This essays main focus will be on emergency shelters in disasters, and their understanding in gender awareness, by focusing on the way gender is constructed and seen. This dissertation will examine documents from Australian Red Cross and IASC (Inter Agency Standing Committee) in order to explore how they work with gender and shelter related issues. The objective is to examine and with help from these documents see how gender is constructed. The method and theory is based on Carol Bacchis; What’s the problem represented to be approach? (WPR-approach). This means that the essay have a discourse analysis basis, which the essay is built on. This was chosen because Bacchis approach interrogates the documents and therefore it is easier to get different views of how gender is constructed. Which way it is constructed and what is not constructed as a problem. The main research question is: How is the construction of gender perspective in the documents that are intended to steer the planning of the emergency shelters?   The questions will be; What or which problems seem to represent these documents, regarding gender understanding in emergency shelters? Are there any assumptions behind these formulated problems? If so, what are they? During the review of the documents, is there anything left that is seen as a non-problem, not problematized? Are there any gap or invisibility or can the problem be seen as something else? This essay will show how gender is constructed based on power imbalance. The way gender is constructed is complex and difficult. One thing is clear and that is that the way gender is constructed and how gender is represented, matters in emergency shelters. Gender is still also a topic for crisis management to integrate.

[pt] O aumento da ocorrência de desastres naturais no Brasil e a carência de ferramentas de gerenciamentos logísticos eficazes têm demonstrado a necessidade de estruturação e a importância no aprofundamento dos estudos na Logística Humanitária, área ainda recente e com muito a aprimorar. Este trabalho objetiva maximizar o atendimento de ajuda humanitária, minimizando os desperdícios de tempo e recursos na movimentação, entrega e demais atividades de planejamento e resposta ao desastre. Para atingir esse objetivo, foi elaborada uma metodologia de mensuração de desastres a partir da avaliação do cenário afetado na fase inicial de resposta ao desastre e, assim, estabelecida ações padronizadas para permitir a diminuição do improviso e uma maior eficiência na utilização de recursos e proposição de atividades. Neste sentido, esta dissertação procura relacionar as similaridades entre a logística empresarial e a logística humanitária, abordando os aspectos relevantes da primeira que podem ser utilizados para desenvolvimento de ferramentas da segunda. Por fim, exemplifica-se o método proposto através de sua aplicação no município de Bom Jardim, local afetado pelas enxurradas bruscas e inundações em janeiro de 2011 na região serrana do estado do Rio de Janeiro. A metodologia proposta sugere, para os afetados, ações de resposta delineadas através da análise de indicadores que refletem o cenário local e suas necessidades prioritárias. Desta forma, foram percebidas as vantagens reais na utilização da metodologia como ferramenta de gerenciamento de processos para mensuração, proposição de ações de resposta e atendimento de ajuda humanitária. / [en] The increase on occurrence of natural disasters in Brazil and the lack of effective logistics management tools have demonstrated the need for structure and importance in deepening the studies in Humanitarian Logistics, a very recent area which has a lot to be improved. This paper aims to maximize the service in the humanitarian relief, minimizing waste of time and resources in handling, delivery, and other activities on planning and responding to a disaster. To achieve this goal, it was developed a disaster measure methodology that associate the information collected in the initial phase of the disaster response and established standard actions to reduce the improvisation and to allow a more efficient use of resources and proposed activities. Thus, this paper seeks to relate the similarities between the business logistics and humanitarian logistics, addressing the relevant aspects of the first one that can be used to develop tools on the second one. Finally, the proposed method is exemplified through its application in Bom Jardim, a city in the highlands of the state of Rio de Janeiro, affected by sudden floods in January 2011. The proposed methodology suggests, as disaster response, standard actions, by analyzing indicators that reflect the local scene and their priority needs. Finally, the application shows the benefits in the use of this methodology as a process management tool to measure, propose response actions, and provide humanitarian aid.

