Vulnerability Research Articles

Vulnerability to child sexual abuse: NOABS tool

Background: The prevalence of child sexual abuse shows a result of 19% in females and 8% in males. Objective: The main aim of this study, is to identify the level of vulnerability and risk of sexual abuse in children between 6 to 13 years old with the NOABS tool. Participants and Setting: 684 children between the ages 6 and 13 from the Simón Araujo school in Sucre, Colombia. Methodology: The methodology used in this study has a descriptive approach and data was analyzed with a quantitative strategy. Results: After analyzing the data, it shows a 5.3 % high vulnerability (VA), (VA) female (F) 4.3 %, 6.5 % male (M), (VA) family context 16.1 %, social 14.9 %, school 8.2 %. Conclusions: Other researches allow to compare these results in order to have a clear idea about the levels of vulnerability and risk of abuse validating the NOABS game.

Ecosystem Services and Vulnerability Assessments of Seagrass Ecosystems: Basic Tools for Prioritizing Conservation Management Actions Using an Example from Thailand

Seagrass habitats are among the most valuable coastal ecosystems. They provide a wide array of ecosystem services (ES) that support the livelihoods of many people. However, seagrass habitats worldwide are at risk of being lost due to the alteration of coastal areas by many causes. Seagrass meadows around Thailand were assessed to evaluate their ecosystem services and vulnerability (VU) status. The ES and VU analyses could be used as basic tools to assess the status of individual seagrass meadows and to prioritize the action needed among several meadows. From 82 seagrass sites, the ES of seagrass habitats tended to be varied based on the areas of the seagrass beds. The vulnerability of the seagrass habitats was mainly influenced by the threat of boating accidents and the incidence of sedimentation. The final combined analysis suggested that a seagrass site at Ban Don (BD), in Surat Thani Province, should be the priority for intervention due to the importance of the ES provided at the site and the existence of a degree of threat from poor land-use management. This work allows us to understand more about the targeted management of seagrass ecosystems, which is very important for conservation and restoration because of its significant potential carbon offset.

Study of Biodiversity of the Arak University Watershed

Biodiversity has declined in many areas because of human activities and loss of habitats. The Watershed of Arak University with a total area of 625.65 hectares is located on the southwestern slope of Mount Mudar, northwest, adjacent of Arak city and north of Karahrod. Biodiversity information of the area was collected with using linear transect and dotted transect methods by installing camera trap, camera and GPS. The results indicate that biodiversity history dates back more than 65 million years. Currently, lives 55 species of dominant rangeland species and 50 species of animal include: 34 species of birds, 10 species of mammals and 6 species of reptiles and amphibians in the area. Falcon and Fritillaria are the Endangered (EN) and Greek tortoise and persian toad agama are the Vulnerability (VU). The most important threats to biodiversity include are development of the city of Arak in the region, habitat destruction, uncontrolled hunting, livestock and dogs, road construction and the abandonment of habitats with surrounding habitats, feeding wildlife from urban waste, nature tourism and informal climbing.

Pandemic, equality, and vulnerability

Pandemic, equality, and vulnerability

Vulnerability Assesment in Web based Applications

Vulnerability Assesment in Web based Applications

An Interdisciplinary Approach for the Historical and Technical Characterization of Medieval and Modern Mortars

The study concerns Italian masonries and focuses on historical, medieval and modern mortars. Within the context of the different regions under examination (Piedmont, the Po Valley area, Latium, the Umbria-Marche region, and Apulia and Sardinia) a wide variety of materials with different chemical-physical characteristics were used in masonry work, determining different structural behaviors. The project aims at improving our knowledge about historical mortars in order to further the conservation of Italian built heritage, especially in zones with seismic risk. To achieve these results, we took samples and carried out analyses to investigate the different mechanical and cohesion properties that influence the vulnerability of ruined or collapsed structures. This information has enabled advances to be made in the prevention, maintenance, protection and preservation of historical buildings. Further details will concern the history of construction techniques, with particular regard to the relationship between local resources and construction sites. Another important topic is the role of different components and additives during the preparation of the mortars and their level of hydraulicity.

GYA Connections - Issue 9: COVID-19 and Human Vulnerability

GYA Connections - Issue 9: COVID-19 and Human Vulnerability

A Study on Development of Flood Vulnerability Evaluation Indicators for Sewage Treatment Plant

A Study on Development of Flood Vulnerability Evaluation Indicators for Sewage Treatment Plant

Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia – who are the vulnerable?

