Predator versus Prey: Locust Looming-Detector Neuron and Behavioural Responses to Stimuli Representing Attacking Bird Predators

PubMed Central

Santer, Roger D.; Rind, F. Claire; Simmons, Peter J.

2012-01-01

Many arthropods possess escape-triggering neural mechanisms that help them evade predators. These mechanisms are important neuroethological models, but they are rarely investigated using predator-like stimuli because there is often insufficient information on real predator attacks. Locusts possess uniquely identifiable visual neurons (the descending contralateral movement detectors, DCMDs) that are well-studied looming motion detectors. The DCMDs trigger ‘glides’ in flying locusts, which are hypothesised to be appropriate last-ditch responses to the looms of avian predators. To date it has not been possible to study glides in response to stimuli simulating bird attacks because such attacks have not been characterised. We analyse video of wild black kites attacking flying locusts, and estimate kite attack speeds of 10.8±1.4 m/s. We estimate that the loom of a kite’s thorax towards a locust at these speeds should be characterised by a relatively low ratio of half size to speed (l/|v|) in the range 4–17 ms. Peak DCMD spike rate and gliding response occurrence are known to increase as l/|v| decreases for simple looming shapes. Using simulated looming discs, we investigate these trends and show that both DCMD and behavioural responses are strong to stimuli with kite-like l/|v| ratios. Adding wings to looming discs to produce a more realistic stimulus shape did not disrupt the overall relationships of DCMD and gliding occurrence to stimulus l/|v|. However, adding wings to looming discs did slightly reduce high frequency DCMD spike rates in the final stages of object approach, and slightly delay glide initiation. Looming discs with or without wings triggered glides closer to the time of collision as l/|v| declined, and relatively infrequently before collision at very low l/|v|. However, the performance of this system is in line with expectations for a last-ditch escape response. PMID:23209660

The Looming Maladaptive Style in Social Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Michael A.; Stopa, Luisa

2008-01-01

This exploratory study examined the relationship between the looming maladaptive style (i.e., an enduring and traitlike cognitive pattern to appraise threat as rapidly rising in risk, progressively worsening, or actively speeding up and accelerating) and three different aspects of trait social anxiety (i.e., fear of negative evaluation, social…

ARM-based control system for terry rapier loom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Weimin; Gu, Yeqing; Wu, Zhenyu; Wang, Fan

2007-12-01

In this paper, a novel ARM-based mechatronics control technique applied in terry rapier loom was presented. Electronic weft selection, electronic fluff, electronic let-off and take-up motions system, which consists of position and speedcontrolled servomechanisms, were studied. The control system configuration, operation principle, and mathematical models of electronic drives system were analyzed. The synchronism among all mechanical motions and an improved intelligent control algorithm for the warp let-off tension control was discussed. The result indict that, by applying electronic and embedded control techniques and the individual servomechanisms, the electronic weft selection, electronic let-off device and electronic take-up device in HGA732T terry rapier loom have greatly simplified the initial complicated mechanism, kept the warp tension constant from full to empty beam, set the variable weft density, eliminated the start mark effectively, promoted its flexibility, reliability and properties, and improved the fabric quality.

A translational study on looming-evoked defensive response and the underlying subcortical pathway in autism.

PubMed

Hu, Yu; Chen, Zhuoming; Huang, Lu; Xi, Yue; Li, Bingxiao; Wang, Hong; Yan, Jiajian; Lee, Tatia M C; Tao, Qian; So, Kwok-Fai; Ren, Chaoran

2017-11-07

Rapidly approaching objects indicating threats can induce defensive response through activating a subcortical pathway comprising superior colliculus (SC), lateral posterior nucleus (LP), and basolateral amygdala (BLA). Abnormal defensive response has been reported in autism, and impaired synaptic connections could be the underlying mechanism. Whether the SC-LP-BLA pathway processes looming stimuli abnormally in autism is not clear. Here, we found that looming-evoked defensive response is impaired in a subgroup of the valproic acid (VPA) mouse model of autism. By combining the conventional neurotracer and transneuronal rabies virus tracing techniques, we demonstrated that synaptic connections in the SC-LP-BLA pathway were abnormal in VPA mice whose looming-evoked defensive responses were absent. Importantly, we further translated the finding to children with autism and observed that they did not present looming-evoked defensive response. Furthermore, the findings of the DTI with the probabilistic tractography showed that the structural connections of SC-pulvinar-amygdala in autism children were weak. The pulvinar is parallel to the LP in a mouse. Because looming-evoked defensive response is innate in humans and emerges much earlier than do social and language functions, the absence of defensive response could be an earlier sign of autism in children.

The Effect of Looming and Receding Sounds on the Perceived In-Depth Orientation of Depth-Ambiguous Biological Motion Figures

PubMed Central

Schouten, Ben; Troje, Nikolaus F.; Vroomen, Jean; Verfaillie, Karl

2011-01-01

Background The focus in the research on biological motion perception traditionally has been restricted to the visual modality. Recent neurophysiological and behavioural evidence, however, supports the idea that actions are not represented merely visually but rather audiovisually. The goal of the present study was to test whether the perceived in-depth orientation of depth-ambiguous point-light walkers (plws) is affected by the presentation of looming or receding sounds synchronized with the footsteps. Methodology/Principal Findings In Experiment 1 orthographic frontal/back projections of plws were presented either without sound or with sounds of which the intensity level was rising (looming), falling (receding) or stationary. Despite instructions to ignore the sounds and to only report the visually perceived in-depth orientation, plws accompanied with looming sounds were more often judged to be facing the viewer whereas plws paired with receding sounds were more often judged to be facing away from the viewer. To test whether the effects observed in Experiment 1 act at a perceptual level rather than at the decisional level, in Experiment 2 observers perceptually compared orthographic plws without sound or paired with either looming or receding sounds to plws without sound but with perspective cues making them objectively either facing towards or facing away from the viewer. Judging whether either an orthographic plw or a plw with looming (receding) perspective cues is visually most looming becomes harder (easier) when the orthographic plw is paired with looming sounds. Conclusions/Significance The present results suggest that looming and receding sounds alter the judgements of the in-depth orientation of depth-ambiguous point-light walkers. While looming sounds are demonstrated to act at a perceptual level and make plws look more looming, it remains a challenge for future research to clarify at what level in the processing hierarchy receding sounds affect how

Prevalence of tobacco use among power loom workers - a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Ansari, Zaki Anwar; Bano, S Nafees; Zulkifle, M

2010-01-01

Tobacco use is a major public health problem globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco is the second most important cause of death in the world. It is currently estimated to be responsible for about 5 million deaths each year worldwide. In India, it is responsible for over 8 lakh deaths every year. To estimate the prevalence of tobacco use among power loom workers in Mau Aima Town, District Allahabad, UP. Five hundred power loom workers were randomly chosen. Out of them 448 workers were interviewed through a questionnaire survey during May-June 2007. Data on demographics, education, and type of work were collected along with details regarding tobacco use and smoking status, duration of the habit, and daily consumption. Prevalence of tobacco chewing and/or bidi and cigarette smoking, and their sociodemographic correlates, were examined. The overall prevalence of tobacco use was 85.9%; the prevalence of smoking and tobacco chewing were 62.28% and 66.07%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that smoking is more common in the elderly, while chewing gutka (a type of chewing tobacco) is popular among the younger age-groups. The prevalence of tobacco use among power loom workers is very high compared to that in general population. Immediate intervention programs are warranted to reduce the future burden of tobacco-related morbidity among these workers who are already exposed to the highly polluted environment in power loom factories.

Dynamical encoding of looming, receding, and focussing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longtin, Andre; Clarke, Stephen Elisha; Maler, Leonard; CenterNeural Dynamics Collaboration

This talk will discuss a non-conventional neural coding task that may apply more broadly to many senses in higher vertebrates. We ask whether and how a non-visual sensory system can focus on an object. We present recent experimental and modeling work that shows how the early sensory circuitry of electric sense can perform such neuronal focusing that is manifested behaviorally. This sense is the main one used by weakly electric fish to navigate, locate prey and communicate in the murky waters of their natural habitat. We show that there is a distance at which the Fisher information of a neuron's response to a looming and receding object is maximized, and that this distance corresponds to a behaviorally relevant one chosen by these animals. Strikingly, this maximum occurs at a bifurcation between tonic firing and bursting. We further discuss how the invariance of this distance to signal attributes can arise, a process that first involves power-law spike frequency adaptation. The talk will also highlight the importance of expanding the classic dual neural encoding of contrast using ON and OFF cells in the context of looming and receding stimuli. The authors acknowledge support from CIHR and NSERC.

Role of a looming-sensitive neuron in triggering the defense behavior of the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia.

PubMed

Sato, Keiichiro; Yamawaki, Yoshifumi

2014-08-01

In responses to looming objects, the praying mantis shows a defense behavior, which consists of retracting forelegs under the prothorax. The role of a looming-sensitive neuron in triggering this behavior was investigated by simultaneously recording the activity and behavioral responses of the neuron. The mantis initiated the defense behavior earlier in response to larger and slower looming stimuli. The time remaining to collision at defense initiation was linearly correlated with the ratio of the half-size of an approaching object to its speed (l/|v|), suggesting that the defense behavior occurred a fixed delay after the stimuli had reached a fixed angular threshold. Furthermore, the results suggested that high-frequency spikes of the looming-sensitive neuron were involved in triggering the defense behavior: the distribution of maximum firing rate for trials with defense was shifted to larger rates compared with trials without defense; the firing rate of the neuron exceeded 150 Hz ∼100 ms before the defense initiation regardless of stimulus parameters; when a looming stimulus ceased approach prematurely, high-frequency spikes were removed, and the occurrence of defense was reduced. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Exploring Crisis Management in U.S. Small Businesses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Jon

As a critical infrastructure, the US electricity grid supplies electricity to 340 million people within eight separate regions. The power infrastructure is vulnerable to many types of disasters capable of severing supplies of electricity. The impact on the employees and communities when small- and medium-size enterprises are shut down due to disasters can be severe. The purpose of the quantitative comparative study was to explore small- and medium-size enterprises crisis management strategies in the case of power infrastructure vulnerabilities. Perceptions of small business leaders were probed about crisis management planning relevant to three secondary factors: prior experience of crises, threat perceptions, and planning self-efficacy. Participants completed an adapted questionnaire instrument based on a five-point Likert scale for six sub-factors including resilience through planning, financial impact, operational crisis management, the perfect storm, the aftermath of survival, and atrophy. The instrument also measured three additional factors to include, prior experience of crises, threat perceptions, and planning self-efficacy, across seven types of crises. The results of this study indicated that of the 276 respondents, 104 had no crisis plans, but 172 did have crisis plans. Of those who had implemented crisis plans, 19% had specific provisions to address power outages or attacks on the electrical grid. Of the respondents who had not planned for power outages nor experienced significant losses of power, a statistically significant number acknowledged an external threat to their business. The majority of respondents indicated that long-term planning was related to resilience; however, the migration of crisis understanding into the planning process or implementation was not implemented. This heightened awareness of potential crises without the corresponding development and implementation of mitigation crisis plans requires additional research to understand

47. Jet Lowe, Photographer, June 1978. STAFFORD LOOM, WITH R. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

47. Jet Lowe, Photographer, June 1978. STAFFORD LOOM, WITH R. W. ANDREWS PATENT PATTERN DEVICE, C. 1870, VIEW LOOKING FROM THE FRONT, SECOND FLOOR SOUTH. - Watkins Mill, County Highway MM, Lawson, Ray County, MO

Haptic Distal Spatial Perception Mediated by Strings: Haptic "Looming"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabe, Patrick A.

2011-01-01

Five experiments tested a haptic analog of optical looming, demonstrating string-mediated haptic distal spatial perception. Horizontally collinear hooks supported a weighted string held taut by a blindfolded participant's finger midway between the hooks. At the finger, the angle between string segments increased as the finger approached…

Using perceptual cues for brake response to a lead vehicle: Comparing threshold and accumulator models of visual looming.

PubMed

Xue, Qingwan; Markkula, Gustav; Yan, Xuedong; Merat, Natasha

2018-06-18

Previous studies have shown the effect of a lead vehicle's speed, deceleration rate and headway distance on drivers' brake response times. However, how drivers perceive this information and use it to determine when to apply braking is still not quite clear. To better understand the underlying mechanisms, a driving simulator experiment was performed where each participant experienced nine deceleration scenarios. Previously reported effects of the lead vehicle's speed, deceleration rate and headway distance on brake response time were firstly verified in this paper, using a multilevel model. Then, as an alternative to measures of speed, deceleration rate and distance, two visual looming-based metrics (angular expansion rate θ˙ of the lead vehicle on the driver's retina, and inverse tau τ -1 , the ratio between θ˙ and the optical size θ), considered to be more in line with typical human psycho-perceptual responses, were adopted to quantify situation urgency. These metrics were used in two previously proposed mechanistic models predicting brake onset: either when looming surpasses a threshold, or when the accumulated evidence (looming and other cues) reaches a threshold. Results showed that the looming threshold model did not capture the distribution of brake response time. However, regardless of looming metric, the accumulator models fitted the distribution of brake response times better than the pure threshold models. Accumulator models, including brake lights, provided a better model fit than looming-only versions. For all versions of the mechanistic models, models using τ -1 as the measure of looming fitted better than those using θ˙, indicating that the visual cues drivers used during rear-end collision avoidance may be more close to τ -1 . Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

10. View of Draper darby chain loom from warp beam ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

10. View of Draper darby chain loom from warp beam end, patent date 1913, made by Drpaer Corporation, Hopedale, Massachusetts. Acquired ca. 1941. Note Draper-Northrop name on automatic spindle changer. - Riverdale Cotton Mill, Corner of Middle & Lower Streets, Valley, Chambers County, AL

America's looming creativity crisis.

PubMed

Florida, Richard

2004-10-01

The strength of the American economy does not rest on its manufacturing prowess, its natural resources, or the size of its market. It turns on one factor--the country's openness to new ideas, which has allowed it to attract the brightest minds from around the world and harness their creative energies. But the United States is on the verge of losing that competitive edge. As the nation tightens its borders to students and scientists and subjects federal research funding to ideological and religious litmus tests, many other countries are stepping in to lure that creative capital away. Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and others are spending more on research and development and shoring up their universities in an effort to attract the world's best--including Americans. If even a few of these nations draw away just a small percentage of the creative workers from the U.S., the effect on its economy will be enormous. In this article, the author introduces a quantitative measure of the migration of creative capital called the Global Creative-Class Index. It shows that, far from leading the world, the United States doesn't even rank in the top ten in the percentage of its workforce engaged in creative occupations. What's more, the baby boomers will soon retire. And data showing large drops in foreign student applications to U.S. universities and in the number of visas issued to knowledge workers, along with concomitant increases in immigration in other countries, suggest that the erosion of talent from the United States will only intensify. To defend the U.S. economy, the business community must take the lead in ensuring that global talent can move efficiently across borders, that education and research are funded at radically higher levels, and that we tap into the creative potential of more and more workers. Because wherever creativity goes, economic growth is sure to follow.

Gender-Equity Advocates Face Looming Challenges in Women's Sports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipka, Sara

2007-01-01

Gender-equity advocates gathered at a conference in Cleveland last month to discuss looming challenges in women's sports. Next month the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is scheduled to hold a hearing on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The meeting will focus on the most controversial means of compliance with the law. Institutions can…

The role of looming and attention capture in drivers' braking responses.

PubMed

Terry, Hugh R; Charlton, Samuel G; Perrone, John A

2008-07-01

This study assessed the ability of drivers to detect the deceleration of a preceding vehicle in a simulated vehicle-following task. The size of the preceding vehicles (car, van, or truck) and following speeds (50, 70, or 100 km/h) were systematically varied. Participants selected a preferred following distance by engaging their vehicle's cruise control and when the preceding vehicle began decelerating (no brake lights were illuminated), the participant's braking latency and distances to the lead vehicle were recorded. The experiment also employed a secondary task condition to examine how the attention-capturing properties of a looming vehicle were affected by driver distraction. The results indicated that a looming stimulus is capable of redirecting a driver's attention in a vehicle following task and, as with detection of brake lights, a driver's detection of a looming vehicle is compromised in the presence of a distracting task. Interestingly, increases in vehicle size had the effect of decreasing drivers' braking latencies and drivers engaged in the secondary task were significantly closer to the lead vehicle when they began braking, regardless of the size of the leading vehicle. Performance decrements resulting from the secondary task were reflected in a time-to-collision measure but not in optic expansion rate, lending support to earlier arguments that time-to-collision estimates require explicit cognitive judgements while perception of optic expansion may function in a more automatic fashion to redirect a driver's attention when cognitive resources are low or collision is imminent.

The role of emotional maltreatment and looming cognitive style in the development of social anxiety symptoms in late adolescents.

