to which the use of bureaucratic discretion is important in the implementation of natural hazard policy, particularly for mitigation and preparedness, remains an open area of research.
The other key area is the influence of bureaucratic discretion and decision-making when communities learn after a disaster. The political nature of disasters and the professional expertise of public service professionals imply that in order to make communities safer, bureaucrats will have to use discretion to push forward more aggressive mitigation and preparedness policies. Bureaucratic discretion would need to be used for both political and policy purposes in order to engage in policy learning after disasters that produces a substantive change.
Challenges for Natural Hazard and Risk Management in Mountain Regions of Europe
Margreth Keiler and Sven Fuchs
European mountain regions are diverse, from gently rolling hills to high mountain areas, and from low populated rural areas to urban regions or from communities dependent on agricultural productions to hubs of tourist industry. Communities in European mountain regions are threatened by different hazard types: for example floods, landslides, or glacial hazards, mostly in a multi-hazard environment. Due to climate change and socioeconomic developments they are challenged by emerging and spatially as well as temporally highly dynamic risks. Consequently, over decades societies in European mountain ranges developed different hazard and risk management strategies on a national to local level, which are presented below focusing on the European Alps.
Until the late 19th century, the paradigm of hazard protection was related to engineering measures, mostly implemented in the catchments, and new authorities responsible for mitigation were founded. From the 19th century, more integrative strategies became prominent, becoming manifest in the 1960s with land-use management strategies targeted at a separation of hazardous areas and areas used for settlement and economic purpose. In research and in the application, the concept of hazard mitigation was step by step replaced by the concept of risk. The concept of risk includes three components (or drivers), apart from hazard analysis also the assessment and evaluation of exposure and vulnerability; thus, it addresses in the management of risk reduction all three components. These three drivers are all dynamic, while the concept of risk itself is thus far a static approach. The dynamic of risk drivers is a result of both climate change and socioeconomic change, leading through different combinations either to an increase or a decrease in risk. Consequently, natural hazard and risk management, defined since the 21st century using the complexity paradigm, should acknowledge such dynamics. Moreover, researchers from different disciplines as well as practitioners have to meet the challenges of sustainable development in the European mountains. Thus, they should consider the effects of dynamics in risk drivers (e.g., increasing exposure, increasing vulnerability, changes in magnitude, and frequency of hazard events), and possible effects on development areas. These challenges, furthermore, can be better met in the future by concepts of risk governance, including but not limited to improved land management strategies and adaptive risk management.
Children, Youth, and Disaster
Alice Fothergill
Children and youth are greatly affected by disasters, and as climate instability leads to more weather-related disasters, the risks to the youngest members of societies will continue to increase. Children are more likely to live in risky places, such as floodplains, coastal areas, and earthquake zones, and more likely to be poor than other groups of people. While children and youth in industrialized countries are experiencing increased risks, the children and youth in developing countries are the most at risk to disasters.
Children and youth are vulnerable before, during, and after a disaster. In a disaster, many children and youth experience simultaneous and ongoing disruptions in their families, schooling, housing, health and access to healthcare, friendships, and other key areas of their lives. Many are at risk to separation from guardians, long-term displacement, injury, illness, and even death. In disaster planning, there is often an assumption that parents will protect their children in a disaster event, and yet children are often separated from their parents when they are at school, childcare centers, home alone, with friends, and at work. Children do not have the resources or independence to prepare for disasters, so they are often reliant on adults to make evacuation decisions, secure shelter, and provide resources. Children also may hide or have trouble articulating their distress to adults after a disaster. In the disaster aftermath, it has been found that children and youth—no matter how personally resilient—cannot fully recover without the necessary resources and social support.
Social location—such as social class, race, gender, neighborhood, resources, and networks—prior to a disaster often determines, at least in part, many of the children's post-disaster outcomes. In other words, age intersects with many other factors. Girls, for example, are at risk to sexual violence and exploitation in some disaster aftermath situations. In addition, a child's experience in a disaster could also be affected by language, type of housing, immigration status, legal status, and disability issues. Those living in poverty have more difficulties preparing for disasters, do not have the resources to evacuate, and live in lower quality housing that is less able to withstand a disaster. Thus, it is crucial to consider the child's environment before and after the disaster, to realize that some children experience cumulative vulnerability, or an accumulation of risk factors, and that disasters may occur on top of other crises, such as drought, epidemics, political instability, violence, or a family crisis such as divorce or death.
Even as children and youth are vulnerable, they also demonstrate important and often unnoticed capacities, skills, and strengths, as they assist themselves and others before and after disaster strikes. Frequently, children are portrayed as helpless, fragile, passive, and powerless. But children and youth are creative social beings and active agents, and they have played important roles in preparedness activities and recovery for their families and communities. Thus, both children's vulnerabilities and capacities in disasters should be a research and policy priority.
Climate Adaptation Governance in Pakistan
Syed-Muhammad Ali, Akhtar Naeem Khan, and Hamna Shakeel
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to the security of water, food, and energy in Pakistan. Pakistan has seen increased visibility of direct and indirect impacts of climate change since the early 1990s. Pakistan's government achieved a milestone in 2012 when the first National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) was proposed. In response to dynamic climate trends, it provided a broad set of adaptation measures for vulnerable sectors such as power, food, water, and health. In 2014, a more precise follow-up framework was developed which proposed strategies to achieve the objectives of the NCCP. The government is also cooperating with national and international organizations and societies to make vulnerable sectors and local communities resilient against water shortages, flash floods, cyclones, and temperature extremes. Analysis of the existing state of adaptation actions and systems exposes several deficiencies. There is a huge knowledge gap between researchers and policymakers which needs to be bridged. Stakeholders, local communities, and experts from relevant fields need to be involved in the process of policy making for the development of a comprehensive adaptation plan. Educational and research institutes in Pakistan are deficient in expertise and modern tools and technologies for predicting future climatic trends and the risks they pose to various sectors of the country. Lack of awareness in the general public, related to climate change and associated risks, is also an obstacle in developing climate-resilient communities. The government of Pakistan is giving due importance to the development of policies and capacity building of relevant implementing departments and research institutes. However, there is still a need for a strong enforcement body at the national, provincial, and municipal levels to successfully implement government strategies.
Climate Change as a Transboundary Policymaking Natural Hazards Problem
Elizabeth Albright
Throughout the world, major climate-related catastrophic events have devastated lives and livelihoods. These events are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity across the globe, as greenhouse gas emissions continue to accumulate in our atmosphere. The causes and consequences of these disasters are not constrained to geographic and political boundaries, or even temporal scales, increasing the complexity of their management. Differences in cultures, governance and policy processes often occur among jurisdictions in a transboundary setting, whether adjacent nations that are exposed to the same transboundary hazard or across municipalities located within the same political jurisdiction. Political institutions and processes may vary across jurisdictions in a region, presenting challenges to cooperation and coordination of risk management. With shifting climates, risks from climate-related natural hazards are in constant flux, increasing the difficulty of making predictions about and governing these risks. Further, different groups of individuals may be exposed to the same climate hazard, but that exposure may affect these groups in unique ways. Managing climate change as a transboundary natural hazard may mandate a shift from a focus on individual climate risks to developing capacity to encourage learning from and adaptation to a diversity of climatic risks that span boundaries. Potential barriers to adaptation to climate risks must not be considered individually but rather as a part of a more dynamic system in which multiple barriers may interact, impeding effective management. Greater coordination horizontally, for example through networks linking cities, and vertically, across multiple levels of governance (e.g., local, regional, national, global), may aid in the development of increased capacity to deal with these transboundary risks. Greater public engagement in management of risks from climate change hazards, both in risk mitigation and post-hazard recovery, could increase local-level capacity to adapt to these hazards.
