Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:25:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 berezuck_ag_dr_prud.pdf: 3585867 bytes, checksum: 369d960412156cb7787dd35cbfac2fd4 (MD5) / A análise dos modos de atuação dos mecanismos atmosféricos é uma das bases da ciência climatológica, pois, através dessas, os pesquisadores estão aptos a fazer as diagnoses regionais, as prognoses climáticas, avaliar o possível impacto de variações climáticas e desenvolver projetos para mitigá-los. Seguindo essa lógica, foi elaborada a análise de adversidade climática do oeste paulista e do norte do Paraná. Para a efetuação dessa tarefa, foi utilizada a técnica de análise rítmica de Monteiro, sendo pesquisados os anos de 1997, 1998 e 2001 nas localidades de Presidente Prudente, Maringá e Londrina. Além da pesquisa dos dados diários desses três anos, em que foram criados 108 gráficos de análise rítmica e 108 gráficos de eventos climáticos, foram analisados 27 anos de dados mensais e anuais (1976- 2003) que possibilitaram a elaboração de 54 figuras, 67 tabelas, 102 gráficos e 9 organogramas, em que foram analisadas as características atmosféricas regionais, observando possíveis tendências de alterações climáticas futuras. Foram constatados, ao longo da análise, que a área de estudo está passando por um processo de aquecimento de até 1ºC, além de um processo de fortalecimento sazonal, com as estações mais secas e chuvosas tornando-se mais bem definidas, o que pode causar, futuramente, uma maior quantidade de eventos extremos e adversidades climáticas, que, por sua vez, podem afetar as cidades e a produção agrícola. / Analyzing how the atmospheric mechanisms act is a great base of the climate science because it allows the researches to know about the regional weather aspects, to discuss the possible impact of climatic variations and to develop projects in order to protect the region against these possible variations in the soon future. Following this idea, we elaborated an analysis about hazards in the Western Sao Paolo State and the North Parana State in Brazil. We based on the Monteiro rhythm analysis method to study the cities Presidente Prudente, Maringa and Londrina in the years 1997, 1998 and 2001. Through the search of diary weather statistics we created 108 rhythm analysis graphics and 108 climatic event graphics. Besides them, we studied 27 years of mensal and annual statistics (1976 - 2003) which allowed the creation of 54 figures, 67 tables, 102 graphics and 9 examples. Through these we analyzed regional climatic aspects, searching for future tendencies of climate variations. It was verified by the analysis a warming of one Celsius degree at the studied areas and also a process of sazonalization which showed more clearly the division of wet and dry seasons. We see that it could result in the future more cases of hazards that could affect the cities and the agricultural production. The thesis revels that the climatic rhythms study, the interpretation of regional climatic variation and the study of the necessary actions to protect the areas against hazards are complex questions which involve great series of variables that, sometimes, the statistical techniques are not able to solve, despite its powerful and recognition in science. Because of that, it is extremely important the careful interpretation of climatic aspects by rhythm paradigm, mainly linking it with statistical techniques as well.

