Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Assessment Using a Time Series of Satellite Images: A Case Study in Namibia

In this article, the use of time series of satellite imagery to flood hazard mapping and flood risk assessment is presented. Flooded areas are extracted from satellite images for the flood‐prone territory, and a maximum flood extent image for each flood event is produced. These maps are further fused to determine relative frequency of inundation (RFI). The study shows that RFI values and relative water depth exhibit the same probabilistic distribution, which is confirmed by Kolmogorov‐Smirnov test. The produced RFI map can be used as a flood hazard map, especially in cases when flood modeling is complicated by lack of available data and high uncertainties. The derived RFI map is further used for flood risk assessment. Efficiency of the presented approach is demonstrated for the Katima Mulilo region (Namibia). A time series of Landsat‐5/7 satellite images acquired from 1989 to 2012 is processed to derive RFI map using the presented approach. The following direct damage categories are considered in the study for flood risk assessment: dwelling units, roads, health facilities, and schools. The produced flood risk map shows that the risk is distributed uniformly all over the region. The cities and villages with the highest risk are identified. The proposed approach has minimum data requirements, and RFI maps can be generated rapidly to assist rescuers and decisionmakers in case of emergencies. On the other hand, limitations include: strong dependence on the available data sets, and limitations in simulations with extrapolated water depth values.     

Factors associated with college students’ willingness and readiness to act in a food allergic emergency (WilRAFAE)

Abstract

Objective: Food allergies are on the rise in the U.S. Factors associated with willingness and readiness to act in a food allergic emergency on a college campus are currently unknown. Participants: College students in one Catholic college enrolled during spring of 2017. Methods: A previously piloted survey was distributed by e-mail. Results: Four hundred seventy-four individuals responded. All readiness components correlated, and all willingness components correlated with each other. Age, having children, college major had statistically significant correlations with readiness and willingness to act. Readiness was highly predictive of willingness to act in an FAE. Thirty-five percent of variability in willingness to act was explained by age, being health professions students, desire to be trained, social desirability, and readiness. Students in nonhealth related majors expressed high willingness, but low readiness. Conclusion: A pool of willing, trained to act individuals should be considered on college campuses including availability of unassigned epinephrine auto-injector.     

Video conferencing applications in social work: Work locally,think globally

Abstract

Video conferencing is a technology that facilitates the provision of high quality education, health-care and consultation to clients and families served by rural area health professionals via visual and audio transmissions. It also plays an important role in the education, and training of rural health professionals and the development of a multidisciplinary team dialogue between rural and metropolitan partners. This paper describes our experience of a video conferencing program conducted at the Goulburn Valley Mental Health Service and St George's Older Persons Mental Health Service. We have found a number of benefits of this technology for clients, their families and for health professionals themselves. The development of expertise in the use of video conferencing technology has empowered social workers in their work places. Video conferencing has been extended to other aspects of social work practice. A pertinent example of this is the use of video conferencing in Guardianship and Administration hearings for patients who would otherwise be unable to attend because of health problems (physical, mental and mobility).     

Russian Jews in exile from Bolshevik Russia: the case of Lev Shestov as an example of Russian‐Jewish existential compromise

Lev Shestov (born Leib Jehuda Shvartsman in Kiev in 1866) was a product of his times and entangled cultural roots. His destiny became closely related to the Russian Diaspora in Europe (he fled Bolshevik Russia in 1920). He was also linked to the local (especially French and German) intellectual life. However, being a Jew made Shestov stand out from the purely Russian emigration, for although he connected himself first and foremost with Russian culture, he could not be integrated without reservations into the purely Russian Diaspora. On the other hand mapping him in relation to the diverse Russian‐Jewish émigré milieu in Europe is not a straightforward task because his attitude to his Jewish roots was rather ambivalent. The case of self‐identification, in varying degrees, was similarly ambiguous with many Russian Jews who left Russia after the revolution. Shestov’s activities in emigration were diverse. Apart from teaching he published regularly in the outlets of the émigré press as well as in major French literary journals and gave lectures in Germany (in particular, addressing such different audiences as the Union of Russian Jews and the Nietzschean Society). In brief, his way of coping with the experience of exile was to become a multicultural conductor of sorts. This article aims to analyse Shestov’s life path in the framework of the Russian‐Jewish Diaspora in Europe at the time in the context of both cultural and ethnic repudiation and appropriation. This in turn should shed some new light on the cultural life of this Diaspora.     

EXTREME TEMPERATURE AND EXTREME VIOLENCE: EVIDENCE FROM RUSSIA

We study the relationship between extreme temperatures and violent mortality, employing novel regional panel data from Russia. We find that extremely hot temperatures increase violent mortality, while extremely cold temperatures have no effect. The impact of hot temperature on violence is unequal across gender and age groups, rises noticeably during weekends, and leads to considerable social costs. Our findings also suggest that better job opportunities and lower vodka consumption may decrease this impact. The results underscore that economic policies need to target vulnerable population groups to mitigate the adverse impact of extreme temperatures. (JEL Q54, I14, K42)     

Between Literary and Subliterary Paradigms: Skaz and Contemporary Russian Estrada Comedy

The present article contends that literary skaz has significantly influenced the narrative framework of contemporary Russian estrada comedy. Skaz’s “theatricality,” “orality,” ambiguous authorship, spontaneity, and “folksiness” have the potential to add a rich, conversation-like complexity to the generally non-improvisational Russian comedy performance. Skaz’s allocutional projection of the audience into a comedian’s performance also creates an illusion of mutual communication between performer and public. While relying on Bakhtin’s treatment of skazas a double-voiced narrative, I argue that skaz allows the comedian to deliver sharp social commentary through a provincial or uneducated persona. Of particular interest for this study is the practical motivation for Russian comedians to resort to the mask of skaz narrators in the 1990s, an era of seemingly open public discourse. I argue that the continuing appropriation of a written, literary text (skaz) by an oral, popular performance (estrada comedy) suggests the versatility of the literary form, while simultaneously testifying to the on-going health of the written and spoken word in contemporary Russia.     

Immigrant Assimilation, Canada 1971–2006: Has the Tide Turned?

Based on the micro files of the Canadian Census we document an increasing earnings penalty for cohorts of immigrants arriving after the late-1970s, especially for the most recent cohort. We also find much quicker assimilation rates for these cohorts, especially for the most recent cohort. Since the late-1970s, the increasing earnings penalty dominated their more rapid assimilation, so that immigrants exhibited ever-deteriorating patterns of integration into the Canadian labour market. For the most recent cohort (2002–2006), this reversed itself, suggesting that the tide may have turned. We find this for both men and women. Our findings are robust across alternative regression specifications, as well as a sample that only considers full-time and full-year workers.