Climatology of Flooding in the United States
Gabriele Villarini and Louise Slater
Flood losses in the United States have increased dramatically over the course of the past century, averaging US$7.96 billion in damages per year for the 30-year period ranging from 1985 to 2014. In terms of human fatalities, floods are the second largest weather-related hazard in the United States, causing approximately 80 deaths per year over the same period. Given the wide-reaching impacts of flooding across the United States, the evaluation of flood-generating mechanisms and of the drivers of changing flood hazard are two areas of active research.
Flood frequency analysis has traditionally been based on statistical analyses of the observed flood distributions that rarely distinguish among physical flood-generating processes. However, recent scientific advances have shown that flood frequency distributions are often characterized by "mixed populations" arising from multiple flood-generating mechanisms, which can be challenging to disentangle. Flood events can be driven by a variety of physical mechanisms, including rain and snowmelt, frontal systems, monsoons, intense tropical cyclones, and more generic cyclonic storms.
Temporal changes in the frequency and magnitude of flooding have also been the subject of a large body of work in recent decades. The science has moved from a focus on the detection of trends and shifts in flood peak distributions towards the attribution of these changes, with particular emphasis on climatic and anthropogenic factors, including urbanization and changes in agricultural practices. A better understanding of these temporal changes in flood peak distributions, as well as of the physical flood-generating mechanisms, will enable us to move forward with the estimation of future flood design values in the context of both climatic and anthropogenic change.
Collaboration and Cross-Sector Coordination for Humanitarian Assistance in a Disaster Recovery Setting
David Sanderson
While known to be important and essential for improved effectiveness and efficiency, cross-sector coordination and collaboration among different actors engaged in postdisaster recovery is fraught with complications. Among the challenges are (a) who leads, and how; (b) the capacity and roles of the host government; (c) governance structures within organizations (which may differ a great deal); (d) assumptions of power; (e) the trade-off between valuing relationships and "getting the job done"; and (f) the varying constraints (and opportunities) of accountability. Recognizing the need to improve joint actions for a better response, the Humanitarian Reform Agenda (HRA), begun in 2005, led to the remolding of collective models of disaster response and the adoption of the global cluster system, which is essentially organized around the delivery of goods and services (sectors) by traditional aid actors such as the United Nations (UN), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. While the cluster system has largely been acknowledged as an improvement in collaboration among actors, a perennial challenge of cross-sector coordination remains. One of the opportunities for improvement lies in better and more predictable leadership, one of the key areas identified by the HRA. Another opportunity lies in changing the focus from a supply-driven approach of prioritizing what aid providers deliver to a demand-driven understanding, such as that offered by area-based approaches, wherein sectors are more closely aligned.
A common form of collaboration within aid is partnership between various actors (e.g., the United Nations or NGOs). Partnerships assume more than a constructing relationship: Effective partnerships emphasize the need for transparency and equity, along with being results-oriented and competent. Recognizing this, the Grand Bargain, resulting from the World Humanitarian Summit, noted that aid providers should engage with local and national responders in a spirit of partnership and aim to reinforce rather than replace local and national capacities.
Partnerships, however, fall short all too often, especially when one partner has power over the other, which is often the case. The report Time to Let Go, by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), notes, for instance, that "the relationships between donor and implementer, aid provider and recipient, remain controlling and asymmetrical, and partnerships and interactions remain transactional and competitive, rather than reciprocal and collective." The challenge remains to achieve the task at hand, while at the same time engaging in effective collaborative mechanisms that value the nature of the relationship. If this is not achieved, effective postdisaster recovery can be jeopardized.
Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction
Rajib Shaw
Community-based approaches existed even before the existence of the state and its formal governance structure. People and communities used to help and take care of each other's disaster needs. However, due to the evolution of state governance, new terminology of community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) has been coined to help communities in an organized way. Different stakeholders are responsible for community-based actions; the two key players are the local governments and civil society, or nongovernment organizations. Private sector and academic and research institutions also play crucial roles in CBDRR. Many innovative CBDRR practices exist in the world, and it is important to analyze them and learn the common lessons. The key to community is its diversity, and this should be kept in mind for the CBDRR. There are different entry points and change agents based on the diverse community. It is important to identify the right change agent and entry point and to develop a sustainable mechanism to institutionalize CBDRR activities. Social networking needs to be incorporated for effective CBDRR.
Corruption and the Governance of Disaster Risk
David Alexander
This article considers how corruption affects the management of disaster mitigation, relief, and recovery. Corruption is a very serious and pervasive issue that affects all countries and many operations related to disasters, yet it has not been studied to the degree that it merits. This is because it is difficult to define, hard to measure and difficult to separate from other issues, such as excessive political influence and economic mismanagement. Not all corruption is illegal, and not all of that which is against the law is vigorously pursued by law enforcement. In essence, corruption subverts public resources for private gain, to the damage of the body politic and people at large. It is often associated with political violence and authoritarianism and is a highly exploitative phenomenon. Corruption knows no boundaries of social class or economic status. It tends to be greatest where there are strong juxtapositions of extreme wealth and poverty.
Corruption is intimately bound up with the armaments trade. The relationship between arms supply and humanitarian assistance and support for democracy is complex and difficult to decipher. So is the relationship between disasters and organized crime. In both cases, disasters are seen as opportunities for corruption and potentially massive gains, achieved amid the fear, suffering, and disruption of the aftermath. In humanitarian emergencies, black markets can thrive, which, although they support people by providing basic incomes, do nothing to reduce disaster risk. In counties in which the informal sector is very large, there are few, and perhaps insufficient, controls on corruption in business and economic affairs.
Corruption is a major factor in weakening efforts to bring the problem of disasters under control. The solution is to reduce its impact by ensuring that transactions connected with disasters are transparent, ethically justifiable, and in line with what the affected population wants and needs. In this respect, the phenomenon is bound up with fundamental human rights. Denial or restriction of such rights can reduce a person's access to information and freedom to act in favor of disaster reduction. Corruption can exacerbate such situations. Yet disasters often reveal the effects of corruption, for example, in the collapse of buildings that were not built to established safety codes.
Debris-Flow Risk Assessment
Matthias Jakob, Kris Holm, and Scott McDougall
Debris flows are one of the most destructive landslide processes worldwide, given their ubiquity in mountainous areas occupied by human settlement or industrial facilities around the world. Given the episodic nature of debris flows, these hazards are often un- or under-recognized.
