Multidimensional Approach for Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment: Framing the Territorial Impacts in Two Municipalities in Portugal

This study presents a new multidimensional methodology for tsunami vulnerability assessment that combines the morphological, structural, social, and tax component of vulnerability. This new approach can be distinguished from previous methodologies that focused primarily on the evaluation of potentially affected buildings and did not use tsunami numerical modeling. The methodology was applied to the Figueira da Foz and Vila do Bispo municipalities in Portugal. For each area, the potential tsunami‐inundated areas were calculated considering the 1755 Lisbon tsunami, which is the greatest disaster caused by natural hazards that ever occurred in Portugal. Furthermore, the four components of the vulnerability were calculated to obtain a composite vulnerability index. This methodology enables us to differentiate the two areas in their vulnerability, highlighting the characteristics of the territory components. This methodology can be a starting point for the creation of a local assessment framework at the municipal scale related to tsunami risk. In addition, the methodology is an important support for the different local stakeholders.     

The Effects of Urban Form on Ambient Air Pollution and Public Health Risk: A Case Study in Raleigh,North Carolina

Since motor vehicles are a major air pollution source, urban designs that decrease private automobile use could improve air quality and decrease air pollution health risks. Yet, the relationships among urban form, air quality, and health are complex and not fully understood. To explore these relationships, we model the effects of three alternative development scenarios on annual average fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations in ambient air and associated health risks from PM_2.5 exposure in North Carolina's Raleigh‐Durham‐Chapel Hill area. We integrate transportation demand, land‐use regression, and health risk assessment models to predict air quality and health impacts for three development scenarios: current conditions, compact development, and sprawling development. Compact development slightly decreases (?0.2%) point estimates of regional annual average PM_2.5 concentrations, while sprawling development slightly increases (+1%) concentrations. However, point estimates of health impacts are in opposite directions: compact development increases (+39%) and sprawling development decreases (?33%) PM_2.5‐attributable mortality. Furthermore, compactness increases local variation in PM_2.5 concentrations and increases the severity of local air pollution hotspots. Hence, this research suggests that while compact development may improve air quality from a regional perspective, it may also increase the concentration of PM_2.5 in local hotspots and increase population exposure to PM_2.5. Health effects may be magnified if compact neighborhoods and PM_2.5 hotspots are spatially co‐located. We conclude that compactness alone is an insufficient means of reducing the public health impacts of transportation emissions in automobile‐dependent regions. Rather, additional measures are needed to decrease automobile dependence and the health risks of transportation emissions.     

The Implementation and Maintenance of a Behavioral Safety Process in a Petroleum Refinery

A values-centered and team-based behavioral safety process was implemented in a petroleum oil refinery. Employee teams defined the refinery's safety values and related practices, which were used to guide the process design and implementation. The process included (a) a safety assessment; (b) the clarification of safety-related values and related practices; (c) process design and executive overview; (d) safety-observation training; (e) feedback, recognition, and celebration; and (f) process maintenance. Data that span 20 years are presented to show the long-term impact on recordable incidents, lost-time cases, and direct costs of injuries. The implementation was associated with an 81% decrease in recordable incidents, a 79% decrease in lost-time cases, and a 97% savings in annual workers' compensation costs over an eight-year period. An interview with the vice president of the refinery is presented to highlight the process's influence on the refinery's safety culture.     

Urban Governance Reform Index: An Alignment of Traditional Reform and Public Choice Propositions

The persistent debate on the consolidation versus fragmentation model of government is a result of a dualist conceptualization of governance reform by two competing theories—public choice and traditional reform. Both argue for reform, but their definitions of reform are diametrically opposed and there is no appropriate instrument to measure government reform. We propose an alignment of the traditional reform and public choice traditions and an instrument to measure governance reform by an index comprised of 1) form of government, 2) home-rule status, 3) methods of election, 4) number of elected officials, and 5) number of jurisdictions. The alignment of the two theoretical camps is supported by the selection of the five reform components and their particular operationalizations.     

Joan Acker's influence on Management and Organization Studies: Review,analysis and directions for the future

This paper pays tribute to Joan Acker by discussing how her ideas have been utilized in Management and Organization Studies (MOS). Through a systematic review of journal articles citing Acker's scholarship from 2000 to 2017 (September), we show how recent scholarship has used Acker to advance discussions in the field and examine how her work was received, and which promises made by her work are still to be met. We identify avenues to carry her legacy forward with a view to realizing the transformative goal she posed as central to meaningful change in social, political and economic life through scholarship in the field of gender and organizations.     

Health Insurance,from a Child Language Broker's Perspective

In the midst of dramatic changes to American health care law there is need to understand the challenges that vulnerable populations encounter in obtaining and managing health insurance. Research has found that child language brokers, children who mediate language and culture for their immigrant families, assist with health‐related matters. We report on focus groups with 17 language brokers living in Central Los Angeles. In this article we detail their experiences language brokering for health insurance and their knowledge of health insurance and policies that apply to their immigrant families. We illuminate some barriers immigrant families face as well as how they navigate them. We conclude with policy implications, particularly in relation to making health insurance more accessible to non‐English speaking and immigrant populations.     

Species composition,abundance and diet of a squamate assemblage from the Carnaval stream headwaters (Buenos Aires,Argentina)

Urban Ecosystems - The present work summarizes 10 years of field observations of an exurban squamate assemblage occupying a 1200 ha patch in the suburbs of La Plata City (Los...     

A Quantitative Examination of Identity Integration in Gay,Lesbian, and Bisexual People of Faith

Much of the religious/spiritual development of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (GLBs) has focused on experiences of conflict and distress, providing little insight into how these identities can be integrated. The present study explored the religious and spiritual lives of GLBs with a specific focus on the integration of these identities. We conducted a retrospective secondary data analysis of 750 GLB individuals from the Northern California Health Study to quantitatively assess sexual orientation and religion/spirituality integration using hierarchical cluster analysis. Resulting MANCOVA analyses of the five revealed groupings (integrated, gay identity struggle, anti-religious/spiritual, secular, and low gay salience) present numerous statistically significant differences between these integration clusters and a variety of dependent variables including measures of demographics, religiosity/spirituality, gay identity, and multiple mental health outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings while also making suggestions for future research.     

Coping with Diversity in Alliances for Innovation: The Role of Relational Social Capital and Knowledge Codifiability

Alliances are increasingly considered a key element for innovation, especially in knowledge‐intensive firms. While this is true, the mere membership to alliances does not explain innovation performance, and thus the alliance's characteristics that determine high performance must be examined. This research address the question of how the diversity of partners in a certain alliance for innovation affects innovation performance, and how this influence can be moderated by certain characteristics, such as the relational dimension of social capital and the type of knowledge shared among partners. The empirical analysis of a sample of 90 biotech companies shows that there is an inverted U‐shaped relationship between alliance partner diversity and innovation performance and confirms the positive moderating effects of relational social capital and knowledge codifiability. These findings contribute to the current research on alliances for innovation by providing empirical evidence on why some alliances perform better than others. Also, the results suggest that the study of alliance partner diversity, as a determinant of alliance performance, should not be addressed in isolation.