PubMed

González-Díez, Zahira; Orue, Izaskun; Calvete, Esther

2017-01-01

Social looming constitutes a specific cognitive vulnerability that acts as a danger schema and biases the processing of threat-related information associated with the development of social anxiety disorder. This model characterizes early negative experiences as critical to the formation of looming cognitive style. Furthermore, research has found links between parental emotional abuse and peer victimization and social anxiety. A three-wave longitudinal design was used to analyze the role of parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization in the onset of social anxiety symptoms through the development of this cognitive style. The final sample was made up of 307 females and 243 males (M age  = 16.97, SD age  = .81). Perceived parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization by participants were measured at Time 1, social looming was measured at Time 1 and 2, and social anxiety symptoms were measured at Times 1, 2, and 3. Parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization were related to social anxiety cross-sectionally. Longitudinally, social looming acted as a mediator in the relationship between parents' emotional abuse and social anxiety. These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms through which emotional abuse and peer victimization impact social looming and contribute to social anxiety.

eLoom and Flatland: specification, simulation and visualization engines for the study of arbitrary hierarchical neural architectures.

PubMed

Caudell, Thomas P; Xiao, Yunhai; Healy, Michael J

2003-01-01

eLoom is an open source graph simulation software tool, developed at the University of New Mexico (UNM), that enables users to specify and simulate neural network models. Its specification language and libraries enables users to construct and simulate arbitrary, potentially hierarchical network structures on serial and parallel processing systems. In addition, eLoom is integrated with UNM's Flatland, an open source virtual environments development tool to provide real-time visualizations of the network structure and activity. Visualization is a useful method for understanding both learning and computation in artificial neural networks. Through 3D animated pictorially representations of the state and flow of information in the network, a better understanding of network functionality is achieved. ART-1, LAPART-II, MLP, and SOM neural networks are presented to illustrate eLoom and Flatland's capabilities.

Customary law row looming.

PubMed

Khumalo, B

1993-11-01

Married women under customary law in South Africa are perpetual minors; customary law marriages are not of equal status to civil law marriages; women are denied inheritance access to land and property and excluded from decision making in their homes and communities; and Muslim women do not have equal rights under Muslim personal law. As political and civil reforms loom on the horizon in South Africa, however, calls are being made for customary law to be included under the scrutiny of the Bill of Rights. Women under customary law would therefore be protected under an uniform Bill of Rights. Members of the Congress of Traditional Leaders are staunchly opposed to such a move. They argue instead that women under customary law should not be protected in the Bill of Rights. Customary law will therefore be insulated from legislative reform. This paper briefly presents segments of the ongoing debate between law academics, women's pressure groups, and religious and cultural bodies on the issue.

Public health surveillance and meaningful use regulations: a crisis of opportunity.

PubMed

Lenert, Leslie; Sundwall, David N

2012-03-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is intended to enhance reimbursement of health care providers for meaningful use of electronic health records systems. This presents both opportunities and challenges for public health departments. To earn incentive payments, clinical providers must exchange specified types of data with the public health system, such as immunization and syndromic surveillance data and notifiable disease reporting. However, a crisis looms because public health's information technology systems largely lack the capabilities to accept the types of data proposed for exchange. Cloud computing may be a solution for public health information systems. Through shared computing resources, public health departments could reap the benefits of electronic reporting within federal funding constraints.

Canine Rabies: A Looming Threat to Public Health

PubMed Central

Burgos-Cáceres, Sigfrido

2011-01-01

Simple Summary This review is guided by three questions: What is canine rabies? Why is it a looming threat to public health? Why should we care about canine rabies being a public health threat? It seeks to answer these questions and notes that canine rabies is viral zoonosis with dogs being the major vectors. The disease is a looming threat to public health because rabid dogs bite humans, resulting in thousands of deaths every year. We should care about this evolving situation because, in general, rabies is a neglected disease for which there are vaccines, preventive measures, post-exposure prophylaxis, and control protocols. Abstract Rabies is an acute, fatal viral disease that infects domestic and wild animals and is transmissible to humans. Worldwide, rabies kills over 55,000 people every year. The domestic dog plays a pivotal role in rabies transmission. Domestic dogs are not only part of our daily lives but also of our immediate surroundings, and this is reflected in the rise in pet dog ownership in developed and developing countries. This is important given that more frequent exposures and interactions at the animal-human interface increases the likelihood of contracting zoonotic diseases of companion animals. Despite existing vaccines and post-exposure prophylactic treatment, rabies remains a neglected disease that is poorly controlled throughout much of the developing world, particularly Africa and Asia, where most human rabies deaths occur. It is believed that with sustained international commitments, global elimination of rabies from domestic dog populations, the most dangerous vector to humans, is a realistic goal. PMID:26486619

An Insurance Crisis Looms--Again.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henke, Cliff

1993-01-01

The insurance industry has experienced a round of claims costs as a result of recent natural disasters. These costs are passed on to customers. To avoid higher premiums, student-transportation systems can take the following money-saving steps: raise the deductible; beef up driver training; focus on driver retention; and get the fleet's loss…

Public Health Surveillance and Meaningful Use Regulations: A Crisis of Opportunity

PubMed Central

Sundwall, David N.

2012-01-01

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is intended to enhance reimbursement of health care providers for meaningful use of electronic health records systems. This presents both opportunities and challenges for public health departments. To earn incentive payments, clinical providers must exchange specified types of data with the public health system, such as immunization and syndromic surveillance data and notifiable disease reporting. However, a crisis looms because public health’s information technology systems largely lack the capabilities to accept the types of data proposed for exchange. Cloud computing may be a solution for public health information systems. Through shared computing resources, public health departments could reap the benefits of electronic reporting within federal funding constraints. PMID:22390523

The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Bob

2010-01-01

Currently, K-12 education in the United States is dealing with three major challenges: (1) global skill demands versus educational attainment; (2) the funding cliff; and (3) a looming teacher shortage. Independently, these factors present significant challenges. In combination, they create a national imperative for swift action to create a more…

Spatiotemporal Receptive Field Properties of a Looming-Sensitive Neuron in Solitarious and Gregarious Phases of the Desert Locust

PubMed Central

Harston, George W. J.; Kilburn-Toppin, Fleur; Matheson, Thomas; Burrows, Malcolm; Gabbiani, Fabrizio; Krapp, Holger G.

2010-01-01

Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can transform reversibly between the swarming gregarious phase and a solitarious phase, which avoids other locusts. This transformation entails dramatic changes in morphology, physiology, and behavior. We have used the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) and its postsynaptic target, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), which are visual interneurons that detect looming objects, to analyze how differences in the visual ecology of the two phases are served by altered neuronal function. Solitarious locusts had larger eyes and a greater degree of binocular overlap than those of gregarious locusts. The receptive field to looming stimuli had a large central region of nearly equal response spanning 120° × 60° in both phases. The DCMDs of gregarious locusts responded more strongly than solitarious locusts and had a small caudolateral focus of even further sensitivity. More peripherally, the response was reduced in both phases, particularly ventrally, with gregarious locusts showing greater proportional decrease. Gregarious locusts showed less habituation to repeated looming stimuli along the eye equator than did solitarious locusts. By contrast, in other parts of the receptive field the degree of habituation was similar in both phases. The receptive field organization to looming stimuli contrasts strongly with the receptive field organization of the same neurons to nonlooming local-motion stimuli, which show much more pronounced regional variation. The DCMDs of both gregarious and solitarious locusts are able to detect approaching objects from across a wide expanse of visual space, but phase-specific changes in the spatiotemporal receptive field are linked to lifestyle changes. PMID:19955292

Bouncing Back From War Trauma: Resiliency in Global War on Terror’s Wounded Warriors

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-11

Casualties of the Global War on Terror and Their Future Impact on Health Care and Society: A Looming Public Health Crisis .” Military Medicine 179 (April...Casualties of the Global War on Terror and Their Future Impact on Health Care and Society: A Looming Public Health Crisis .” Military Medicine 179...AIR WAR COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY BOUNCING BACK FROM WAR TRAUMA: RESILIENCY IN GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR’S WOUNDED WARRIORS by Katherine H

Understanding the importance of an energy crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mechtenberg, Abigail Reid

Human development and energy, in general, and electrical energy, specifically, co-exist seamlessly in high HDI countries where reliability and availability is greater than 99%. In numerous low HDI countries, there is 2-50% electric grid availability with reliability at or below 50% due to load shedding and faults. In Africa, solar, wind, biomass and hydroelectric energy production are cited to meet growing demand and increase reliability and availability; however, the capital costs are greater than the ability-to-pay for wide scale implementation. Since the 1970s, the United States has continued to argue over the new sustainable energy infrastructure solution(s); thus resulting in no new infrastructure being built for wide scale implementation. Together the world is facing the daunting task of averting an energy crisis in developed countries and facing energy crises in developing countries. This thesis explores the importance of energy crises: from the past, current, and future. The first part entails arguing that the United States is not on a pathway to prevent an energy crisis based on an analysis of 1986 and 2004 niche and status-quo manufacturing of light-duty vehicles. The second part answers the question of what an energy crisis looks like by exploring and investigating current electrical energy crises in Fort Portal, Uganda. This part used both anthropological and physics education empowerment research to co-design and build for various energy crisis situations in hospitals, schools, and businesses all from locally available materials and expertise. Finally, looking into the US light-duty vehicle's future, I design a new hybrid vehicle powertrain (called transition mode hybrid). This third part describes my new patent as a way to avert an energy crisis in the light-duty transportation sector.

Use of better designed hand knotting carpet looms and workplace interventions to improve working conditions of adult carpet weavers and to reduce hazardous child labor in carpet weaving in Pakistan.

PubMed

Awan, Saeed; Nasrullah, Muazzam

2013-01-01

Children and adults involved in carpet weaving are prone to a number of health and safety problems. This paper describes initial impact of an ergonomically designed loom and work place modifications, to encourage young and adult workers to weave carpets and reduce the hazardous child labor in carpet weaving in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. A new carpet loom with improved ergonomic and safety features suitable for adult carpet weavers was designed. Model carpet weaving worksites based on the new loom and better work environment were created in 30 villages. The impact of new loom compared with the traditional looms was assessed through structured questionnaires and health examinations after 24 months. Adolescent (15-17 years) and adult (> 17 years) participants included 75 respondents (males 10.7%, n=8; females 89.3%, n=67) operating under the new conditions and 92 respondents (males 12%, n=11; females 88%, n=81) operating under traditional conditions. Results indicated an improvement of health related complaints among those working in the new conditions, most notable were the differences in joint pain (p=0.002) and respiratory health (p=0.02). Improvement of income was also reported by workers at model workplaces. Also, no children below the age of 14 were found to be working at the new looms. The results indicate that individuals who adopted new looms and workplace interventions reported less joint pain and better respiratory health than those working with traditional looms in a traditional work environment. By reducing the risks in the workplace, this ergonomic intervention has the potential to reduce or eliminate hazardous child labor from carpet weaving.

Sex, acceleration, brain imaging, and rhesus monkeys: Converging evidence for an evolutionary bias for looming auditory motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuhoff, John G.

2003-04-01

Increasing acoustic intensity is a primary cue to looming auditory motion. Perceptual overestimation of increasing intensity could provide an evolutionary selective advantage by specifying that an approaching sound source is closer than actual, thus affording advanced warning and more time than expected to prepare for the arrival of the source. Here, multiple lines of converging evidence for this evolutionary hypothesis are presented. First, it is shown that intensity change specifying accelerating source approach changes in loudness more than equivalent intensity change specifying decelerating source approach. Second, consistent with evolutionary hunter-gatherer theories of sex-specific spatial abilities, it is shown that females have a significantly larger bias for rising intensity than males. Third, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with approaching and receding auditory motion, it is shown that approaching sources preferentially activate a specific neural network responsible for attention allocation, motor planning, and translating perception into action. Finally, it is shown that rhesus monkeys also exhibit a rising intensity bias by orienting longer to looming tones than to receding tones. Together these results illustrate an adaptive perceptual bias that has evolved because it provides a selective advantage in processing looming acoustic sources. [Work supported by NSF and CDC.

Lessons for Physicians from Flint's Water Crisis.

PubMed

Carravallah, Laura A; Reynolds, Lawrence A; Woolford, Susan J

2017-10-01

Physicians form a vital front in recognizing unusual clinical presentations that could herald a health threat. In the Flint water crisis, physicians can be credited with playing critical roles in both uncovering the crisis and providing leadership when government failed to respond effectively. Yet most physicians in Flint were not formally trained in advocacy or leadership and might have recognized the health implications of the crisis more quickly had they received formal environmental health training. Furthermore, connections to other professional disciplines-and to the community-are vital for effective responses to environmental health threats. We explore some lessons learned in Flint that might help expedite resolution of future environmental health crises, particularly those involving aging infrastructure and diminished or dysfunctional regulation or oversight. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of stationary objects on illusory forward self-motion induced by a looming display.

PubMed

Ohmi, M; Howard, I P

1988-01-01

It has previously been shown that when a moving and a stationary display are superimposed, illusory self-rotation (circular vection) is induced only when the moving display appears as the background. Three experiments are reported on the extent to which illusory forward self-motion (forward vection) induced by a looming display is inhibited by a superimposed stationary display as a function of the size and location of the stationary display and of the depth between the stationary and looming displays. Results showed that forward vection was controlled by the display that was perceived as the background, and background stationary displays suppressed forward vection by about the same amount whatever their size and eccentricity. Also, the perception of foreground-background properties of competing displays determined which controlled forward vection, and this control was not tied to specific depth cues. The inhibitory effect of a stationary background on forward vection was, however, weaker than that found with circular vection. This difference makes sense because, for forward body motion, the image of a distant scene is virtually stationary whereas, when the body rotates, it is not.

Prioritization of factors impacting on performance of power looms using AHP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dulange, S. R.; Pundir, A. K.; Ganapathy, L.

2014-08-01

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors influencing the performance of power loom textiles, to evaluate their impact on the organizational performance and to find out the effect of these factors on the organizational performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Solapur (Maharashtra) industrial sector using AHP. In the methodology adopted, factors are identified through the literature survey and finalization of these factors is done by taking the opinion of experts in the Indian context. By cognitive map, the relation between these factors (direct and indirect effect) is determined and cause and effect diagram is prepared. Then these factors are arranged hierarchically and tree diagram is prepared. A questionnaire was designed and distributed among the experts; data is collected. Using expert choice software data is filled to quantify by pair-wise comparison of these factors and are prioritized. The weights demonstrate several key findings: local and global priority reveals that there is a substantial effect of the human resource, product style, and volume on the organizational performance. The skills and technology upgradation impact on organizational performance. Maintenance plays an important role in improving the organizational performances of the SMEs. Overall, the results showed the central role of the operational factors are important. The research is subject to the normal limitations of AHP. The study is using perceptual data provided by Experts which may not provide clear measures of impact factors. However, this can be overcome using more experts to collect data in future studies. Interestingly, the findings here may be generalisable outside Solapur like Ichalkarnji, Malegaon, and Bhiwadi (Maharashtra). Solapur power loom SMEs should consider AHP as an innovative tool for quantification of factors impacting on performance and improving operational and organizational performance in today's dynamic

Chock-full of change. Opportunities, and perils, abound as industry continues to evolve.

PubMed

Bellandi, D; Rauber, C; Hensley, S; Pallarito, K; Moore, J D; Morrissey, J; Hallam, K; Jaklevic, M C; Shinkman, R; Limbacher, P B; Saphir, A

1999-01-04

Tighten your belt and hold onto your wallet: Another year of change looms for healthcare. In a 1999 outlook report, our staff tells all about Medicare cutbacks, managed-care turbulence and a looming crisis in skilled nursing. And everyone is braced for the appearance of that ugly year-2000 computer bug.

Design and optimization of a novel bio-loom to weave melt-spun absorbable polymers for bone tissue engineering.

PubMed

Gilmore, Jordon; Burg, Timothy; Groff, Richard E; Burg, Karen J L

2017-08-01

Bone graft procedures are currently among the most common surgical procedures performed worldwide, but due to high risk of complication and lack of viable donor tissue, there exists a need to develop alternatives for bone defect healing. Tissue engineering, for example, combining biocompatible scaffolds with mesenchymal stem cells to achieve new bone growth, is a possible solution. Recent work has highlighted the potential for woven polymer meshes to serve as bone tissue engineering scaffolds; since, scaffolds can be iteratively designed by adjusting weave settings, material types, and mesh parameters. However, there are a number of material and system challenges preventing the implementation of such a tissue engineering strategy. Fiber compliance, tensile strength, brittleness, cross-sectional geometry, and size present specific challenges for using traditional textile weaving methods. In the current work, two potential scaffold materials, melt-spun poly-l-lactide, and poly-l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone, were investigated. An automated bio-loom was engineered and built to weave these materials. The bio-loom was used to successfully demonstrate the weaving of these difficult-to-handle fiber types into various mesh configurations and material combinations. The dobby-loom design, adapted with an air jet weft placement system, warp tension control system, and automated collection spool, provides minimal damage to the polymer fibers while overcoming the physical constraints presented by the inherent material structure. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1342-1351, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Collision Avoidance for UAVs Using Optic Flow Measurement With Line of Sight Rate Equalization and Looming

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

are arranged in horizon- 14 tal and vertical rows that give it a panoramic view of nearly 360◦. An interesting thing to note is that the fly’s eye...6280–6292, 2005. 18. Joarder, Kunal and Daniel Raviv . “A New Method to Calculate looming for Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance”. IEEE Proceedings of the

Adequate & Equitable U.S. PK-12 Infrastructure: Priority Actions for Systemic Reform. A Report from the Planning for PK-12 School Infrastructure National Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filardo, Mary; Vincent, Jeffrey M.

