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This paper aims to design a vulnerability assessment model considering the multidimensional and systematic approach to disaster risk and vulnerability. This model serves to both risk mitigation and disaster preparedness phases of humanitarian logistics.

A survey of 27,218 households in Pueblo Rico and Dosquebradas was conducted to obtain information about disaster risk for landslides, floods and collapses. We adopted a cross entropy-based approach for the measure of disaster vulnerability (Kullback–Leibler divergence), and a maximum-entropy estimation for the reconstruction of risk a priori categorization (logistic regression). The capabilities approach of Sen supported theoretically our multidimensional assessment of disaster vulnerability.

Disaster vulnerability is shaped by economic, such as physical attributes of households, and health indicators, which are in specific morbidity indicators that seem to affect vulnerability outputs. Vulnerability is heterogeneous between communities/districts according to formal comparisons of Kullback–Leibler divergence. Nor social dimension, neither chronic illness indicators seem to shape vulnerability, at least for Pueblo Rico and Dosquebradas.

The results need a qualitative or case study validation at the community/district level.

We discuss how risk mitigation policies and disaster preparedness strategies can be driven by empirical results. For example, the type of stock to preposition can vary according to the disaster or the kind of alternative policies that can be formulated on the basis of the strong relationship between morbidity and disaster risk.

Entropy-based metrics are not widely used in humanitarian logistics literature, as well as empirical data-driven techniques.

The functional strategy map (FSM) is a tool used to capture the organizations' supply chain strategy. Its product, the strategy map, allows the organizations to apply the Conceptual System Assessment and Reformulation methodology (CSAR) with a multi-objective perspective to rethink the business strategy. The aim of this study is to optimize a company business strategy of corrugate cardboard boxes, with its strategic and tactical relations and problems obtained with the CSAR methodology and the FSM tool, as well as its operational priorities identified by the analytical hierarchy process, which is a tool to support multicriteria decision-making. This proposal, with a mixed methodology approach, generates multiple improvements, such as the reduction of the overall cost, the optimal fill rate operations, and the articulation of the strategic and functional decisions in this organization, which are based on a cost competitive strategy. The results were validated by the financial assessments that ensure an attractive return of the investment and the articulation between the business strategies with its functional plans.

The purpose of this study is to develop a model that illustrated how influences are interpreted and then shaped by an economy into its commitment towards corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER).

The paper considers this question: is this possible to find some first and second effects about CSER in 24 sectors of Catalonian economy?

The analytical model is used in order to develop a conceptual model to explain the forgotten effects or CSER in Catalonia, Spain.

This paper applies the theory of the forgotten effects with the analysis of the causes or external elements to the Catalonian economy and of the effects or reflections that it produces in the sustainability.

This study aims to explore the grain chain in Kosovo. This study also aims to analyse the role of actors involved in the supply, production, processing, marketing and distribution of the grain value chain.

The study uses qualitative methods. A total of 60 semi-structured interviews are conducted with actors involved in the entire grain value chain.

Findings reveal that the country depends on grain imports and lacks an organised grain market, which is often distorted by the present political situation. Stakeholders are partly integrated in the grain value chain, and they are not very efficient in production. The existence of an informal market influences the decision-making of actors involved in the grain chain. The grain value chain displays mixed governance types, and the relationships among actors are based on the trust mechanism.

The research draws the importance of agriculture’s public policies to sustain domestic grain production. Public–private partnerships should be created to restore the grain market. Trading policies should be revised because they play a crucial role in enhancing fair competition between domestic and foreign traders.

This paper is based on the analysis of a few photographs published by El Heraldo de México in 1968 about the student movement. The purpose of this paper is to consider the photograph as an act in which the observer is included. From this point of view, the observer could identify a discursive line of the newspaper and build an independent interpretation. The librarian is an observer.

It is a theoretical description about the objective character of the photographs published by El Heraldo de México in 1968. Considering photography as an act, this paper proposes to empirically identify the whole context of three cases of photographs of the newspaper, as examples.

Based on the contextualized interpretation (or photograph as an act), the photograph is identified as an information object and, therefore, an epistemological object, too. There is a relation between the image and the building of knowledge, through the interpretation of the observer.

There are many studies about cataloguing and classification of images, but there is no study on the theoretical implications. The theory presented in this document comes from the work of other specialists and from other disciplines.

Learning to read visual information is as necessary as reading texts. The visual world waits to be decoded. And the twenty-first-century librarian knows how to organize, preserve and disseminate documentary collections (as photos). Value is how to find, access, decode and build knowledge over them.

In this document, the authors take a position in the library discussion about the image as an information object. Also, this paper promotes development of theoretical studies about this topic by librarians.

The objective of the present study is to assess the financial literacy levels of students at a Brazilian university and investigate how these levels are affected by profile characteristics and personality traits.

Data were collected using SurveyMonkey, and a link to the questionnaire was sent by e-mail. The questionnaire contains three blocks of questions: demographics, financial literacy and personality traits. Ordered logistic regression was applied to a sample of 1,312 students.

Younger participants, those with higher incomes and men were more likely to have a high level of financial literacy. The same was true of those who were less extrovert, i.e. assertive, sociable, optimistic and communicative students. These results contribute to the field by indicating which population segments should be prioritized in efforts to promote financial literacy.

To the best of our knowledge, no study has compared Financial Literacy and Personality Traits in Brazil, a developing country that is only beginning to develop national financial literacy strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to present the advantageous applicability of the bicomplex analysis in the context of the Finite Element Method (FEM). This method can be applied for wave propagation problems in various environments.

In this paper, the bicomplex number system is introduced and accordingly the differential equation for time-harmonic Maxwell’s equations in homogeneous media is derived in detail. Besides that, numerical simulations of wave propagation are performed and compared to the traditional approach based on classical FEM related to the Helmholtz equation. The appropriate error norm is investigated for different discretizations.

The results show that the use of bicomplex analysis in FEM leads to the higher accuracy of the electromagnetic field determination compared to the traditional Helmholtz approach. By using the bicomplex-valued formulation, the complex-valued electric and magnetic fields can be found directly and no additional FEM calculations are necessary to get the whole field.

The direct bicomplex formulation overcomes the use of the second order derivatives, which leads to the higher accuracy. In general, accurate calculations of the wave propagation in FEM is still an open problem and the approach described in this paper is a contribution to this class of problems.

This study aims to address the issue of practicing information security risk assessment (ISRA) on cloud solutions by studying municipalities and large organizations in Sweden.

Four large organizations and five municipalities that use cloud services and conduct ISRA to adhere to their information security risk management practices were studied. Data were gathered qualitatively to answer the study’s research question: How is ISRA practiced on the cloud? The Coat Hanger model was used as a theoretical lens to study and theorize the practices.

The results showed that the organizations aimed to follow the guidelines, in the form of frameworks or their own experience, to conduct ISRA; furthermore, the frameworks were altered to fit the organizations’ needs. The results further indicated that one of the main concerns with the cloud ISRA was the absence of a culture that integrates risk management. Finally, the findings also stressed the importance of a good understanding and a well-written legal contract between the cloud providers and the organizations using the cloud services.

As opposed to the previous research, which was more inclined to try out and evaluate various cloud ISRA, the study provides insights into the practice of cloud ISRA experienced by the organizations. This study represents the first attempt to investigate cloud ISRA that organizations practice in managing their information security.