Vulnerability Issues Research Articles

Employment Vulnerability and Earnings in Kyrgyzstan

Employment vulnerability is considered as working under inadequate conditions. This research examined the impact of employment vulnerability on earnings with special reference to gender-based differences. Analyses were based on panel data for 2010–2013 and 2016 from the household survey. A panel data fixed-effects model with instrumental variable within the Lewbel (2012) method was applied to estimate an earnings equation. Results indicates negative impact of employment vulnerability on earnings. Women experienced this negative effect more severely. Given these empirical findings, government labour-market policy should not focus on increasing employment alone, but should also address the issue of vulnerability of employment, improvement of working conditions, and expanding employment opportunities for women.

Early detection of cyber–physical attacks on fast charging stations using machine learning considering vehicle-to-grid operation in microgrids

The fast-charging stations play an important role in increasing the adoption of the electric vehicles. The “vehicle-to-grid” concept allows the electric vehicles to provide ancillary services to support the distribution system operation. The implementation of such a concept dictates the integration of communication protocols, which leads to cyber vulnerability issues. Such cyberattacks to the fast-charging stations may lead to increased stress on the aging assets as well as denial of the ancillary service provision, leading to financial losses and power outages. This work looks into the development of a novel approach that uses machine learning to early detect such attacks. Three types of cyber attacks are considered under the denial-of-service category. The study investigated the effectiveness of the proposed approach when considering different time resolutions of metering data. The proposed approach has been tested on a microgrid equipped with renewable energy resources as well as electric vehicles in vehicle-to-grid-mode. The results have shown that the detection accuracy increases in case of the high-time resolution compared to the low-time resolution metering data. The results have also shown that the proposed approach was successful in early detecting all three types of cyberattacks at an average accuracy of nearly 98%.

Critical Assessments of the Potential for Integrating Renewable Energy into Isolated Grids on Vietnamese Islands: The Case of the An-Binh Grid

Renewable electricity for off-grid areas is widely seen as one of the top choices in supporting local economic development in most countries, and so is Vietnam. Over the years, many isolated networks using renewable energy sources have been deployed for off-grid areas in Vietnam. However, the use of these energy sources in Vietnam’s isolated networks is still facing many challenges due to its infancy here. The issues of reliability and vulnerability of these networks are not given the expected attention. Another challenge is that the issues of the operational security of these systems could also be negatively affected by the variable nature of renewable sources, including static and dynamic security. For this reason, this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of integrating renewable energy into isolated networks, and in this case, using solar power for the An-Binh Island grid in Vietnam. The findings from this study suggest that choosing the right structure of the power mix could contribute to improving the operational security of isolated networks. Moreover, several solutions to enhance the reliability of this grid are also proposed. The NEPLAN environment was selected for simulation and analysis for all the scenarios in this study.

Gauging the Impact of Satellite & Space Systems on Critical Infrastructure[CI]: Risk Management is Neither an Enigma nor a Mystery for CI Systems Security

Abstract This article summarizes many critical infrastructure vulnerability issues involving connectivity to space platforms and cyber systems. The article emphasizes the importance of rigorous updated risk assessment in these aeas and the urgent need to exercise all phases and aspects of infrastructufe failure, collapse or extended disruption.

The Effects of the Economic Crisis on Greek Society and the Youth Unemployment: Self-Perception and Expectations of the Young Neets