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which community colleges have implemented major post-Virginia Tech campus safety recommendations. In addition to gaining a comprehensive overview of the safety policies and practices in place, this study assessed if campus safety policy implementation levels at the community colleges correlated with institutional characteristics, and the internal and external forces that helped drive the implementation of these policies. Focusing specifically upon the Virginia Community College System, data on the policies and practices in place at each of the 23 Virginia community colleges were collected from institutional websites and through follow-up telephone calls. Interviews were then conducted with a small group of administrators from various Virginia community colleges. Analysis of the data indicated that large variance exists across the community colleges, as some have implemented most of the major campus safety recommendations that currently exist, while other have only implemented far less. The results also revealed potential support for larger community colleges with more resources and more campuses implementing more campus safety recommendations. Interview data detailed that external mandates and internal college leadership are the most important forces driving campus safety policy change among the community colleges. A number of policy implications arose regarding where community colleges need to improve their campus safety and how to best drive campus safety policy changes in the future.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / A disaster always means a huge death toll, displacement and inconceivable destruction for a poor country such as Bangladesh. Recently, Bangladesh has taken a holistic approach to prioritising interrelated activities and the involvement of various organisations in disaster management. A number of disaster management committees (DMCs) have been formed to coordinate and implement risk reduction measures. But the levels of success of these organisations have varied in different regions. Improper consideration of local knowledge, corruption of actors, lack of coordination and capacity of actors, etc., are perceived as major causes of this. Primarily, this mini-thesis aims to measure the impact of self-organisation in disaster risk management. / South Africa

Thanks to the advanced technologies and social networks that allow the data to be widely shared among the Internet, there is an explosion of pervasive multimedia data, generating high demands of multimedia services and applications in various areas for people to easily access and manage multimedia data. Towards such demands, multimedia big data analysis has become an emerging hot topic in both industry and academia, which ranges from basic infrastructure, management, search, and mining to security, privacy, and applications. Within the scope of this dissertation, a multimedia big data analysis framework is proposed for semantic information management and retrieval with a focus on rare event detection in videos. The proposed framework is able to explore hidden semantic feature groups in multimedia data and incorporate temporal semantics, especially for video event detection. First, a hierarchical semantic data representation is presented to alleviate the semantic gap issue, and the Hidden Coherent Feature Group (HCFG) analysis method is proposed to capture the correlation between features and separate the original feature set into semantic groups, seamlessly integrating multimedia data in multiple modalities. Next, an Importance Factor based Temporal Multiple Correspondence Analysis (i.e., IF-TMCA) approach is presented for effective event detection. Specifically, the HCFG algorithm is integrated with the Hierarchical Information Gain Analysis (HIGA) method to generate the Importance Factor (IF) for producing the initial detection results. Then, the TMCA algorithm is proposed to efficiently incorporate temporal semantics for re-ranking and improving the final performance. At last, a sampling-based ensemble learning mechanism is applied to further accommodate the imbalanced datasets. In addition to the multimedia semantic representation and class imbalance problems, lack of organization is another critical issue for multimedia big data analysis. In this framework, an affinity propagation-based summarization method is also proposed to transform the unorganized data into a better structure with clean and well-organized information. The whole framework has been thoroughly evaluated across multiple domains, such as soccer goal event detection and disaster information management.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-04-12T13:33:58Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Final JOSUÉ-PROPAD-2015.pdf: 2774754 bytes, checksum: e765c185831d7508d1b93a9c699551d7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-12T13:33:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Final JOSUÉ-PROPAD-2015.pdf: 2774754 bytes, checksum: e765c185831d7508d1b93a9c699551d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-12 / CAPEs / Esta pesquisa analisou como os desastres naturais despertam ou desencadeiam a resiliência através do discurso dos envolvidos na reconstrução de uma cidade atingida por eventos extremos. Palmares foi escolhida por ser uma das cidades mais destruídas pelas enchentes que assolaram Pernambuco em 2010. A pesquisa revelou que cenários de instabilidades e crises são necessários para o despertar das mudanças, e é dentro deste contexto que a resiliência se evidencia, e que apesar de ser uma cidade historicamente atingida por enchentes, Palmares não era resiliente, mas os eventos extremos acontecidos em 2010 na cidade, contribuíram para uma revolução na estrutura de enfrentamento aos desastres. E embora sua resiliência tenha sido construída pelo Governo do Estado, os resultados apontaram que os instrumentos de Governança, através da resposta, Conhecimento, através da Capacidade de Aprender e Compreender os riscos, resultaram naquilo que a pesquisa chamou de resiliência adquirida, que foi a passagem de foco da Resposta para a Adaptação, ou seja, a cidade estabeleceu sua atuação na antecipação e prevenção aos desastres. O estudo também abordou como o Plano Nacional de Gestão de Risco e Resposta a Desastre Naturais foi significado pelo governo na mídia, mostrando que o Plano foi um marco histórico na questão de enfrentamento aos desastres no Brasil, mas que diante da crise dos últimos desastres ocorridos no país estabeleceu sua significação nos investimentos e na eficiência do Estado