The most widely voiced concern about physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia is the risk that they pose to the wider community and the vulnerable, if legalised. No matter how well intentioned are the creators of the initial safeguards of PAS or euthanasia, there seems to be no sustainable way to maintain restrictions on them. It is pertinent, then, to examine the ways in which the legalisation of PAS or euthanasia, in their ever-broadening scope, might increase vulnerability to suicide and decrease the safety of members of a community.

Meaning-making and narrative in the illness experience: a phenomenological-existential perspective

The experience of illness raises profound issues concerning the sense or non-sense of human existence as a whole: does life have meaning when it is marked by suffering? And what meaning would it bear, in this case? These questions are asked by both caregivers and recipients of care when they come into contact with limits, pain, and death. In this regard, the existential condition of homo patiens is ambiguous: it can lead either to nihilism and despair or to a higher level of awareness and responsibility. Studies on resilience, post-traumatic growth, and meaning-making processes seem to suggest that in difficult situations the search for meaning comes most clearly to the fore, so that the possibility of finding meaning in life can be a protective factor and a key therapeutic resource, while meaninglessness increases weakness and vulnerability. But what is meant by “meaning” in the illness experience and how may it be integrated into one’s personal life story? This question is answered here in terms of narrative methods that can enhance healthcare practitioners’ capacity to approach their patients with sensitivity and deep understanding and guide them to find meaning in their lives, despite all.

Education in and of poverty. Pedagogical research and (re)signification processes

Older and newer forms of vulnerability are manifesting themselves today, denouncing a suffering which is both material and existential, individual and societal. It is particularly evident within urban contexts and amplified by the crumbling of collective belonging and the increasing scarcity of places of participation where responsibility and the commitment to building one’s own personal biography are increasingly delegated to each individual, both materially and symbolically. Two separate pedagogical studies will explore some processes of signification of the experiences connected to new poverty, emphasizing the risks of simplification and normativity identified in some of the current interpretations in the common sense, such as the problematic proximity which these are in danger of sharing with the interpretative premises that shape the same local educational services dedicated to new poverty itself.

A study on the vulnerability of field water supply using public groundwater wells as irrigation in drought-vulnerable areas with a focus on the Dangjin-si, Yesan-gun, Cheongyang-gun, and Goesan-gun regions in South Korea

A study on the vulnerability of field water supply using public groundwater wells as irrigation in drought-vulnerable areas with a focus on the Dangjin-si, Yesan-gun, Cheongyang-gun, and Goesan-gun regions in South Korea

INFLUENCE OF SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE PRACTICES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF FOOD AND BEVERAGES MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN KENYA : A SURVEY OF NAIROBI CITY COUNTY

Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya have been exposed to supply chain vulnerability, which has led to uncertainty in matching demand and supply of their products. Supply chain resilience enables Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms to manage disruptions. As a result, this study focused on examining the influence of supply chain resilience practices on the performance of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The target population was 102 Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County and the sample size of the study was 50 Firms. Data was collected using questionnaires. Qualitative and quantitative data was coded and entered in SPSS Version 24 for analysis. A pilot study was conducted. Descriptive statistics were generated. Inferential statistics using linear regression and correlation analysis was carried out. The results were presented using tables and graphs. The study findings indicated that, supply chain risk management, agility, supply chain collaboration and supply chain integration significantly influence the performance of Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. Food and Beverages Manufacturing Firms should embrace supply chain risk management, agility, supply chain collaboration and supply chain integration as supply chain resilience practices.

Book Review: Justice and Vulnerability in Europe: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Trudie Knijn and Dorota Lepianka (eds)

Book Review: <i>Justice and Vulnerability in Europe: An Interdisciplinary Approach</i>, Trudie Knijn and Dorota Lepianka (eds)

BGNN4VD: Constructing Bidirectional Graph Neural-Network for Vulnerability Detection