2017-01-01

To formulate a "systems-based" plan to address the PK-12 infrastructure crisis, in 2016, the 21st Century School Fund (21CSF) and the University of California-Berkeley's Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S), in partnership with the National Council on School Facilities and the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council,…

Toward Information Infrastructure Studies: Ways of Knowing in a Networked Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bowker, Geoffrey C.; Baker, Karen; Millerand, Florence; Ribes, David

This article presents Information Infrastructure Studies, a research area that takes up some core issues in digital information and organization research. Infrastructure Studies simultaneously addresses the technical, social, and organizational aspects of the development, usage, and maintenance of infrastructures in local communities as well as global arenas. While infrastructure is understood as a broad category referring to a variety of pervasive, enabling network resources such as railroad lines, plumbing and pipes, electrical power plants and wires, this article focuses on information infrastructure, such as computational services and help desks, or federating activities such as scientific data repositories and archives spanning the multiple disciplines needed to address such issues as climate warming and the biodiversity crisis. These are elements associated with the internet and, frequently today, associated with cyberinfrastructure or e-science endeavors. We argue that a theoretical understanding of infrastructure provides the context for needed dialogue between design, use, and sustainability of internet-based infrastructure services. This article outlines a research area and outlines overarching themes of Infrastructure Studies. Part one of the paper presents definitions for infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure, reviewing salient previous work. Part two portrays key ideas from infrastructure studies (knowledge work, social and political values, new forms of sociality, etc.). In closing, the character of the field today is considered.

75 FR 39046 - Russell Brands, LLC, Fabrics Division, a Subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom, Including Employees...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-07

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-71,116] Russell Brands, LLC..., 2009, applicable to workers of Russell Brands, LLC, Fabrics Division, a subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom... applicable to TA-W-71,116 is hereby issued as follows: All workers of Russell Brands, LLC, Fabric Division, a...

Looming Threats and Animacy: Reduced Responsiveness in Youth with Disrupted Behavior Disorders.

PubMed

White, Stuart F; Thornton, Laura C; Leshin, Joseph; Clanton, Roberta; Sinclair, Stephen; Coker-Appiah, Dionne; Meffert, Harma; Hwang, Soonjo; Blair, James R

2018-05-01

Theoretical models have implicated amygdala dysfunction in the development of Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBDs; Conduct Disorder/Oppositional Defiant Disorder). Amygdala dysfunction impacts valence evaluation/response selection and emotion attention in youth with DBDs, particularly in those with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, amygdala responsiveness during social cognition and the responsiveness of the acute threat circuitry (amygdala/periaqueductal gray) in youth with DBDs have been less well-examined, particularly with reference to CU traits. 31 youth with DBDs and 27 typically developing youth (IQ, age and gender-matched) completed a threat paradigm during fMRI where animate and inanimate, threatening and neutral stimuli appeared to loom towards or recede from participants. Reduced responsiveness to threat variables, including visual threats and encroaching stimuli, was observed within acute threat circuitry and temporal, lateral frontal and parietal cortices in youth with DBDs. This reduced responsiveness, at least with respect to the looming variable, was modulated by CU traits. Reduced responsiveness to animacy information was also observed within temporal, lateral frontal and parietal cortices, but not within amygdala. Reduced responsiveness to animacy information as a function of CU traits was observed in PCC, though not within the amygdala. Reduced threat responsiveness may contribute to risk taking and impulsivity in youth with DBDs, particularly those with high levels of CU traits. Future work will need to examine the degree to which this reduced response to animacy is independent of amygdala dysfunction in youth with DBDs and what role PCC might play in the dysfunctional social cognition observed in youth with high levels of CU traits.

Invisible transportation infrastructure technology to mitigate energy and environment.

PubMed

Hossain, Md Faruque

2017-01-01

Traditional transportation infrastructure built by heat trapping products and the transportation vehiles run by fossil fuel, both causing deadly climate change. Thus, a new technology of invisible Flying Transportation system has been proposed to mitigate energy and environmental crisis caused by traditional infrastructure system. Underground Maglev system has been modeled to be constructed for all transportation systems to run the vehicle smoothly just over two feet over the earth surface by propulsive and impulsive force at flying stage. A wind energy modeling has also been added to meet the vehicle's energy demand when it runs on a non-maglev area. Naturally, all maglev infrastructures network to be covered by evergreen herb except pedestrian walkways to absorb CO 2 , ambient heat, and moisture (vapor) from the surrounding environment to make it cool. The research revealed that the vehicle will not require any energy since it will run by superconducting electromagnetic force while it runs on a maglev infrastructure area and directed by wind energy while it runs on non-maglev area. The proposed maglev transportation infrastructure technology will indeed be an innovative discovery in modern engineering science which will reduce fossil fuel energy consumption and climate change dramatically.

As the Economic Crisis Hits Home, Colleges Seek Help from Congress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, Kelly

2008-01-01

Congress is crafting a second economic-stimulus bill, and the nation's colleges, hit by the deepening fiscal crisis, want a share of the money. Over the last few weeks, colleges and their lobbyists have bombarded members of Congress with letters and phone calls seeking money for research, student aid, and infrastructure. However, Congress is…

A new framework for assessing hospital crisis management based on resilience engineering approach.

PubMed

Shirali, Gh A; Azadian, Sh; Saki, A

2016-06-14

In recent years, an increasing number of natural and man-made disasters have exposed many people and properties to various disasters. This has resulted in approximately 75,000 deaths worldwide every year due to disasters. Crisis management is becoming increasingly important to cope effectively with the magnitude and potential damage resulting from disasters. Hospitals, as the final point in the rescue chain, have a key role in the crisis management and need to be resilient against disasters. The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for assessing the crisis management based on resilience principles in hospital infrastructure of a developing country. A questionnaire was developed and completed by 310 staff (nurses and managers) of eight hospitals in Iran. The findings indicate that the eight hospitals included in the study have moderate conditions in general, while hospitals X3, X4, and X7 have poor conditions in the crisis management. Consequently, it seems that the crisis management system was not resilient in all these hospitals in general. Using resilience engineering in assessing crisis management can improve and develop the ability of the hospitals' management to cope with any type of disaster.

Crisis communication: learning from the 1998 LPG near miss in Stockholm.

PubMed

Castenfors, K; Svedin, L

2001-12-14

The authors examine current trends in urban risks and resilience in relation to hazardous material transports in general, and crisis communication and the Stockholm liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) near miss in 1998 in particular. The article discusses how current dynamics affecting urban areas, such as the decay in terms of increased condensation and limited expansion alternatives combined with industry site contamination and transports of hazardous materials on old worn-out physical infrastructure, work together to produce high-risk factors and increase urban vulnerability in large parts of the world today. Crisis communication takes a particularly pronounced role in the article as challenges in communication and confidence maintenance under conditions of information uncertainty and limited information control are explored. The LPG near miss case illustrates a Swedish case of urban risk and the tight coupling to hazardous material transports. The case also serves as a current example of Swedish resilience and lack of preparedness in urban crises, with particular observations and lessons learned in regards to crisis communication.

[An analysis of psychosocial care for adolescents in crisis based on their therapeutic itineraries].

PubMed

Pereira, Melissa de Oliveira; Sá, Marilene de Castilho; Miranda, Lilian

2014-10-01

This study analyzes the care provided to adolescents in crisis in a municipality in Greater Metropolitan Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The article reports on a qualitative health study that used Therapeutic Itinerary and Life Narratives as the methodological resources. The principal theoretical reference was psychoanalyst René Kaës. Based on the adolescents' own verbal accounts, the study aimed to grasp the collective realities that could potentially shed light on the different types of logic and professional practices applied to care for adolescents in psychosocial crisis situations. The underlying assumption was that an approach to the dialectical nature of the crisis required maintaining a framework that would allow establishing a space for transition within which to develop the necessary conditions for disruptive and paradoxical elements to be elaborated. However, crisis care in the context studied here proved to be hampered by infrastructure issues, institutional rigidity, and fragmentation of activities, with little orientation towards inter-sector work.

Different motion cues are used to estimate time-to-arrival for frontoparallel and looming trajectories

PubMed Central

Calabro, Finnegan J.; Beardsley, Scott A.; Vaina, Lucia M.

2012-01-01

Estimation of time-to-arrival for moving objects is critical to obstacle interception and avoidance, as well as to timing actions such as reaching and grasping moving objects. The source of motion information that conveys arrival time varies with the trajectory of the object raising the question of whether multiple context-dependent mechanisms are involved in this computation. To address this question we conducted a series of psychophysical studies to measure observers’ performance on time-to-arrival estimation when object trajectory was specified by angular motion (“gap closure” trajectories in the frontoparallel plane), looming (colliding trajectories, TTC) or both (passage courses, TTP). We measured performance of time-to-arrival judgments in the presence of irrelevant motion, in which a perpendicular motion vector was added to the object trajectory. Data were compared to models of expected performance based on the use of different components of optical information. Our results demonstrate that for gap closure, performance depended only on the angular motion, whereas for TTC and TTP, both angular and looming motion affected performance. This dissociation of inputs suggests that gap closures are mediated by a separate mechanism than that used for the detection of time-to-collision and time-to-passage. We show that existing models of TTC and TTP estimation make systematic errors in predicting subject performance, and suggest that a model which weights motion cues by their relative time-to-arrival provides a better account of performance. PMID:22056519

Crisis, What Crisis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Ken

2010-01-01

Responding to the recent work of Andrew Gamble, the article discusses the extent to which the British situation can be described in terms of crisis. It suggests that an essential element of crisis is that of political and social contestation, and explores the terms on which contestation is taking shape in and around British education.

Energy Crisis In Pakistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

huge shortfall in gas supplies will be unavoidable. In an effort to mitigate this looming threat, the materialization of transnational gas pipeline ...original financing terms, to kick-start the TAPI gas pipeline project. Despite reaching a consensus, the consortium leader’s selection is still pending...is testimony of the government’s institutional, political, and policy inefficiency. Materialization of IPI and TAPI gas pipeline projects will add

Learning Crisis Unit through Post-Crisis: Characteristics and Mechanisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chebbi, Hela; Pündrich, Aline Pereira

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the characteristics that a crisis unit should have to achieve effective learning after crisis. Literature has identified many relations between learning organizations and crisis; yet, there is a dearth of research on specific studies about crisis units and their post-crisis learning features. Thus, this paper…

Crisis, leadership, consensus: the past and future federal role in health.

PubMed

Boufford, J I

1999-06-01

This paper touches on patterns of federal government involvement in the health sector since the late 18th century to the present and speculates on its role in the early decades of the 21st century. Throughout the history of the US, government involvement in the health sector came only in the face of crisis, only when there was widespread consensus, and only through sustained leadership. One of the first health-related acts of Congress came about as a matter of interstate commerce regarding the dilemma as to what to do about treating merchant seamen who had no affiliation with any state. Further federal actions were implemented to address epidemics, such as from yellow fever, that traveled from state to state through commercial ships. Each federal action was met with concern and resistance from states' rights advocates, who asserted that the health of the public was best left to the states and localities. It was not until the early part of the 20th century that a concern for social well-being, not merely commerce, drove the agenda for public health action. Two separate campaigns for national health insurance, as well as a rapid expansion of programs to serve the specific health needs of specific populations, led finally to the introduction of Medicaid and Medicare in the 1960s, the most dramatic example of government intervention in shaping the personal health care delivery system in the latter half of the 20th century. As health costs continued to rise and more and more Americans lacked adequate health insurance, a perceived crisis led President Clinton to launch his 1993 campaign to insure every American--the third attempt in this century to provide universal coverage. While the crisis was perceived by many, there was no consensus on action, and leadership outside government was missing. Today, the health care crisis still looms. Despite an economic boom, 1 million Americans lose their health insurance each year, with 41 million Americans, or 15% of the population

Associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and poor information exchange within hospitals.

PubMed

Patterson, Mark E; Bogart, Miller S; Starr, Kathleen R

2015-03-01

Because hospital units operating in crisis mode could create unsafe transitions of care due to miscommunication, our objective was to estimate associations between perceived crisis mode work climate and patient information exchange problems within hospitals. Self-reported data from 247,140 hospital staff members across 884 hospitals were obtained from the 2010 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Presence of a crisis mode work climate was defined as respondents agreeing that the hospital unit in which they work tries to do too much too quickly. Presence of patient information exchange problems was defined as respondents agreeing that problems often occur in exchanging patient information across hospital units. Multivariable ordinal regressions estimated the likelihood of perceived problems in exchanging patient information across hospital units, controlling for perceived levels of crisis mode work climate, skill levels, work climate, and hospital infrastructure. Compared to those disagreeing, hospital staff members agreeing that the hospital unit in which they work tries to do too much too quickly were 1.6 times more likely to perceive problems in exchanging patient information across hospital units (odds ratio: 1.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.58-1.65). Hospital staff members perceiving crisis mode work climates within their hospital unit are more likely to perceive problems in exchanging patient information across units, underscoring the need to improve communication during transitions of care. © 2014 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Crisis Communication and Management: Surviving a Public Relations Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eramo, Eric M.

2009-01-01

Crisis management, or crisis communication, is never a good thing for a business to experience. It is, however, a public relations' professional moment to shine and put their honed skills to good use. A good crisis management plan is not only action during the crisis but preparation and reflection. Hiring a PR firm that deals with crisis…

The Impact of a Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Outbreak on Facilitating Development of a National Infrastructure for Infection Control in Israel.

PubMed

Schwaber, Mitchell J; Carmeli, Yehuda

2017-11-29

In 2006 the Israeli healthcare system faced an unprecedented outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, primarily involving KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae clonal complex CC258. This public health crisis exposed major gaps in infection control. In response, Israel established a national infection control infrastructure. The steps taken to build this infrastructure and benefits realized from its creation are described here. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Health and rescue services management system during a crisis event

PubMed Central

Nicolaidou, Iolie; Hadjichristofi, George; Kyprianou, Stelios; Christou, Synesios; Constantinou, Riana

2016-01-01

Τhe performance of rescuers and personnel handling major emergencies or crisis events can be significantly improved through continuous training and through technology support. The work done in order to create a system has been discussed which can support both resources and victims during a crisis or major emergency event. More specifically, the system supports real-time management of firefighter teams, rescue teams, health services, and victims during a major disaster. It can be deployed in an ad hoc manner in the disaster area, as a stand-alone infrastructure (using its own telecommunications and power). It mainly consists of a control station, which is installed in the area command centre, the firefighters units, the rescuers units, the ambulance vehicles units, and the telemedicine units that can be used in order to support victim handling at the casualties clearing station. The system has been tested and improved through continuous communication with experts and through professional exercises; the results and conclusions are presented. PMID:27733928

Lessons Learned From the Crisis in Flint, Michigan Regarding the Effects of Contaminated Water on Maternal and Child Health.

PubMed

Craft-Blacksheare, Melva Gale

The Flint, Michigan water crisis raised awareness about the dangers of lead-tainted drinking water and the role of the nurse in addressing such a crisis. Although lead exposure is dangerous for all people, research indicates that pregnant and nursing women and their infants are especially vulnerable to prenatal and postnatal lead exposure. This information is of national importance because of the aging infrastructure of American cities and the likelihood of similar problems in other locations. Copyright © 2017 AWHONN, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Human initiated cascading failures in societal infrastructures.