para responder aos anceios da população e não como um instrumento de inovação e resiliência como principal foco de atuação. / This research examined how natural disasters awaken or trigger resilience through the speech of those involved in the reconstruction of a city hit by extreme events. Palmares was chosen as one of the cities destroyed by the floods that ravaged Pernambuco in 2010. The survey revealed that instability and crisis scenarios are needed for the awakening of the changes, and it is within this context that resilience is evident, and that despite be a city historically hit by floods, Palmares was not resilient, but extreme events that happened in 2010 in the city, contributed to a revolution in the disaster coping structure. And although their resilience has been built by the State Government, the results indicated that the governance instruments, by replying, Knowledge, Learning through capacity and understand the risks, resulted in what the survey called acquired resilience, which was the focus Pass Answer for adaptation, that is, the city established its operations in anticipation and prevention of disasters. The study also addressed as the National Plan for Risk Management and Response to Natural Disaster was meant by the government in the media, showing that the Plan was a landmark in the matter of coping with disasters in Brazil, but before the crisis of the last disasters in the country established its significance in investments and state efficiency to respond to anceios of the population and not as an instrument of innovation and resilience as the main focus.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The problem question of this study is how the City of Cape Town, as a metro municipality went about implementing Disaster Risk Assessments. While the National Disaster Management Centre acknowledges that municipalities are battling to perform Disaster Risk Assessments. Understanding what was done, by whom and when will aid in the understanding of implementing Disaster Risk Assessments. Uncovering the prospects and challenges they faced and will help shed light on the guidance that is required by other municipalities, although this study’s inference is limited by the methodology. The relatively new Disaster Management Act requires a shift from old civil defence legislation to a proactive disaster risk reduction mode, with new institutional arrangements. The shift to a proactive disaster risk reduction approach required by the new legislation cannot be achieved without firstly implementing these new institutional and policy arrangements and secondly, implementing this first and vital step in the disaster risk reduction process namely, Disaster Risk Assessments. The study also seeks to understand in the community was involved. This is a qualitative study, i.e. it contains descriptive statistics and narratives. It used questionnaires to provide numerical and descriptive data to measure compliance to the Disaster Management Act in terms of the institutional arrangements implemented by the City of Cape Town. Secondly, qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews to provide data to understand the challenges and prospects encountered in performing Disaster Risk Assessments. A literature review was also undertaken to highlight the current debates in Disaster Risk Reduction. The stratified sample was from the officials employed at the City’s Disaster Management Centre, Area Managers, NGOs, Ward Councillors and Consultants. The data was collated and the analysed. The objective is to primarily understand what was done, by whom, when and secondly to understand the prospects and challenges faced. The findings, recommendations and areas of future study are captured in this research report.

Context: Accurate decision-making requires updated and precise information to establish the reality of an overall situation. New data sources (e.g., wearable technologies) have been increasing the amount of available and useful data, which is now called big data. This has a great potential for transforming the entire business process and improving the accuracy of decisions. In this context, disaster management represents an interesting scenario that relies on big data to enhance decision-making. This is because it must cope with data provided not only by traditional sources (e.g., stationary sensors) but also by emerging sources - for instance, information shared by local volunteers, i.e., volunteered geographic information (VGI). When combined, these data sources can be regarded as large in volume, with different velocities, and a variety of formats. Furthermore, an analysis is required to confirm their veracity is required since these data sources are disconnected and prone to various errors. These are the 4Vs that characterize big data. Gap: However, although all these data open up further opportunities, their huge volume, together with an inappropriate data integration and unsuitable visualization, can result in information being overlooked by decision-makers. This problem arises because the integration of the available data is hampered by the intrinsic heterogeneity of their features (e.g., their occurrence in different formats). When integrated, this information also often fails to reach the decision-makers in a suitable way (e.g., in appropriate visualization formats). Moreover, there is not a clear understanding of the decision-makers needs or how the available data can meet these needs. Objective: In light of this, this thesis presents an approach for improving decision-making with heterogeneous geospatial big data based on spatial decision support systems and volunteered geographic information in disaster management. Methods: Systematic mapping studies were conducted to identify gaps in research studies with regard to the use of volunteered information and spatial decision support systems in disaster management. On the basis of these studies, two design science projects were carried out. The first of these aimed at defining the elements that are essential for ensuring the integration of heterogeneous data, whereas the second project aimed at obtaining a better understanding of decision-makers needs. A cross-organizational action research project was also conducted to define the design principles that should be observed for a spatial decision support system to effectively support decision-making with heterogeneous geospatial big data. A series of empirical case studies was undertaken to evaluate the outcomes of these projects. Results: The overall approach thus consists of the three significant outcomes that were