O crescimento desordenado das grandes cidades brasileiras, com a ocupação de várzeas, canalização de córregos e impermeabilização do solo, tem afetado o micro clima urbano, aumentando a incidência de fortes chuvas, que causam desastres, associados à chuvas extremas. Este trabalho apresenta um índice de vulnerabilidade urbana a alagamentos e deslizamentos de terra, em função de eventos extremos de precipitação, como instrumento de gestão urbana a estes desastres. / The unruly growth of large Brazilian cities resulting from the occupation of floodplains, channeling of rivers, and impermeabilization of the soil, has affected the urban microclimate, increasing heavy rains, which cause disasters associated to extreme weather events. This thesis presents a index of urban vulnerability to floods and landslides, according to extreme precipitation events, as an instrument of urban management to these disasters.

It has over the last 20 years occurred a series of extreme weather events around the worldthat caused damage to people and buildings. Many published reports have studied thedeveloping countries and less studies has been conducted on the construction industry andthe economically powerful countries.Sweden has been spared from the most extreme events but still suffered some events whichcan be considered extreme for the country. Therefore, the aim of this report is to study howthe construction industry in Sweden works with risk management, as a preventive measureagainst extreme weather events. The intention has been to find out how aware the industryis of climate change.Studies of this kind have not been carried out previously in Sweden and therefore this studyuses a qualitative approach to conduct the study. Thorough studies on risks, riskmanagement and all its processes have been performed. The focus has been on the generalrisks and the risks associated with extreme weather conditions. This is to analyze how theconstruction industry works with risks of this kind. Interviews have been conducted withproject managers and production managers at a major Swedish construction company to becompared with the written theory.The study and 10 interviews have been conducted at Skanska Hus in Stockholm to get apicture of how different projects in the same region are working with risk managementlinked to extreme weather events as they have the same weather conditions.The study concluded that the studied company was very good at working with riskmanagement but they were less prepared for extreme weather than had been expected. Thisgave the impression that the industry as a whole are in need to be informed about what kindof impacts climate change has on production and the working environment for the future.The investigation showed that it still needs improvements and more knowledge in this areasince climate change is a fact.

This thesis is an investigation of the impacts of extreme weather on the livelihoods of households in the hillside communities of the Jesus de Otoro Valley, Honduras. Extreme weather events can have profound negative impacts on livelihoods that rely heavily on natural resources, such as agriculture. The reliance of hillside households on agriculture and related activities for survival makes this population critically vulnerable to the negative impacts of extreme weather. This study found that the livelihood resources of this group that are most affected by extreme weather events are cash income and human health. Strong rains, drought and extreme temperatures have several direct impacts on household income, not only for hillside farmers themselves, but also for the merchants whose businesses have been developed to serve them. Extreme weather events also have multiple direct impacts on human health. Increased incidence of bacterial infections and communicable diseases are serious effects of strong rains, drought and temperature extremes. This study found a clear positive feedback link between decreased income and deterioration of health. Climate change studies predict that extreme weather events will become more frequent and severe. If these predictions are correct, hillside households will suffer potentially devastating impacts on their livelihoods. The coping strategies currently employed by hillside households in the face of extreme weather events are unlikely to provide the resources needed for households to survive under more severe and unstable weather conditions. / SSHRC, CIDA, Students for Development