The economic crisis of the previous decade left its mark on Greek society through its multidimensional economic and social effects. However, the most basic issue in Greek society was the rapid increase in unemployment and in particular youth unemployment, culminating in the emergence of the Neets phenomenon, the population of young people who are out of employment, education or training. Young people were affected the most during the economic crisis, shaping their expectations and self-perception against the risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. In this context we explore expectations and self-perception of unemployed young people in debt-ridden Greece based on nationwide quantitative research conducted through questionnaires. The sample was 360 young persons of 15 – 25 years old who are out of employment, education or training (Neets). According to the results, the majority of young people maintain their optimism for their future, continuing to make plans, having high job motivations and desiring full employment, as well as the continuation of their training in programs which, however, are linked to the labor market. The reduction of their expectations and their participation in brain drain is done mainly for livelihood reasons and in the absence of other alternatives. The decrease in their optimism is mainly based on the fear of long-term unemployment, the low level of income, but also on the inability to utilize their high qualifications, while despite their optimism, young people show increased levels of anxiety and depression, due to the difficulties that they face. The capture of these expectations and self-perceptions is critical in the effort to develop appropriate and effective social barriers for reintegrating young people into work and social life and avoiding social exclusion. This is an issue of social vulnerability as reflected in modern sociological theory but also in the active practices of applied social and educational policy. This research can be framed also by the principles of critical pedagogy as young people could reach for critical consciousness before they radically change the material conditions of their society.

Models used to characterise blockchain features. A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis

Blockchain has emerged as an innovative technology with potential to transform business management, through operational efficiency improvements. Nevertheless, several performance and vulnerability issues have been identified for the different typologies supporting the wide range of blockchain-based applications currently implemented in different domains.A variety of analytical and empirical models are being used to evaluate the issues associated with the different blockchain typologies, enabling systematic analyses of the corresponding efficiency impact, and technical or economic threats.A thorough systematic literature review of these models has been performed, followed by a detailed assessment on the way these models have been employed, and the target parameters and applications evaluated (336 research selected and analysed). We propose a co-classification of these models, allowing us to identify which ones are employed to a greater extent to address the different blockchain issues in scientific research. In a second step, a bibliometric analysis on the selected research is conducted, offering a complementary overview of the status of and trends in blockchain modelling, including the most prolific authors and leading contributing countries to the topic.The main outcome and contribution of the paper is the provision of a broad overview on how blockchain issues have been analytically tackled, through the synthesis and meta-analysis of the models used in the scientific literature since the inception of blockchain technology. The results have two main direct applications, firstly supporting novel vulnerability and performance analyses of existing blockchain applications by providing historical information on the models used so far, as well as the key parameters and typology of the blockchain-based applications evaluated. Secondly, in the implementation of new applications, by allowing the recognition of key issues identified that are associated with the different blockchain typologies and to determine the most suitable models to analyse the weaknesses and risks of the alternative designs under evaluation for these new implementations.

Interactive impacts of walkability, social vulnerability, & travel behavior on COVID-19 mortality: A hierarchical Bayesian spatial random parameter approach

While existing research highlights the built and social environment impacts on COVID-19 mortality, no empirical evidence exists on how the built and social environments may interact to influence COVID-19 mortality. This study presents a rigorous empirical assessment of the interactive impacts of social vulnerability and walkability on neighborhood-level COVID-19 mortality rates. Based in King County, WA, a unique data infrastructure is created by spatially integrating diverse census tract-level data on COVID-19 mortalities, walkability characteristics, social vulnerability, and travel behavior measures. Advanced Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) based Full Bayes hierarchical spatial random parameter models are developed to simultaneously capture spatial and unobserved random heterogeneity. Around 46% of the neighborhoods had opposite levels of walkability and social vulnerability. Compared to low walkability and high social vulnerability, neighborhoods with high walkability and low social vulnerability (i.e., best case scenario) had on average 20.2% (95% Bayesian CI: -37.2% to -3.3%) lower COVID-19 mortality rates. Analysis of the interactive impacts when only one of the social and built environment metrics was in a healthful direction revealed significant offsetting effects – suggesting that the underlying structural social vulnerability issues faced by our communities should be addressed first for the infectious disease-related health impacts of walkable urban design to be observed. Concerning travel behavior, the findings indicate that COVID-19 mortality rates may be reduced by discouraging auto use and encouraging active transportation. The study methodologically contributes by simultaneously capturing spatial and unobserved heterogeneity in a holistic Full Bayesian framework.

