Food: Sustenance and Symbol

Abstract

College students often delay or avoid seeking testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), even if the services are readily available. We used in-depth, semistructured interviews to survey 41 college students aged 18 to 23 years about factors that influence decisions about STI testing. We grouped statements into 9 themes that represent influences on the decision. The most frequently mentioned factors were negative consequences of testing and perceived vulnerability to infection; other issues that influenced decision making included perceived benefits, perceived severity of diseases, public knowledge and opinion, social norms, provider characteristics, test-site characteristics, and personal considerations. Social stigmas and negative consequences appear to represent significant barriers to college students' being tested, which could increase the risk of spreading infections to others. Clinicians and health educators should raise students' awareness of the need for screening and should work to reduce the barriers to screening, including social stigmas and negative consequences.     

A Sensitivity Analysis of the Social Vulnerability Index

The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), created by Cutter et al. (2003) , examined the spatial patterns of social vulnerability to natural hazards at the county level in the United States in order to describe and understand the social burdens of risk. The purpose of this article is to examine the sensitivity of quantitative features underlying the SoVI approach to changes in its construction, the scale at which it is applied, the set of variables used, and to various geographic contexts. First, the SoVI was calculated for multiple aggregation levels in the State of South Carolina and with a subset of the original variables to determine the impact of scalar and variable changes on index construction. Second, to test the sensitivity of the algorithm to changes in construction, and to determine if that sensitivity was constant in various geographic contexts, census data were collected at a submetropolitan level for three study sites: Charleston, SC; Los Angeles, CA; and New Orleans, LA. Fifty-four unique variations of the SoVI were calculated for each study area and evaluated using factorial analysis. These results were then compared across study areas to evaluate the impact of changing geographic context. While decreases in the scale of aggregation were found to result in decreases in the variance explained by principal components analysis (PCA), and in increases in the variance of the resulting index values, the subjective interpretations yielded from the SoVI remained fairly stable. The algorithm's sensitivity to certain changes in index construction differed somewhat among the study areas. Understanding the impacts of changes in index construction and scale are crucial in increasing user confidence in metrics designed to represent the extremely complex phenomenon of social vulnerability.     

新时期湖南农产品出口贸易的脆弱性研究

湖南虽是全国农业大省,但其农产品出口贸易的规模偏小,对农业经济增长的贡献度较低,出口整体效益不高,生产能耗较大,具有显著的脆弱性。需求条件、生产要素、关联产业和贸易环境等是四个导致湖南农产品出口贸易脆弱性的主要影响因子。企业、政府和行业协会必须采取有效措施缓和湖南农产品出口贸易脆弱性,帮助湖南农产品有效地应对当今世界经济缓慢复苏背景下日益激烈的国际市场竞争。     

Is Bigger Really Better?

This study investigates the effect of a capital facilities project on nonprofit financial vulnerability metrics. The author employs a difference‐in‐differences technique to model the relationship between facilities investments and financial vulnerability indicators using data for a matched‐pair sample of nonprofit organizations that invested and did not invest in a facilities project. Overall the findings suggest that investments in facilities are associated with temporary increases in an organization's net assets ratio and decreases in its surplus ratio after a project is completed, and that the costs associated with facilities projects (for example, debt) place strain on nonprofit finances. The study's findings have implications for the financial management of nonprofit organizations, particularly in regard to the associated costs of capital expansion.     

Hybrid identities: juxtaposing multiple identities against the ‘authentic’ Moken

The Moken and Moklen are an indigenous population residing along the Andaman coast of Thailand. They have been represented, both in popular and academic discourse, as seafaring nomads living in traditional boats and small temporal coastal communities. The overwhelmingly precept of the existing literature about the Moken is one of vulnerability and of stemming the erosion of ‘authentic’ Moken cultural identities. Identification of Moken as being under threat transpired as a consequence of the 2004 Asian tsunami, in which many Moken were killed and the plight of others who had their houses and sources of livelihood destroyed was propelled onto an international stage. This paper critically discusses how Moken identities and associated discourses of vulnerability have been depicted in media and academic literature as fixed and traditional. We argue that such rigid identity narratives contrast sharply to the contemporary realities of the Moken identities as articulated by the Moken we interviewed.     