Impacts from climate change already pose major challenges for organizations and industrial systems, and vulnerabilities are expected to increase in the future, particularly in vulnerable sectors and locations. Findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that climate change related vulnerabilities of organizations and industries, but also of settlement and society as a whole, are mainly related to changes in the intensity and/or frequency of extreme weather, rather than to gradual climate change impacts. Organization researchers and managers, however, have not yet systematically considered the organizational implications of changes in trends of weather extremes, such as changes to the intensity and/or frequency of storms, floods, and droughts. While companies in the reinsurance industry (e.g., Munich Re, Swiss Re) have begun to undertake research into changes in trends of extremes, most current debates on climate change and corporate response are mainly focused on adaptation – that is, longer-term adjustments that organizations can take in response to policy and legislative changes and the observed gradual warming trend. The question of how organizations can cope with more frequent and/or intense weather extremes has largely remained outside of these debates. The thesis advances the notion that the resilience concept which originated in disciplines such as ecology and engineering may provide insights into dealing with new types of environmental change arising from changes in patterns of weather extremes. It emphasizes that organizational adaptation and resilience potentials are context-specific and related to the characteristics of particular climate change impacts. While organizations may be able to undergo steady adaptations to gradual climate change (such as gradual increases in mean temperatures), they might not be able to handle disruptions that go beyond this gradual trend and are related to changes in extremes. Included in this thesis are five papers that seek to provide a foundation for understanding, assessing and evaluating organizational responses to more frequent and/or intense weather extremes. The first paper serves as an introduction to the thesis, assesses the literatures on organizational adaptation and resilience, and proposes an initial model that draws together the different streams of literature on climate change, adaptation and resilience. The second paper extends on the themes of the first paper and provides a discussion of the concepts of adaptation and resilience, as well as their applicability to different types of climate change impacts. The third paper serves as a method paper and discusses assessment methods and pathway to study organizational resilience. The key difficulties identified in this paper are the uncertainties about future climate change outcomes across temporal and spatial scales and a lack of insight into what leads to organizational resilience, or which variables should be measured in a given study. The fourth paper is an empirical study about the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. While individual extreme events cannot be directly linked to climate change impacts, this study highlights that part of the problem in drawing out the resilience of organizations to an unprecedented and ‘more-severe-than-expected’ extreme event is that a range of contingent variables across organizational and societal and ecological levels are potentially relevant. The last paper discusses the potential inability of organization to adjust to changes in climate and weather, and implications in terms of a necessity of a geographical shift of organizational and industrial activities. The thesis highlights gaps in our understanding of organizational challenges and suggests avenues for future research.

abstract: The influence of climate variability and reclaimed wastewater on the water supply necessitates improved understanding of the treatability of trace and bulk organic matter. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) mobilized during extreme weather events and in treated wastewater includes natural organic matter (NOM), contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The goal of my dissertation was to quantify the impacts of extreme weather events on DOM in surface water and downstream treatment processes, and to improve membrane filtration efficiency and CECs oxidation efficiency during water reclamation with ozone. Surface water quality, air quality and hydrologic flow rate data were used to quantify changes in DOM and turbidity following dust storms, flooding, or runoff from wildfire burn areas in central Arizona. The subsequent impacts to treatment processes and public perception of water quality were also discussed. Findings showed a correlation between dust storm events and change in surface water turbidity (R2=0.6), attenuation of increased DOM through reservoir systems, a 30-40% increase in organic carbon and a 120-600% increase in turbidity following severe flooding, and differing impacts of upland and lowland wildfires. The use of ozone to reduce membrane fouling caused by vesicles (a subcomponent of EPS) and oxidize CECs through increased hydroxyl radical (HO●) production was investigated. An "ozone dose threshold" was observed above which addition of hydrogen peroxide increased HO● production; indicating the presence of ambient promoters in wastewater. Ozonation of CECs in secondary effluent over titanium dioxide or activated carbon did not increase radial production. Vesicles fouled ultrafiltration membranes faster (20 times greater flux decline) than polysaccharides, fatty acids, or NOM. Based upon the estimated carbon distribution of secondary effluent, vesicles could be responsible for 20-60% of fouling during ultrafiltration and may play a vital role in other environmental processes as well. Ozone reduced vesicle-caused membrane fouling that, in conjunction with the presence of ambient promoters, helps to explain why low ozone dosages improve membrane flux during full-scale water reclamation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2014

O crescimento desordenado das grandes cidades brasileiras, com a ocupação de várzeas, canalização de córregos e impermeabilização do solo, tem afetado o micro clima urbano, aumentando a incidência de fortes chuvas, que causam desastres, associados à chuvas extremas. Este trabalho apresenta um índice de vulnerabilidade urbana a alagamentos e deslizamentos de terra, em função de eventos extremos de precipitação, como instrumento de gestão urbana a estes desastres. / The unruly growth of large Brazilian cities resulting from the occupation of floodplains, channeling of rivers, and impermeabilization of the soil, has affected the urban microclimate, increasing heavy rains, which cause disasters associated to extreme weather events. This thesis presents a index of urban vulnerability to floods and landslides, according to extreme precipitation events, as an instrument of urban management to these disasters.

