<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att ge en forskningsöversikt kring begreppet social sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer i allmänhet. Sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer har kartlagts och studerats vetenskapligt under en kortare period, medan social sårbarhet, som är en undergrupp till sårbarhetsfältet, har studerats förhållandevis lite. Genom att ta reda på vilka människor/grupper av människor som är mest utsatta för naturkatastrofer finns det en möjlighet för beslutsfattare att fatta välgrundade beslut om var förebyggande insatser bör göras, såväl som akuta insatser i händelse av en naturkatastrof. Tanken är att denna uppsats skall ligga till grund för en lokal studie 2009-2010 av social sårbarhet i en utvald kommun vid Vänerns strand. Vänern är som känt hotad av ökad översvämningsrisk i samband med klimatförändringar och vikten av att undersöka social sårbarhet där är stor. Det huvudsakliga resultatet är att social sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer är bristfälligt kartlagt i vetenskaplig litteratur. Den metodik som har utarbetats för att mäta och hantera social sårbarhet i olika samhällen är fortfarande på ett experimentellt stadium. Att mäta och analysera social sårbarhet i Sverige är möjligt, om än med tydliga begränsningar, men det är av största betydelse att hänsyn tas till de unika förhållanden som råder på den plats som skall studeras. De variabler som används i utländska studier för att mäta social sårbarhet är förmodligen annorlunda från vilka variabler som är lämpliga att använda i Sverige. De studier som undersökts i rapporten använder sig av variabler som är lätta att kvantifiera. Kvalitativa variabler skulle sannolikt vara mer intressanta att mäta i en studie om social sårbarhet i Sverige.</p>

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ge en forskningsöversikt kring begreppet social sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer i allmänhet. Sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer har kartlagts och studerats vetenskapligt under en kortare period, medan social sårbarhet, som är en undergrupp till sårbarhetsfältet, har studerats förhållandevis lite. Genom att ta reda på vilka människor/grupper av människor som är mest utsatta för naturkatastrofer finns det en möjlighet för beslutsfattare att fatta välgrundade beslut om var förebyggande insatser bör göras, såväl som akuta insatser i händelse av en naturkatastrof. Tanken är att denna uppsats skall ligga till grund för en lokal studie 2009-2010 av social sårbarhet i en utvald kommun vid Vänerns strand. Vänern är som känt hotad av ökad översvämningsrisk i samband med klimatförändringar och vikten av att undersöka social sårbarhet där är stor. Det huvudsakliga resultatet är att social sårbarhet i relation till naturkatastrofer är bristfälligt kartlagt i vetenskaplig litteratur. Den metodik som har utarbetats för att mäta och hantera social sårbarhet i olika samhällen är fortfarande på ett experimentellt stadium. Att mäta och analysera social sårbarhet i Sverige är möjligt, om än med tydliga begränsningar, men det är av största betydelse att hänsyn tas till de unika förhållanden som råder på den plats som skall studeras. De variabler som används i utländska studier för att mäta social sårbarhet är förmodligen annorlunda från vilka variabler som är lämpliga att använda i Sverige. De studier som undersökts i rapporten använder sig av variabler som är lätta att kvantifiera. Kvalitativa variabler skulle sannolikt vara mer intressanta att mäta i en studie om social sårbarhet i Sverige.

Risk assessments in volcanic contexts are complicated by the multi-hazard nature of both unrest and eruption phases, which frequently occur over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. As an attempt to capture the multi-dimensional and dynamic nature of volcanic risk, we developed an integrAteD VolcanIc risk asSEssment (ADVISE) model that focuses on two temporal dimensions that authorities have to address in a volcanic context: short-term emergency management and long-term risk management. The output of risk assessment in the ADVISE model is expressed in terms of potential physical, functional, and systemic damage, determined by combining the available information on hazard, exposed systems and vulnerability. The ADVISE model permits qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative risk assessment depending on the final objective and on the available information. The proposed approach has evolved over a decade of study on the volcanic island of Vulcano (Italy), where recent signs of unrest combined with uncontrolled urban development and significant seasonal variations of exposed population result in highly dynamic volcanic risk. For the sake of illustration of all the steps of the ADVISE model, we focus here on the risk assessment of the transport system in relation to the tephra fallout associated with a long-lasting Vulcanian cycle.

