As a feature of many chronic health problems, stigma contributes to a hidden burden of illness. Health-related stigma is typically characterized by social disqualification of individuals and populations who are identified with particular health problems. Another aspect is characterized by social disqualification targeting other features of a person's identity-such as ethnicity, sexual preferenc...

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm focusing on the connection of devices, objects, or "things" to each other, to the Internet, and to users. IoT technology is anticipated to become an essential requirement in the development of smart homes, as it offers convenience and efficiency to home residents so that they can achieve better quality of life. Application of the IoT model to...

This paper critically reviews the outcomes of internationally-funded interventions aimed at climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction. It highlights how some inadvertently reinforce, redistribute or create new sources vulnerability. Four mechanisms drive these maladaptive outcomes: (i) shallow understanding context; (ii) inequitable stakeholder participation in both design implement...

BACKGROUND There are limited published data reporting Australian hospitalized elders' vulnerability to functional decline to guide best practice interventions. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of vulnerability to functional decline and explore profiles of vulnerability related to the performance of physical activity in a representative group of elders in a single cen...

In this paper we describe techniques that we have found helpful for adding unit tests to existing code that has been written without tests. The paper presents some common coding practices that make unit tests hard to retrofit, and why. For each practice we suggest minimal refactorings to open up the code for testing.

Abstract Recent climate change studies highlight that the sea-level rise and increase in intensity frequency of extreme climatic events storm surges will result catastrophic wave overtopping from coastal defences. Retrofitting existing seawalls provides great potentials for enhancement resilience region through attenuation. With increasing attention towards sustainable low emission solutions im...

Vulnerability assessment and reduction are now central to developing a holistic and integrated approach to disaster risk reduction, including mitigating the effects of a disaster. Pre-existing frameworks for mapping vulnerability and planning response to disasters do not completely fit the realities of rural communities in low income countries where most people informally organize their own liv...

To comply with electric power grid automation strategies, new cyber-security protocols and protection are required. What we now experience is a type of against disturbances namely cyber-attacks. In the same vein, impact arising from faults or cyber-attacks should be surveyed by network vulnerability criteria alone. It clear that diagnosis vulnerable points protects would inhibit outages such as...