Three fundamental components of debris-flow risk assessments include frequency-magnitude analysis, numerical scenario modeling, and consequence analysis to estimate the severity of damage and loss. Recent advances in frequency-magnitude analysis take advantage of developments in methods to estimate the age of deposits and size of past and potential future events. Notwithstanding, creating reliable frequency-magnitude relationships is often challenged by practical limitations to investigate and statistically analyze past debris-flow events that are often discontinuous, as well as temporally and spatially censored. To estimate flow runout and destructive potential, several models are used worldwide. Simple empirical models have been developed based on statistical geometric correlations, and two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical models are commercially available. Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methods for assessing public safety were developed for the nuclear industry in the 1970s and have been applied to landslide risk in Hong Kong starting in 1998. Debris-flow risk analyses estimate the likelihood of a variety of consequences. Quantitative approaches involve prediction of the annual probability of loss of life to individuals or groups and estimates of annualized economic losses. Recent progress in quantitative debris-flow risk analyses include improved methods to characterize elements at risk within a GIS environment and estimates of their vulnerability to impact. Improvements have also been made in how these risks are communicated to decision makers and stakeholders, including graphic display on conventional and interactive online maps. Substantial limitations remain, including the practical impossibility of estimating every direct and indirect risk associated with debris flows and a shortage of data to estimate vulnerabilities to debris-flow impact. Despite these limitations, quantitative debris-flow risk assessment is becoming a preferred framework for decision makers in some jurisdictions, to compare risks to defined risk tolerance thresholds, support decisions to reduce risk, and quantify the residual risk remaining following implementation of risk reduction measures.
Disaster and Emergency Planning for Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
David Alexander
Emergency and disaster planning involves a coordinated, co-operative process of preparing to match urgent needs with available resources. The phases are research, writing, dissemination, testing, and updating. Hence, an emergency plan needs to be a living document that is periodically adapted to changing circumstances and that provides a guide to the protocols, procedures, and division of responsibilities in emergency response. Emergency planning is an exploratory process that provides generic procedures for managing unforeseen impacts and should use carefully constructed scenarios to anticipate the needs that will be generated by foreseeable hazards when they strike. Plans need to be developed for specific sectors, such as education, health, industry, and commerce. They also need to exist in a nested hierarchy that extends from the local emergency response (the most fundamental level), through the regional tiers of government, to the national and international levels. Failure to plan can be construed as negligence because it would involve failing to anticipate needs that cannot be responded to adequately by improvisation during an emergency.
Plans are needed, not only for responding to the impacts of disaster, but also to maintain business continuity while managing the crisis, and to guide recovery and reconstruction effectively. Dealing with disaster is a social process that requires public support for planning initiatives and participation by a wide variety of responders, technical experts and citizens. It needs to be sustainable in the light of challenges posed by non-renewable resource utilization, climate change, population growth, and imbalances of wealth. Although, at its most basic level, emergency planning is little more than codified common sense, the increasing complexity of modern disasters has required substantial professionalization of the field. This is especially true in light of the increasing role in emergency response of information and communications technology. Disaster planners and coordinators are resource managers, and in the future, they will need to cope with complex and sophisticated transfers of human and material resources. In a globalizing world that is subject to accelerating physical, social, and economic change, the challenge of managing emergencies well depends on effective planning and foresight, and the ability to connect disparate elements of the emergency response into coherent strategies.
Disaster and Response in an Experiment Called New Orleans, 1700s–2000s
Richard Campanella
As an urbanized river-dominated delta, New Orleans, Louisiana, ranks among the most experimental of cities, a test of whether the needs of a stable human settlement can coexist with the fluidity of a deltaic environment—and what happens when they do not.
That natural environment bestowed upon New Orleans numerous advantages, among them abundant fresh water, fertile soils, productive wetlands and, above all, expedient passage between maritime and continental realms. But with those advantages came exposure to potential hazards—an overflowing Mississippi River, a tempestuous Gulf of Mexico, sinking soils, eroding coasts, rising seas, biotic invasion, pestilence, political and racial discord, conflagration—made all the worse by the high levels of social vulnerability borne by all too many members of New Orleans' population. More so than any other major metropolis on the North American continent, this history of disaster and response is about the future of New Orleans as much as it is about the past.
This article examines two dozen disasters of various types and scales, with origins oftentimes traceable to anthropogenic manipulation of the natural environment, and assesses the nature of New Orleans' responses. It frames these assessments in the "risk triangle" framework offered by David Crichton and other researchers, which views urban risk as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. "Hazard" implies the disastrous event or trauma itself; "exposure" means human proximity to the hazard, usually in the form of settlement patterns, and "vulnerability" indicates individuals' and communities' ability to respond resiliently and adaptively—which itself is a function of education, income, age, race, language, social capital, and other factors—after having been exposed to a hazard.
Disasters and Large-Scale Population Dislocations: International and National Responses
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Large-scale displacement takes place in the context of disaster because the threat or occurrence of hazard onset makes the region of residence of a population uninhabitable, either temporarily or permanently. Contributing to that outcome, the wide array of disaster events is invariably complicated by human institutions and practices that can contribute to large-scale population displacements. Growing trends of socially driven exposure and vulnerability around the world as well as the global intensification and frequency of climate-related hazards have increased both the incidence and the likelihood of large-scale population dislocations in the near future. However, legally binding international and national accords and conventions have not yet been put in place to deal with the serious impacts, and material, health-related, and sociocultural losses and human rights violations that are experienced by the millions of people being swept up in the events and processes of disasters and mass population displacements. Effective policy development is challenged by the increasing complexity of disaster risk and occurrence as well as issues of causation, adequate information, lack of capacity, and legal responsibility. States, international organizations, state and international development and aid agencies must frame, define, and categorize appropriately disaster forced displacement and resettlement to influence effective institutional responses in emergency humanitarian assistance, transitional shelter and care, and durable solutions in managing migration and resettlement if return is not possible. The forms that disaster-associated forced displacements are projected to take and corresponding national responses are explored in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 in Sri Lanka, a massive disaster in a nation riven by civil conflict; Hurricane Katrina of 2005 in the United States, where the scale and nature of displacement bore little relation to hazard intensity; and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and nuclear exposure incident exemplifying the emerging trend of complex, concatenating, multihazard disasters that bring about large-scale population displacements.
Disaster Volunteers
Brenda Phillips
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. Please check back later for the full article.
Emergency managers, community leaders, and organizations can recruit and deploy volunteers to make a difference when disasters occur. Leveraging the social capital such volunteers produce can expedite disaster response and recovery if managed effectively. Recent research brings to light the benefits and consequences of volunteerism, including the personal meaningfulness found in disaster service. Evidence-based best practices for organizing, recruiting, preparing, deploying, and debriefing volunteers inform those who seek to understand and use volunteers. Disaster volunteers may be spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers (SUVs) or affiliated with experienced organizations. The benefits each can provide vary. Trends that have influenced today's disaster volunteers include the professionalization of disaster voluntary organizations, training and education, and social media. The development of inter-organizational partnerships represents one such trend, particularly the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) movement toward Points of Consensus on volunteer management. Cases illustrating turning points in the history of disaster volunteerism and trends over time in the United States can be drawn from the Johnstown flood (1889), the Galveston hurricane (1900), the San Francisco earthquake (1906), hurricane Camille (1969), the Mississippi River floods, hurricane Katrina (2005), and SuperStorm Sandy (2012). Internationally, examples of best practices can be drawn from the research and experiences in the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the Haiti earthquake (2010), and Japan's multiple, cascading events of 2011.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Oakland County ballots to be loaded with tax proposals
Filling out the primary ballot in Oakland County on Tuesday will probably take additional time because of the tax questions voters must consider.