PubMed

Barrett, Chris; Channakeshava, Karthik; Huang, Fei; Kim, Junwhan; Marathe, Achla; Marathe, Madhav V; Pei, Guanhong; Saha, Sudip; Subbiah, Balaaji S P; Vullikanti, Anil Kumar S

2012-01-01

In this paper, we conduct a systematic study of human-initiated cascading failures in three critical inter-dependent societal infrastructures due to behavioral adaptations in response to a crisis. We focus on three closely coupled socio-technical networks here: (i) cellular and mesh networks, (ii) transportation networks and (iii) mobile call networks. In crises, changes in individual behaviors lead to altered travel, activity and calling patterns, which influence the transport network and the loads on wireless networks. The interaction between these systems and their co-evolution poses significant technical challenges for representing and reasoning about these systems. In contrast to system dynamics models for studying these interacting infrastructures, we develop interaction-based models in which individuals and infrastructure elements are represented in detail and are placed in a common geographic coordinate system. Using the detailed representation, we study the impact of a chemical plume that has been released in a densely populated urban region. Authorities order evacuation of the affected area, and this leads to individual behavioral adaptation wherein individuals drop their scheduled activities and drive to home or pre-specified evacuation shelters as appropriate. They also revise their calling behavior to communicate and coordinate among family members. These two behavioral adaptations cause flash-congestion in the urban transport network and the wireless network. The problem is exacerbated with a few, already occurring, road closures. We analyze how extended periods of unanticipated road congestion can result in failure of infrastructures, starting with the servicing base stations in the congested area. A sensitivity analysis on the compliance rate of evacuees shows non-intuitive effect on the spatial distribution of people and on the loading of the base stations. For example, an evacuation compliance rate of 70% results in higher number of overloaded

Human Initiated Cascading Failures in Societal Infrastructures

PubMed Central

Barrett, Chris; Channakeshava, Karthik; Huang, Fei; Kim, Junwhan; Marathe, Achla; Marathe, Madhav V.; Pei, Guanhong; Saha, Sudip; Subbiah, Balaaji S. P.; Vullikanti, Anil Kumar S.

2012-01-01

In this paper, we conduct a systematic study of human-initiated cascading failures in three critical inter-dependent societal infrastructures due to behavioral adaptations in response to a crisis. We focus on three closely coupled socio-technical networks here: (i) cellular and mesh networks, (ii) transportation networks and (iii) mobile call networks. In crises, changes in individual behaviors lead to altered travel, activity and calling patterns, which influence the transport network and the loads on wireless networks. The interaction between these systems and their co-evolution poses significant technical challenges for representing and reasoning about these systems. In contrast to system dynamics models for studying these interacting infrastructures, we develop interaction-based models in which individuals and infrastructure elements are represented in detail and are placed in a common geographic coordinate system. Using the detailed representation, we study the impact of a chemical plume that has been released in a densely populated urban region. Authorities order evacuation of the affected area, and this leads to individual behavioral adaptation wherein individuals drop their scheduled activities and drive to home or pre-specified evacuation shelters as appropriate. They also revise their calling behavior to communicate and coordinate among family members. These two behavioral adaptations cause flash-congestion in the urban transport network and the wireless network. The problem is exacerbated with a few, already occurring, road closures. We analyze how extended periods of unanticipated road congestion can result in failure of infrastructures, starting with the servicing base stations in the congested area. A sensitivity analysis on the compliance rate of evacuees shows non-intuitive effect on the spatial distribution of people and on the loading of the base stations. For example, an evacuation compliance rate of 70% results in higher number of overloaded

The financial crisis in Italy: implications for the healthcare sector.

PubMed

de Belvis, Antonio Giulio; Ferrè, Francesca; Specchia, Maria Lucia; Valerio, Luca; Fattore, Giovanni; Ricciardi, Walter

2012-06-01

The global economic and financial crisis is having and impact on the Italian healthcare system which is undergoing a devolution process from the central government to regions and where about one third of the regional governments (mainly in the central and southern part of the country) are facing large financial deficits. The paper briefly describes the current macro scenario and the main responses taken to face the crisis and highlights the downside risks of introducing "linear" cuts in the allocation of resources. While justified by the risk of a national debt default, present fiscal policies might increase inequalities in access to care, deteriorate overall health indicators and population wellbeing, and sharpen existing difference in the quality of care between regions. Preliminary evidence shows that the crisis is affecting the quality of nutrition and the incidence of psychiatric disorders. During this difficult financial situation Italy is also facing the risk of a major reduction in investments for preventive medicine, Evidence Based Medicine infrastructures, health information systems and physical capital renewal. This cost-cutting strategy may have negative long term consequences Also, important achievement in terms of limiting waiting lists, improving continuity of care and patients' centeredness, and promoting integration between social and health care may be negatively affected by unprecedented resources' cuts. It is essential that in such a period of public funding constraints health authorities monitor incidence of diseases and access to care of the most vulnerable groups and specifically target interventions to those who may be disproportionally hit by the crisis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of New York City's 1975 fiscal crisis on the tuberculosis, HIV, and homicide syndemic.

PubMed

Freudenberg, Nicholas; Fahs, Marianne; Galea, Sandro; Greenberg, Andrew

2006-03-01

In 1975, New York City experienced a fiscal crisis rooted in long-term political and economic changes in the city. Budget and policy decisions designed to alleviate this fiscal crisis contributed to the subsequent epidemics of tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and homicide in New York City. Because these conditions share underlying social determinants, we consider them a syndemic, i.e., all 3 combined to create an excess disease burden on the population. Cuts in services; the dismantling of health, public safety, and social service infrastructures; and the deterioration of living conditions for vulnerable populations contributed to the amplification of these health conditions over 2 decades. We estimate that the costs incurred in controlling these epidemics exceeded 50 billion US dollars (in 2004 dollars); in contrast, the overall budgetary saving during the fiscal crisis was 10 billion US dollars. This history has implications for public health professionals who must respond to current perceptions of local fiscal crises.

School Crisis Management: A Model of Dynamic Responsiveness to Crisis Life Cycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liou, Yi-Hwa

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to analyze a school's crisis management and explore emerging aspects of its response to a school crisis. Traditional linear modes of analysis often fail to address complex crisis situations. The present study applied a dynamic crisis life cycle model that draws on chaos and complexity theory to a crisis management case,…

Hyperglycemic crisis.

PubMed

Van Ness-Otunnu, Ronald; Hack, Jason B

2013-11-01

Hyperglycemic crisis is a metabolic emergency associated with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus that may result in significant morbidity or death. Acute interventions are required to manage hypovolemia, acidemia, hyperglycemia, electrolyte abnormalities, and precipitating causes. Despite advances in the prevention and management of diabetes, its prevalence and associated health care costs continue to increase worldwide. Hyperglycemic crisis typically requires critical care management and hospitalization and contributes to global health expenditures. Diagnostic and resolution criteria and management strategies for diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic crisis are provided. A discussion of prevalence, mortality, pathophysiology, risk factors, clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, evaluation, and management considerations for hyperglycemic crisis are included. Emergency physicians confront the most severe sequelae of uncontrolled diabetes and provide crucial, life-saving management. With ongoing efforts from diabetes societies to incorporate the latest clinical research to refine treatment guidelines, management and outcomes of hyperglycemic crisis in the emergency department continue to improve. We provide an overview of the evaluation and treatment of hyperglycemic crisis and offer a concise, targeted management algorithm to aid the practicing emergency physician. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stochastic Coloured Petrinet Based Healthcare Infrastructure Interdependency Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nukavarapu, Nivedita; Durbha, Surya

2016-06-01

The Healthcare Critical Infrastructure (HCI) protects all sectors of the society from hazards such as terrorism, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. HCI plays a significant role in response and recovery across all other sectors in the event of a natural or manmade disaster. However, for its continuity of operations and service delivery HCI is dependent on other interdependent Critical Infrastructures (CI) such as Communications, Electric Supply, Emergency Services, Transportation Systems, and Water Supply System. During a mass casualty due to disasters such as floods, a major challenge that arises for the HCI is to respond to the crisis in a timely manner in an uncertain and variable environment. To address this issue the HCI should be disaster prepared, by fully understanding the complexities and interdependencies that exist in a hospital, emergency department or emergency response event. Modelling and simulation of a disaster scenario with these complexities would help in training and providing an opportunity for all the stakeholders to work together in a coordinated response to a disaster. The paper would present interdependencies related to HCI based on Stochastic Coloured Petri Nets (SCPN) modelling and simulation approach, given a flood scenario as the disaster which would disrupt the infrastructure nodes. The entire model would be integrated with Geographic information based decision support system to visualize the dynamic behaviour of the interdependency of the Healthcare and related CI network in a geographically based environment.

Bilateral flight muscle activity predicts wing kinematics and 3-dimensional body orientation of locusts responding to looming objects.

PubMed

McMillan, Glyn A; Loessin, Vicky; Gray, John R

2013-09-01

We placed locusts in a wind tunnel using a loose tether design that allowed for motion in all three rotational degrees of freedom during presentation of a computer-generated looming disc. High-speed video allowed us to extract wing kinematics, abdomen position and 3-dimensional body orientation. Concurrent electromyographic (EMG) recordings monitored bilateral activity from the first basalar depressor muscles (m97) of the forewings, which are implicated in flight steering. Behavioural responses to a looming disc included cessation of flight (wings folded over the body), glides and active steering during sustained flight in addition to a decrease and increase in wingbeat frequency prior to and during, respectively, an evasive turn. Active steering involved shifts in bilateral m97 timing, wing asymmetries and whole-body rotations in the yaw (ψ), pitch (χ) and roll (η) planes. Changes in abdomen position and hindwing asymmetries occurred after turns were initiated. Forewing asymmetry and changes in η were most highly correlated with m97 spike latency. Correlations also increased as the disc approached, peaking prior to collision. On the inside of a turn, m97 spikes occurred earlier relative to forewing stroke reversal and bilateral timing corresponded to forewing asymmetry as well as changes in whole-body rotation. Double spikes in each m97 occurred most frequently at or immediately prior to the time the locusts turned, suggesting a behavioural significance. These data provide information on mechanisms underlying 3-dimensional flight manoeuvres and will be used to drive a closed loop flight simulator to study responses of motion-sensitive visual neurons during production of realistic behaviours.

2010 Defense Industrial Base Critical Infrastructure Protection Conference (DIBCIP) Risk Reduction and Mitigation in the Defense Industrial Base

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-28

Base Critical Infrastructure Protection Conference (DIBCIP) “Risk Reduction & Mitigation in the Defense Industrial Base ” April 26-28, 2010...Philadelphia, PA Agenda Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Keynote Address: The Economic Crisis and Its Impact on the DIB: Defense Industrial Base Forecasts 2010...Ms. Nancy Pomerleau, Exercise Director, Partnership Outreach Division, DHS-IP DIB 2010 DIB CIP DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE CRITICAL

Collision-avoidance behaviors of minimally restrained flying locusts to looming stimuli

PubMed Central

Chan, R. WM.; Gabbiani, F.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Visually guided collision avoidance is of paramount importance in flight, for instance to allow escape from potential predators. Yet, little is known about the types of collision-avoidance behaviors that may be generated by flying animals in response to an impending visual threat. We studied the behavior of minimally restrained locusts flying in a wind tunnel as they were subjected to looming stimuli presented to the side of the animal, simulating the approach of an object on a collision course. Using high-speed movie recordings, we observed a wide variety of collision-avoidance behaviors including climbs and dives away from – but also towards – the stimulus. In a more restrained setting, we were able to relate kinematic parameters of the flapping wings with yaw changes in the trajectory of the animal. Asymmetric wing flapping was most strongly correlated with changes in yaw, but we also observed a substantial effect of wing deformations. Additionally, the effect of wing deformations on yaw was relatively independent of that of wing asymmetries. Thus, flying locusts exhibit a rich range of collision-avoidance behaviors that depend on several distinct aerodynamic characteristics of wing flapping flight. PMID:23364572

The Influence of State Policies on Critical Infrastructure Resilience: An Approach for Analyzing Transportation and Capital Investment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wall, Thomas; Trail, Jessica; Gevondyan, Erna

During times of crisis, communities and regions rely heavily on critical infrastructure systems to support their emergency management response and recovery activities. Therefore, the resilience of critical infrastructure systems to crises is a pivotal factor to a community’s overall resilience. Critical infrastructure resilience can be influenced by many factors, including State policies – which are not always uniform in their structure or application across the United States – were identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an area of particular interest with respect to their the influence on the resilience of critical infrastructure systems. This study focuses onmore » developing an analytical methodology to assess links between policy and resilience, and applies that methodology to critical infrastructure in the Transportation Systems Sector. Specifically, this study seeks to identify potentially influential linkages between State transportation capital funding policies and the resilience of bridges located on roadways that are under the management of public agencies. This study yielded notable methodological outcomes, including the general capability of the analytical methodology to yield – in the case of some States – significant results connecting State policies with critical infrastructure resilience, with the suggestion that further refinement of the methodology may be beneficial.« less

The Impact of New York City’s 1975 Fiscal Crisis on the Tuberculosis, HIV, and Homicide Syndemic

PubMed Central

Freudenberg, Nicholas; Fahs, Marianne; Galea, Sandro; Greenberg, Andrew

2006-01-01

In 1975, New York City experienced a fiscal crisis rooted in long-term political and economic changes in the city. Budget and policy decisions designed to alleviate this fiscal crisis contributed to the subsequent epidemics of tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, and homicide in New York City. Because these conditions share underlying social determinants, we consider them a syndemic, i.e., all 3 combined to create an excess disease burden on the population. Cuts in services; the dismantling of health, public safety, and social service infrastructures; and the deterioration of living conditions for vulnerable populations contributed to the amplification of these health conditions over 2 decades. We estimate that the costs incurred in controlling these epidemics exceeded $50 billion (in 2004 dollars); in contrast, the overall budgetary saving during the fiscal crisis was $10 billion. This history has implications for public health professionals who must respond to current perceptions of local fiscal crises. PMID:16449588

Policy Options for Addressing Health System and Human Resources for Health Crisis in Liberia Post-Ebola Epidemic.

PubMed

Budy, Fidel C T

2015-01-01

Qualified healthcare workers within an effective health system are critical in promoting and achieving greater health outcomes such as those espoused in the Millennium Development Goals. Liberia is currently struggling with the effects of a brutal 14-year long civil war that devastated health infrastructures and caused most qualified health workers to flee and settle in foreign countries. The current output of locally trained health workers is not adequate for the tasks at hand. The recent Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) exposed the failings of the Liberian healthcare system. There is limited evidence of policies that could be replicated in Liberia to encourage qualified diaspora Liberian health workers to return and contribute to managing the phenomenon. This paper reviews the historical context for the human resources for health crisis in Liberia; it critically examines two context-specific health policy options to address the crisis, and recommends reverse brain drain as a policy option to address the immediate and critical crisis facing the health care sector in Liberia.

Major challenges loom for natural gas industry, study says

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O'Driscoll, M.

The 1994 edition of Natural Gas Trends, the annual joint study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Arthur Anderson Co., says that new oil-to-gas competition, price risks and the prospect of unbundling for local distribution companies loom as major challenges for the natural gas industry. With a tighter supply-demand balance in the past two years compounded by the fall in oil prices, gas is in head-to-head competition with oil for marginal markets, the report states. And with higher gas prices in 1993, industrial demand growth slowed while utility demand for gas fell. Some of this was related to fuel switching,more » particularly in the electric utility sector. Total electric power demand for gas has risen slightly due to the growth in industrial power generation, but there has yet to be a pronounced surge in gas use during the 1990s - a decade in which many had expected gas to make major inroads into the electric power sector, the report states. And while utilities still have plans to add between 40,000 and 45,000 megawatts of gas-fired generating capacity, gas actually has lost ground in the utility market to coal and nuclear power: In 1993, electricity output from coal and nuclear rose, while gas-fired generation fell to an estimated 250 billion kilowatt-hours - the lowest level since 1986, when gas generated 246 billion kwh.« less

The current crisis in emergency care and the impact on disaster preparedness.

PubMed

Cherry, Robert A; Trainer, Marcia

2008-05-01

The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 provided for the designation of a critical infrastructure protection program. This ultimately led to the designation of emergency services as a targeted critical infrastructure. In the context of an evolving crisis in hospital-based emergency care, the extent to which federal funding has addressed disaster preparedness will be examined. After 9/11, federal plans, procedures and benchmarks were mandated to assure a unified, comprehensive disaster response, ranging from local to federal activation of resources. Nevertheless, insufficient federal funding has contributed to a long-standing counter-trend which has eroded emergency medical care. The causes are complex and multifactorial, but they have converged to present a severely overburdened system that regularly exceeds emergency capacity and capabilities. This constant acute overcrowding, felt in communities all across the country, indicates a nation at risk. Federal funding has not sufficiently prioritized the improvements necessary for an emergency care infrastructure that is critical for an all hazards response to disaster and terrorist emergencies. Currently, the nation is unable to meet presidential preparedness mandates for emergency and disaster care. Federal funding strategies must therefore be re-prioritized and targeted in a way that reasonably and consistently follows need.

Occupy Education: Living and Learning Sustainability. Global Studies in Education. Volume 22

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Tina Lynn

2012-01-01

"Occupy Education" is motivated by the sustainability crisis and energized by the drive for social justice that inspired the Occupy movement. Situated within the struggle for sustainability taking place amid looming resource shortages, climate change, economic instability, and ecological breakdown, the book is a timely contribution to community…

Ecological Education in Rural China: Rediscovering Traditional Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yan

2008-01-01

This article has implications for the ecological sustainability crisis now looming in China and what this portends for the practice of education. Chemical agriculture, although improving agricultural production, harms ecological systems in rural communities. The author presents research on a group of intellectuals and social activists in 1…

An evaluation of crisis hotline outcomes. Part 1: Nonsuicidal crisis callers.