Recent high profile food safety incidents in the United Kingdom have shaken consumer confidence in food products. Consumer perception of risk is seen to be very relevant to food safety issues. The impact of this perceived risk on purchase behaviour is also critical to the development of risk management strategies by authorities responsible for public health and the food industry. Focusing on fresh chicken meat products, this study explored the relationship between food risk characteristics, consumer perception of food safety related risk, consumer purchase behaviour and actions that can be taken to reduce the exposure to food risk. Following an extensive literature review, an exploratory study in the form of face-toface interviews was carried out to clarify the main concerns of food hazards, and to identify the items of perceived consequent loss and risk reducing strategies adopted by consumers. The findings were verified through a quantitative survey of 200 respondents. The data was presented in the form of Structural Equation Modelling, and analysed by the LISREL 8.30 statistical package. The results showed that consumer risk perception was affected by a range of risk characteristics, such as consumer concern about the severity of the food risk, and the potential long-term adverse effect on future generation and environment. The main elements of perceived loss associated with food safety were health, financial, time, lifestyle and taste losses, and these were shown to have a negative effect on purchase likelihood. Two other risk characteristics namely, perceived knowledge and own control of the food risk were found to be linked directly and positively to consumer purchase likelihood. Risk reducing strategies such as branded product, product quality assurance and product information adopted by consumers were identified and found to be consistent with the marketing strategies used by the food industry. These risk-reducing strategies have a negative relationship with consumer risk perception. This study presented empirical evidence for characterising types of food risks and explains how food risks and risk reducing strategies affect consumer risk perception as well as purchase likelihood. Consequently, two quantitative consumer food purchase models were developed. These models can help the government and the food industry to identify key factors to develop systematic strategies for risk management and risk communication in order to allocate resources efficiently and effectively. They can also use these models to measure the effectiveness of their risk management policy in the times of concern about food safety. This study recommends further research to apply these models in other types of food products and other types of risk, such as chemical risk, and technological risk, in particular for those risks which are beyond the control of consumers. The differences in risk perception between cultures and socio-economic groupings should be explored further. This is a valid topic for further research and provides potential benefits for consumers and food industry as a whole.

abstract: The manner in which land and water are used and managed is a major influencing factor of global environmental change. Globally, modifications to the landscape have drastically transformed social and ecological communities. Land and water management practices also influences people's vulnerability to hazards. Other interrelated factors are compounding problems of environmental change as a result of land and water use changes. Such factors include climate change, sea level rise, the frequency and severity of hurricanes, and increased populations in coastal regions. The implication of global climate change for small islands and small island communities is especially troublesome. Socially, small islands have a limited resource base, deal with varying degrees of insularity, generally have little political power, and have limited economic opportunities. The physical attributes of small islands also increase their vulnerability to global climate change, including limited land area, limited fresh water supplies, and greater distances to resources. The focus of this research project is to document place-specific - and in this case island-specific - human-environmental interactions from a political ecology perspective as a means to address local concerns and possible consequences of global environmental change. The place in which these interactions are examined is the barrier island and village of Ocracoke, North Carolina. I focus on the specific historical-geography of land and water management on Ocracoke as a means to examine relationships between local human-environmental interactions and environmental change. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Geography 2014

Lima's primacy in the economy and socio-political sphere of Peru has made it an unstopable magnet that attracts migrants from the country's interior. The formal housing market has been unable to meet this ever-increasing demand, thus leaving the newcomers to settle in the peripheries through the illegal invasion of low-value public land on risk prone areas of the cityÕs edge. This places them outside of institutional structures, zoning laws and land tenure. Their location far away from the formal center lacks proper services and transportation, yielding socioeconomic impediments, such as fewer work opportunities and social isolation. Instead of adopting the common tabula rasa approach to dealing with informality, Lima has embraced this inherent process by incrementally urbanizing these areas, providing them with basic infrastructure, assuming that after surviving the critical initial phase, these settlements will go through different stages of consolidation into the formal city. However, available land, in the distant nooks and crannies of Lima's three cones of expansion, has started to run out, leaving newcomers to settle around older more consolidated informal neighborhoods in harsher topographical inclines that are much more prone to landslides and damage from earthquakes. This precarious location greatly complicates sustainable connections with the formal urban infrastructure. Continuing Lima's acceptance of informality, a new hybrid housing model can emerge that views self construction not as a threat to urban space, but as a way to customize it. The combination of a planned formal framework with informal, self-built adaptation can help guide a favorable urban environment that avoids the overcrowding and unhealthy conditions of most informal settlements, while facilitating a more rapid and cost-effective self-construction process, through targeted and efficient infrastructure, located within existing public clearings, the civic space of the ubiqiuitous concrete soccer pitch. The role of the architect is then to assist a self-improvement process with professional logistical support, empowering low-income dwellers to take control of their own economic and social mobility. / 0 / GR / archives@tulane.edu

