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Capabilities-based planning and capability assessment are high on the agendas of several countries and organisations as part of their risk management and emergency preparedness. Despite this, few definitions of capability exist, and they are not easily related to concepts such as risk, vulnerability and resilience. The aim of the present study was thus to broaden the scientific basis of the risk f

Coordination during disaster recovery is one of the most neglected areas of disaster risk management, as the majority of literature on coordination focuses on disaster response. The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors affecting coordination for long-term recovery. For this purpose, the study uses semi-structured interviews with different actors involved in the recovery process of th

Background: Airborne particles are associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in polluted areas. There is a growing interest in nano-sized particles with diameter < 100 nm and their potential health effects. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive method for cardiovascular risk prediction in high prevalent groups. Aim of study: The aim wa

Effective disaster risk management is a requisite for sustainable development and it is paramount to include a wide range of stakeholders to manage risk in this context. Recent research indicates the significance of making ideas of what is valuable and important to protect explicit in any disaster risk management initiative that involves several stake- holders. The purpose of this article is thus

Although capacity development has been identified as the means to substantially reduce global disaster losses, it is a challenge for external partners to facilitate the development of sustainable capacities for disaster risk reduction in disaster-prone countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate potential gaps between how leading professionals approach such capacity development and guid

The properties of gas-borne aggregates are important in nano-technology and for potential health effects. Gold aggregates from three generators (one commercial and one custom built spark discharge generator and one high-temperature furnace) have been characterized. The aggregate surface areas were determined using five approaches - based on aggregation theory and/or measured aggregate properties.

South Africa is a complex and dynamic society, with overwhelming and increasing problems with disaster risk in the vulnerable urban communities in and around its rapidly growing metropolitan centres. The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the challenges for disaster risk reduction in such communities. It focuses on the case of Imizamo Yethu, in the Western Cape, in order to b

Modern day crises demand organizations to collaborate and adapt to new roles, functions and structures. In such situations, lack of collaborative behaviour and openness between organizations can result in reduced adaptive ability. Therefore, it is important to facilitate collaboration between organizations.We have studied the extent to which crisis managers are prepared to work with personnel and

Resilience is becoming a prevalent agenda in safety research and organisational practice. In this study we examine how the peer-reviewed safety science literature (a) formulates the rationale behind the study of resilience; (b) constructs resilience as a scientific object; and (c) constructs and locates the resilient subject. The results suggest that resilience engineering scholars typically motiv

This article argues for the importance of explicit discussions of what is valuable as a foundation for any disaster risk reduction initiative to be effective. It does so by stating that it is impossible to talk about risk at all if not having some notion of uncertain potential impacts on something that humans value. What is assumed as valuable and important to protect is then determining what haza

A conceptual framework for systematically studying and analysing risk governance is introduced. The framework, which is influenced by design science, is particularly valuable for relating the way risks are handled at the micro-level to aspects at the macro-level. Three central concepts are included in the framework: purpose, function, and form. A function is used to denote what a specific system d

The thesis investigates lung function and the effects of rescue surfactant treatment in mechanically ventilated preterm human infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), and the effects of ventilation at birth on the response to surfactant supplementation in preterm lambs. To assess lung function, the author recorded static pressure-volume (P-V) curves during passive deflation from total lun

A society’s ability to anticipate disaster is a fundamental part of its resilience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate potential gaps between theory, policy and practice concerning functions for risk assessment in the governmental systems of southern African development countries, particularly Botswana and Tanzania. It applies comparative case studies with data collected in focus groups a

It is increasingly suggested that societies must be resilient to be safe and sustainable. While there are many approaches to resilience available, not all of them operationalize the concept to the extent of guiding what to look for when observing actual communities. This is a requisite for linking the conceptual and the actual, and vital for our ability to develop societal resilience. Drawing on r

The interaction among various stakeholder organizations in modern crisis response is very similar to negotiation where each organization has its own goal in addition to a common goal. Decision makers in stakeholder organizations most often have to settle for win-win situations to attain higher joint benefit. In such cases willingness to contribute in joint tasks becomes a prerequisite. In our pres

Theorizing Power, by Jonathan Hearn, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 264 pp., ISBN 9780230246560, £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 9780230246577, £19.99 (paperback).