Some communities such as Orion and White Lake townships have three or four proposals to digest.
For example, every voter will be asked to decide on a 0.2 mill request to fund the Detroit Institute of Arts for 10 years. Residents of Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties will weigh the request, which is similar to the taxes that fund the Detroit Zoo and the suburban bus system SMART.
The ballot question would propose the property tax to fund the recently established Art Institute Authority, which would then use the money to support the DIA.
If approved by all three counties, the DIA estimates the tax will generate roughly $10 million in Oakland County, $8 million in Wayne County and $5 million in Macomb County.
Supporters said the 127-year-old art museum owned by the city of Detroit is one of the region's cultural gems and should be supported.
The DIA said it no longer receives funding of any kind from the state, city or Wayne County.
The 0.2-mill property tax means a cost of $20 a year for the owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000. Taxable value is generally equal to half the market value of the home.
Oakland County Transportation Millage Renewal
A 0.59-mill property tax for two years for SMART. Renewal of the millage would maintain current levels of SMART fixed routes, connector and funding for local Community Transit services in the 23 participating communities in Oakland County.
A resident whose home has a taxable value of $100,000 would pay $59 annually. The measure will generate approximately $16 million annually.
Oakland County voters supported the SMART millage by 78 percent in 2010 and SMART is hoping for similar results in the upcoming election. If the millage does not pass, SMART services would be eliminated at the end of the year.
A 3-mill property tax increase would restore the previously authorized millage for police and fire services, libraries, public works and sanitation services.
Bloomfield Township
This 2.3931-mill property tax renewal for 10 years provides funding for police, fire and public safety purposes.
Brandon Township
Voters will be asked to pay 0.2261-mill property tax increase for the township library.
Fenton Schools
This 0.9362-mill property tax renewal for seven years provides a building and site sinking fund for school buildings, facilities and equipment.
Hazel Park Schools
This $8 million School Improvement Bond for up to 20 years for school buildings and facilities requires a 0.79-mill property tax.
The district also is requesting a 1-mill Building and Site Sinking Fund Proposition property tax for building and sites for five years.
Highland Township
A 0.75-mill property tax increase for police services the past two years appears on the primary ballot.
Holly Schools
Voters will decide whether they wish to approve a 1.2-mill property tax for 10 years to create a sinking fund for construction of school buildings.
Independence Township
Voters will see two proposals. One is the renewal of a 3.1688-mill Fire and Emergency Services operating millage for four years.
The second is a new 0.59-mill Fire and Emergency Services tax increase for four years. If the measure passes, a resident with an average $200,000 home with a taxable value of $100,000 would pay $59 a year.
The increase will allow the department to hire three full-time firefighters -- adding an extra person on duty for every 24-hour period, which will facilitate the staffing of a third ambulance.
This also will allow the fire department to retain the fire prevention division, which is currently set to close in February 2013.
Milford Village
Charter Amendment -- A 3.5-mill property tax increase for 10 years from 2013 to 2022, and then reduced to a 1-mill increase from 2023 to 2032, for the purposes of defraying the cost of major and local road maintenance.
A Charter Amendment would increase taxes from 0.7719 mills to 1.5 mills for street and highway improvements.
Oak Park
Charter Amendment Proposal 1 would exclude public safety officers from the retirement system established by the city charter.
Charter Amendment Proposal 2 would establish a separate retirement system for public safety officers employed by the city.
Oakland Township
Voters will decide if they wish to renew 0.1170 mills for 10 years for the historic district commission operations.
Orion Township
Voters will decide on three millage questions: a 0.9916-mill renewal for four years for fire services, a 1.9832-mill renewal for four years for police protection and a new 1.0168-mill property tax increase for police services for four years.
Officials said two years ago, five deputies were laid off, which trimmed more than $600,000 out of the budget.
The tax increase would keep the substation at the reduced level of 25 deputies.
Oxford Township
Voters will consider a new 0.4518-mill property tax increase in perpetuity for library services.
For an average homeowner, this would mean a tax raise of about $35 annually, said Library Director Bryan Cloutier. In the past four years, the library budget has decreased by about $300,000.
The proposal is a Headlee Override, reverting library taxes back to 2007 levels.
Currently, residents pay 1.3982 mills towards the library. If this tax increase passes, homeowners will pay 1.85 mills. This was raise an addition of $310,000 within the first year.
The money would be used to add books, periodicals and audio books, maintain and enhance technology, increase hours of part-time staff and maintain current weekly schedule.
Without the increase, Cloutier said the library will likely close every Sunday indefinitely.
Rochester Hills
Voters will see a 1.2083-mill property tax renewal to maintain current police services and a 2.5-mill property tax increase for 10 years to discontinue use of general operating property taxes for police services.
Springfield Township
Residents will weigh whether to pass a 0.75-mill property tax increase for four years to maintain police services. People currently pay 2.2163 mills for police services contracted by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
This current rate is made up of two separate police millages -- 0.7163 mills expiring Dec. 31, 2015 and 1.50 mills expiring Dec. 31, 2017. If this current police millage is passed, the township will have three millages totaling 2.9663 mills dedicated to police services.
This current proposed millage rate would increase taxes for the average Springfield Township property owner by about $72 per year -- based on an average taxable value of $96,525.
Waterford Township
Voters will consider two millages renewals -- a 0.63-mill renewal for 10 years for paramedic advanced life support and a 0.9118-mill tax renewal for 10 years for library services. The 10-year fire millage which generates $1.2 million a year was first passed in 2003. The funds maintain one of the fire department's four paramedic EMS rescue units and pay for 13 employees. The library renewal, for 10 years, would cost $44.57 a year for an average home in Waterford Township. The library receives no revenue from the Waterford Township general fund. The millage represents 91 percent of the library's operating budget.
West Bloomfield Township
Two Parks and Recreation general operating millages will be decided -- a 0.2435-mill renewal for 10 years as well as a new 0.35-mill parks property tax increase for 12 years.
White Lake Township
The ballot will contain four proposals -- a 1-mill Police-Fire operating millage renewal, a 0.6740-mill renewal for 10 years for fire and EMS services, a new 0.5-mill increase for 10 years for fire and EMS services and a new 0.3-mill property tax for five years for parks and recreation.
Voters will decide if they wish to amend the city charter to permit an increase of the millage cap in an amount not to exceed 4.98 mills for public safety and other city purposes.
Contact Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @OPCarolHopkins or on Facebook @OPcarolhopkins.


