Abstract: Drought is a natural disaster that can influence all aspects of human life with its extensive and long-term implications. Rural communities are more drought-susceptible due to their more closeness to nature and agriculture-based economy. Careful assessment of the drought vulnerability of different areas is a prerequisite for drought management as risk management has replaced crisis management to enable farmers to cope with drought effects. The present study aimed to assess the drought vulnerability of wheat farmers in southeastern Iran. The main data collection instrument was a questionnaire designed based on Me-Bar and Valdez’s (2005) study, to which new parameters were added for a more accurate assessment of vulnerability. Using Krejcie and Morgan Table, the sample size was determined to be 395 wheat farmers selected from those living in southeastern Iran with different degrees of drought severity (severe, extremely severe, and critical). The results indicated that farmers were highly vulnerable to drought and strongly affected by economic, socio-cultural, psychological, technical-environmental, and infrastructural damages. In addition, the results revealed that farmers in Sirjan and Rudbar-e Jonubi counties were the most vulnerable. The general results concerning the vulnerability in southeastern Iran show that further drought aggravation increases the farmers' vulnerability because of higher vulnerability levels in regions with more critical conditions. In general, the results can provide new insights into drought management for policymakers.

Abstract: Objectives: to assess factors associated with vulnerability and fragility in the elderly. Methods: crosssectional study with 384 elderly people in Fortaleza, Ceara. The Vulnerable Elders Survey and Clinical-Functional Vulnerability Index - 20 were used. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used for associations. In the analysis of the combined influence of risk factors, the stepwise logistic regression and multinomial regression methods were adopted. Results: 251 (65.4%) non-vulnerable and 133 (34.6%) vulnerable elders. From the vulnerable elders analyzed, 42 (30.9%) are at high risk for frailty. Factors associated with vulnerability: age, gender, presence of comorbidities, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis and use of polypharmacy. There is a 30% increase in the chance of vulnerability for each additional drug. Physical activity reduces the chance of vulnerability by 60%. Factors associated with frailty: educational level; self-perception of health; comorbidities; polypharmacy. Conclusions: it is important to pay attention to the presence of arterial hypertension, osteoporosis, polypharmacy, and encourage the practice of physical activity.

Abstract: The assessment and diagnosis of agricultural drought vulnerability is the basis for the scientific control and prevention of agricultural drought risk. In order to quantitatively evaluate the regional agricultural drought vulnerability and effectively deal with the fuzziness and randomness between evaluation sample and evaluation grade, the entropy fuzzy pattern recognition model, which was coupled with maximum information entropy principle and fuzzy pattern recognition method, was applied to the evaluation of agricultural drought vulnerability. Furthermore, in order to find methods to reduce drought vulnerability, the subtraction set pair potential method was used to further identify the main influence factors of agricultural drought vulnerability. In addition, a case study was carried out in Bengbu City, China. The results showed that during the period from 2001 to 2010, the evaluation value of agricultural drought vulnerability in Bengbu dropped from grade IV to III, which meant that the tolerance of agricultural system to drought had been improved. Moreover, the main factors that affected the vulnerability in Bengbu were precipitation, water use efficiency and irrigation protection area rate. And the latter two were the main objects of regulation and control. Compared with the other three methods, the physical concept of drought vulnerability assessment model based on entropy fuzzy pattern recognition is more obvious, and the evaluation results are reasonable and credible. The drought vulnerability diagnosis method based on subtraction set pair potential can accurately identify key influence factor and provide measures to reduce drought vulnerability and improve drought risk management.

Abstract: Objective: To describe the continuity of care for children with special healthcare needs during the COVID-19 pandemic through the perception of their caregivers in the Northeast of Brazil. Methods: Qualitative descriptive-exploratory research carried out between June and September 2020, in a municipality in the Northeast of Brazil. Eleven caregivers participated through semi-structured interviews conducted at home. The data were submitted to thematic content analysis. Results: The social isolation period and the suspension of health services affected the continuity of care, configuring the category “Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the continuity of care”. Caregivers expressed fear of children contracting the coronavirus, characterizing the category “Fears and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic in view of the vulnerability of children with special healthcare needs”. Final considerations: Caregivers’ reports revealed problems in the continuity of care for the studied cohort. Therefore, health care practices must be rethought in times of pandemic.

Abstract: Informal settlements in developing megacities are often vulnerable to extreme heat and other environmental hazards. Yet, understanding of this vulnerability remains limited due to inadequate attent...