Precarious Bodies: Locating Spectatorship in the National Theatre of Scotland's Scenes for Survival Series

This article examines Scenes for Survival, a series of short digital artworks co-created by the National Theatre of Scotland, BBC Scotland and Screen Scotland, for its intersecting dimensions of precarity. On the one hand, the series shows how a pandemic's challenges are unevenly distributed. On the other hand, it addresses the expressly precarious position of (post-)pandemic theatre – precarious in that theatre presupposes the co-presence of an audience of some sort. Drawing on Judith Butler's concept of embodied precarity, I explore how select monologues articulate a ‘new bodily ontology’, and what kind of audience is constructed in the process. As I suggest, Scenes for Survival proposes ways in which proximity and physical co-presence must be reconfigured, constructed across space and time. In doing so, the series adds to ongoing discussions of how to conceptualize digital spectatorship, especially in times when physical co-presence is impossible, and thus becomes an issue of vulnerability.

Green Tunnel Solutions: An Overview of Sustainability Trends in the Last Decade (2013–2022)

In the last decade, green solutions for road tunnels have steadily emerged in the field of engineering. The focus has been on using renewable energy sources to conserve energy and address issues of disaster risk management, territorial resilience and vulnerability, especially as these issues relate to critical infrastructures (CIs), such as roads and railways. Focusing on the equilibrium of the infrastructure through integrated system services and their external effects guarantees a better evaluation of both effects as they relate to other systems and energy consumption optimisation. To this end, a systematic literature review has been conducted herein that collects and analyses studies carried out in the last decade that relate to green energy solutions in tunnels. Upon a review of the Scopus database from 2013 to 2022, 46 conceptual and empirical studies were selected. Classifications and discussions were then developed according to the main issues identified (e.g., energy saving in road tunnels, zero-energy tunnels, renewable energy sources, tunnel safety lighting, and sustainable infrastructure). Each contribution constitutes a part of the current literature that combines the problems of tunnel safety (as represented by the energy costs of safety devices, e.g., tunnel lighting systems) with issues of renewable energy sources in tunnels. The results of this systematic review offer ideas for future directions of the ‘green’ vision for tunnel infrastructure. This study represents the state-of-the-art of renewable energy solutions currently present worldwide. Gaps in the literature that have yet to be addressed include how to build a green system as well as how to balance its life costs. The review supports the claim that the integration of renewable energy sources can exploit innovative solutions related to the concept of resilience.

Development of a composite regional vulnerability index and its relationship with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

The interactions between vulnerability and human activities have largely been regarded in terms of the level of risk they pose, both internally and externally, for certain groups of disadvantaged individuals and regions/areas. However, to date, very few studies have attempted to develop a comprehensive composite regional vulnerability index, in relation to travel, housing, and social deprivation, which can be used to measure vulnerability at an aggregated level in the social sciences. Therefore, this research aims to develop a composite regional vulnerability index with which to examine the combined issues of travel, housing and socio-economic vulnerability (THASV index). It also explores the index’s relationship with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting both social and spatial inequality, using Greater London as a case study, with data analysed at the level of Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs). The findings show that most of the areas with high levels of composite vulnerability are distributed in Outer London, particularly in suburban areas. In addition, it is also found that there is a spatial correlation between the THASV index and the risk of COVID-19 deaths, which further exacerbates the potential implications of social deprivation and spatial inequality. Moreover, the results of the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) show that the travel and socio-economic indicators in a neighbouring district and the related vulnerability indices are strongly associated with the risk of dying from COVID-19. In terms of policy implications, the findings can be used to inform sustainable city planning and urban development strategies designed to resolve urban socio-spatial inequalities and the potential related impacts of COVID-19, as well as guiding future policy evaluation of urban structural patterns in relation to vulnerable areas.