text: Sports Decorations > Texas Rangers Flags Texas Rangers Double Sided House Flag View All Texas Rangers Flags ITEMS Quantity $24.95 Out of Stock Add to Cart IN STOCK Standard & Express Shipping Available Order by 2pm CST (M-F) — Ships Same Day Item ID#: SSP-HouseDD-TXR-Panel Tweet Wish Our Texas Rangers Double Sided House Flag hangs vertically and provides a 3" top sleeve for insertion of a banner pole or flagpole. This house flag is 28" x 40" in size, is made of 2-ply polyester with sewn in liner, features screen printed Texas Rangers logos and insignias, and is viewable and readable correctly on both sides.These house banners are MLB Genuine Merchandise which ensures quality construction, genuine logos, hologram packaging, and authentic colors.Display your house banner with our Banner Pole or fly it with our 6' Spinning Aluminum Flagpole and Adjustable Flag Bracket. MLB Officially Licensed by Wincraft, Inc. Customers Also Bought... Flag & Pennant Accessories Heavy Duty Aluminum 6' Flagpole $21.95 Out of Stock Add To Cart Adjustable Aluminum Flag Bracket $10.95 Out of Stock Add To Cart Wood Banner Pole $9.95 Out of Stock Add To Cart US House Flag - Embroidered $29.95 Out of Stock Add To Cart


text:
Mark Ruffalo and his wife, Sunrise Coigney, just had a pretty baby girl, as an early Halloween treat. No, not the kind you eat, jeez. I don't think many actors are actively cannibals, but then again, there's always the occasional religion that embraces aliens, and whatnot… Ahem. From People: "The girl was born inLos Angeles. […]
Entries Tagged 'Joaquin Phoenix' ↓
Mark Ruffalo & Sunrise Coigney Have Baby Girl
November 2nd, 2007 — Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Sunrise Coigney


text:
Police Chief will retire his post effective Sept. 30
Beaumont Police Chief Frank Coffin announced today that he will retire his post effective Sept. 30. Coffin, who has been a member of the city's police force for nearly four decades, has been its chief since 2006.
During his tenure, Coffin spearheaded a number of initiatives credited with improving performance, accountability and community relations. Among his most important contributions was the introduction of COMPSTAT, a crime-tracking system used in many major metropolitan areas, which has improved the departments' ability to target crime and manage resources.
In the wake of Hurricane Rita, Coffin was instrumental in developing the city's Emergency Management Center, which includes a state-of-the-art facility and procedures modeled by cities throughout the country. When Hurricane Ike hit the area in 2008, the city's response was greatly improved, largely due to the processes in place at the EOC.
In late 2010, Coffin oversaw the development and implementation of the Community Advisory Committee, a 15-member body charged with providing an open line of communication between citizens and police.
Coffin started as a patrol officer in 1972, and worked his way through the ranks, becoming Deputy Chief in 1993. He succeeded Chief Tom Scofield to the top post when Scofield retired in 2006. Coffin received numerous commendations during his career, including recognition for his help in developing the Texas Basic Hostage Negotiator Course, and his work on the SWAT Team. He was repeatedly noted as an excellent representative of the Police Department in giving testimony during hearings.
"Frank Coffin has been a great asset to this city because of his dedication and loyal service," said City Manager Kyle Hayes. "He has been an innovator and a seasoned leader, and he will be missed."
Coffin said he's enjoyed his time serving on, and leading the force, but he's looking forward to handing over the reins and spending time with family.
"It has been a pleasure to work with Kyle Hayes, the Mayor and Council, and I have no doubt that the right person will be selected to take my place, and that person will continue the good work that the department is involved in," Coffin said. "I look forward to taking some time off and spending it with family and friends, but will surely miss the fine men and women that I have worked with over the years."
A search for Coffin's replacement will begin immediately.


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Trunk Testing Tribulation
It's Challenging to Power Down Segments While the Plant is Down, Let Alone While a Process Is Up. Powering Down Is Not an Attractive Option
Our H1 (Fieldbus interface) card design had changed, and terminals that were once available to attach test equipment were gone. Since our techs wanted to hook up their Relcom FBT-6 in the comfort of the rack room, the solution to the missing terminals was to expose a small length of bare wire beneath each terminal. That seemed okay until two test clips touched, and shorted out an entire segment. We didn't shut the plant down, but the excitement that ensued was enough to discourage us from ever attempting that again.
Early in the design phase, engineers are faced with choices regarding how they design networks conforming to the hazardous area classifications. Many users in North America find their area classifications are Class 1, Division 2 as defined by the ANSI/NFPA standards, equivalent to "Zone 2" in IEC 60079-10. Even before the widespread use of bus technologies, users frequently deployed the "non-incendive" concept for 24-VDC instrumentation.
Non-incendive means a well-maintained system protected from casual tampering won't create enough heat or a spark of sufficient energy to ignite a hazardous atmosphere. It can also mean that the system employs current-limiting circuitry that ensures the energy of a fault will be too low to ignite a hazardous vapor.
Profibus PA and Foundation fieldbus solutions offered by suppliers such as Pepperl+Fuchs, MTL, MooreHawke, Turck, Stahl, Cobalt and others (see the Fieldbus.org website) for a complete listing of certified products) achieve hazardous area standards in a variety of ways, many of which rely on energy-limiting circuitry. Twisted pairs extending from such networks are individually current-limited, which is how the spurs preserve the non-incendive properties required for live working. This means an energy-limited spur can have enclosure covers removed, hazardous area-compliant test equipment connected, and can be worked on without a "hot work" permit.
The trunk is another matter. In solutions designed to achieve an NEC (NFPA) non-incendive rating, the trunk itself is not current-limited, and can carry in excess of 500 mA. This is great if you have heavily loaded segments and segments with power-hungry, two-wire transmitters, but 500 milliamps means there's no protection for interaction with the trunk in the classified area while you're under power. A gas test and hot work permit and, possibly, persistent monitoring, depending on local practices and concerns, are required. You can power down the trunk from the safe area, but that would mean all the devices on the segment would power down and remain out of service for the duration. I have found it very challenging to power down segments while the plant is down—let alone while the process is up and generating revenue. Powering down is not an attractive option.
Intrinsically safe (IS) solutions called "high-power trunk" preserve the high current capability of the non-incendive solution, and permit the user to have IS spurs. The issue of live working of the trunk typically is addressed by segregating the trunk terminations and enclosing them separately. You have to work at it a bit, but you could still conceivably undo the protective measures, and connect to the trunk under power.
As we design systems that will be turned over to less trained and experienced workers, maybe the choices that are "most foolproof" will be more compelling. There are solutions available that ensure even the trunk isn't an ignition source for live-working. Contemplating such scenarios, I can visualize the multitude of troubles that the heedless, untrained or ignorant can get themselves into. Live-working on the trunk during process operation is unwise for another reason: the trunk is the common-mode fault path for all the devices on the segment, and it's best to leave it be once it's landed. Nowadays we always connect test equipment at unused spurs.


