Global population datasets overestimate flood exposure in Sweden.

Accurate population data is crucial for assessing exposure in disaster risk assessments. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the development of spatially gridded population datasets. Despite these datasets often using similar input data to derive population figures, notable differences arise when comparing them with direct ground-level observations.

Affective Response Categories-Toward Personalized Reactions in Affect-Adaptive Tutoring Systems.

Affect-adaptive tutoring systems detect the current emotional state of the learner and are capable of adequately responding by adapting the learning experience. Adaptations could be employed to manipulate the emotional state in a direction favorable to the learning process; for example, contextual help can be offered to mitigate frustration, or lesson plans can be accelerated to avoid boredom. Safety-critical situations, in which wrong decisions and behaviors can have fatal consequences, may particularly benefit from affect-adaptive tutoring systems, because accounting for affecting responses during training may help develop coping strategies and improve resilience.

Risk communication and adaptive behaviour in flood-prone areas of Austria: A Q-methodology study on opinions of affected homeowners.

Adaptive behaviour has become a crucial aspect in current flood risk management strategies across the globe, especially in response to potential consequences of flood hazards and facing challenges of climate change. There are several factors which influence the motivation to implement flood risk management strategies such as property-level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures. This paper assesses and evaluates the role of risk communication, which is a vital and overarching driver or barrier in the successful implementation of PLFRA measures.

The impact of humanitarian assistance on post-disaster social vulnerabilities: some early reflections on the Nepal earthquake in 2015.

Every year, thousands of people around the world who face unequal access to political and social power and resources lose their lives and/or livelihoods in natural hazard events. As a result, the reduction of vulnerability has become a central concern of humanitarian actors. This paper analyses the impact of humanitarian assistance on vulnerabilities in Nepal following the Gorkha earthquake on 25 April 2015.

Smart antimicrobial efficacy employing pH-sensitive ZnO-doped diamond-like carbon coatings.

One of the main challenges in endoprosthesis surgeries are implant-associated infections and aseptic-loosenings, caused by wear debris. To combat these problems, the requirements to surfaces of endoprostheses are wear-resistance, low cytotoxicity and antimicrobial efficacy. We here present antimicrobial coatings with a smart, adaptive release of metal ions in case of infection, based on ZnO-nanoparticles embedded in diamond-like carbon (DLC).

Vulnerability indicators for natural hazards: an innovative selection and weighting approach.

To prepare for upcoming extreme events, decision makers, scientists and other stakeholders require a thorough understanding of the vulnerability of the built environment to natural hazards. A vulnerability index based on building characteristics (indicators) rather than empirical data may be an alternative approach to a comprehensive physical vulnerability assessment of the building stock. The present paper focuses on the making of such an index for dynamic flooding in mountain areas demonstrating the transferability of vulnerability assessment approaches between hazard types, reducing the amount of required data and offering a tool that can be used in areas were empirical data are not available.

Risk of Death and Major Injury from Natural Winter Hazards in Helicopter and Snowcat Skiing in Canada.

Introduction: Guests and guides partaking in helicopter and snowcat skiing (collectively known as mechanized skiing) are exposed to numerous natural winter hazards that can result in injury or death, but detailed quantitative risk estimates are currently lacking. This lack represents a considerable barrier for evaluating existing risk management practices and implementing evidence-based improvements.

Methods: We collected historical incident and exposure information from mechanized skiing operations in Canada to perform a retrospective risk analysis.

Drivers and barriers of adaptation initiatives - How societal transformation affects natural hazard management and risk mitigation in Europe.

A key challenge of hazard risk management is finding novel ways to respond to future extremes amid increasing vulnerability. Societal transformation in the context of multi-functional protection schemes offers potential in this regard. However, the drivers and barriers of societal transformation in hazard management are poorly understood.

Natural Hazard Management from a Coevolutionary Perspective: Exposure and Policy Response in the European Alps.

A coevolutionary perspective is adopted to understand the dynamics of exposure to mountain hazards in the European Alps. A spatially explicit, object-based temporal assessment of elements at risk to mountain hazards (river floods, torrential floods, and debris flows) in Austria and Switzerland is presented for the period from 1919 to 2012. The assessment is based on two different data sets: (1) hazard information adhering to legally binding land use planning restrictions and (2) information on building types combined from different national-level spatial data.

Mountain torrents: Quantifying vulnerability and assessing uncertainties.

Vulnerability assessment for elements at risk is an important component in the framework of risk assessment. The vulnerability of buildings affected by torrent processes can be quantified by vulnerability functions that express a mathematical relationship between the degree of loss of individual elements at risk and the intensity of the impacting process. Based on data from the Austrian Alps, we extended a vulnerability curve for residential buildings affected by fluvial sediment transport processes to other torrent processes and other building types.