PubMed

Kalafat, John; Gould, Madelyn S; Munfakh, Jimmie Lou Harris; Kleinman, Marjorie

2007-06-01

The effectiveness of telephone crisis services/hotlines, examining proximal outcomes as measured by changes in callers' crisis state from the beginning to the end of their calls to eight centers in the U.S. and intermediate outcomes within 3 weeks of their calls, was evaluated. Between March 2003 and July 2004, 1,617 crisis callers were assessed during their calls and 801 (49.5%) participated in the followup assessment. Significant decreases in callers' crisis states and hopelessness were found during the course of the telephone session, with continuing decreases in crisis states and hopelessness in the following weeks. A majority of callers were provided with referrals and/or plans of actions for their concerns and approximately one third of those provided with mental health referrals had followed up with the referral by the time of the follow-up assessment. While crisis service staff coded these callers as nonsuicidal, at follow-up nearly 12% of them reported having suicidal thoughts either during or since their call to the center. The need to conduct suicide risk assessments with crisis callers and to identify strategies to improve referral follow-up is highlighted.

Crisis communication: an inequalities perspective on the 2010 Boston water crisis.

PubMed

Galarce, Ezequiel M; Viswanath, K

2012-12-01

Although the field of crisis risk communication has generated substantial research, the interaction between social determinants, communication processes, and behavioral compliance has been less well studied. With the goal of better understanding these interactions, this report examines how social determinants influenced communications and behavioral compliance during the 2010 Boston, Massachusetts, water crisis. An online survey was conducted to assess Boston residents' knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, mass and interpersonal communication, and preventive behaviors on emergency preparedness topics dealing with the water crisis. Of a total sample of 726 respondents, approximately one-third (n = 267) reported having been affected by the water crisis. Only data from affected participants were analyzed. Following an order to boil water, 87.5% of respondents refrained from drinking unboiled tap water. These behaviors and other cognitive and attitudinal factors, however, were not uniform across population subgroups. All communication and behavioral compliance variables varied across sociodemographic factors. Crisis communication, in conjunction with other public health preparedness fields, is central to reducing the negative impact of sudden hazards. Emergency scenarios such as the Boston water crisis serve as unique opportunities to understand how effectively crisis messages are conveyed to and received by different segments of the population.

Achievable steps toward building a National Health Information infrastructure in the United States.

PubMed

Stead, William W; Kelly, Brian J; Kolodner, Robert M

2005-01-01

Consensus is growing that a health care information and communication infrastructure is one key to fixing the crisis in the United States in health care quality, cost, and access. The National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services receiving bipartisan support. There are many possible courses toward its objective. Decision makers need to reflect carefully on which approaches are likely to work on a large enough scale to have the intended beneficial national impacts and which are better left to smaller projects within the boundaries of health care organizations. This report provides a primer for use by informatics professionals as they explain aspects of that dividing line to policy makers and to health care leaders and front-line providers. It then identifies short-term, intermediate, and long-term steps that might be taken by the NHII initiative.

Achievable Steps Toward Building a National Health Information Infrastructure in the United States

PubMed Central

Stead, William W.; Kelly, Brian J.; Kolodner, Robert M.

2005-01-01

Consensus is growing that a health care information and communication infrastructure is one key to fixing the crisis in the United States in health care quality, cost, and access. The National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services receiving bipartisan support. There are many possible courses toward its objective. Decision makers need to reflect carefully on which approaches are likely to work on a large enough scale to have the intended beneficial national impacts and which are better left to smaller projects within the boundaries of health care organizations. This report provides a primer for use by informatics professionals as they explain aspects of that dividing line to policy makers and to health care leaders and front-line providers. It then identifies short-term, intermediate, and long-term steps that might be taken by the NHII initiative. PMID:15561783

Crisis management strategies.

PubMed

Koster, Maria C; Politis-Norton, Helen

2004-01-01

This paper discusses the different facets of crisis as experienced within the pharmaceutical industry but which are also prevalent throughout other industries. It highlights the importance of early identification and management of crises and issues, which in return are strongly intertwined with a fundamental positive internal corporate climate. A corporate philosophy should always embrace crisis management with the attitude of 'when' and not 'if'; therefore, a company should act today and not tomorrow once a crisis is on its doorstep. Preparation is of utmost importance and there are several items that can be addressed even before a crisis has arisen. Further, this paper also provides guidance on how to deal with the media, what to do and what not to do, and how to appoint the appropriate spokesperson. In this era of fast exchange of information, crisis, which previously may have stayed behind corporate doors, may not do so any longer. Image is very important and should therefore not be risked. Crisis and issue management should therefore be integrated in every company's philosophy and standard operating procedures.

Antennal pointing at a looming object in the cricket Acheta domesticus.

PubMed

Yamawaki, Yoshifumi; Ishibashi, Wakako

2014-01-01

Antennal pointing responses to approaching objects were observed in the house cricket Acheta domesticus. In response to a ball approaching from the lateral side, crickets oriented the antenna ipsilateral to the ball towards it. In response to a ball approaching from the front, crickets oriented both antennae forward. Response rates of antennal pointing were higher when the ball was approaching from the front than from behind. The antennal angle ipsilateral to the approaching ball was positively correlated with approaching angle of the ball. Obstructing the cricket's sight decreased the response rate of antennal pointing, suggesting that this response was elicited mainly by visual stimuli. Although the response rates of antennal pointing decreased when the object ceased its approach at a great distance from the cricket, antennal pointing appeared to be resistant to habituation and was not substantially affected by the velocity, size and trajectory of an approaching ball. When presented with computer-generated visual stimuli, crickets frequently showed the antennal pointing response to a darkening stimulus as well as looming and linearly-expanding stimuli. Drifting gratings rarely elicited the antennal pointing. These results suggest that luminance change is sufficient to elicit antennal pointing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the near Future of American Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladner, Matthew

2015-01-01

"Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education" outlines a fierce battle looming between the needs of public health care and education. A crisis is fast approaching that makes comprehensive improvement of America's public schools more important than ever. Faced with rapidly expanding…

Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education. Policy Paper Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladner, Matthew

2015-01-01

"Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education" outlines a fierce battle looming between the needs of public health care and education. A crisis is fast approaching that makes comprehensive improvement of America's public schools more important than ever. Faced with rapidly expanding…

An Evaluation of Crisis Hotline Outcomes. Part 1: Nonsuicidal Crisis Callers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalafat, John; Gould, Madelyn S.; Munfakh, Jimmie Lou Harris; Kleinman, Marjorie

2007-01-01

The effectiveness of telephone crisis services/hotlines, examining proximal outcomes as measured by changes in callers' crisis state from the beginning to the end of their calls to eight centers in the U.S. and intermediate outcomes within 3 weeks of their calls, was evaluated. Between March 2003 and July 2004, 1,617 crisis callers were assessed…

Hemolytic crisis

MedlinePlus

Hemolytic crisis occurs when large numbers of red blood cells are destroyed over a short time. The loss of ... During a hemolytic crisis, the body cannot make enough red blood cells to replace those that are destroyed. This causes acute and often ...

Phaeochromocytoma [corrected] crisis.

PubMed

Whitelaw, B C; Prague, J K; Mustafa, O G; Schulte, K-M; Hopkins, P A; Gilbert, J A; McGregor, A M; Aylwin, S J B

2014-01-01

Phaeochromocytoma [corrected] crisis is an endocrine emergency associated with significant mortality. There is little published guidance on the management of phaeochromocytoma [corrected] crisis. This clinical practice update summarizes the relevant published literature, including a detailed review of cases published in the past 5 years, and a proposed classification system. We review the recommended management of phaeochromocytoma [corrected] crisis including the use of alpha-blockade, which is strongly associated with survival of a crisis. Mechanical circulatory supportive therapy (including intra-aortic balloon pump or extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation) is strongly recommended for patients with sustained hypotension. Surgical intervention should be deferred until medical stabilization is achieved. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Before Crisis Hits: Building a Strategic Crisis Plan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Larry L.; Millar, Dan P.

This guide offers suggestions to college administrators for dealing with a variety of emergency or crisis situations that could affect a community college's effectiveness. The authors used the Institute for Crisis Management's (ICM) four types of crises in higher education as the framework for the guide. The four types of crises are: (1) sudden;…

EUROPE IN CRISIS

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-06

the only international organization that can manage the Syrian refugee security crisis causing problems for the EU from root to branch because NATO is...AIR WAR COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY EUROPE IN CRISIS By Peter Halseth, Civilian, Defense Logistics Agency A Research Report Submitted...Syrian refugee crisis and providing intelligence assistance to member countries in the European Union (EU) of foreign fighters returning from the

Effects of global financial crisis on funding for health development in nineteen countries of the WHO African Region

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

reported in this article, of the effects of the global financial crisis on a few variables, is important to alert the Ministry of Health on the looming danger of cuts in health funding from domestic and external sources. However, it is even more important for national governments to monitor the effects of the economic crisis and the policy responses on the social determinants of health, health inputs, health system outputs and health system outcomes, e.g. health. PMID:21489284

Effects of global financial crisis on funding for health development in nineteen countries of the WHO African Region.

PubMed

Kirigia, Joses M; Nganda, Benjamin M; Mwikisa, Chris N; Cardoso, Bernardino

2011-04-13

effects of the global financial crisis on a few variables, is important to alert the Ministry of Health on the looming danger of cuts in health funding from domestic and external sources. However, it is even more important for national governments to monitor the effects of the economic crisis and the policy responses on the social determinants of health, health inputs, health system outputs and health system outcomes, e.g. health.

Infrastructure sensing.

PubMed

Soga, Kenichi; Schooling, Jennifer

2016-08-06

Design, construction, maintenance and upgrading of civil engineering infrastructure requires fresh thinking to minimize use of materials, energy and labour. This can only be achieved by understanding the performance of the infrastructure, both during its construction and throughout its design life, through innovative monitoring. Advances in sensor systems offer intriguing possibilities to radically alter methods of condition assessment and monitoring of infrastructure. In this paper, it is hypothesized that the future of infrastructure relies on smarter information; the rich information obtained from embedded sensors within infrastructure will act as a catalyst for new design, construction, operation and maintenance processes for integrated infrastructure systems linked directly with user behaviour patterns. Some examples of emerging sensor technologies for infrastructure sensing are given. They include distributed fibre-optics sensors, computer vision, wireless sensor networks, low-power micro-electromechanical systems, energy harvesting and citizens as sensors.

A Tight Squeeze

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramaswami, Rama

2008-01-01

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) does not mince words when describing the looming data storage problem. In its 2007 report, "Solving the Coming Archive Crisis--the 100-Year Dilemma," the trade group asserts that the volume of disparate digital information sources being kept online for long-term preservation is overwhelming and…

Sickle Cell Crisis (For Teens)

MedlinePlus

... Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Sickle Cell Crisis (Pain Crisis) KidsHealth / For Teens / Sickle Cell ... drepanocíticas (Crisis de dolor) What Is a Sickle Cell Crisis? Sickle cell disease changes the shape of ...

Modeling of Economy Considering Crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrov, Lev F.

2009-09-01

We discuss main modeling's problems of economy dynamic processes and the reason forecast's absence of economic crisis. We present a structure of complexity level of system and models and discuss expected results concerning crisis phenomena. We formulate the basic perspective directions of the mathematical modeling of economy, including possibility of the analysis of the pre crisis, crisis and post crisis phenomena in economic systems.

Infrastructure sensing

PubMed Central

Soga, Kenichi; Schooling, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Design, construction, maintenance and upgrading of civil engineering infrastructure requires fresh thinking to minimize use of materials, energy and labour. This can only be achieved by understanding the performance of the infrastructure, both during its construction and throughout its design life, through innovative monitoring. Advances in sensor systems offer intriguing possibilities to radically alter methods of condition assessment and monitoring of infrastructure. In this paper, it is hypothesized that the future of infrastructure relies on smarter information; the rich information obtained from embedded sensors within infrastructure will act as a catalyst for new design, construction, operation and maintenance processes for integrated infrastructure systems linked directly with user behaviour patterns. Some examples of emerging sensor technologies for infrastructure sensing are given. They include distributed fibre-optics sensors, computer vision, wireless sensor networks, low-power micro-electromechanical systems, energy harvesting and citizens as sensors. PMID:27499845

The Current Crisis in Emergency Care and the Impact on Disaster Preparedness

PubMed Central

Cherry, Robert A; Trainer, Marcia

2008-01-01

Background The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 provided for the designation of a critical infrastructure protection program. This ultimately led to the designation of emergency services as a targeted critical infrastructure. In the context of an evolving crisis in hospital-based emergency care, the extent to which federal funding has addressed disaster preparedness will be examined. Discussion After 9/11, federal plans, procedures and benchmarks were mandated to assure a unified, comprehensive disaster response, ranging from local to federal activation of resources. Nevertheless, insufficient federal funding has contributed to a long-standing counter-trend which has eroded emergency medical care. The causes are complex and multifactorial, but they have converged to present a severely overburdened system that regularly exceeds emergency capacity and capabilities. This constant acute overcrowding, felt in communities all across the country, indicates a nation at risk. Federal funding has not sufficiently prioritized the improvements necessary for an emergency care infrastructure that is critical for an all hazards response to disaster and terrorist emergencies. Summary Currently, the nation is unable to meet presidential preparedness mandates for emergency and disaster care. Federal funding strategies must therefore be re-prioritized and targeted in a way that reasonably and consistently follows need. PMID:18452615

Waiting for a Crisis: Case Studies of Crisis Leaders in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muffet-Willett, Stacy L.

2010-01-01

This study examines the system of crisis leadership in higher education. Using case study methods, five crisis leadership participants were interviewed to develop a deep understanding of how they perceive their university crisis leadership system. Two participants were from a private institution, and three were from a public institution. Higher…

A looming public health crisis: the nursing shortage of today.

PubMed

Ross, Jacqueline

2002-10-01

The present and anticipated nursing shortage poses a public health concern. This is a unique shortage because nursing is encountering both an increased demand for nursing care and a lower supply of nurses available to deliver it. Nurses, known for patient advocacy, are ethically bound to provide competent, quality care. Currently, nurses comprise the largest group of health care providers in the United States. Through increased understanding of the current situation, the profession will be in a better position to advocate and promote nursing as a viable, attractive career. Copyright 2002 by American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.

Health system resilience: Lebanon and the Syrian refugee crisis

PubMed Central

Ammar, Walid; Kdouh, Ola; Hammoud, Rawan; Hamadeh, Randa; Harb, Hilda; Ammar, Zeina; Atun, Rifat; Christiani, David; Zalloua, Pierre A

2016-01-01

Background Between 2011 and 2013, the Lebanese population increased by 30% due to the influx of Syrian refugees. While a sudden increase of such magnitude represents a shock to the health system, threatening the continuity of service delivery and destabilizing governance, it also offers a unique opportunity to study resilience of a health system amidst ongoing crisis. Methods We conceptualized resilience as the capacity of a health system to absorb internal or external shocks (for example prevent or contain disease outbreaks and maintain functional health institutions) while sustaining achievements. We explored factors contributing to the resilience of the Lebanese health system, including networking with stakeholders, diversification of the health system, adequate infrastructure and health human resources, a comprehensive communicable disease response and the integration of the refugees within the health system. Results In studying the case of Lebanon we used input–process–output–outcome approach to assess the resilience of the Lebanese health system. This approach provided us with a holistic view of the health system, as it captured not only the sustained and improved outcomes, but also the inputs and processes leading to them. Conclusion Our study indicates that the Lebanese health system was resilient as its institutions sustained their performance during the crisis and even improved. PMID:28154758

Managing the 1920s' Chilean educational crisis: A historical view combined with machine learning.

PubMed

Rengifo, Francisca; Ruz, Gonzalo A; Mascareño, Aldo

2018-01-01

In the first decades of the 20th century, political actors diagnosed the incubation of a crisis in the Chilean schooling process. Low rates of enrollment, literacy, and attendance, inefficiency in the use of resources, poverty, and a reduced number of schools were the main factors explaining the crisis. As a response, the Law on Compulsory Primary Education, considering mandatory for children between 6 and 14 years old to attend any school for at least four years, was passed in 1920. Using data from Censuses of the Republic of Chile from 1920 and 1930, reports of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, and the Statistical Yearbooks between 1895 and 1930, we apply machine learning techniques (clustering and decision trees) to assess the impact of this law on the Chilean schooling process between 1920 and 1930. We conclude that the law had a positive impact on the schooling indicators in this period. Even though it did not overcome the differences between urban and rural zones, it brought about a general improvement of the schooling process and a more efficient use of resources and infrastructure in both big urban centers and small-urban and rural zones, thereby managing the so-called crisis of the Republic.