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT wrapped up the home portion of the 2012 football schedule and sent off its senior class in style this evening as the Engineers scored with 35 seconds left to shock No. 24 and previously undefeated Salve Regina University, 20-19. Sophomore Brad Goldsberry (Elizabeth, Colo.) set up the winning score with a 61-yard kickoff return and sophomore Justin Wallace (Palatine, Ill.) gave MIT the win with a five-yard run. MIT improved to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the New England Football Conference. Salve Regina fell to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
In a game that was played in a steady drizzle it was the last five minutes that decided it. Trailing 13-7, MIT started a drive at its own 42 after a Salve punt with 9:55 left in the game. The Engineers drove down to the SRU 14 where they faced a fourth and two. MIT went for it, with sophomore quarterback Pete Williams (Portland, Ore.) running for four yards to give MIT a first and goal at the 10. On the next play he floated a pass out to the left to freshman Samuel Inman (Stillwell, Okla.) and he was able to squeeze down the sideline and into the end zone to put MIT up, 14-13, with 5:05 left.
Salve Regina came right back on its next possession thanks to the running of senior Connor Kelley (Milford, Conn.). After a 21-yard pass play from sophomore Steven Wilken (Ringwood, N.J.) to sophomore Matthew Traynor (Secaucus, N.J.) that gave the Seahawks a first down on the MIT 45, Kelley carried the ball on six consecutive plays, with the last a two-yard plunge into the end zone with 1:20 left. Salve Regina went for the two-point conversion, but Kelly was stopped just short and the score remained 19-14 in the Seahawks favor.
Goldsberry then took the ensuing kickoff, faked a handoff, and broke up the middle for 61 yards to the SRU 31. A delay of game penalty set MIT back five yards, but Williams hit freshman Karson Ota (Katy, Texas) for 19 yards down to the SRU 19. The Engineers faced a fourth and one at the SRU 10, but Williams got around the right corner and out of bounds for a five-yard gain and the first down. On the next play Wallace burst up the middle for the score, putting the Engineers back on top.
Salve Regina had one last chance with 29 seconds left, but on their second play Wilken's pass was tipped and junior Jake Laux (Dousman, Wis.) corralled the ball for the interception that wrapped up the win.
MIT had a chance to take the lead early in the game, but freshman Chris McPherson (Gaithersburg, Md.) missed wide left on a 28-yard field goal attempt. Taking over at its own 20, Salve Regina put together an impressive 15-play, 80-yard drive that saw Wilken find Traynor open for a 15-yard scoring play. The extra point attempt hit the upright, however, leaving the Seahawks with a 6-0 lead at the 2:02 mark of the first.
MIT answered on its next drive, as Wallace ran for 51 yards on six carries to bring the Engineers down to the SRU 18. The drive appeared stalled when MIT faced a fourth and six on the SRU 7, but junior quarterback John Wenzel (Mandeville, La.) hit Inman with a TD pass and McPherson's extra point gave MIT a 7-6 lead with 12:52 left in the half.
That is where it stayed until Salve Regina opened the second half with a 60-yard kick return by sophomore Phil Terio (Trumbull, Conn.) that set the Seahawks up on the MIT 25-yard line. Five plays later Kelly took it in from the one on a fourth-and-goal to put Salve back on top 13-7.
It looked as if MIT would take the lead back early in the fourth quarter, but after Inman caught a 33-yard pass from Williams he was stripped of the ball and Salve Regina recovered in the end zone for a touchback. The MIT defense held, however, setting up the Williams to Inman scoring play that started the final frenzy that saw the teams score 19 points in the final 5:05.
MIT out gained Salve Regina, 322 yards to 289 in total offense, with Wallace pacing the Engineer ground game with 108 yards. Kelly had an outstanding game for Salve Regina, leading all rushers with 130 yards and a pair of scores. Williams, who came in for an injured Wenzel in the second half, completed 7-of-9 for 87 yards and a score. Wilken had a tough night passing, completing just 7-of-22 for 80 yards and throwing a pair of interceptions.
Laux led the MIT defense with 12 tackles and the interception, while junior Joshua Burnett (Whitman, Mass.) led all defenders with 14 tackles for Salve Regina.
MIT will play next Saturday at Nichols College, taking on the Bison in a NEFC game at 2:30 p.m. Salve Regina will host Plymouth State at Noon.


text: Yara, I hope you are still lurking on here. If you have an iTunes or Amazon music account, you can type in "Egyptian music" or "Turkish music," or whatever you are searching for, and it should pull up a number of examples for you to listen before you buy. Good luck, I hope you find some beautiful music.


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We are pleased to announce that UX Mag has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Blogs-Business category [Pause for smattering of applause]. It is a credit to our great contributors and to you our readers. Together you make this site so much fun to run. A million thanks! Oh, and if you feel like voting for any of the nominees here is the link [We take a humble bow].
UX Mag Is A Webby Awards Nominee
Article No :148 | April 10, 2007 | by Howard Mann
April 11, 2007
Congratulations! I recently discovered this blog for design and business. This site among a few others, definitely rule over Nussbaum any day.
Good Luck!


text:
A day after Apple announced that it will integrate Facebook within its upcoming mobile operating system, Facebook changed the name of its Camera app to avoid any confusion with Apple's iOS built-in app, aptly named Camera.
Facebook's photo-taking app that allows users to add filters to their images and share them on the social network will now be called Camera•.
The name is the same, but now there is a dot for added clarity.
Plus Camera+ was already taken.


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Stop the GAA Violence
UNLESS the GAA takes serious steps to tackle the issue of on-field violence, more and more assault cases arising from GAA games will appear before the courts.
That's the verdict of a Kiltimagh man who was assaulted by an opposing player minutes after the final whistle of a championship game last year.
Darragh Sloyan, 27, was the victim of an assault by Davitts GAA player James Cummins after a Mayo club championship match between Kiltimagh and Davitts in Ballindine on June 12, 2011. Sloyan was left with a broken nose which required two operations to correct.
Now, speaking after the case against Cummins was finalized in court, Sloyan has said that too many assaults take place on GAA fields with no thought for the consequences.
The Mayo News is aware of at least three other cases currently being investigated by An Garda Siochana (police) in relation to alleged assaults on GAA fields in Mayo this summer.
"People seem to forget that it is meant to be about football and is a game -- we all have to work in the morning," Sloyan said. "When you go out and play you might get accidentally injured and miss work the next day, but for a fella to come up and hit you like that is just not acceptable.
"When I came home from hospital afterwards my eldest son, who was two and a half years old at the time, didn't know who I was with the mask I had on my face. That wasn't nice and I couldn't leave the house for two weeks because I didn't want to see anyone in the state I was in.
"The way it tends to happen in the GAA is that the person who was attacked often seeks revenge in the next game between the same teams. It can be acceptable to 'do' him in return. It's GAA justice.
It's part and parcel of the GAA. The original victim then is seen as a bollocks for pursuing it through the courts, not the man who did it."
Speaking in court last Friday when asked by Judge Mary Devins if he had anything to say, Sloyan said he would not have reported the matter to the Gardai if the GAA had dealt with the issue themselves.
"I spoke to a county board official and I was told he [Cummins] got a four week suspension for what happened during the game [Cummins was sent off during the match in question] but that what happened after the game was, essentially, not their problem.