derived from these projects. The first outcome was the conceptual architecture that defines the integration of heterogeneous data sources. The second outcome was a model-based framework that describes the connection of decision-making with appropriate data sources. The third outcome is based on the framework and comprises a set of design principles for guiding the development of spatial decision support systems for decision-making with heterogeneous geospatial big data. Conclusion: This thesis has made a useful contribution to both practice and research. In short, it defines ways of integrating heterogeneous data sources, provides a better understanding of decision-makers needs, and supports the development of a spatial decision support system to effectively assist decision-making with heterogeneous geospatial big data. / Contexto: Uma tomada de decisão precisa exige informações mais precisas e atualizadas para estabelecer a realidade da situação geral. Novas fontes de dados (e.g, tecnologias vestíveis) tem aumentado a quantidade de dados úteis disponíveis, que agora é chamado de big data. Isso tem grande potencial para transformar todo o processo de negócio e melhorar a precisão na tomada de decisão. Neste contexto, a gestão de desastres representa um interessante cenário que depende de big data para aprimorar a tomada de decisão. Isso porque, ela tem que lidar com dados fornecidos não apenas por fontes tradicionais (e.g., sensores estáticos), mas também por fontes emergentes por exemplo, informações compartilhadas por voluntários locais, i.e., as informações geográficas de voluntários (VGI). Quando combinadas, estas fontes de dados podem ser consideradas grandes em volume, com diferentes velocidades e uma variedade de formatos. Além disso, uma análise com relação à sua veracidade é necessaria uma vez que estas fontes de dados são desconectadas e propensas à erros. Estes são os 4Vs que caracterizam big data. Problema: No entanto, embora todos estes dados abrem novas oportunidades, seu grande volume em conjunto com uma integração inapropriada e uma visualização inadequada, podem tornar as informações ignoradas por tomadores de decisão. Isso ocorre, pois, a integração dos dados disponíveis torna-se complicada devido a heterogeneidade intrínseca nas suas características (e.g., dados em formatos diferentes). Quando integradas, estas informações frequentemente também não chegam aos tomadores de decisão em uma condição apropriada (por exemplo, no formato de visualização adequado). Além disso, não existe uma clara compreensão sobre as necessidades dos tomadores de decisão ou sobre como os dados disponíveis podem ser usados para atender essas necessidades. Objetivo: Dessa forma, esta tese de doutorado apresenta uma abordagem para melhorar a tomada de decisões com grande volume de dados espaciais heterogêneos baseada em sistemas de suporte à decisão espacial e informações geográficas de voluntários na gestão de desastres. Métodos: Mapeamentos sistemáticos foram conduzidos para identificar lacunas de pesquisa no uso de dados voluntários e sistemas de suporte à decisão na gestão de desastres. Com base nestes estudos, dois projetos de design science foram conduzidos. O primeiro deles buscou definir elementos essências para entender a integração de dados heterogêneos, enquanto o segundo projeto buscou fornecer um melhor entendimento das necessidades dos tomadores de decisão. Também foi conduzido um projeto de pesquisa-ação interinstitucional para definir princípios de projeto que deveriam ser observados para um sistema de suporte à decisão espacial ser efetivo no apoio a tomada de decisão com grande volume de dados espaciais heterogêneos. Uma série de estudos de caso empíricos foram conduzidos para avaliar os resultados destes projetos. Resultados: A abordagem geral então é composta pelos três resultados significantes que foram derivados destes projetos. Em primeiro lugar, uma arquitetura conceitual que especifica a integração de fontes de dados heterogêneas. O segundo elemento é uma estrutura baseada em modelo que descreve a conexão entre a tomada de decisão com as fontes de dados mais adequadas. Com base nesta estrutura, o terceiro elemento consiste em um conjunto de princípios de design que guiam o desenvolvimento de um sistema de suporte à decisão espacial para tomada de decisão com grande volume de dados espaciais heterogêneos. Conclusão: Esta tese de doutorado realizou importantes contribuições para a prática e pesquisa. Em resumo, ela define formas para integrar fontes de dados heterogêneos, fornece uma melhor compreensão sobre as necessidades dos tomadores de decisão e ajuda no desenvolvimento de sistemas de suporte à decisão espacial para tomada de decisão com grande volume de dados espaciais heterogêneos.

No description available.

This master’s thesis examines the relationship between emergency management planning and comprehensive land use planning. The incorporation of emergency management practices into the comprehensive planning process allows for a better understanding of the impact of development, zoning, building code, and economic development on the mitigation of hazards that face the community. Academic curricula may provide a brief introduction of the relationship between hazard mitigation and land use; however, a more detailed exploration of how emergency management planning and regional or urban planning are interrelated is needed. The impact of weather-related events, natural disasters, or other human-caused shock or disruption can dramatically impact the physical, social, and psychological structures of a community. This research provides regional planners with the history of emergency management planning in the United States. It examines how cross-sharing of information and process between both planning disciplines can contribute to more robust community development and disaster plans. A case study illustrates the impact of urban development on natural hazard mitigation and the subsequent risks to public safety, which resulted from the planning decisions. Place identity, place dependence, and public participation concerning hazard mitigation and disaster management are explored to provide planners and emergency managers with a context of the psychological influences which may impact a community member’s decisions when faced with significant disruption of place. Best practices that guide the integration of regional planning and emergency management planning are provided to increase the understanding of both planning processes to increase the capacity of a community to absorb and rebound from a natural disaster or sudden shock.