Abstract: Flash floods are unexpected, localized flood events that occur when an exceptional amount of rain falls happens over a short period of time. In South Asia, it is mostly disastrous, for example, in 2017 flash floods killed approximately 1200 people from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. However, it is also common in Dhaka megacity, Bangladesh due to its geographic location, monsoon climatic condition and surrounding rivers. Though it is impossible to avoid them, the losses and damages of hazards can be reduced effectively by using appropriate techniques. This study aims to determine the responsible factors and measure the household vulnerability to flash flood as a tool of mitigation. The study has been conducted based on primary data. Therefore, data were collected from both slum and non-slum population to cover the entire urban habitats. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire based on five factors (social, economic, institutional, structural, and environmental) of vulnerability to flash flood. The key feature of this paper is to provide an insight into real picture of vulnerability to flash flood for urban habitants. Moreover, this practical approach is useful to quantify hazard-induced vulnerabilities not only for Dhaka megacity but also for other cities of the globe.

Abstract: Kermanshah is a city in Iran's Zagros seismotectonic region regarded as one of the cradles of prehistoric and historic cultures. This novel study investigates the quantitative assessment of the seismic vulnerability of historical buildings in Kermanshah using numerical modeling . This study uses the hybrid method to estimate seismic vulnerability for seven mosques in Kermanshah's historical heritage. The structures are modeled by macro-elements. The material properties for the numerical models of the mosques are calibrated through ambient vibration tests . Furthermore, the efficiency and accuracy of Italian indirect method in evaluating the damage probability in Iranian historical buildings could be determined by the comparison with the hybrid method results. Moreover, it provides the knowledge for developing these methods by the architecture and structural specifications of Iranian historical structures. In the indirect method, the aggregate effect of mosques interacting with other structures is taken into account. Finally, considering local site effects, the fragility curves of both methods are developed and compared to each other at the probable design acceleration acquired from the Iranian seismic standard. The results show the seismic vulnerability of investigated mosques and the necessity to provide some parameters for the type of ceiling and configuration of the aggregates to evaluate the Iranian historical structures by indirect method more effectively.

Abstract: Developing resilience in conditions of extreme geographic and economic vulnerability, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have learned to share what works for adaptation on the ground through transnational Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives that address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This chapter focuses on South-South Cooperation between Caribbean SIDS on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management, as well as triangulation with the European Union and international organisations through the African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Natural Disaster Risk Reduction (ACP-EU NDRR) Program. It critically analyses collaborations between regional platforms to show evidence of successful transferable adaptation strategies and tools that have emerged from disaster risk management experiences. Acknowledging the SIDS’ contribution to climate change adaptation is key for advancing both research and action. The examples of South-South cooperation between SIDS and triangulation with Europe and international organisations addressed in this chapter show that a coherent and effective theoretical framework for impactful adaptation research and global climate action should bring forward participatory, transdisciplinary and translocal perspectives informed by the experiences of early adaptors in the Global South.

Abstract: This chapter explores the vulnerability context of coastal fishing communities, including the various factors that shape their capacity to cope with and adapt in the face of poverty and increasing threats associated with climate change and natural and human-induced disasters through the lens of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) in South Africa. South Africa has developed a suite of policies, strategies and laws to deal with commitments to sustainable development and address and manage climate change challenges and disaster risks. These national policies, however, are not well aligned or implemented in a coordinated and integrated manner. Nor are they attuned to the realities facing local communities. This chapter reports on work in coastal communities in South Africa that reveals the lack of policy alignment and limited coordination across government departments at all levels charged with oversight responsibilities for these endeavours. Findings suggest that incorporating local knowledge into local development and sector plans, as well as into sustainable development and sector-specific policies, strategies and plans at the national level, would enhance understanding of the realities on the ground and lead to policies, strategies and plans that are more harmonised and more likely to be supported and implemented. How this knowledge gets integrated both vertically and horizontally into formal government planning and decision-making processes, however, and leads to implementation of projects and plans that yield tangible results, remains a challenge.

Abstract: A large proportion of Indonesia is prone to climate change. Vulnerabilities portrayed at the national and regional levels may not link well with those portrayed at the local level. Most studies at the national and regional levels successfully identify vulnerable hot spots. However, they fail to understand the causes of social vulnerability. It is important to understand the causes of social vulnerability as each individual and community have different levels of access to resources, coping capacity, and recovery capacity. A comprehensive vulnerability assessment is necessary especially at the local level to better understand causes of social vulnerability, which are often context specific. Two areas are proposed for enhancing local level climate change adaptation in Indonesia, Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara Province and Probolinggo in East Java Province.

Abstract: Subsidized insurance is often described as a perverse incentive, moral hazard, or maladaptation that perpetuates coastal residencies in vulnerable homes despite increasing safety and econom...

