Political Implications of Emergency Management

This paper will review three broad types of political implications of emergency management, since historically emergency management was considered only a function of law enforcement and fire departments, with the support in the event of a major catastrophe from public health and civil defense organizations. The issue is not whether governments will be required to respond to emergencies but rather when and how frequently. The time to think about emergencies is before they happen. Despite some significant weakness in the overall approach, political implications offer many benefits and provide various options for CDCs （community development corporations） to get involved in disaster recovery and emergency management. Based upon a generally positive evaluation, the paper concludes that emergency management must become a central activity, whether at the federal, state, or local or as an intergovernmental activity. Hopefully for the future the government does not have to wait for a disaster to strike for one to put a policy into place, since they have had several to occur over decades. The government should be ready to take on any disaster if it occurs with the following policies and procedures that are in place.

Nutritional Knowledge and Behavior of Professional Athletes in Khorramabad

Today it is proved that the lack of adequate nutritional knowledge leads to problems such as obesity, overweight and increased cardiovascular diseases. However, many obstacles such as poor financial support, lack of time and poor nutritional knowledge can influence achievement of optimal nutrition which is proportional to the level of the athlete＇s physical activity. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of nutritional knowledge and dietary behavior of athletes in Khorramabad in 2013. Professional athletes of Khorramabad, Iran, with more than one year of regular exercise and at least one course participating in national championships competitions were studied in this cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic study. The samples included 247 athletes aged 17-29 years. Their nutritional knowledge and behavior were measured by the nutritional knowledge and behavior inventory. Results： The results showed a significant difference in nutritional knowledge of athletes by gender and educational level; female athletes have higher nutritional knowledge than male athletes. A gender-dependent difference was found in nutritional behavior; despite their higher nutritional knowledge, female athletes have weaker nutritional behavior than male athletes. However, no significant correlation was found between BMI and nutritional knowledge and behavior of the athletes. Moreover, findings showed that nutritional knowledge and behavior could be significantly different in various sports.

Disability, Gender and Narratives of Pain： The Caregivers＇ Perspectives

This paper analyzes how caregivers＇ narratives about pain and illness are constructed, and also what narrative identities are formed during the lengthy process of taking care of a woman with cerebral palsy, from the years of 1972 to 2014. Of particular interest is how these voices narrate feelings of struggle in order to cope with their own needs and the needs of a disabled woman. How this situation affected their way of living, their views about life through gender-sex, violent, discriminatory, psycho-social and cultural perspectives （Lamas, 2002）？ This study also draws from Hydrn＇s ideas regarding narratives about illness to identify diverse forms to represent reality by means of creating affective bonds, including aspects such as plot, metaphors and the construction or reconstruction of the Self （1995; 1997）, which can be related to the transformation of the narrative identity （Ricoeur, 1995; 1996） of each caregiver. This study aims to open other scenarios to establish public policies of support for caregivers and for the disabled, and to question the role that government and medical institutional have played in order to benefit the society as a whole.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Persons with Disabilities

In this paper, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030(SFDRR) is evaluated with respect to its ramifications for persons with disabilities. In the SFDRR, persons with disabilities were referenced either directly or indirectly as part of the preamble,the guiding principles, the priorities for action, and the role of stakeholders. In addition, the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, during which the SFDRR was adopted, incorporated explicit recommendations toward a disability-accessible and inclusive environment not evident in previous disaster risk reduction conferences. The infusion of disability-related terms and concepts such as accessibility, inclusion, and universal design throughout the SFDRR document was significant. These concepts,which have their origin in disability studies, are used in the SFDRR document to refer to the needs of all in disaster,not only to people with disabilities. These disability-related concepts will now serve the field of disaster risk reduction as important overarching disaster-related principles. The authors conclude that the SFDRR has firmly established people with disabilities and their advocacy organizations as legitimate stakeholders and actors in the design and implementation of international disaster risk reduction policies.