"I said I was still wearing my jersey standing minding my own business in the middle of a GAA ground. If I was playing rugby or soccer I think the issue would have been dealt with much better. The player might be suspended for a long time. Essentially the GAA washed their hands of me."
Sloyan, who played at senior, under-21 and minor level for Mayo, said he didn't like to be making these comments but said he felt it is time something was done.
"I don't want to sound like I am making a big deal out of this but it was so wrong and I was badly affected by it. I was hung out to dry here, left on my own by the GAA," he said.
Mayo News
Sisterly Births
THERE'S nothing like a little sisterly support, especially when going into hospital to give birth -- and for two sisters from Newry, this was never truer.
Olivia Strain and her sister Colleen Markey, both nine months pregnant, were both taken into Daisy
Hill Hospital in the early hours of Thursday with contractions. Olivia was taken down to the delivery suite first and at 8:53 a.m. she gave birth to a boy, Callum Phelim Gerard Strain, weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces.
Just over three hours later her younger sister Colleen added another boy to the family when Alfie Anthony Eugene Pentony was delivered, weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces.
Olivia's husband Gerard said, "We're all over the moon, especially Callum's older sister Bethany. The two babies are healthy and the two girls are doing great, so everyone's delighted."
Gerard explained how the coincidence started at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning when Olivia woke up saying she knew there was something wrong with Colleen. Unbeknown to her at the time, Colleen's contractions had started and she was preparing to go into hospital.
Within minutes Olivia started having contractions and they left for Daisy Hill arriving at 4 a.m., only to meet Colleen who arrived two hours later.
Delighted grandma Margaret Markey said, "I am delighted, just thrilled to bits. The girls were always close but to give birth to two sons on the same morning in the same hospital is incredible."
Newry Democrat
Dangerous Websites
A DONEGAL coroner has criticized the online culture of websites that detail alarming information on self harm and suicide methods, saying that "we can no longer bury our heads in the sand" on the issue.
Coroner John Cannon made his remarks at Letterkenny Coroners Court which heard the inquests of three deaths by suicide that occurred just weeks apart last December and January.
He said he has researched this topic recently, and his findings made him "so angry" such information was available and in some cases was goading people to harm themselves or die by suicide. He called for such material to be controlled.
"I don't know the answer but it makes me so angry. I can't over-emphasize it but it is there," Cannon said.
"It is real and there is no point burying our heads in the sand. There should be controls on these websites."
He said these sites targeted people who were "low and in the ebb of depression."
Cannon said new findings showed there was a high level of death by suicide in both Donegal and Cork.
He also highlighted his concerns over the growing issue of depression.
He remarked that it crossed many age ranges, saying that "horrible episodes of depression" appeared to be "prevalent in young people."
The inquests heard details of the deaths of two students in their early 20s and a 51-year-old man.
"This depression seems very difficult to understand," he stated.
Donegal Democrat
Hand Sliced Off
A 32-YEAR-old man originally from the Middle East had his hand reattached to his arm at St. James' Hospital recently after he accidentally severed it while using a band saw in a meat shop in Longford Town.
The man, believed to be living in the Longford area, had entered Oasis Food Store on Great Water Street in the town at approximately 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 27.
It is understood he had intended to purchase meat from the Halal store and was told by the attendant behind the counter to wait until evening prayers were finished.
The man then made his way behind the counter and proceeded to cut the meat by himself using a band saw located inside the premises.
The man's right hand was then sliced off by the blade of the appliance, which rotates at speeds of up to 5,000 feet per minute.
He was treated at the scene and then brought by an AW-139 Air Corps helicopter to St. James'
Hospital in Dublin before surgeons at the hospital successfully reattached the hand over the following weekend.
Longford Leader
Snakes Alive!
HORSELEAP residents Sinead O'Neill and her boyfriend Paddy Barrett got the shock of their lives when they discovered they were sharing their home with an unwanted guest -- a six foot boa constrictor.
The young couple, who moved into the rented house four months ago, discovered the snake when they were about to start cleaning out their shed. Their reptilian guest was wrapped around an old bed frame that was being stored in the outbuilding.
O'Neill said that they think that the animal belonged to the former tenants as they kept exotic pets.
"It had been living up there for six or seven months. His enclosure was in the shed (when we moved in) but we were told that the snake was gone," she said.
The boa had made a cozy little nest for itself in a cardboard box in the shed, dragging in some hay for added heat and comfort. When hunting prey, boas grab with their teeth before suffocating their quarry and consuming it whole.
O'Neill believes that it kept itself alive by feeding on the shed's previous occupants. "We noticed that there was a lot of swallow nests but no swallows," she said.
When the animal-loving couple, who have two cats and two dogs, started ringing around to try and get someone to take away the boa constrictor, O'Neill says they had trouble getting people to believe them.
"When I told the guards they asked was I on drugs," she laughed.
Eventually, Dublin Zoo put her in touch with the Reptile Village Zoo in Kilkenny where the snake is currently residing.
Zoo director James Hennessy, who traveled up to Horseleap to capture the animal, says the snake is as strong as an adult and could inflict serious, if not fatal injuries on a small child.
Offaly Independent


text:
John Elway, Doug Flutie Join Dove Men+Care 'Journey to Comfort' Campaign
By Barry Janoff
August 29, 2012: Dove Men+Care, which has been targeting males in recent years with current and retired athletes from the NFL, NBA and MLB, has added two football legends to its "Journey to Comfort" campaign: John Elway and Doug Flutie.
Elway had a Hall of Fame NFL career that was capped by two Super Bowl wins with the Denver Broncos, where he is now the team's executive vp-football operations.
Flutie, a college football analyst for NBC Sports, passed for more than 14,700 yards during his NFL career and during his time in the Canadian Football League was named the league's most outstanding player six times and was a three-time MVP in the Grey Cup (the CFL's version of the Super Bowl).
But the "Journey to Comfort" campaign will be supporting Dove Men+Care's effort for college football, where both men excelled before becoming pros, Elway at Stanford and Flutie at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984.
The pair join such current and retired pro athletes as Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Drew Brees, Albert Pujols, Andy Pettitte and Joe Girardi in selling Dove Men+Care skin and hair products to male consumers. The Dove Men+Care line traces back to a launch in late 2009 with its first national ad in February 2010 during Super Bowl XLIV.
"In recent years, athletes have become more comfortable with personal care brands," said David Schwab, managing director for First Call, the celebrity acquisition and activation division for global marketing and player management firm Octagon. "[The] supply of athletes outweighs demands from this brand industry and thus, [the brands] have the ability to choose from some great athletes. And since Dove has already used athletes with college basketball and golf activations, it makes future campaigns easier to sell in."
According to Dove, a division of Unilever, the campaign will be anchored by TV spots but will include a heavy dose of social media, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as a dedicated Dove Men+Care Web page.
"College Football is finally here!" Dove Men+Care proclaims. "These legendary QBs are still comfortable with the pigskin and definitely comfortable in their own skin . . . While the players gear up for the start of the NCAA football season, Dove Men+Care will be on the receiving end of two legendary QBs: John Elway and Doug Flutie. Tune in to our page for football coverage and chances to win awesome prizes," including a year's supply of Dove Men+Care products. (Details here.)