Previous studies have shown that existing deep learning-based approaches can significantly improve the performance of vulnerability detection. They represent code in various forms and mine vulnerability features with deep learning models. However, the differences of code representation forms and deep learning models make various approaches still have some limitations. In practice, their false-positive rate (FPR) and false-negative rate (FNR) are still high. To address the limitations of existing deep learning-based vulnerability detection approaches, we propose BGNN4VD (Bidirectional Graph Neural Network for Vulnerability Detection), a vulnerability detection approach by constructing a Bidirectional Graph Neural-Network (BGNN). In Phase 1, we extract the syntax and semantic information of source code through abstract syntax tree (AST), control flow graph (CFG), and data flow graph (DFG). Then in Phase 2, we use vectorized source code as input to Bidirectional Graph Neural-Network (BGNN). In Phase 3, we learn the different features between vulnerable code and non-vulnerable code by introducing backward edges on the basis of traditional Graph Neural-Network (GNN). Finally in Phase 4, a Convolutional Neural-Network (CNN) is used to further extract features and detect vulnerabilities through a classifier. We evaluate BGNN4VD on four popular C/C++ projects from NVD and GitHub, and compare it with four state-of-the-art (Flawfinder, RATS, SySeVR, and VUDDY) vulnerab ility detection approaches. Experiment results show that, when compared these baselines, BGNN4VD achieves 4.9%, 11.0%, and 8.4% improvement in F1-measure, accuracy and precision, respectively. The proposed BGNN4VD achieves a higher precision and accuracy than the state-of-the-art methods. In addition, when applied on the latest vulnerabilities reported by CVE, BGNN4VD can still achieve a precision at 45.1%, which demonstrates the feasibility of BGNN4VD in practical application.

A Morphological Study for Identified the Potential of Ganpatipule Coastal Tourism in Western Maharashtra (India): Analytical Hierarchy Process

This present study Analytical Hierarchy Processes (AHP) techniques, PVI and SVI indices were applied, calculate and identified the physical and socio-economic, cultural, historical and environment criterion and sub-parameters (05 major criteria and 22 sub-parameters) based on the evaluation of tourism potential ability of each parameter and its scenic beauty for a selected site of Ganpatipule beach in Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra (India) most significant importance to tourism. AHP-OS software was used to calculating pairwise comparisons matrix and determine the weight of selected criterion and parameters. The physical of vulnerability index (PVI) and socio-economic vulnerability index (SVI) calculating the physical computation of consistency ratio, CR=CI/RI (CR=0.07) the socio-economic computation of consistency ratio, CR = 0.08 values identified study area tourism potential is relevant. The PVI and SVI classes i.e. very highly coastal tourism potential to low coastal tourism potential are identified to the coastal area natural potential site. GIS-based Arc 10.3; Global Mapper (2011) the software was used to analyze beach potential in the study area. The AHP techniques are most applicable for in this study area for coastal tourism planning, management and development of local level.

Redesigning irrigated almond and pistachio cultivation: implications of a shift towards sustainable intensification

The global warming is increasing the variability of rainfall and temperature, peculiarly, in arid and semiarid environments worlwide. Alterations in precipitation patterns and evapotranspiration in these areas will provoke an augmentation in the water requirements for crops, therefore, a collapse in the water resources systems is contemplated. This work presents the deficit irrigation as an adaptation tool for water shortage in reducing the vulnerability of woody-fruit crops in the Mediteraean area. In this context, almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) and pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) are traditional Mediterranean crops well-adapted to rainfed conditions with highly producer potential under irrigation, therefore, both fruit crops are convenient alternative due to its congenital response to water-stress. In general, moderate deficit irrigation technique enables to save about 30% of irrigation water at yield reductions below 20%. That is, the application of deficit irrigation could be recommended especially in those areas where the full water requeriments for crops are not available due to environmental constrains. In addition, the success of deficit irrigation is based on relevant knowledge of crop phenological development and its physiological reaction to water stress. Thus, the implementation of properly redesign of irrigated fruit plantations under climate change is vital, in order to mitigate the impact on yield, increase water-use efficiency, and preserve or improve the production quality.

Neil Thompson and Gerry R Cox (Eds.), Promoting resilience: Responding to adversity, vulnerability and loss

Neil Thompson and Gerry R Cox (Eds.), <i>Promoting resilience: Responding to adversity, vulnerability and loss</i>

Effect of sequential earthquakes on evaluation of non-linear response of 3D RC MRFs

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.

Jione Havea (ed.), Vulnerability and Resilience: Body and Liberating Theologies

Jione Havea (ed.), <i>Vulnerability and Resilience: Body and Liberating Theologies</i>