Vulnerabilidade programática sob a perspectiva de profissionais e pessoas idosas LGBTQIA+: uma revisão de escopo

ABSTRACT Programmatic vulnerability concerns access to and use of health resources, such as programs aimed at health prevention, care, and rehabilitation. For LGBTQIA+ older people, vulnerability issues are even more significant, since that group faces other social issues that reflect on the preparation of professionals to provide care in health services. The aim was to map the occurrence of programmatic vulnerability among LGBTQIA+ older people. This is a scoping review, guided by the JBI recommendations using the mnemonic P (LGBTQIA+ older people), C (vulnerability), and C (healthcare programs). The documents were analyzed qualitatively using the R Interface software, IRaMuTeQ. Two thematic categories were identified: The construction of comprehensive care: the role of health and social institutions in developing actions aimed at the needs of LGBTQIA+ older people; Programmatic vulnerability: gaps in care for older people belonging to sexual minorities. This study identified that situations of vulnerability are more evident in health services, long-term care institutions, and in care provided by health professionals, suffering from stigma and prejudice.

A Survey on Blockchain Technology Concepts, Applications and Security

In the past decade, blockchain technology has become increasingly prevalent in our daily lives. This technology consists of a chain of blocks that contains the history of transactions and information about its users. Distributed digital ledgers are used in blockchain. A transparent environment is created by using this technology, allowing encrypted secure transactions to be verified and approved by all users. As a powerful tool, blockchain can be utilized for a wide range of useful purposes in everyday life including cryptocurrency, Internet-of-Things (IoT), finance, reputation system, and healthcare. This paper aims to provide an overview of blockchain technology and its security issues for users and researchers. In particular, those who conduct their business using blockchain technology. This paper includes a comparison of consensus algorithms and a description of cryptography. Further, most applications used in blockchain are focused on in this paper also analyzing real attacks and then summarizing security measures in blockchain. Even though Blockchain holds a promising scope of development in several sectors, it is prone to several security and vulnerability issues that arise from different types of blockchain networks which represent a challenge to deal with blockchain. Finally, as a research community, we encourage future research challenges that can be addressed to improve security in blockchain systems.

A Review of User Vulnerabilities Associated with Shared Sanitation Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa

Aims: Shared sanitation was excluded from the basic service level due to perceived limitations of their hygiene, accessibility and safety. But how does the current body of scientific knowledge influence the narrative? This paper is aimed at reviewing data on the current status and vulnerability issues reported to be associated with shared sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
 Methodology: Literature was searched using key search terms from nine databases. Peer-reviewed articles and various reports of individual country studies published in English from January 2000 to April 2022 were selected.
 Results: As at 2020, the proportion of the population sharing sanitation facilities in SSA was estimated as 19% compared to 7% globally. The review revealed a mixed opinion about issues and vulnerabilities associated with shared sanitation which may have arisen from inconsistencies in the typologies and levels of sharing of facilities among the reviewed studies. Using shared sanitation was found to be associated with an increased risk of diarrheal diseases (OR=1.06; 95%CI: 1.03-1.08) and non-partner violence against women (OR=1.52; 95%CI: 1.22-1.82). However, there is also evidence that many shared facilities, particularly those shared by a few (2-3) households, are clean, meet the needs of the users and afford them similar health outcomes as non-shared facilities.
 Conclusion: The findings of the review suggest that the outright exclusion of all forms of shared sanitation from basic sanitation potentially underestimates the global efforts and progress toward access to sanitation. There is a need to segregate communal and public toilets from privately shared facilities in future research as well as the progress reporting by the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). It is also recommended that steps are taken by the JMP to develop indicators for identifying and incorporating quality shared sanitation facilities into the basic sanitation service level in order to give a more realistic account of the global effort towards sanitation access.

MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REGION

The term "natural resources" refers to both the natural and socio-economic realms. Natural resources - bodies and forces of nature - are linked to ensure close interaction in the process of nature management. Currently, this specific region has some vulnerable issues such as biodiversity loss and land degradation that are connected with poor resource management. The activities of modern society are followed by enormous changes in nature, which are reflected in the Earth's exterior appearance as well as the states of geosystems. Modern production is distinguished by the inclusion of significant reserves of natural resource potential. However, its participation and application are ineffective. Sustainable development necessitates the management of natural resources in a sustainable and integrated manner. The main purpose of the work is to investigate the main natural resources of the Central Asian region, and to show the cost of poor management. The methods that were used are synthesis, analysis, comparison method, and forecasting method. The novelty of the research is the attention paid to the mismanagement of natural resources in a specific region.