Scholarship on disasters in the United States would suggest that emergency managers should play a role in hazard mitigation. Yet, little empirical research has investigated precisely what role or roles emergency managers actually do play during this phase. This study explored the role of county-level emergency managers in hazard mitigation and the factors that might influence those roles. Data for this study was collected through 42 in-depth, telephone interviews with county- level emergency managers in FEMA Regions III, V, and X, which includes the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. Grounded theory was utilized in order to organize and analyze the data. The data suggests that emergency managers play several roles within mitigation: a generic role, a support role, an administrative role, a promoter role, a public educator role, and a planning role. These roles are explained by a number of factors, including conceptual confusion, response and preparedness orientation, financial resource factors, planning factors, additional resource factors, competition between mitigation and development, resistance to mitigation, and engagement in mitigation. It is also important to note that emergency managers spend only a small amount of their time in mitigation. The results of this study suggest that there is a gap between the theorized role and the actual role that emergency managers play within mitigation. Closing this gap will likely require additional resources for mitigation and county-level emergency management, as well as greater consistency in defining mitigation through policy and education.

Worldwide, recognition of the growing risk faced by communities in many countries from natural hazard events has stimulated interest in promoting people's capacity to co-exist with often beneficial, but occasionally hazardous, natural processes by encouraging the adoption of preparedness measures. Starting from recognition that levels of hazard preparedness are generally low, this paper examines how people's decisions about hazard mitigation derive from how they interpret the hazards, their relationship with the hazards and the sources of information about hazards. It describes how interpretive processes at the person (outcome expectancy), community (community participation and collective efficacy) and societal (empowerment and trust) level interact to predict levels of hazard preparedness. The data support the argument that the effectiveness of public hazard education strategies community preparedness can be increased by integrating risk management activities with community development strategies. The cross-cultural validity of the model is discussed using data from communities in New Zealand, Indonesia and Japan. Testing the model across countries and hazards (e.g. earthquakes, volcanic hazards) supports its all-hazards and cross-cultural applicability. The theoretical (e.g. identifying the degree to which the processes that underpin how people respond to hazard threats are culturally equivalent) and practical (e.g. providing a common basis for collaborative learning and research between countries and providing risk management agencies in different cultures with access to a wider range of risk management options) implications of the cross-cultural equivalence of the model are discussed.

The current study explores the social construction of natural hazards vulnerability by examining the perceptions of emergency management personnel, homeless service providers and homeless men living in Central Florida. The matrix of vulnerability is proposed as a framework for studying disaster vulnerability, wherein vulnerability is viewed as a complex process consisting of social and physical risk, human agency and time. Using the matrix as a guiding framework, this study examines the risks that natural hazards present to the homeless living in Central Florida and the strategies used by the homeless to manage these risks. This study argues that because the homeless experience increased exposure to natural hazards coupled with potential chronic medical conditions, economic hardship, and social stigma, they are more vulnerable to natural hazards than the general population. However, this study finds that homeless men in Central Florida utilize a variety of strategies that help them manage their risks to severe and inclement weather in Central Florida.

This study comprised of a survey of 807 students in geosciences classes at Mississippi State University to determine the perceived level of threat from eight natural hazards: hurricanes, hail, lightning, tornadoes, earthquakes, ice storms, floods, and wildfires. Responses were analyzed to detect spatial differences in perceptions of threats across the state of Mississippi for comparison. Actual occurrences of the natural hazards and preparations for dealing with these hazards were recorded by county and MEMA districts. Threat perceptions for hurricanes, ice storms, floods, and lightning showed spatial differences, whereas threats from hail, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfire showed no spatial differences. All perceived threats except ice storms paralleled the actual recorded occurrences of the respective hazards spatially. Preparations for each hazard included the adoption of MEMA’s Basic Plan for the entire state.

No description available.

No description available.