Science should warn people of looming disaster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kossobokov, Vladimir

2014-05-01

Contemporary Science is responsible for not coping with challenging changes of Exposures and their Vulnerability inflicted by growing population, its concentration, etc., which result in a steady increase of Losses from Natural Hazards. Scientists owe to Society for lack of special knowledge, education, and communication. In fact, it appears that a few seismic hazard assessment programs and/or methodologies were tested appropriately against real observations before being endorsed for estimation of earthquake related risks. The fatal evidence and aftermath of the past decades prove that many of the existing internationally accepted methodologies are grossly misleading and are evidently unacceptable for any kind of responsible risk evaluation and knowledgeable disaster prevention. In contrast, the confirmed reliability of pattern recognition aimed at earthquake prone areas and times of increased probability, along with realistic earthquake scaling and scenario modeling, allow us to conclude that Contemporary Science can do a better job in disclosing Natural Hazards, assessing Risks, and delivering this state-of-the-art knowledge of looming disaster in advance catastrophic events. In a lieu of seismic observations long enough for a reliable probabilistic assessment or a comprehensive physical theory of earthquake recurrence, pattern recognition applied to available geophysical and/or geological data sets remains a broad avenue to follow in seismic hazard forecast/prediction. Moreover, better understanding seismic process in terms of non-linear dynamics of a hierarchical system of blocks-and-faults and deterministic chaos, progress to new approaches in assessing time-dependent seismic hazard based on multiscale analysis of seismic activity and reproducible intermediate-term earthquake prediction technique. The algorithms, which make use of multidisciplinary data available and account for fractal nature of earthquake distributions in space and time, have confirmed their

Pacific Salmon in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem.

Treesearch

S.M. Gende; R.T. Edwards; M.F. Willson; M.S. Wipfli

2002-01-01

almon runs in the Pacific Northwest have been declining for decades, so much so that many runs are threatened or endangered; others have been completely extirpated (Nehlsen et al. 1991). This "salmon crisis" looms large in the public eye, because it has serious and wideranging economic, cultural, and ecological repercussions. Billions of dollars have gone...

The dependence of educational infrastructure on clinical infrastructure.

PubMed Central

Cimino, C.

1998-01-01

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine needed to assess the growth of its infrastructure for educational computing as a first step to determining if student needs were being met. Included in computing infrastructure are space, equipment, software, and computing services. The infrastructure was assessed by reviewing purchasing and support logs for a six year period from 1992 to 1998. This included equipment, software, and e-mail accounts provided to students and to faculty for educational purposes. Student space has grown at a constant rate (averaging 14% increase each year respectively). Student equipment on campus has grown by a constant amount each year (average 8.3 computers each year). Student infrastructure off campus and educational support of faculty has not kept pace. It has either declined or remained level over the six year period. The availability of electronic mail clearly demonstrates this with accounts being used by 99% of students, 78% of Basic Science Course Leaders, 38% of Clerkship Directors, 18% of Clerkship Site Directors, and 8% of Clinical Elective Directors. The collection of the initial descriptive infrastructure data has revealed problems that may generalize to other medical schools. The discrepancy between infrastructure available to students and faculty on campus and students and faculty off campus creates a setting where students perceive a paradoxical declining support for computer use as they progress through medical school. While clinical infrastructure may be growing, it is at the expense of educational infrastructure at affiliate hospitals. PMID:9929262

Crisis Management: Research Summaries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brock, Stephen E., Ed.; Dorman, Sally; Anderson, Luke; McNair, Daniel

2013-01-01

This article presents summaries of three studies relevant to school crisis response. The first report, "A Framework for International Crisis Intervention" (Sally Dorman), is a review of how existing crisis intervention models (including the NASP PREPaRE model) have been adapted for international use. The second article, "Responding…

Consumer experience of formal crisis-response services and preferred methods of crisis intervention.

PubMed

Boscarato, Kara; Lee, Stuart; Kroschel, Jon; Hollander, Yitzchak; Brennan, Alice; Warren, Narelle

2014-08-01

The manner in which people with mental illness are supported in a crisis is crucial to their recovery. The current study explored mental health consumers' experiences with formal crisis services (i.e. police and crisis assessment and treatment (CAT) teams), preferred crisis supports, and opinions of four collaborative interagency response models. Eleven consumers completed one-on-one, semistructured interviews. The results revealed that the perceived quality of previous formal crisis interventions varied greatly. Most participants preferred family members or friends to intervene. However, where a formal response was required, general practitioners and mental health case managers were preferred; no participant wanted a police response, and only one indicated a preference for CAT team assistance. Most participants welcomed collaborative crisis interventions. Of four collaborative interagency response models currently being trialled internationally, participants most strongly supported the Ride-Along Model, which enables a police officer and a mental health clinician to jointly respond to distressed consumers in the community. The findings highlight the potential for an interagency response model to deliver a crisis response aligned with consumers' preferences. © 2014 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Husserl's Crisis as a crisis of psychology.

PubMed

Feest, Uljana

2012-06-01

This paper places Husserl's mature work, The Crisis of the European Sciences, in the context of his engagement with--and critique of--experimental psychology at the time. I begin by showing (a) that Husserl accorded psychology a crucial role in his philosophy, i.e., that of providing a scientific analysis of subjectivity, and (b) that he viewed contemporary psychology--due to its naturalism--as having failed to pursue this goal in the appropriate manner. I then provide an analysis of Husserl's views about naturalism and scientific philosophy. Some central themes of the Crisis are traced back to Husserl's earlier work and to his relationship with his teacher, Franz Brentano, with whom he disagreed about the status of "inner perception" as the proper scientific method for a phenomenological analysis. The paper then shows that Husserl was well aware of at least one publication about the crisis of psychology (Bühler's 1927 book), and it teases out some aspects of the complicated relationship between Husserl and members of the Würzburg School of thought psychology: The latter had drawn on Husserl's writings, but Husserl felt that they had misunderstood his central thesis. I conclude by placing Husserl's work in the wider context of scientific, cultural, and political crisis-discourses at the time. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crisis Communication Plans: Poor Predictors of Excellent Crisis Public Relations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marra, Francis J.

1998-01-01

Argues that newly developed theory in crisis public relations suggests a shift is necessary in the way practitioners view crises. Notes that the new paradigm defines excellent crisis public relations very differently from the literature of the past 20 years. (RS)

Myths and the College Process, a Retrospective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sachs, Frank

2012-01-01

In 1973, the domestic climate was surprisingly similar to today in that the economy was bad, unemployment was high, an energy crisis was looming, and there was social and political unrest across the country. At that time, a college education was considered expensive, yet as is true now, education was seen as the doorway to economic opportunity.…

Producing Nuclear Power

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childress, Vincent W.

2009-01-01

There is a potential crisis looming related to the world's need for energy. On the one hand, energy demands are growing every day, and could double by 2050. On the other hand, burning of traditional fossil fuels to generate electricity is contributing to the increase in greenhouse gases. Would it be advisable to increase the number of nuclear…

Crisis GIS: Preparing for the Next Volcanic Crisis in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramsey, D. W.; Robinson, J. E.; Schilling, S. P.; Schaefer, J. R.; Kimberly, P.; Trusdell, F. A.; Guffanti, M. C.; Mayberry, G. C.; Cameron, C. E.; Smith, J. G.; McIntire, J. A.; Snedigar, S.; Ewert, J. W.

2004-12-01

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialists from the Volcano Hazards Program (VHP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), including personnel at Menlo Park, California, the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in Hawaii National Park, Hawaii, and the Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program in Washington, DC, are developing a GIS response plan in the event of a volcano crisis. This plan, referred to as "Crisis GIS", outlines how VHP can ensure rapid, reliable delivery of spatial and ancillary information for data analysis and visualization at any required location during a volcanic crisis or event within the United States. An effective Crisis GIS needs the capacity to store multiple, large datasets, including: base layer data, elevation data, geologic maps, hazard assessment maps, satellite data, and aerial photography for volcanoes around the U.S. It must be readily accessible by VHP GIS specialists stationed around the Nation. Such a GIS should also support installations of monitoring instruments and telemetry equipment that relay monitoring signals, and provision of updates to public officials, the media, and the public during a crisis. GIS technology has proven to be an invaluable tool for crisis response. Recently, GIS was applied as part of the response efforts to two large-scale crises: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Southern California wildfires of Fall 2003. In each case, GIS was used to organize large quantities of spatial data and to produce electronic and paper maps that illustrated hazards, supported decision making, and communicated developing situations to responsible emergency-management authorities and to the populace affected (Kant, 2002, and Pratt, 2003). VHP GIS specialists are currently testing the software and hardware employed in recent major crisis response efforts and are learning to adapt

Modified crisis intervention for personality disorder.

PubMed

Rudnick, A

1998-01-01

This study proposes that the goal of crisis intervention for persons with personality disorders should be to return them to their pre-crisis level of functioning, even though this is maladaptive. This is contrasted with standard crisis intervention, which aims to return normal or neurotic persons to their pre-crisis normal or neurotic functioning, usually by means of few and short-term therapeutic encounters. The modification proposed costs more time and resources in persons with personality disorders in crisis and fits the intervention to the personality type. This is illustrated by the case of Eve, a patient in crisis, whose pre-crisis functioning was maladaptive because of a dependent personality disorder. The goal of (modified) crisis intervention in this case was to return the patient to her dependent lifestyle, by means of pharmacotherapy combined with intensive supportive psychotherapy during 3-4 months of partial (day) hospitalization. The special nature of crisis in personality disorders is discussed.

Mobile crisis management teams as part of an effective crisis management system for rural communities.

PubMed

Trantham, Doug; Sherry, Anne

2012-01-01

Mobile crisis management teams provide crisis prevention and intervention services in community settings. The Appalachian Community Services crisis management program shows how such teams can be used to effectively serve rural communities.

The future of the welfare state: crisis myths and crisis realities.

PubMed

Castles, Francis G

2002-01-01

Accounts of the future of the welfare state are often presented in crisis terms. Some commentators identify globalization as a force that has already led to a major retreat by the state and is likely to lead to further downsizing of the public sector. Others see the future burden of an aging population as creating huge public expenditure pressures that can be countered only by increased parsimony in most areas of spending. Although both crisis scenarios contain elements of truth, analysis of recent public expenditure trends shows that both are substantially exaggerated as general representations of likely developments over the next two or three decades. However, unnoticed by most commentators, a real, longer-term crisis is beginning to make itself felt. This crisis arises, in part, from the demographic impact of a cultural transformation in the labor market, in progress for several decades. Extreme scenarios of possible consequences over the next 50 to 100 years include population implosion, mass migration, increasingly dangerous eruptions of right-wing populism, and, possibly, territorial conflict between developed and underdeveloped nations. This is not a crisis of the welfare state but rather a crisis for which the welfare state may be an essential part of the answer. The only way Western societies can lessen the future impact of the ongoing cultural transformation of the labor market is through the redesign of welfare state institutions to confront these new challenges.

Hypertensive crisis in children.

PubMed

Chandar, Jayanthi; Zilleruelo, Gastón

2012-05-01

Hypertensive crisis is rare in children and is usually secondary to an underlying disease. There is strong evidence that the renin-angiotensin system plays an important role in the genesis of hypertensive crisis. An important principle in the management of children with hypertensive crisis is to determine if severe hypertension is chronic, acute, or acute-on-chronic. When it is associated with signs of end-organ damage such as encephalopathy, congestive cardiac failure or renal failure, there is an emergent need to lower blood pressures to 25-30% of the original value and then accomplish a gradual reduction in blood pressure. Precipitous drops in blood pressure can result in impairment of perfusion of vital organs. Medications commonly used to treat hypertensive crisis in children are nicardipine, labetalol and sodium nitroprusside. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology, differential diagnosis and recent developments in management of hypertensive crisis in children.

Managing stress in a crisis.

PubMed

Wright-Reid, Alison

2018-01-01

Crisis situations are inherently uncertain and threatening. Although the primal stress reactions they provoke deliver some advantages, they so severely restrict intellect and behaviour that consultants observe crisis teams making the same mistakes over and again. Stress risks can be managed before, during and after a crisis. Crisis planning can select the right people, control the crisis team environment, and mitigate fatigue risks and memory demands. Because stress reactions are primitive, stress can be manipulated at a remarkably primitive level and teams can increase their resilience through such basics as sleep and breathing skills. Teams can learn to manipulate perceptions of danger, to tolerate uncertainty and to become comfortable making decisions which were reasonable at the time. Crisis leaders can frame the crisis as a challenge and options as gains, and can ensure the team avoids groupthink and challenges the paradigm. Where individuals are trained to apply critical thinking processes, intuitive decision-making is not only fast, but also accurate, and helps to challenge assumptions, predictions and groupthink. Crises are more easily recognised and managed where training has covered critical decision methods.

K-12 School Leaders and School Crisis: An Exploration of Principals' School Crisis Competencies and Preparedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarty, Sean P.

2012-01-01

On any given day, principals could find themselves faced with a situation that could define their roles as crisis leaders. This dissertation research offers an exploratory study in the field of crisis response and educational leadership. From experts in the field of crisis response, the author compiled a list of crisis management competencies…

The Syrian public health and humanitarian crisis: A 'displacement' in global governance?

PubMed

Akbarzada, Sumaira; Mackey, Tim K

2018-07-01

Ongoing failure by the international community to resolve the Syrian conflict has led to destruction of critical infrastructure. This includes the collapse of the Syrian health system, leaving millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in urgent need of healthcare services. As the conflict intensifies, IDP populations are suffering from infectious and non-communicable disease risks, poor maternal and child health outcomes, trauma, and mental health issues, while healthcare workers continually exit the country. Healthcare workers who remain face significant challenges, including systematic attacks on healthcare facilities and conditions that severely inhibit healthcare delivery and assistance. Within this conflict-driven public health crisis, the most susceptible population is arguably the IDP. Though the fundamental 'right to health' is a recognised international legal principle, its application is inadequate due to limited recognition by the UN Security Council and stymied global governance by the broader international community. These factors have also negatively impacted other vulnerable groups other than IDPs, such as refugees and ethnic minorities, who may or may not be displaced. Hence, this article reviews the current Syrian conflict, assesses challenges with local and global governance for IDPs, and explores potential governance solutions needed to address this health and humanitarian crisis.

When Crisis Strikes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caudle, Melissa

1994-01-01

School crises may be categorized as emergency situations, human-made crises, natural events, medical emergencies, and mechanical crises. Central to any successful crisis-management plan are onsite and district-level crisis response teams. Plans should specify staff responsibilities; provide for communication codes, devices, and procedures;…

Chaos and Crisis: Propositions for a General Theory of Crisis Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seeger, Matthew W.

2002-01-01

Presents key concepts of chaos theory (CT) as a general framework for describing organizational crisis and crisis communication. Discusses principles of predictability, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, bifurcation as system breakdown, emergent self-organization, and fractals and strange attractors as principles of organization. Explores…

Thyrotoxic crisis presenting with jaundice.

PubMed

Wickramasinghe, R D S S; Luke, W A N V; Sebastiampillai, B S; Gunathilake, M P M L; Premaratna, R

2016-06-23

Thyrotoxic crisis is a medical emergency requiring early diagnosis and urgent management, which can be challenging due to its diverse clinical presentations. While common presentations include fever, sweating, palpitations, tremors and confusion, presence of jaundice is rare. We report a 35-year-old male who presented with jaundice due to cholestasis along with other features of thyrotoxic crisis due to Graves' disease. He had a good clinical recovery with resolution of cholestasis following treatment for thyrotoxic crisis. Jaundice can be a rare manifestation of thyrotoxic crisis, and should be considered in the differential diagnosis when other clinical features of thyrotoxic crisis are present. However secondary causes of jaundice should be looked into and excluded.

A Study of Federal Academic Earmarks and Research Funding in Relation to the Institutional Research Culture of Research University/High (RU/H) Institutions in Mississippi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, James Hubert, III

2013-01-01

Nationally, reductions in public funding for higher education, a stagnate economy, looming sequestration, and a divisive political culture present a complex and challenging dynamic for research universities in pursuit of external funding for their research programs and infrastructure needs. These universities and their research initiatives have…

Geography's Image Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, John C.

1984-01-01

If geography faces a crisis today, it is an inner crisis that has come from listening to those who advocate aggrandizement rather than accomplishment. Geographers should devote no more time than necessary to the business of selling themselves and, instead, produce the kind of scholarship that commands attention. (RM)

The health crisis in Argentina.

PubMed

Escudero, José Carlos

2003-01-01

The health crisis in Argentina is part of the larger crisis that has resulted from a collapse in the country's economic and political systems. After a brief review of the country's history over the last century, from international success story to economic failure, the author explains the health crisis in particular and the social crisis in general in terms of failed neoliberal policies imposed on Argentina by the United States and International Monetary Fund through the mediation of the country's political class.

Healthcare's crown jewels. A looming 15% reduction in Medicare payments could tarnish the financial viability of teaching hospitals, studies say. Others, however, say they'll keep shining despite the scheduled cuts.

PubMed

Lovern, Ed

2002-05-27

Though saddled with higher costs than other hospitals, teaching hospitals reap plump margins on Medicare. But that could change this fall. A volley of studies say a looming 15% cut in indirect medical education payments and disproportionate-share payments could threaten the financial viability of healthcare's crown jewels unless Congress reverses current law.

