1,720,960 research outputs found
Open Source Data-Based Solutions for Identifying Patterns of Urban Earthquake Systemic Vulnerability in High-Seismicity Areas
No full textUrban settlements located in high-seismicity areas should benefit from comprehensive vulnerability analyses, which are essential for the proper implementation of vulnerability modelling actions. Alas, many developing countries face a shortage of knowledge on seismic vulnerability, particularly concerning its systemic component, as a consequence of a combination of data scarcity and a lack of interest from authorities. This paper aims to identify primary time-independent spatial patterns of earthquake systemic vulnerability based on the accessibility of key emergency management facilities (e.g., medical units, fire stations), focusing on the urban settlements located in the high-seismicity area nearby the Vrancea Seismogenic Zone in Romania. The proposed methodological framework relies on open source data extracted from OpenStreetMap, which are processed via GIS techniques and tools (i.e., Network Analyst, Weighted Overlay Analysis), to compute the service areas of emergency management centres, and to map earthquake systemic vulnerability levels. The analysis shows that accessibility and systemic vulnerability patterns are significantly impacted by a synergy of factors deeply rooted in the urban spatial layout. Although the overall accessibility was estimated to be medium-high, and the overall systemic vulnerability to be low-medium, higher systemic vulnerability levels in certain cities (e.g., Bacău, Onești, Tecuci, Urziceni). The presented findings have multi-scalar utility: they aid in the development of improved, locally tailored seismic vulnerability reduction plans, as well as the allocation of financial and human resources required to manage earthquake-induced crises at regional scale. Further to that, the paper provides a transparent methodological framework that can be replicated to put cities in high-seismicity areas on the map of systemic vulnerability assessments, laying the groundwork for positive change in countries where the challenges associated with high-level seismic risk are often overlooked
A GIS-BASED APPLICATION OF FUZZY AHP AND CLASSICAL TOPSIS METHODS ON ASSESSING THE SEISMIC VULNERABILITY OF GALA?I CITY, ROMANIA
No full textWAYS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN ORDER TO IMPROVE GEOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE
Get PDFThe study of English language as a foreign language for the Geography students in the universities of Romania has an important role in students’ professional development and in the integration of Romanian academic education in the international context. The implementation of the Bologna Process’ international programmes in “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Universityof Iași (including the Department of Geography), the exchange of students and teaching staff among universities from different countries, the worldwide dissemination of geographic research results require better knowledge of English language in the field of Geography. In such a context, in the Geography Department of ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, a new approach on teaching English language has been implemented since 2014, ELG (English Language for Geographers), a unique approach in Romania. This paper presents the characteristics and the advantages of this new way of teaching English language, materialised in the publication, in 2017, of a textbook for the Geography students, “English Language for Geography Students” (Daniela Larion), the first textbook of this kind in Romania
MULTI-CRITERIA ASSESSMENT OF THE SEISMIC VULNERABILITY OF SCHOOL UNITS IN VASLUI CITY, ROMANIA
No full textExamining the Risk Perception-Disaster Preparedness Behavior Nexus in the Seismic Context of Bucharest
No full textAbstract This research relied on an extended theory of planed behavior, introducing risk perception as a predictor of the willingness to implement earthquake preparedness behavior, and examining its relationships with the traditional components of the theory. The study used an online snowball sample of 369 participants from Bucharest, collected in February–March 2024. The sample is almost equally divided between women and men, aged 18 to 65, most of them holding higher education degrees and living in apartment buildings with more than eight floors. The investigation revolved around two hypotheses: (1) subjective norm is the primary driver of the intention to conduct preparedness behavior in Bucharest; and (2) different constructs (behavior factors) amplify or impede changes in disaster preparedness behavior, also serving as catalysts for these changes. A highlight of the results is that risk perception does not directly influence disaster preparedness behavior or intention to prepare, but it is strongly linked to subjective norm. The limited association between risk perception and attitudes toward disaster preparedness behavior warrants further analysis. These insights into the drivers of disaster preparedness are essential for developing effective programs to raise awareness about seismic risk, seismic adjustments, risk mitigation, and capacity building
Comparative Multi-Criteria Assessment of Hydrological Vulnerability—Case Study: Drainage Basins in the Northeast Region of Romania
No full textHydrological vulnerability (HV) is a (changing) underlying condition in all drainage basins, depending on the dynamics of the potentially dangerous hydrological phenomena, the particularities of drainage networks, land use patterns, and processes that shape landforms in extensive periods. The socioeconomic attributes and the hydrotechnical infrastructure add up to the manifestation of this type of vulnerability. In this paper, we assess the HV levels of 81 drainage basins in the NE of Romania for three distinctive periods (1990–1999, 2000–2009, 2010–2018), using a multi-criteria approach. Two classical multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods were combined in order to evaluate the HV according to factors that refer to floods and hydrological drought occurrences, hydrotechnical structure coverage, the drainage network, land use, and landforms characteristics. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to weigh these factors and the resulting relative importance values were integrated in the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), by which the alternatives represented by the catchments were ranked. The attenuation of the HV through time follows an East–West direction, from the lower elevations of the Moldavian Plateau to the heights of the Carpathians. Hydrological droughts are more likely to occur in the Eastern part of the analyzed territory, while the western section displays a certain propensity for floods. The results may be used by local and national authorities in order to improve the hydrological risk mitigation strategies, and to develop more targeted water management projects, properly calibrated to the conditions of the Northeast Development Region in Romania
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
- …