In their initial "Journey to Comfort" efforts, Elway and Flutie are seen in separate clips that appear to have been shot by a non-professional using a hand-held camera. The results are much higher quality than that.
"[The] supply of athletes outweighs demands from [the men's personal care] brand industry and [the brands] have the ability to choose from some great athletes."
In his scene, Elway tosses a football into a car window from about 30 yards away, repeatedly hitting the horn on the steering wheel. In his equally amazing scene, Flutie is about 30 yards away from a basketball hoop, yet consistently hits nothing but net with a football.
The secret is given away in text that accompanies each scene: "To try this at home, you will need five footballs, a lot of time and some special visual effects."
In his three new TV spots, Elway explains why "I'm definitely comfortable in my own skin."
In "Dancer," says that he enjoys embarrassing his kids by pulling out some old and decidedly uncoordinated moves on the dance floor. "I'm that bad," says Elway. "They all turn red. [But] I don't care. We're all having fun together. That's as good as it gets, right there." In "Walk," he reveals that players used to kid him about his pigeon-toed stance and "big butt."
In "The Play," he shares his thoughts on arguably the most memorable game in college football history, in which he was on the losing side. "There was definitely chaos at the end," he says of the California-Stanford game in 1982 when Elway and Stanford lead 20-19 with four seconds remaining but lost, 25-19. The final touchdown came on a play that included runs, laterals, missed tackles and the Stanford band coming onto the field. "I'm still mad at the trombone player for not putting the tackle on [the Cal player]," laughs Elway.
Flutie's commercials include "Underdog" ("I'm not shorter, I'm a half-step quicker than the other guys"), "Fingernails" and "Brothers" (which also features his brother, Darren, a former Boston College wide receiver whose pro career was spent almost entirely in the CFL). Each spot is followed by the tag line, "I'm Doug Flutie and I'm definitely comfortable in my own skin."
See the full spots here.
Elway quarterbacked the Denver Broncos to wins in Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII. At Stanford, he passed for 77 touchdowns and more than 9,300 yards.
Flutie may best be remembered for his Hail Mary pass in 1984 that led Boston College to a win over the daunted Miami Hurricanes.


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Organizational Standards in Colorado's World Languages Standards
Standards are the topical organization of an academic content area. The four standards of world languages are:
- Communication in Languages Other Than English
- Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures
- Connections with Other Disciplines and Information Acquisition
- Comparisons to Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture
1. Communication in Languages Other Than English
The educated American of the 21st century needs to be conversant in at least one language in addition to his/her native language. Colorado's continued leadership is going to rely heavily on its capacity to communicate across borders. Communication is the heart and soul of any culture, but learning another language builds a bridge that helps Americans relate to people of other nations and cultures. Students acquire the communication strategies that will aid them in participating in the global community.
In the 21st century students speak, read, view, and comprehend both spoken and written languages other than English to participate effectively in personal interactions with members of other cultures. Students interpret the concepts, ideas, and opinions expressed by members of these cultures through their media and literature. As students learn the languages and cultures that they may encounter in their personal lives and careers in the future, communication strategies that empower students include the ability to guess intelligently; to derive meaning from context; to understand, interpret, and produce gestures effectively; to ask for and provide clarification; to make and check hypotheses; to make inferences, predictions, and generalizations; to reflect on the nature of interaction; and to draw informed conclusions and maintain a healthy sense of humor, patience, and tenacity in the communication process. Language study helps students analyze important questions to extend learning beyond the classroom. Strong, confident communicative command in a language other than English gives students excellent skill and knowledge for success in the workforce of the 21st century.
Real-world communication occurs in a variety of ways. It may be interpersonal, in which culturally appropriate listening, reading, viewing, speaking, and writing occurs as a shared activity among language users. It may be interpretive, in which language users listen, view, and read using knowledge of cultural products, practices, and perspectives. It may be presentational, in which speaking and writing occur in culturally appropriate ways.
Prepared Graduate Competencies in the Communication in Languages Other Than English Standard are:
- Engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions (interpersonal mode)
- Understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics (interpretive mode)
- Present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics (presentational mode)
2. Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures
Today's increasingly global society requires a better understanding of cultures. To communicate successfully in another language, students must not only develop facility with the language but they should also develop familiarity with the cultures that use the languages and an awareness of how language and culture interact in society. Only those who possess knowledge of both can then realize the unique and significant connections between the culture that is lived and the language that is spoken. Students apply this knowledge as they express and interpret events and ideas in a second language and reflect upon observations from other cultures. Through their analysis of various resources in the target language, students are able to obtain information on topics of personal and global interest. Second language study helps students formulate self-identity and develops their world view.
Culturally appropriate language use requires the understanding of the relationship between the products a culture produces, the practices that the culture manifests, and the perspectives that underlie these products and practices. Students must acquire the ability to interact appropriately with target culture members to communicate successfully. This category allows students to connect and compare languages and cultures. As students grow in their language development, they develop strategies for building relationships within the world community.
Prepared Graduate Competencies in the Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures Standard are:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied
- Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the cultures studied
3. Connections with Other Disciplines and Information Acquisition
Learning is interdisciplinary. Students bring a wealth of experience and knowledge of the world around them to the language classroom. Connecting the foreign language curriculum to what students already know from other parts of their academic lives opens doors to information and experiences that can enrich their entire school and life experience. Examining authentic information available via technology widens the lens of a world language learner to include international sources. The connections that flow from other areas to the foreign language classroom can add unique experiences and insights into the rest of the school's curriculum. Students use their developing language skills to pursue topics of personal interest, unrelated to the limits of academic life, and as a result nurture and strengthen their lifelong learning skills and lifelong language-using skills. As students engage in experiences where skills in another language and cross-cultural knowledge are needed, their intercultural understanding is heightened.
Prepared Graduate Competencies in the Connections with Other Disciplines and Information Acquisition Standard are:
- Reinforce and further knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language
- Acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures
4. Comparisons to Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture
The study of a language other than English (a second language) fosters the development of a greater understanding of not only the language and culture being studied, but of an individual's own language and culture. The resulting linguistic and intercultural explorations expand a learner's view of the world. Students gain insights into the nature of language in society in culturally appropriate ways. The study fosters an awareness of alternative views of other cultures by comparing the student's own culture with another culture, including the relationship between accepted practices, products, and perspectives.
Prepared Graduate Competencies in the Comparisons to Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture Standard are:
- Demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own
- Demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own


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The World's Smallest But Largest Troublemaker
Staying God-Connected in a Stormy World // James 3:1-12
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By Dr. Jerry Reub
The book of 1 John was written by John the beloved apostle to Christians whose faiths were being challenged by false teachers. Today in the 21st century, Christians are once again being hammered by the strong winds of false teaching and competing ideologies. The small but powerful letter of 1 John boldly declares the basics of what it means to be a Christian and how to remain personally connected to God through His Son Jesus Christ. Tucked inside John's general letter to first-century believers are practical lessons on how our eternal relationship with Jesus Christ endures all attacks and breathes confidence into our everyday lives.