US health care crisis.

PubMed

Cirić, Ivan

2013-01-01

The United States health care is presently challenged by a significant economic crisis. The purpose of this report is to introduce the readers of Medicinski Pregled to the root causes of this crisis and to explain the steps undertaken to reform health care in order to solve the crisis. It is hoped that the information contained in this report will be of value, if only in small measure, to the shaping of health care in Serbia.

Keeping Cool in a Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padgett, Raven

2006-01-01

Many schools are able to avoid disasters by creating a strong, deliberate crisis plan and knowing how to implement it effectively. Good crisis preparedness requires leadership from the top, a critical mass of trained staff members, careful planning, and excellent communication. This article discusses how to prepare for a crisis.

The Achievement Crisis Is Real: A Review of "The Manufactured Crisis."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stedman, Lawrence C.

1996-01-01

In "The Manufactured Crisis," D. Berliner and B. Biddle argue that there has been no decline in achievement test scores, that today's students outperform their parents and do well in international examinations, and that the supposed crisis in American education does not exist. This review refutes all these claims. (SLD)

Hypertensive crisis.

PubMed

Rodriguez, Maria Alexandra; Kumar, Siva K; De Caro, Matthew

2010-01-01

Hypertension is a common chronic medical condition affecting over 65 million Americans. Uncontrolled hypertension can progress to a hypertensive crisis defined as a systolic blood pressure >180 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure >120 mm Hg. Hypertensive crisis can be further classified as a hypertensive urgency or hypertensive emergency depending on end-organ involvement including cardiac, renal, and neurologic injury. The prompt recognition of a hypertensive emergency with the appropriate diagnostic tests and triage will lead to the adequate reduction of blood pressure, ameliorating the incidence of fatal outcomes. Severely hypertensive patients with acute end-organ damage (hypertensive emergencies) warrant admission to an intensive care unit for immediate reduction of blood pressure with a short-acting titratable intravenous antihypertensive medication. Hypertensive urgencies (severe hypertension with no or minimal end-organ damage) may in general be treated with oral antihypertensives as an outpatient. Rapid and short-lived intravenous medications commonly used are labetalol, esmolol, fenoldopam, nicardipine, sodium nitroprusside, and clevidipine. Medications such as hydralazine, immediate release nifedipine, and nitroglycerin should be avoided. Sodium nitroprusside should be used with caution because of its toxicity. The risk factors and prognosticators of a hypertensive crisis are still under recognized. Physicians should perform complete evaluations in patients who present with a hypertensive crisis to effectively reverse, intervene, and correct the underlying trigger, as well as improve long-term outcomes after the episode.

Creativity in Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roff, Glenn

This paper suggests that educational resources and opportunities currently in operation in rural Australia are brought forward during times of crisis. The paper discusses five aspects of education in rural Australia that are a response to the perceived sense of crisis and that have improved the general and comparative quality of rural education,…

When Crisis Strikes on Campus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Wendy Ann, Ed.

This handbook aids in planning for effective crisis communication at institutions of higher education. The book opens with a behind-the-scenes look at a particular crisis--the 1990 murders of five students at the University of Florida. This first section offers tested advice from a campus communicator, an account of the crisis and the…

Crisis in the Curriculum? New Counselors' Crisis Preparation, Experiences, and Self-Efficacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Carrie A. Wachter; Minton, Casey A. Barrio

2012-01-01

Professional counselors are responsible for providing crisis assessment, referral, and intervention (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, 2009); however, little is known about their preparation and experiences in these areas. This study examined new professional counselors' (N= 193) crisis intervention…

["Crisis"--oscillating between keyword and buzzword. On the discourse about a "crisis of medicine" in the Weimar Republic].

PubMed

Geiger, Karin

2010-01-01

The buzzword "crisis" has not only become omnipresent since the recent financial crisis. The term that originated in Ancient Greece underwent several different usages--quantitatively as well as qualitatively; especially in the Weimar Republic, the time period that has long been considered as the crisis era par excellence. Using the discourse about the "crisis of medicine" in the 1920s and the early 1930s as an example, the article attempts to provide a critical reflection on the concept of "crisis". The focus of this article is on the idea's construction, the different semantic usages of "crisis" and the motives of the different authors for their respective rhetorical applications of this term. The analysis of the examined publications on the "crisis of medicine", how they influenced other periods and the reconstruction of their origin show that the semantics of the word "crisis" went far beyond a simply negative connotation, and with regard to its rhetorical usage have oscillated between keyword and a meaningless but catchy buzzword.

The Roman Empire - The Third Century Crisis and Crisis Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-04

December 2010. Hekster, Olivier, Gerda De Kleijn, and Danielle Slootjes. "Introduction." Impact of Empire. 7, (2006, June 1): 3-10. Koselleck...Crisis of the Third Century. Edited by Olivier Hekster, Gerda De Kleijn, and Danielle Slootjes. Vol. 7, Impact of EMpire. Boston: Brill Academic, 2012...1. Protagoras and John Nicols, Mapping the Crisis of the Third Century, ed. Olivier Hekster, Gerda De Kleijn, and Danielle Slootjes

Green Infrastructure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To promote the benefits of green infrastructure, help communities overcome barriers to using GI, and encourage the use of GI to create sustainable and resilient water infrastructure that improves water quality and supports and revitalizes communities.

Treating Chronic Crisis Bearers and Their Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doyle, Averil Marie; Dorlac, Charles

1978-01-01

This article presents a method for family crisis intervention. The goal is extended from restoring the crisis bearing unit to its pre-crisis level of coping to a basic restructuring of maladaptive pre-crisis behaviors. It is aimed at general behavior change as well as resolution of the immediate situation. (Author)

Crisis response to schools.

PubMed

Johnson, K

2000-01-01

While community based crisis response teams offer needed resources to schools impacted by crisis, they are often not asked to help. Reports from crisis team leaders at the school shooting incidents at James W. Parker Middle School, Edinboro, Pennsylvania and Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado are contrasted regarding utilization of community resources. Factors limiting the usefulness of community based teams include unfamiliarity with school organization, culture, and procedures. Key differences in school vs. community team precepts, decision-making, and strategic paradigms render team coordination difficult. Successful cross training presents opportunities for school-community partnership and utilization of community teams for school duty.

Campus Crisis Response at Viberg College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eaker, Rachel; Viars, Jamie

2014-01-01

This fictional case study examines crisis response in higher education settings. Information about current crisis response procedures, plans, and trends was gathered from informational interviews, current crisis management literature, and multiple college and university websites. The information was synthesized into a fictional case study using…

A Location Based Communication Proposal for Disaster Crisis Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gülnerman, A. G.; Goksel, C.; Tezer, A.

2014-12-01

The most vital applications within urban applications under the title of Geographical Information system applications are Disaster applications. Especially, In Turkey the most occured disaster type Earthquakes impacts are hard to retain in urban due to greatness of area, data and effected resident or victim. Currently, communications between victims and institutions congested and collapsed, after disaster that results emergency service delay and so secondary death and desperation. To avoid these types of life loss, the communication should be established between public and institutions. Geographical Information System Technology is seen capable of data management techniques and communication tool. In this study, Life Saving Kiosk Modal Proposal designed as a communication tool based on GIS, after disaster, takes locational emegency demands, meets emergency demands over notification maps which is created by those demands,increase public solidarity by visualizing close emergency demanded area surrounded another one and gathers emergency service demanded institutions notifications and aims to increasethe capability of management. This design prosals' leading role is public. Increase in capability depends on public major contribution to disaster management by required communication infrastructure establishment. The aim is to propound public power instead of public despiration. Apart from general view of disaster crisis management approaches, Life Saving Kiosk Modal Proposal indicates preparedness and response phases within the disaster cycle and solve crisis management with the organization of design in preparedness phase, use in response phase. This resolution modal flow diagram is builded between public, communication tool (kiosk) amd response force. The software is included in communication tools whose functions, interface designs and user algorithms are provided considering the public participation. In this study, disaster crisis management with public

The Crisis "Hotline" as Mediated Therapeutic Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fish, Sandra L.

Hotlines, or telephone crisis-lines, begun in the 1960s and currently numbering in the hundreds provide assistance to callers in crisis, frequently around the clock. Crisis-line communication can be seen as a form of mediated therapeutic communication premised on the existence of a crisis and the medium of the telephone which shapes the…

When a Crisis Strikes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keebler, Barbara A.

1989-01-01

Urges Catholic educators to develop a crisis communication plan to ensure that all communication with the press and public is handled promptly and thoroughly by a designated spokesperson. Describes workshops which simulate real-life challenges as a means of testing crisis management plans. Offers guidelines for the development of a crisis…

Crisis Management Research Summaries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brock, Stephen E., Ed.

2009-01-01

In this column, Crisis Management in the Schools Interest Group members summarize recent crisis management publications. The first article summarized was a meta-analysis of the risk factors associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among adults. The second study looked at the presence of life stressors among students who were expelled…

Hypercalcemic crisis: a clinical review.

PubMed

Ahmad, Shazia; Kuraganti, Gayatri; Steenkamp, Devin

2015-03-01

Hypercalcemia is a common metabolic perturbation. However, hypercalcemic crisis is an unusual endocrine emergency, with little clinical scientific data to support therapeutic strategy. We review the relevant scientific English literature on the topic and review current management strategies after conducting a PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar search for articles published between 1930 and June 2014 using specific keywords: "hypercalcemic crisis," "hyperparathyroid crisis," "parathyroid storm," "severe primary hyperparathyroidism," "acute hyperparathyroidism," and "severe hypercalcemia" for articles pertaining to the diagnosis, epidemiology, clinical presentation, and treatment strategies. Despite extensive clinical experience, large and well-designed clinical studies to direct appropriate clinical care are lacking. Nonetheless, morbidity and mortality rates have substantially decreased since early series reported almost universal fatality. Improved outcomes can be attributed to modern diagnostic capabilities, leading to earlier diagnosis, along with the recognition that primary hyperparathyroidism is the most common etiology for hypercalcemic crisis. Hypercalcemic crisis is an unusual endocrine emergency that portends excellent outcomes if rapid diagnosis, medical treatment, and definitive surgical treatment are expedited. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parallel digital forensics infrastructure.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liebrock, Lorie M.; Duggan, David Patrick

2009-10-01

This report documents the architecture and implementation of a Parallel Digital Forensics infrastructure. This infrastructure is necessary for supporting the design, implementation, and testing of new classes of parallel digital forensics tools. Digital Forensics has become extremely difficult with data sets of one terabyte and larger. The only way to overcome the processing time of these large sets is to identify and develop new parallel algorithms for performing the analysis. To support algorithm research, a flexible base infrastructure is required. A candidate architecture for this base infrastructure was designed, instantiated, and tested by this project, in collaboration with New Mexicomore » Tech. Previous infrastructures were not designed and built specifically for the development and testing of parallel algorithms. With the size of forensics data sets only expected to increase significantly, this type of infrastructure support is necessary for continued research in parallel digital forensics. This report documents the implementation of the parallel digital forensics (PDF) infrastructure architecture and implementation.« less

IP Infrastructure Geolocation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Physical network maps are important to critical infrastructure defense and planning. Current state-of...the-art network infrastructure geolocation relies on Domain Name System (DNS) inferences. However, not only is using the DNS relatively inaccurate for...INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT Physical network maps are important to critical infrastructure defense and planning. Cur- rent state-of-the-art

Maintenance Crisis vs Solutions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haggard, Susie

Industrial maintenance in Northeast Georgia is facing an acute crisis. Contributing factors are economic development that is depleting the work force, aging of the population, downsizing of the military, and lack of technical school graduates. Solutions to the crisis fall into three categories: short-term, mid-term, and long-term. For short-term…

The Little-Known Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckholm, Erik P.

1975-01-01

For one-third of the world's people, the energy crisis means the daily scramble to find the wood they need to cook. The accelerating destruction of forests throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America and the utilization of manure as a firewood substitute may produce the most profound ecological crisis of this century. (BT)

Knowledge communication: a key to successful crisis management.

PubMed

Johansson, Anders; Härenstam, Malin

2013-09-01

A winning concept of crisis management can be summarized in 2 words: knowledge communication. If decision makers, communicators, experts, and the public understand what the crisis is about and share their knowledge, the process of handling it will be optimized. Effective crisis communication implies the necessity of an unhindered but purposeful exchange of information within and between authorities, organizations, media, involved individuals, and groups before, during, and after a crisis. This article focuses on the importance of the before, or prevention, part of a crisis since it holds a rich possibility to enhance the chances for successful crisis management of a bioterrorism incident. An extended perspective on crisis communication efficiently links to a more thorough understanding of risk perception with various stakeholders and the public, which also will be helpful for situational awareness. Furthermore, the grounded baseline for the dialogue type of crisis communication suitable in modern society and to modern social media is achieved by linking to those risk communication efforts that are made. The link between risk and crisis should be afforded more attention since, especially in biosecurity, there would be no crisis without risk negligence and poor or malfunctioning preventive efforts.

Commercial speech in crisis: Crisis Pregnancy Center regulations and definitions of commercial speech.

PubMed

Gilbert, Kathryn E

2013-02-01

Recent attempts to regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers, pseudoclinics that surreptitiously aim to dissuade pregnant women from choosing abortion, have confronted the thorny problem of how to define commercial speech. The Supreme Court has offered three potential answers to this definitional quandary. This Note uses the Crisis Pregnancy Center cases to demonstrate that courts should use one of these solutions, the factor-based approach of Bolger v. Youngs Drugs Products Corp., to define commercial speech in the Crisis Pregnancy Center cases and elsewhere. In principle and in application, the Bolger factor-based approach succeeds in structuring commercial speech analysis at the margins of the doctrine.

Timing crisis information release via television.

PubMed

Wei, Jiuchang; Zhao, Dingtao; Yang, Feng; Du, Shaofu; Marinova, Dora

2010-10-01

When and how often to release information on television are important issues in crisis and emergency risk communication. There is a lot of crisis information, including warnings and news, to which people should have access, but most of it is not significantly urgent to interrupt the broadcasting of television programmes. Hence, the right timing for the release of crisis information should be selected based on the importance of the crisis and any associated communication requirements. Using recursive methods, this paper builds an audience coverage model of crisis information release. Based on 2007 Household Using TV (HUT) data for Hefei City, China, the optimal combination of broadcasting sequence (with frequencies between one and eight times) is obtained using the implicit enumeration method. The developed model is applicable to effective transmission of crisis information, with the aim of reducing interference with the normal television transmission process and decreasing the psychological effect on audiences. The same model can be employed for other purposes, such as news coverage and weather and road information. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2010.

Reviewing the definition of crisis in dementia care

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Crisis is a term frequently used in dementia care lacking a standardized definition. This article systematically reviews existing definitions of crisis in dementia care literature to create a standardized definition that can be utilized for research, policy and clinical practice. Methods We systematically searched for articles containing definitions of crisis in the context of dementia care. We created an operational framework of crisis based on retrieved definitions. Recommendations to address crisis situations were reviewed and classified according to care settings. Results Abstracts and titles of 1,113 articles, screened from PubMed and EMBASE, were narrowed down to 27 articles. After review, crisis in dementia was defined as a process where a stressor causes an imbalance requiring an immediate decision to be made which leads to a desired outcome and therefore a resolution of the crisis. If the crisis is not resolved, the cycle continues. Recommendations for resolving crisis involving persons with dementia and their caregivers include awareness therapy after diagnosis and increased contact with general practitioners, case manager consultations, caregiver support and education. Furthermore, nursing home staff should be attuned to the environmental, physical and psychological needs of persons with dementia. Conclusions This is the first article to review the definition of crisis in the context of dementia care. A review of the literature indicated that the definition of a crisis is idiosyncratic. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent or plan for all crises. We used an operational framework to compile types of crisis stressors and recommendations from the crisis literature based on three different perspectives; the person with the dementia, the caregiver and the healthcare providers. PMID:23374634

Reviewing the definition of crisis in dementia care.

PubMed

MacNeil Vroomen, Janet; Bosmans, Judith E; van Hout, Hein P J; de Rooij, Sophia E

2013-02-01

Crisis is a term frequently used in dementia care lacking a standardized definition. This article systematically reviews existing definitions of crisis in dementia care literature to create a standardized definition that can be utilized for research, policy and clinical practice. We systematically searched for articles containing definitions of crisis in the context of dementia care. We created an operational framework of crisis based on retrieved definitions. Recommendations to address crisis situations were reviewed and classified according to care settings. Abstracts and titles of 1,113 articles, screened from PubMed and EMBASE, were narrowed down to 27 articles. After review, crisis in dementia was defined as a process where a stressor causes an imbalance requiring an immediate decision to be made which leads to a desired outcome and therefore a resolution of the crisis. If the crisis is not resolved, the cycle continues. Recommendations for resolving crisis involving persons with dementia and their caregivers include awareness therapy after diagnosis and increased contact with general practitioners, case manager consultations, caregiver support and education. Furthermore, nursing home staff should be attuned to the environmental, physical and psychological needs of persons with dementia. This is the first article to review the definition of crisis in the context of dementia care. A review of the literature indicated that the definition of a crisis is idiosyncratic. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent or plan for all crises. We used an operational framework to compile types of crisis stressors and recommendations from the crisis literature based on three different perspectives; the person with the dementia, the caregiver and the healthcare providers.

