A Comparative Analysis of the Rural and Urban Older Victims of the 5.12 Sichuan Earthquake
Abstract Older people are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters but their needs are often neglected in post-disaster aid work. Even less known is how the challenges faced by rural residents differ from those faced by urban residents, due to the relative lack of support infrastructure (e.g., medical services) in rural areas, particularly in developing countries. We report here a needs assessment survey of the needs of 150 older victims of the recent earthquake in Sichuan, China, with a specific focus on the comparison between urban and rural residents. Case studies were used to provide more in-depth illustrations where appropriate. The findings revealed a variety of unmet needs, both tangible and intangible, of the older victims. The majority of the victims expressed worries about not being able to afford housing, basic necessities, and long-term medical care. Such worries were noticeably more pronounced among rural than urban residents. Besides, many participants suffered loss of multiple family members and were still in a state of grief. The needs of the victims were discussed in the context of China's disaster relief policies, as well as differential social protection policies for urban and rural residents.
[Gerontosocial work in the context of Russian culture and recommendations of Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing].
The definition of gerontosocial work adopted in the majority of the European countries in the context of the Russian culture and priority trends of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing has been discussed. In the article the interaction and differences between terms being used in social work with the elderly people in Russia have been showed; tasks and peculiarities of gerontosocial work have been defined. Peculiarities of interaction between personnel and elderly patients have been studied; the increasing requirements to the professionalism of gerontosocial workers have been proved.
Effect of stress conditions on collapse deformation behavior of a rockfill material
A set of saturated and dry-saturated large-scale triaxial tests were conducted in order to explore the effects of stress conditions on the saturation-induced collapse deformation behavior of a rockfill material. Specimens were tested in different confining pressures and for dry-saturated tests the specimens were submerged in various shear stress levels. The results indicate that in all of the dry-saturated tests a sudden reduction in the volume of the specimens was observed during the submerging process. The ratio of the minimum axial strength of a submerged specimen (at the end of the saturation process) to the shear strength of the specimen before saturation is defined as the coefficient of stress recovery, Csr. Results of the dry-saturated tests showed that this ratio increases as the confining pressure increases and decreases by increasing the shear stress level. According to the results of dry-saturated tests the values of internal friction angle reduction caused by saturation (Δϕc), the ratio of the elasticity modulus of the material after saturation to its elasticity modulus in dry condition, i.e., Ewet/Edry, and also the saturation induced sudden volumetric strain (εvc) decrease as the confining pressure increases. However the shear stress level does not have any meaningful effect on the variation of Dfc, Ewet/Edry and (εvc).