Urban heritage endangerment at the interface of future cities and past heritage: A spatial vulnerability assessment

Uncontrolled urban growth has been an increasing concern in many regions throughout the world. Generated by a natural tendency of population growth in relation to unsustainable land use, city sprawl has led to complex spatial developments that are creating both benefits to, and challenges for decision makers. A major problem inherent in the uncontrolled growth of cities is the threat to the fragile cultural and ecological heritage, which may escalate to permanent and irreversible damage as a result of factors such as environmental depletion and landscape decay. Using modern geosciences and spatial information technologies as predictive tools to analyse and forecast urban growth, a regional spatial decision system may be useful in order to provide seemly and timely information on the risk of overburdening the carrying capacity regarding the historico-cultural heritage at local and regional levels.The present paper develops a predictive toolkit for urban heritage in relation to urban cultural endangerment. This common problem is shared through many regions of the world and is increasingly jeopardizing fragile archaeological landscape due to urban pressure. In this sense, and to forecast an example of this common pressure, the Algarve is exemplified as a laboratory for testing this novel methodology, relying on a combined analysis of urban growth potential and threats to the abundant presence of archaeological heritage in the area. Our appro ach supports the paradigm of city growth in the context of a common agenda emerging from the Valetta Treaty, in which preserving the archaeological heritage is recognized as a key element for sustainable development. The study provides novel empirical results from the above mentioned modelling approach, with important lessons for the developing world. This paper proposes as such, an integrative spatial analysis methodology on the issue of historico-cultural endangerment, which is a new approach to comparative spatial analysis for decision making on urban heritage endangerment at the regional scale. Later, the discussion extends to a more conceptual level of urban planning by considering the questions: Is urban sprawl influencing the way we perceive cities? If so, are there positive advantages in the paradigm of urban growth and urban sprawl which might help us to protect past heritage while ensuring sustainable and modern cities?     

The impacts of the food,fuel and financial crises on poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria: A retrospective approach to research inquiry

This article examines the impacts of the financial, food and fuel crises on poor and vulnerable households in two states of Nigeria: Lagos and Kano. It uses retrospective household‐level data to analyze the impacts of induced price variability on household welfare. The results indicate that aggregate shocks have significant adverse effects on household consumption, schooling and child labour decisions, with a degree of impact heterogeneity across regions and rural and urban areas of the country. We find that the coping strategies adopted by the poor to deal with the short‐term effects of the crises can lock households in a low‐income equilibrium or poverty trap. Provided that covariate shocks exacerbate these effects, they become central for policy design.     

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.     

社会性别视角下老年妇女境况分析——基于江苏省南通市“五普”“六普”数据

基于"五普""六普"的数据分析表明,江苏省南通市老年女性占老年人口大多数,虽然女性老龄化有缓解趋势,但老年女性的高龄化趋势较为明显。与男性老年人相比,老年女性在教育、健康、经济、关系资本等方面均处于明显弱势状态。政府应该采用性别差异的老龄化政策取代性别中立的老龄化政策,着力关注并改善老年女性的生存状况。     

信息系统安全漏洞研究

信息系统安全漏洞是信息时代存在的一种客观对象,针对信息系统安全漏洞的研究对保护网络安全和信息安全有着重要意义。首先在国内外已有的研究基础上,提出系统地、全面地开展信息系统安全漏洞的研究。然后从信息系统管理角度和技术角度对漏洞做了区分,并且从信息系统安全漏洞存在的宿主和起因对其类型进行了分析,对信息系统安全漏洞的定义做了明确。最后从信息系统安全漏洞研究的主体、客体、行为和属性四个方面进行了论述,提出信息系统安全漏洞生命周期的概念,使信息系统安全漏洞的研究能够从标准规范、知识体系、关键技术与基础理论等多个方面有系统、有针对性的开展。