Energy, exergy, and economic analysis of a centralized solar and biogas hybrid heating system for rural areas

Although solar energy and biogas have the advantages of clean and sustainable supply when used to drive heating systems, they still face major issues of intermittency, unstable fluctuations, and vulnerability to the environment. To make use of the advantages of solar energy and biogas and to improve the stability and economy of the system, a centralized solar and biogas hybrid heating system is proposed in this study to satisfy the demands in rural areas. First, the energy and exergy analysis mathematical model of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system was established. Then, the developed dynamic simulation model was compiled and constructed in the MATLAB/Simulink platform. The corresponding operation control strategy of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system is proposed. In addition, the energy and exergy performance of the solar and biogas hybrid heating system are calculated and analyzed by using the simulation model. Furthermore, the influence of system component capacity parameters on its thermodynamic performance is analyzed. Finally, the energy conservation and economy of the hybrid system and the single solar or biogas system are compared and discussed. The results show that the energy efficiency of the hybrid heating system is much higher than the exergy efficiency, reporting an energy efficiency of 29.7% and an exergy efficiency of 4.5%. In terms of the exergy losses in the system, the solar collector, the biogas digester, and the biogas boiler are the major contributors to such losses. In the case of limited biomass raw materials, the heating growth rate of the hybrid system is larger compared to a single solar or biogas system, where the proportion of renewable energy exceeds 95% in the hybrid system case. It was shown that the economic feasibility of the hybrid heating system is better than that of the conventional single solar heating system, with a reduction of around 50% in the payback period.

Blockchain-Enabled Task Offloading With Energy Harvesting in Multi-UAV-Assisted IoT Networks: A Multi-Agent DRL Approach

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a promising technology that can serve as aerial base stations to assist Internet of Things (IoT) networks, solving various problems such as extending network coverage, enhancing network performance, transferring energy to IoT devices (IoTDs), and perform computationally-intensive tasks of IoTDs. Heterogeneous IoTDs connected to IoT networks have limited processing capability, so they cannot perform resource-intensive activities for extended periods. Additionally, IoT network is vulnerable to security threats and natural calamities, limiting the execution of real-time applications. Although there have been many attempts to solve resource scarcity through computational offloading with Energy Harvesting (EH), the emergency and vulnerability issues have still been under-explored so far. This paper proposes a blockchain and multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) integrated framework for computation offloading with EH in a multi-UAV-assisted IoT network, where IoTDs obtain computing and energy resources from UAVs. We first formulate the optimization problem as the joint optimization problem of computation offloading and EH problems while considering the optimal resource price. And then, we model the optimization problem as a Stackelberg game to investigate the interaction between IoTDs and UAVs by allowing them to continuously adjust their resource demands and pricing strategies. In particular, the formulated problem can be addressed indirectly by a stochastic game model to minimize computation costs for IoTDs while maximizing the utility of UAVs. The MADRL algorithm solves the defined problem due to its dynamic and large-dimensional properties. Finally, extensive simulation results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed framework compared to the state-of-the-art.

Influence Line-Based Design of Scissors-Type Bridge

Globally, large-scale natural disasters are occurring more frequently due to climatic and environmental changes. In addition, the disaster risk for infrastructures, mainly bridges, has become a vulnerability issue because reinforced concrete bridge structures are being directly exposed to the natural environment. Bridge structures linking cities or prefectures are destroyed in the aftermath of natural disasters and must be rebuilt. As a post-disaster measure, rapid reconstruction of damaged bridges and the reconnection of transportation systems between impacted locations and urban areas are the main problems encountered. This study aims to solve these problems through the application of a novel concept of an emergency bridge based on origami-inspired post-buckling theory, in conjunction with previous studies investigating the optimal deployable structure of scissors-type bridges. This study applied a novel design method for scissor-type bridges that use influence line diagrams and equilibrium equations. The proposed methods can determine the size of each member appropriately while providing the minimum and maximum values of the influence line border when carrying light vehicles by analyzing variations in the live load distribution on the structure. In the case of heavy vehicles passing over a bridge, the fundamental internal axial forces and bending moments were obtained, which provided design parameters for improving the load-carrying capacity of the structure. The proposed emergency bridge has a lower theoretical stress than that of a double-Warren truss.

Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility in SOE Mining Sector in Indonesia: Commitment of Social-legal Awareness

Through its Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER), the company actively contributes to addressing social vulnerability issues in communities. However, given that businesses are also impacted financially, it is interesting to find out why companies, especially State-Owned Enterprises (SOE), continue to run their CSER programs, whether it is merely an obligation due to regulatory orders or whether there are other motives. This research was conducted from the perspective of the sociology of law. The result shows that the obligation of CSER in several regulations is not merely the lawgiver's own desires but comes from social awareness, given that kinship has existed for a long time. Even though there are no explicit restrictions addressing requirements or sanctions to implement CSER in the SOE Law, SOEs in the mining sector demonstrate their commitment to social awareness by continuing to carry out their CSER program in 2020 and 2021.

Complicating Care

Care remains an essential feature of transformative feminist and gender politics—including performance (Hamington & Rosenow, 2019). This article takes as its starting point feminist “ethics of care” scholarship that is grounded in the Cavelian theme of the “vulnerability of ordinary life” (Ferrarese, 2016; Garlough, 2013) and builds on performance studies work engaged by issues of oppression, human rights, and vulnerability (Becker et al., 2021; Bertrand, 2020; Dolan, 2010). Exploring care and performance from both scholarly and applied perspectives, it complicates the conceptual relationship between “vulnerability” and “crisis” to better understand the limits and potential of care in performance activism. Two research examples illustrate how caring practices, during interrelated global crises, have been addressed in local performances in the midwestern United States. The first explores elders’ experiences of vulnerability, isolation, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on local Wisconsin Raging Grannies performers, as they reimagine vulnerability as “call for caring response-ability” through community performance activism that critiques “privileged irresponsibility” (Tronto, 1998, 2013). The second considers experiences of vulnerability and isolation through the documentary-style theatre project GenderTalks (2020) by Orion Risk. This ongoing work united transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people from Wisconsin and Iowa in candid virtual dialogues about gender during COVID-19 social distancing. A virtual play from the transcripts was performed in US fringe festivals. The GenderTalks project provides important insights about care’s potential in performances to create opportunities for interconnection and social critique (D’Urso, Rosenberg, and Winget, 2021). Both performance contexts illustrate the impossibility of detangling care “from its messy worldliness” (de la Bellacasa, 2017) and how care becomes increasingly complicated and valuable in interrelated moments of crisis. This work centers ways that vulnerability can be reimagined through performance as a powerful political resource, as well as means of rejuvenation and social connection.

Investigation of the protective capabilities of glass from laser sounding depending on its elemental composition

One of the most vulnerable issues in the technical protection of information is to obtain data via leakage through the opto-electronic channel.
 In this paper, studies of the protective capabilities of glass from laser sounding depending on its elemental composition were carried out using such indicators as the coefficients of reflection and absorption of the laser beam by the window glass.
 As a result of the work, an experimental installation based on a continuous solid-state laser was assembled.
 The study of the elemental composition of window glass, which is produced by modern industry, X-ray fluorescence method and the study of the coefficients of reflection and absorption of glass samples in the experimental setup showed that the studied window glass chemically belongs to quartz (silicate).
 All chemical elements involved in its formation can be divided into 3 groups: glass-forming, transitional, modifiers, which affects the optical properties of the studied glasses, as the elements used have different not only qualitative but also quantitative parameters.
 Absorption increases if the number of chemical elements that exhibit amphoteric and non-metallic properties and have (-charge) decreases, and increases if the number of chemical elements in the glass that exhibit the most alkaline, alkaline earth properties and in which the radius of cations (+ions) increases.
 Systematization of the elemental and quantitative composition of the studied window glass in accordance with the periods and groups of the periodic table of chemical elements, enabled the relationship between the electronic structure of chemical elements and the protective properties of glass