C++ and Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) are examples of a high- level lan- guage and development framework that were built on top of the lower-level, primitive lan- guage, C. C was never designed to support concepts like object orientation, type enforcement, and language independence. Further, these languages and frameworks are designed to com- pile and run directly on the processor where these concepts are also not supported. Other high-level languages that do support these concepts make use of a runtime or virtual machine to create a computing model to suit their needs. By forcing these high-level concepts into a primitive computing model, many security issues have been introduced. Existing binary- level security analysis tools and runtime enforcement frameworks operate at the lowest level of context. As such, they struggle to detect and remedy higher-level security issues. In this dissertation, a framework for elevating the context of binary code is presented. By bringing the context for analysis closer to where these security issues are introduced, this framework allows for higher-level analyses and enforcement frameworks to be developed.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Xinming (Simon) Ou / Security scanning performed on computer systems is an important step to identify and assess potential vulnerabilities in an enterprise network, before they are exploited by malicious intruders. An effective vulnerability assessment architecture should assimilate knowledge from multiple security knowledge sources to discover all the security problems present on a host. Legitimate concerns arise since host-based security scanners typically need to run at administrative privileges, and takes input from external knowledge sources for the analysis. Intentionally or otherwise, ill-formed input may compromise the scanner and the whole system if the scanner is susceptible to, or carries one or more vulnerability itself. It is not easy to incorporate new security analysis tools and/or various security knowlege- bases in the conventional approach, since this would entail installing new agents on every host in the enterprise network. This report presents an architecture where a host-based security scanner's code base can be minimized to an extent where its correctness can be verified by adequate vetting. At the same time, the architecture also allows for leveraging third-party security knowledge more efficiently and makes it easier to incorporate new security tools. In our work, we implemented the scanning architecture in the context of an enterprise-level security analyzer. The analyzer finds security vulnerabilities present on a host according to the third-party security knowledge specified in Open Vulnerability Assessment Language(OVAL). We empirically show that the proposed architecture is potent in its ability to comprehensively leverage third-party security knowledge, and is flexible to support various higher-level security analysis.

This dissertation interprets gender-differentiated vulnerability to drought within a rural community located in the dry zone, la zona seca, of Nicaragua, a region that has been identified by the government and NGO sector as suffering from prolonged and, since the 1970s, more frequent droughts.  A combination of gender, capitals, and vulnerability demonstrates the value in using a multidimensional perspective to look at the socioeconomic and cultural contexts that form the capacity individuals have had to reduce their long-term vulnerability to drought in Nicaragua.  Due to the place-based characteristics of gender as well as vulnerability the analysis is mainly based on people’s stories about the history of their lives.  Based on these stories a local level picture is created of the households’ situation over time, how their work strategies and management of resources have varied, and how they perceived changes in capacity and vulnerability in relation to continuity and change in the climate.  The issue of adaptive capacity, which currently is less covered in research on gender and vulnerability and recognized in the literature as in need of more attention, and how it distinguishes itself from coping capacity in relation to vulnerability, is placed at the center of analysis.  In an additional analysis of how Nicaragua’s hazard management policies look upon the role and importance of interaction among societal levels and actors in reducing hazard vulnerability I show how the discourse has moved from emergency response to risk management with an increased emphasis on capacity building.  However, the recognition to differentiated vulnerability is lacking which risks hampering a successful vulnerability reduction. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Accepted. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Scientists have long wondered why some individuals are more sensitive to pain than others. While individual differences in pain have traditionally been discounted due to neuroticism, research has shown that individuals who are more sensitive to pain demonstrate real biological differences in pain perception (Coghill, McHaffie & Yen, 2003). However, individual differences in pain sensitivity remain under-explored in research and clinical settings that can provide further insights into clinical disorders such as addiction. The current research review is interested in examining the link between pain sensitivity and alcohol dependence. Investigating the relationship between pain sensitivity and alcohol addiction prompts many important peripheral questions such as whether increased pain sensitivity can serve as a useful biomarker for alcohol addiction, and how addiction to alcohol can cause changes in sensitivity to pain. Addiction potential or risk for addiction is a research area that is extremely important given that the high rate of addiction in this country is alarmingly high. The literature is sparse on the relationship between hyperalgesia or pain sensitization and risk for alcohol addiction. This literature review synthesizes current relevant research on pain and addiction, as well as addressing possible links between them. / text