Abstract: Context: Identifying and repairing vulnerable code is a critical software maintenance task. Change impact analysis plays an important role during software maintenance, as it helps software maintainers to figure out the potential effects of a change before it is applied. However, while the software engineering community has extensively studied techniques and tools for performing impact analysis of change requests, there are no approaches for estimating the impact when the change involves the resolution of a vulnerability bug. Objective: We hypothesize that similar vulnerabilities may present similar strategies for patching. More specifically, our work aims at understanding whether the class of the vulnerability to fix may determine the type of impact on the system to repair. Method: To verify our conjecture, in this paper, we examine 524 security patches applied to vulnerabilities belonging to ten different weakness categories and extracted from 98 different open-source projects written in Java. Results: We obtain empirical evidence that vulnerabilities of the same types are often resolved by applying similar code transformations, and, thus, produce almost the same impact on the codebase. Conclusion: On the one hand, our findings open the way to better management of software maintenance activities when dealing with software vulnerabilities. Indeed, vulnerability class information could be exploited to better predict how much code will be affected by the fixing, how the structural properties of the code (i.e., complexity, coupling, cohesion, size) will change, and the effort required for the fix. On the other hand, our results can be leveraged for improving automated strategies supporting developers when they have to deal with security flaws.

Abstract: Youth with chronic medical conditions (YCMC) including rheumatic disease use substances and may experience harms from doing so. The chronic illness experience may amplify substance use risks for some YCMC who may use to ameliorate symptoms of disease activity and negative side effects of medications, so-called "instrumental use." This article provides a brief overview of adolescent substance use, its intersection with chronic illness, and pediatric-onset rheumatic disease (PRD). A biopsychosocial model of substance use vulnerability for youth with PRD is presented along with emerging evidence about instrumental use of substances. Implications for PRD clinical practice are discussed.

Abstract: This chapter presents the definitions and concepts of disaster risk reduction and its relation to the discipline of civil engineering. It is important to have the infrastructure resilient to disaster. In addition, civil engineering has the potential to offer solutions that can reduce the risk during a disaster. The disaster risk can be reduced by reducing the exposure and vulnerability. The civil engineers can reduce the disaster risk in several ways such as proper land use planning, integrating efficient codal provisions, appropriate design reducing the vulnerability, quality improvement in construction, provision of sea walls, flood protection structures, drainage systems, and earth retention schemes. This book envisages knowledge dissemination on disaster risk reduction primarily focusing on civil engineering perspectives and cross-cutting issues. Research and innovations in civil engineering have the potential to offer solutions toward disaster resilient infrastructures. The vision of this book is in line with the priorities set by UN-SFDRR and UN-SDGs to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

Abstract: Reducing the risk of disaster linked to major flash floods requires multi-scale preparedness measures. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction encourages the involvement of vulnerable people as technical measures are often insufficient to decrease the risk of disaster. Yet local authorities often struggle to motivate people to prepare, even in cases where the risk of disaster is well known. To address this issue, this article explores how the responsibility for preparedness is shared among stakeholders. We analyze the preparedness process in the flash-flood-prone Richelieu neighborhood of Nimes, a city in the south of France. This neighborhood was devastated by a major flood in 1988 and several times by minor floods. We use a mixed-method approach based on a quantitative analysis of a questionnaire administered throughout the city of Nimes and a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with local stakeholders more specifically in the Richelieu neighborhood. We explore the major obstacles to individual willingness to prepare and highlight multiple forms of marginalization that impede individual willingness despite the recent disasters and the well-known vulnerability of the neighborhood. We argue that there is an inconsistency between a centralized top-down DRR approach and the appeal from city authorities for individual preparedness. We argue that the way responsibility for preparedness is shared has to be transformed through a holistic approach in order to encourage individual willingness to prepare for flash floods.

Abstract: Risk assessment for SLow Onset Disasters (SLODs) in the built environment combine the hazard features, and its effects on the built environment itself, with users’ exposure and vulnerability, including behavioral issues. Although different methods exist for identifying the main SLODs drivers and their trend over time and space, limited information is found to set up significant risk scenarios by effectively merging hazard and crowding’ features. Hence, this research is aimed at testing a methodology to create relevant risk scenarios for a single SLOD type, in the urban built environment. The work focuses on heat stress because of its growing incidence trend in urban areas. The methodology is applied to a neighborhood portion in Milan, Italy, which is a significant urban scenario for the considered SLOD. Through the application of quick and remote data collection methodologies, preliminary risk levels are traced over the daytime merging hazard and exposure, thus enabling a quick methodology application by practitioners. Results organize extreme and recurring risk scenarios considering relevant users’ types and behavioral patterns in respect to both the neighborhood space use and the heat stress arousal. Such scenarios can contribute to the definition of input conditions for simulation-based risk assessment.