Strengthening Minds and Bodies Within the French School System. Physical Education for Boys and Girls Between 1936 and 1950

Physical education has been compulsory in France since 1880. Between 1936 and 1950, expansion intensified and extensive changes were made to course content. This article assesses the ramifications of these choices through an in-depth study of four variables that defined its instruction. Even if priority was given to generalisation and equal access to knowledge, research revealed an upsurge in the fight against real or presumed student vulnerability. At the time, a strong consensus emerged with the commitment to fight frailty. This was all the more the case for young girls as they belonged to a specific group with respect to their physical make-up. The school system stressed the relevance of instruction adapted to girls even if emphasis was placed on the cultural aspect of sport content. The pedagogical programmes put into effect for youths based on these guidelines confirmed this trend. This situation raised concerns as to the role of the school system in the development of social stereotypes through a discipline that would become the focus of the French education system.     

Reshaping Environments: Agriculture and Water Interactions and the Creation of Vulnerability

With reference to empirical evidence from the Caribbean and Brazil, the paper assesses how environmental vulnerability is being created through different types of agricultural intensification and abandonment. Critical to understanding this reshaping of environments is the social management of agriculture and water. The results suggest the need for new models of agro-water relations which incorporate internal and external market influences on food production and resource management. External demands for the quality of food products, over and above the environmental or labour conditions in which they are produced, tend to devalue environments and exacerbate vulnerability. These processes lead to new patterns of environmental uneven development whereby regions rapidly intensify or deintensify their agricultures and their use and availability of water.     

基于集对分析法（SPA）的中国旅游经济系统脆弱性测度研究

文章运用集对分析法,从旅游经济系统的敏感性和应对性两个方面构建指标体系,测度1983—2011年间中国旅游经济系统的脆弱性。研究表明：我国旅游经济系统整体上敏感性呈上升趋势、应对性呈上升趋势、脆弱性呈下降趋势;我国旅游经济系统敏感性具有高弹性,但其弹性在逐渐降低;近期,我国旅游经济系统脆弱性出现了翘尾现象,说明我国旅游经济系统发展中矛盾在增加。基于实证研究结果,文章认为：旅游经济系统脆弱性可以分为“内生性结构累积式脆弱”和“外生性环境胁迫式脆弱”两种类型;旅游经济系统脆弱性的深层压力,来源于“内生性结构累积式脆弱”的不断积累;利他性的工具性旅游产业政策,在一定程度上会加大后期旅游经济系统的脆弱性风险。     

Listening and learning: giving voice to trans experiences of disasters

This article gives voice to trans experiences of disasters, investigating their specific vulnerabilities and resilient capacities. We draw on findings from a project on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) experiences of recent Australian and New Zealand disasters. We present and analyse trans voices from a survey conducted across multiple case study sites and insights from interview data with a trans person who experienced the 2011 Brisbane floods. Conceptually, to provide a robust understanding of trans experiences of disasters, we bring socially sensitive disaster studies into conversation with trans geographies. Disaster studies have begun to examine LGBT experiences, with some suggestion that trans people are most vulnerable. We advance this work by focusing on trans lives. Trans geographies, in turn, underline the importance of space, place and the body in understanding trans lives, and the need to examine the lived reality of trans people’s everyday geographies rather than embodiment as an abstract concept. Applying these insights to the trans voices in our project, we examine four themes that highlight impediments to and possibilities for trans-inclusive disaster planning: apprehension with emergency services and support; concerns about home and displacement; anxiety about compromising the trans body; and the potential of trans and queer interpersonal networks for capacity building. We offer suggestions for trans-inclusive disaster planning and preparedness, and indicate how the insights from trans experience can enrich disaster planning and preparedness for wider social groups.     

The concept of disasters in Geography Education

In the context of current discussions on natural hazards, natural risks and (human) disasters around the world, the aspect of disaster risk reduction (DRR) is gaining more and more importance. The present contribution elucidates the didactical consequences this development has on competence-oriented Geography teacher training at universities/colleges as well as in Geography Education research.     

Fixing a Swamp of Cobras: The Clash between Capital and Water in Shaping Urban Vulnerabilities

This paper addresses how capital can refashion landscapes and patterns of risk and vulnerability. Drawing on the emblematic case of the conversion of Thailand’s Cobra Swamp into Suvarnabhumi International Airport we argue that there is a fundamental clash between the internal logic of capital accumulation and the ecology of water that occurs in places in which land is under water for much of the year. Counterintuitively investment in public infrastructure such as airports targets locations that are exposed to flood risks. While the literature on capital fixes tends to treat “land” writ large, this paper adds a dimension that has been overlooked in the theoretical work, by highlighting the significance of the ecology of the land in which such fixes occur as a means of understanding patterns of investment, land use change and vulnerability. Our analysis draws on three separate but related concepts of capital “fixes”—spatial, technological and high/low road fixes. We argue the importance of recognising the specific ecological characteristics of land that capital “fixes”. This perspective has global significance in providing critical insight into the ways in which capital creates and accommodates the kinds of vulnerabilities and risks associated with climate change.     