Worsening climate changes effects are predicted to increase the severity and frequency of extreme weather events (EWE), which can disrupt food systems, from the local to global level, and compromise community food security. In the rural U.S., food insecurity, poverty, low economic growth, and population loss are prevalent, and rural communities often lack the physical capital to bolster community resiliency to climate change adaptation. In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene (TS Irene) in Vermont was the most damaging EWE the state’s history. Severely damaged roads, infrastructure, homes, and land, rendered many rural towns isolated for up to several days. The levels and types of social capital (bridging and/or bonding) affect social cohesion, which in turn influences how the community responds to an EWE. Rural Vermont communities isolated by TS Irene had to respond to a disruption of basic needs, including food security, without the ability to depend on outside resources. We investigate how social capital influenced these community responses to TS Irene, and how the community actions affected community food security. To better understand how social capital influences community response to food insecurity following an EWE, we created a social capital framework on food security. We then conducted thirty-three semi-structured interviews in three Vermont communities known to have been severely affected by TS Irene, and isolated for several days. Using grounded theory, analysis resulted in social capital having a profound influence on community responses to food security following an EWE. Additionally, the type of social capital – bonding and/or bridging – affected both how the community mitigated food insecurity in the short-term, and upheld food security in the weeks following TS Irene. We found that not only do high degrees of social capital affect community response to acute food security needs after an EWE, but also that a community’s sense of place is different depending on the level of community social capital present prior to an EWE. The community response also shaped the community’s perception of, and ability to creating social capital five years after the event. Previous research indicates social capital is important in both community food security and climate shock responses. We discuss the need for rural development and community social capital to build rural resilience and adaptation for future EWE. As such, we suggest that promoting the development of social capital within rural communities through community development - creation of public events, investment in public infrastructure and schools, and the promotion of locally owned and operated businesses - can build resiliency and adaptation to future EWE by promoting the growth of community social capital, both bonding and bridging, within rural communities.

This paper investigates how exposure to extreme weather affects public support for climate policies. I use temperature data from the extreme heatwaves during the summers of 2018 and 2019 and examine whether temperature anomalies affected the results of five German state elections held in the autumn of these years. Using the vote share change of the Green Party as a measure of public support for climate policies, I do not find a general baseline effect of extreme temperatures. When considering possible heterogeneities however, I find that there is a positive effect of temperatures in electoral districts with more employed in the agricultural sector and in electoral districts with more informed voters. The estimated interaction effects are large compared to the mean vote share of the Green Party and the estimates obtained for other parties.

XTREND consists of the following methodical Parts. Time interval extraction (Part 1) to analyse different parts of a time series; extreme events detection (Part 2) with robust smoothing; magnitude classification (Part 3) by hand; occurrence rate estimation (Part 4) with kernel functions; bootstrap simulations (Part 5) to estimate confidence bands around the occurrence rate. You work interactively with XTREND (parameter adjustment, calculation, graphics) to acquire more intuition for your data. Although, using “normal” data sizes (less than, say, 1000) and modern machines, the computing time seems to be acceptable (less than a few minutes), parameter adjustment should be done carefully to avoid spurious results or, on the other hand, too long computing times. This Report helps you to achieve that. Although it explains the statistical concepts used, this is generally done with less detail, and you should consult the given references (which include some textbooks) for a deeper understanding.

Weather and climate disasters pose an increasing risk to life and property in the United States. Managing this risk requires objective information about the nature of the threat and subjective information about how people perceive it. Meteorologists and climatologists have a relatively firm grasp of the historical objective risk. For example, we know which parts of the United States are most likely to experience drought, heat waves, flooding, snow or ice storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. We know less about the geographic distribution of the perceived risks of meteorological events and trends. Do subjective perceptions align with exposure to weather risks? This question is difficult to answer because analysts have yet to develop a comprehensive and spatially consistent methodology for measuring risk perceptions across geographic areas in the United States. In this project, we propose a methodology that uses multilevel regression and poststratification to estimate extreme weather and climate risk perceptions by geographic area (i.e., region, state, forecast area, and county). Then we apply the methodology using data from three national surveys (n = 9,542). This enables us to measure, map, and compare perceptions of risk from multiple weather hazards in geographic areas across the country.