INDEX vulnerability

Groundwater vulnerability maps, based on a regional assessment using an index-based system, can be used as a screening tool to rapidly assess the relative scale of impacts arising from pressures. They may be useful for assessing whether ground-water bodies are at risk from pollution sources at initial characterisation. 

The way of using the index is flexible. Comparisons can be made at the level of process, subprocess, subsystem, or considering only part of the factors (e.g. only process oriented factors). Different process alternatives can be compared with each other on the basis of the ISI. Also the designs of process sections can be compared in terms of their indices in order to find the most vulnerable point in the design. Sometimes a comparison based on only one or two criteria is interesting. E.g. a toxicity hazard study can be done by considering only the toxic exposure subindex. Because its flexibility the total inherent safety index is quite easily integrated to simulation and optimization tools. 

A common cause of baseline drift is a slow elution of substances previously adsorbed on the column. A column cleanup procedure may be in order, or it may need to be replaced. This problem may also be caused by temperature effects in the detector. Refractive index detectors are especially vulnerable to this. In addition, a contaminated detector can cause drift. The solution here may be to disassemble and clean the detector. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2002. Vulnerability assessment fact sheet. EPA 816-F-02-025. www.epa.gov/ogwdw/security/index.html (accessed May 2006). 

Reducing environment-related natural disaster vulnerability Average number of deaths per million inhabitants from floods, tropical cyclones, and droughts. Environmental Hazard Exposure Index. 

Kinetic studies of primary and higher order star formation concluded that well-defined first order stars with narrow molecular weigth distribution could be prepared with [SiH]/[C=C] = 1.25 at room temperature whereas higher order stars were obtained with [SiH]/[C=C]=4.0 at 120 °C. While primary star formation was very slow and could require up to a week to complete at room temperature, higher order star formation was essentially complete in 24 h. Higher order stars with up to 28 arms have been prepared by this method. Intrinsic viscosities and branching index g were also studied. The intrinsic viscosities of stars were much lower than those of linear PIBs of the same MW. As expected, it was found that g values of stars depend on the number of arms and not on the MW of the arms. The stars were found to be resistant to acids and bases suggesting that the PIB corona protects the vulnerable core. 

Globus M. Y., Ginsberg M. D., and Busto R. (1991) Excitotoxic index—a biochemical marker of selective vulnerability. Neurosci. Lett. 127, 39-42. 

Managing pediatric victims of chemical terrorism is an especially difficult challenge. In addition to the obvious physiologic and anatomic differences compared to adults (Table 61.1), there are important psychological and behavioral differences that put children at risk (Rotenberg and Newmark, 2003). Anecdotal reports have claimed that children are likely to be the first to manifest symptoms, to develop more severe manifestations, and to be hospitalized for other related illnesses. In fact, it is anticipated that children will be overrepresented among the initial index cases in a mass civilian exposure to toxic chemicals. Children have many characteristics that make them vulnerable to toxic exposures. The smaller mass of a child automatically reduces the dose of toxic agents needed to cause... 

B. F., and Mathe, A. A., Serotonergic vulnerability in affective disorder A study of the tryptophan depletion test and relationships between peripheral and central serotonin indexes in citalopram-responders, Acta Psychiatr. Scand., 97, 374, 1998. 

Not all these favourable properties exist for other detectors such as flame AA spectrometers. However, a main disadvantage of the spectrophotometer flow-cell is the hydrophilic nature of the cell walls and windows. This property makes the cell vulnerable to contaminations by accidentally entrained aqueous phase which is difficult to remove. When such contaminations do happen, the difference in refractive index of the two phases will deteriorate the precision of the measurements. However, the cell and extraction unit may be cleaned by rinsing with a water miscible organic solvent such as ethanol, methanol or acetone. 

Inflation or purchasing power risk reflects the possibility of the erosion of the purchasing power of bond s cash flows due to inflation. Bonds whose coupon payments are fixed with long maturities are especially vulnerable to this type of risk. Floaters and inflation-indexed bonds have relatively low exposures to inflation risk. 

Several authors (Cutter, 2003 Davis, 2004 Schmid-tlein et al., 2008) and institutions (EMA, 2002 UNO, 2004) work in the social vulnerability field, evidencing its importance. Nevertheless, it is our contention that the existing methodologies to calculate social vulnerability do not take into accoimt the social resilience of individuals, groups and communities. In this article we present a social vulnerability index that integrates support capability and criticality of the territorial system, at a municipal and town scale. 

In Portugal there are few works concerning the use of social vulnerability indexes. There is a pioneer article written by Ribeiro (1995), proposing statistical methodologies of evaluation, and more recently Mendes (2009), who developed a Social Vulnerability Index for the Centre Region of Portugal. 

The issue of scale and the reliability of social vulnerability indexes has been recently discussed by Schmidtlein et al. (2008). They conclude that... 

In this paper we presented a new version of social vulnerability indexes to natural and technological hazards that takes into account, beyond the standard analysis of exposure or biophysical vulnerability, social resilience and infrastructural support capabilities. 

Mendes, J.M. 2009. Social vulnerability indexes as planning tools beyond the preparedness paradigm. Journal of Risk Research, 12 1,43-58. 

Schmidtlein, M. Deutsch, R. Piegorsch,W. Cutter Susan. 2008. A sensitivity artalysis of the social vulnerability index. Risk Analysis, Vol.28, n.°4, 1099-1114. 

Case Study 2 demonstrated a simple procedure for obtaining a derived index of fit-to-brand. It also demonstrated (for the SMSW category at least) that fit-to-brand is not necessarily a prerequisite for success in long-established brands, but we speculate that brand-product dissonance (lack of fit-to-brand) will make them vulnerable. However, as discussed previously, new products need all the help they can get, so minimising brand-product dissonance (thereby maximising fit-to-brand) is highly desirable. 

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