Pompeii’s Stabian Baths. Mechanical behavior assessment of selected masonry structures during the 1st century seismic events

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD buried and preserved the Stabian Baths building in the exact configuration which the archaeological excavations carried out in the second half of the 19th century recovered. By combining archeologists’ studies with the analysis of deformations and cracking pattern due to the 1st century seismic events, in this article numerical models have been formulated which allowed the formation of some hypotheses coherent on the timeline of the events, the damage to as well as the change of the shape and stylistic language of the thermal building. Specifically, through global seismic analyses and kinematic analyses of masonry portions of the “destrictarium” block, it is proven that during the 1st century not only a sole catastrophic earthquake occurred but, at least, two important seismic events took place.

The purpose of this article is to identify and parameterize the responsible earthquake by the analysis of seismic effects detectable in the damages and archaeological remains of the masonry walls of the Stabian Baths. The identification of the earthquake and the grading of provoked damages represent a useful knowledge tool that provides information about the vulnerability of ancient buildings and can be suitably used also to safeguard architectural heritage from seismic risk.     

Comparing expeditious procedures for the seismic vulnerability assessment on the European territorial context: reliability,feasibility, cost,and time consumption

ABSTRACT

The definition of strategies for the preservation and protection of cultural heritage is a topical issue, especially in view of the increasing relevance of the theme of seismic risk mitigation and reduction.

The prediction of the impact an earthquake could have on existing buildings requires the knowledge of their dynamic behaviour. The procedure to be adopted for this purpose is quite complex and onerous in terms of costs, time, and implementation, especially when the study concerns territorial areas rather than single buildings. The definition of methodologies aimed at respecting the principles of economic sustainability and preserving human life and architectural heritage is of paramount importance to assess seismic vulnerability using available resources. Rapid methods for the seismic vulnerability assessment, aimed at defining buildings vulnerability and intervention priority lists, must be implemented to guarantee the preservation of historical centers.

This article describes the application to some case studies of different methods aimed at creating fragility curves for the vulnerability assessment on the European territorial context. The comparison between a deterministic approach and a new probabilistic one is performed for all case studies, to define the most suitable methodology in terms of reliability and savings in cost and time.     

Investigation Techniques for the Seismic Response Assessment of Buildings Located in Historical Centers

ABSTRACT

It is an acknowledged fact that historical centers, given its significance from the cultural and architectural viewpoint, bring further challenges in terms of maintenance planning, survey, and safety assessment. The preparation of an adequate investigation plan and the extent of data to be collected is highly reliant on many aspects, such as the category of the architectonic asset, the importance of the heritage site, or the resources available, for example. In what regards the seismic response assessment of urban cultural heritage assets located in historical centers, the amount and detail of data also depend on this article, scale of assessment, and current state of conservation and occupation. Within this framework, this article provides an overview of the state of the art of investigation techniques currently used in survey operations, which are currently available for improving the knowledge level of urban cultural heritage assets within historical centers, as a supporting tool for the seismic response assessment of such singular assets. Finally, acknowledging the lack of accuracy when evaluating the seismic response of an asset enclosed in aggregate as an isolated structure, this article also focuses on the identification of the main particularities inherent to buildings enclosed in aggregate.     

Earthquake Risk Scenarios in Urban Areas: A Review with Applications to the Ciutat Vella District in Barcelona,Spain

ABSTRACT

The vulnerability index and capacity spectrum-based methods used to assess the expected physical damage in dwellings are revisited, and their main advantages and shortcomings are analyzed and discussed. Then, a vulnerability index-based method is used to assess the expected damage in the oldest district of Barcelona, Spain. The risk analysis is performed for earthquake scenarios defined by macroseismic intensities of V, V-VI, VI, VI-VII, and VII to design seismic emergency plans. According to the Spanish Seismic Code, the basic peak ground acceleration for a 475-year return period is 0.04 g, which corresponds to an intensity of VI. Thus, the expected physical damage is quantified and its impact on population and other quantities, such as debris and economic cost, are studied. In spite of the low-to-moderate seismic hazard in Barcelona, the results show that the risk is high, due to the high exposure and vulnerability of the built environment.