This dissertation makes valuable contributions to hazard and disaster vulnerability assessment theory and methodology. Appendix A presents results of a national survey of state drought planning processes that examined and evaluated how state processes were assessing drought impacts and vulnerabilities, and how assessments were used to mitigate risk. While impact and vulnerability assessments have been useful for reactive, short-term mitigation, most were found to have not been used to develop pro-active and/or committed, long-term mitigation programs. To be useful for developing long-term planning and mitigation, assessments must involve more social scientists, a greater emphasis on second-, third-, etc., order impacts, and examining how systems are sensitive to drought exposure, and studying adaptive capacity. Appendix B adapts a political economy/human ecology and political ecology research framework and examines how regional historical, institutional and regional development patterns in central Arizona have contributed to the production of local drought vulnerability in rural Arizona during the 20th century. The study evaluates the applicability of a research framework developed in Third World settings, and resulted in valuable insights for developing state and county policy in Arizona to mitigate social, economic, and political-institutional drivers of drought vulnerability. Appendix C compliments the assessment in Appendix B by examining local drivers of drought vulnerability and conducting a comparative drought vulnerability analysis in two rural communities in northern Gila County, Arizona. The assessment found local differences in community water system vulnerabilities were driven by differences in capacity to adapt to climate variability and population growth. Differences in adaptive capacity, in turn, were driven by differences in local management, institutional factors, and economic incentives of private and public water systems. Together, the three appendices contribute practical and theoretical contributions for assessments conducted by state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic research units that seek to assess and ultimately mitigate hazard and disaster vulnerability.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among vulnerability, self-transcendence, and well-being in Japanese hospitalized elders. With their declining functional health and diminishing social network, elderly people are considered as a vulnerable population, which require special care and attention in the field of nursing. Self-Transcendence is identified as one of the developmental resources that promote well-being in later adulthood during increased vulnerability; however, applicability of the concept of self-transcendence as well as its theory has never been tested in Japanese population. Thus, the current study specifically tested and refined a theoretical model of self-transcendence in Japanese elders.In this study, a nonexperimental descriptive design was used to examine relationships among the variables. A total of 105 elderly patients were recruited from 4 hospitals in Sapporo, Japan. The respondents' level of vulnerability was assessed by three aspects: vulnerability in health status, vulnerability in resource availability, and past vulnerable experience. Well-being was examined from the level of depression and life satisfaction. Besides psychosocial self-transcendence, spiritual self-transcendence from Japanese perspective was conceptualized and evaluated.Reliability testing provided adequate supports for all the study instruments. Findings of multiple regression analyses indicated mediating effects of psychosocial self-transcendence on the relationship between vulnerability in resource availability and well-being variables. Psychosocial self-transcendence also demonstrated direct effects on well-being. Spiritual self-transcendence did not show any mediating and moderating effect in the relationship between vulnerability and well-being; however, it was found to be the strongest predictor for the level of life satisfaction. In addition, the findings revealed that vulnerability in health status had a direct effect on the level of depression, but past vulnerable experience had no effect on both self-transcendence and well-being.Findings of this study provided further evidence of universality of the concept of self-transcendence and applicability of its theory to Japanese hospitalized elders. This study not only contributes to Japanese nursing research by adding the body of knowledge about self-transcendence and spirituality but also can be a basis for formulating interventions that help enhance well-being in vulnerable elderly patients.

The purpose of the thesis is the determination of potentially seismic active sources and of the dynamic response evaluation of surface and subsurface structure at sites where the geometric and dynamic properties of the ground can strongly amplify seismic motions. A combination of methods involving the study of geology, geophysics and seismology disciplines permitting cross-comparison of techniques in a robust approach is applied to address these issues. The study area is focused in Kastelli-Kissamou and Paleohora half graben basins in northwestern and southwestern Crete that is located in one of the most seismically active parts of the Africa-Eurasia collision zone. Ground truthed geological field survey, 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), Horizontal to Vertical Spectra Ratio (HVSR) technique using microtremors and microseismicity study are conducted. Microseismicity study involves two different earthquake dataset acquired from a regional permanent network installed on Crete and local temporal network installed on Paleohora. 2D Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) reveals seven faults in the territory of Kastelli-Kissamou and three faults large scale faults in the territory of Paleohora basin. HVSR technique using microtremors is applied only in the populated area of Kastelli and Paleohora basins and reveals five fault zones in Kastelli and four major fault zones in Paleohora crosscutting the densely populated areas. The effects of the surface and subsurface structure are well patterned in the horizontal to vertical spectra ratios. One amplified clear frequency, two high amplified clear frequencies, broad and flat or low amplitude HVSR peaks attributes the effects of surface and subsurface structure on seismic ground motion. The effects of soft rocks, stiff soils, thick and thin alluvial deposits, fault zones, lateral heterogeneities and discontinuities on seismic ground motion are determined. The higher ground amplification level is observed in Paleohora (A=5.7) compared to Kastelli (A=3.4). Three case studies of building vulnerability evaluation in Paleohora half-graben basin using HVSR technique and microtremors are presented. Temporal seismological network is installed in the territory of Paleohora to study the seismotectonic setting of southwestern Crete. Microseismicity using data from the permanent seismological regional network of Crete is used to compare the seismicity of the study areas.