Sickle cell crisis and endothelin antagonists.

PubMed

Angerio, Allan D; Lee, Nicole D

2003-01-01

Sickle cell crisis may be more complex than a vaso-occlusive event in response to hypoxia. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor and mitogen secreted in response to hypoxia. ET-1 contributes to the vaso-occlusion and inflammation in sickle cell crisis. ET-1 antagonists may be useful in the prevention and treatment of crisis.

Building a Public Health Response to the Flint Water Crisis: Implications for Policy and Decision-Making

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furr-Holden, D.

2017-12-01

Flint, MI has experienced a recent, man-made public health crisis. The Flint Water Crisis, caused by a switch in the municipal water supply and subsequent violation of engineering and regulatory standards to ensure water quality lead to a large portion of the city being exposed to excess metals (including lead), bacteria and other water-borne pathogens. The data used to initially rebut the existence of the crisis were ecologically flawed as they included large numbers of people who were not on the Flint water supply. Policy-makers, municipal officials, the medical community, and public health professionals were at odds over the existence of a problem and the lack of data only fueled the debate. Pediatricians, lead by Dr. Mona Hannah-Attisha, began testing children in the Hurley Children's Medical Center for blood-lead levels and observed a 2-fold increase in elevated blood lead levels in Flint children compared to children in the area not on the Flint municipal water supply, where no increases in elevated lead were observed. Subsequent geospatial analyses revealed spatial clustering of cases based on where children live, go to school and play. These data represented the first step in data driven decision making leading to the subsequent switch of the municipal water supply and launch of subsequent advocacy efforts to remediate the effect of the Water Crisis. Since that time, a multi-disciplinary team of scientists including engineers, bench scientists, physicians and public health researchers have mounted evidence to promote complete replacement of the city's aging water infrastructure, developed a data registry to track cases and coordinate care and services for affected residents, and implemented a community engagement model that puts residents and community stakeholders at the heart of the planning and implementation efforts. The presentation will include data used at various stages to mount a public health response to the Flint Water Crisis and establish the

Organizational Crisis Experience and Public Relations Roles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guth, David W.

1995-01-01

Suggests a relationship between organizational crisis experience and the placement of the public relations function. Notes a relationship between organization size and crisis experience. Uncovers an alarming absence of crisis planning and training in organizations. (SR)

Crisis behavior: An exploration of theories in concert.

PubMed

McConnell, Jason B; Crudo, Christine

2015-01-01

How might prominent existing communication theory better explain behavior in a crisis context, when considered in concert with one another? This theoretical work highlights the insight to be gained using Situational Crisis Communication Theory and Bandura's notions of self-efficacy to heighten the explanatory power of the Theory of Planned Behavior as applied to communication during times of crisis. Situational Crisis Communication Theory better explains how past experience with crisis influences the attitudes and social norms of crisis behavior, while Bandura's notion of self-efficacy speaks more directly to the availability of resources as contributing factors to perceived behavioral control in a crisis situation. As such, the incorporation of these well-developed notions into the broader framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior affords greater understanding of the relationship between communication and behavior during a crisis. Further exploration of this theoretical relationship is warranted.

Enhancing crisis leadership in public health emergencies.

PubMed

Deitchman, Scott

2013-10-01

Reviews of public health emergency responses have identified a need for crisis leadership skills in health leaders, but these skills are not routinely taught in public health curricula. To develop criteria for crisis leadership in public health, published sources were reviewed to identify attributes of successful crisis leadership in aviation, public safety, military operations, and mining. These sources were abstracted to identify crisis leadership attributes associated with those disciplines and compare those attributes with crisis leadership challenges in public health. Based on this review, the following attributes are proposed for crisis leadership in public health: competence in public health science; decisiveness with flexibility; ability to maintain situational awareness and provide situational assessment; ability to coordinate diverse participants across very different disciplines; communication skills; and the ability to inspire trust. Of these attributes, only competence in public health science is currently a goal of public health education. Strategies to teach the other proposed attributes of crisis leadership will better prepare public health leaders to meet the challenges of public health crises.

Expanding the Crisis Planning Function: Introducing Elements of Risk Communication to Crisis Communication Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, David E.; Olaniran, Bolanle A.

1998-01-01

Suggests use of elements of risk communication by crisis communication practitioners facing increasing industrial reliance on new technologies which might be associated with potential health/environment harm. Studies a small company crisis which reveals that elements of anticipation, public involvement/trust, technological comparison, and media…

Outcome of Extended Thymectomy in Myasthenia Crisis Patient.

PubMed

Aftabuddin, M; Bhandari, S

2016-07-01

Myasthenic crisis is a life-threatening condition. We studied the demographic, frequency, causes and clinical presentation of isolated Myasthenic crisis, steps of treatment and to review our experience of extended thymectomy on patients with at least one episode myasthenic crisis. A prospective and retrospective study was conducted on patients with at least one episode of myasthenic crisis, from March 2010 to September 2014, at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, BSMMU, Dhaka, Bangladesh who were referred for thymectomy. Eighteen patients (13.6% of the total 132 patients with myasthenia gravis were admitted with single to multiple episodes of myasthenic crisis, median crisis was 2.5 episodes. Mean age of the patient was 35.5 (18-72) years with male predominance. All eighteen patients had undergone extended thymectomy after completion of 5 cycle plasmapheresis, of which 2 had experienced postoperative respiratory crisis, required invasive ventilator support for median 14 days. One patient required invasive ventilator support after third post operative day. Six patients had thymoma and 12 had thymic hyperplasia. Three patients needed Intravenous immunoglobin. Nine patients needed post operative anti acetylcholinesterase inhibitor after median 2.5 post days. Post thymectomy remission and decreases the frequency of myasthenic crisis was seen in follow up and post operative medication requirement reduced significantly as compared to the preoperative requirement. This report highlights that the patients who had extended thymectomy after episodes of myasthenia crisis are benefitted even in the histhopathology report does not confirmed thymoma. After thymectomy, there was remission of myasthenic crisis. Patients with myasthenic crisis should have judicious drug adjustments under supervision and should be treated aggressively during impending myasthenic crisis. With modern management of myasthenia gravis, early surgery with myasthenic crisis is safe with good long

Leadership in a (permanent) crisis.

PubMed

Heifetz, Ronald; Grashow, Alexander; Linsky, Marty

2009-01-01

The current economic crisis is not just another rough spell. Today's mix of urgency, high stakes, and uncertainty will continue even after the recession ends. The immediate crisis--which we will get through with policy makers' expert technical adjustments--sets the stage for a sustained, or even permanent, crisis, a relentless series of challenges no one has encountered before. Instead of hunkering down and relying on their familiar expertise to deal with the sustained crisis, people in positions of authority--whether they are CEOs or managers heading up a company initiative--must practice what the authors call adaptive leadership. They must, of course, tackle the underlying causes of the crisis, but they must also simultaneously make the changes that will allow their organizations to thrive in turbulent environments. Adaptive leadership is an improvisational and experimental art, requiring some new practices. Like Julie Gilbert, who overcame internal resistance to reorient Best Buy toward female purchasers, adaptive leaders get things done to meet today's challenges and then modify those things to thrive in tomorrow's world. They also embrace disequilibrium, using turbulence as an opportunity to build crucial new capacities, as Paul Levy did to rescue Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from a profound financial crisis. Finally, adaptive leaders, such as Egon Zehnder, the founder of an executive search firm, draw out the leadership skills that reside deep in the organization, recognizing the interdependence of all employees and mobilizing everyone to generate solutions.

Analyzing Crisis in Global Financial Indices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sunil; Deo, Nivedita

We apply the Random Matrix Theory and complex network techniques to 20 global financial indices and study the correlation and network properties before and during the financial crisis of 2008 respectively. We find that the largest eigenvalue deviate significantly from the upper bound which shows a strong correlation between financial indices. By using a sliding window of 25 days we find that largest eigenvalue represent the collective information about the correlation between global financial indices and its trend indicate the market conditions. It is confirmed that eigenvectors corresponding to second largest eigenvalue gives useful information about the sector formation in the global financial indices. We find that these clusters are formed on the basis of the geographical location. The correlation network is constructed using threshold method for different values of threshold θ in the range 0 to 0.9, at θ=0.2 the network is fully connected. At θ=0.6, the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific form different clusters before the crisis but during the crisis Americas and Europe are strongly linked. If we further increase the threshold to 0.9 we find that European countries France, Germany and UK consistently constitute the most tightly linked markets before and during the crisis. We find that the structure of Minimum Spanning Tree before the crisis is more star like whereas during the crisis it changes to be more chain like. Using the multifractal analysis, we find that Hurst exponents of financial indices increases during the period of crisis as compared to the period before the crisis. The empirical results verify the validity of measures, and this has led to a better understanding of complex financial markets.

Sustainable Water Infrastructure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Resources for state and local environmental and public health officials, and water, infrastructure and utility professionals to learn about sustainable water infrastructure, sustainable water and energy practices, and their role.

[Changes between pre-crisis and crisis period in socioeconomic inequalities in health and stimulant use in Netherlands].

PubMed

Buggink, J W; de Goeij, M C M; Otten, F W J; Kunst, A

2016-01-01

International research suggests an impact of economic crises on population health, with different effects among different socioeconomic groups. Since the end of 2008 the Netherlands experienced a period of economic crisis. Our study explores how inequalities in perceived general and mental health, and alcohol and tobacco use changed after the recession started. Cross-sectional study using routinely collected data from surveys of the Dutch population. We used data from the Dutch Health Interview Surveys: 2006-2008 (pre-crisis period) and 2009-2013 (crisis period). Respondents aged 25-64 were divided into socioeconomic groups based on labour status, income level and income change. Inequalities in health and stimulant use among these socioeconomic groups were described by period and changes between the pre-crisis and crisis period were investigated using logistic regression models. Most inequalities did not change, with some exceptions. For perceived general health, inequalities between employed persons and persons not in the labour force were larger in the crisis-period (unfavourable trends for those not in the labour force). For smoking, inequalities between unemployed and employed persons were larger in the crisis period (decreasing smoking rates only for those employed), as did inequalities between persons with low and high income levels (decreasing smoking rates for those with higher income levels). Excessive drinking decreased among employed persons and persons with a decrease in income, while it remained stable among persons not in the labour force and among persons with an increase in income. The widening of some socioeconomic inequalities in health and stimulant use might suggest an enhanced vulnerability of lower socioeconomic groups to the post-2008 crisis.

Changes between pre-crisis and crisis period in socioeconomic inequalities in health and stimulant use in Netherlands.

PubMed

Bruggink, Jan-Willem; de Goeij, Moniek C M; Otten, Ferdy; Kunst, Anton E

2016-10-01

International research suggests an impact of economic crises on population health, with different effects among different socioeconomic groups. Since the end of 2008 the Netherlands experienced a period of economic crisis. Our study explores how inequalities in perceived general and mental health, and alcohol and tobacco use changed after the recession started. We used data from the Dutch Health Interview Surveys: 2006-2008 (pre-crisis period) and 2009-2013 (crisis period). Respondents aged 25-64 were divided into socioeconomic groups based on labour status, income level and income change. Inequalities in health and stimulant use among these socioeconomic groups were described by period and changes between the pre-crisis and crisis period were investigated using logistic regression models. Most inequalities did not change, with some exceptions. For perceived general health, inequalities between employed persons and persons not in the labour force were larger in the crisis period (unfavourable trends for those not in the labour force). For smoking, inequalities between unemployed and employed persons were larger in the crisis period (decreasing smoking rates only for those employed), as did inequalities between persons with low and high income levels (decreasing smoking rates for those with higher income levels). Excessive drinking decreased among employed persons and persons with a decrease in income, while it remained stable among persons not in the labour force and among persons with an increase in income. The widening of some socioeconomic inequalities in health and stimulant use might suggest an enhanced vulnerability of lower socioeconomic groups to the post-2008 crisis. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Critical infrastructure protection.

PubMed

Deitz, Kim M

2012-01-01

Current government policies for protecting the nation's critical infrastructure are described in this article which focuses on hospital disaster planning and incident management and the significant role of Security in infrastructure protection

Helping Crisis Managers Protect Reputational Assets: Initial Tests of the Situational Crisis Communication Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coombs, W. Timothy; Holladay, Sherry J.

2002-01-01

Explains a comprehensive, prescriptive, situational approach for responding to crises and protecting organizational reputation: the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Notes undergraduate students read two crisis case studies from a set of 13 cases and responded to questions following the case. Validates a key assumption in SCCT and…

40 CFR 166.45 - Duration of crisis exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Duration of crisis exemption. 166.45... EXEMPTION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES FOR USE OF PESTICIDES UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS Crisis Exemptions § 166.45 Duration of crisis exemption. A crisis exemption may be authorized for: (a) Only as long as is...

Are you ready? Crisis leadership in a hyper-VUCA environment.

PubMed

Alkhaldi, Khaldoon H; Austin, Meredith L; Cura, Boris A; Dantzler, Darrell; Holland, Leslie; Maples, David L; Quarrelles, Jamie C; Weinkle, Robert K; Marcus, Leonard J

2017-01-01

The current hyper-volatile, -uncertain, -complex, and -ambiguous (VUCA) threat environment demands a more cohesive support structure for crisis leaders who may be faced with crises of increasing magnitude and frequency and, in some instances, multiple crisis events simultaneously. The project team investigates the perceptions of crisis leaders regarding establishing a crisis leader advisor position for crisis leaders to benefit from their experience while prosecuting crisis response activities. The team linked hyper-VUCA crises, crisis response frameworks, meta-leadership, crisis leader attributes, and advisor attributes. The overall goal of the project is to increase the ability of the crisis leaders to more effectively and efficiently navigate crisis events resulting in more efficient and effective response and recovery. Three research questions were developed to assess the following: thoughts of integrating a crisis leader advisor position; development of a crisis leader advisor certification program; and attributes of crisis leader advisors. A qualitative research methodology using a phenomenological approach was employed. Forty-one participants were purposefully selected and administered a short, online survey consisting of 11 questions. Data were analyzed using percentage analysis, weighted sums, and inductive thematic analysis. The project team found an overwhelming support for the crisis leader advisor position and the crisis leader advisor certification program. Additionally, experience and trustworthiness ranked among the top sought after attributes of a crisis leader advisor. The team recommendations included (1) implement a crisis leaders advisor guide/framework; (2) create a formal crisis leader advisor position in national incident management system; (3) implement a crisis leader advisor certification framework; (4) benchmark established advisor programs; and (5) implement a framework to match leaders and advisors.

Are you ready? Crisis leadership in a hyper-VUCA environment.

PubMed

Alkhaldi, Khaldoon H; Austin, Meredith L; Cura, Boris A; Dantzler, Darrell; Holland, Leslie; Maples, David L; Quarrelles, Jamie C; Weinkle, Robert K; Marcus, Leonard J

The current hyper-volatile, -uncertain, -complex, and -ambiguous (VUCA) threat environment demands a more cohesive support structure for crisis leaders who may be faced with crises of increasing magnitude and frequency and, in some instances, multiple crisis events simultaneously. The project team investigates the perceptions of crisis leaders regarding establishing a crisis leader advisor position for crisis leaders to benefit from their experience while prosecuting crisis response activities. The team linked hyper-VUCA crises, crisis response frameworks, meta-leadership, crisis leader attributes, and advisor attributes. The overall goal of the project is to increase the ability of the crisis leaders to more effectively and efficiently navigate crisis events resulting in more efficient and effective response and recovery. Three research questions were developed to assess the following: thoughts of integrating a crisis leader advisor position; development of a crisis leader advisor certification program; and attributes of crisis leader advisors. A qualitative research methodology using a phenomenological approach was employed. Forty-one participants were purposefully selected and administered a short, on-line survey consisting of 11 questions. Data were analyzed using percentage analysis, weighted sums, and inductive thematic analysis. The project team found an overwhelming support for the crisis leader advisor position and the crisis leader advisor certification program. Additionally, experience and trustworthiness ranked among the top sought after attributes of a crisis leader advisor. The team recommendations included (1) implement a crisis leaders advisor guide/framework; (2) create a formal crisis leader advisor position in national incident management system; (3) implement a crisis leader advisor certification framework; (4) benchmark established advisor programs; and (5) implement a framework to match leaders and advisors.

Are you ready? Crisis leadership in a hyper-VUCA environment.

PubMed

Alkhaldi, Khaldoon H; Austin, Meredith L; Cura, Boris A; Dantzler, Darrell; Holland, Leslie; Maples, David L; Quarrelles, Jamie C; Weinkle, Robert K; Marcus, Leonard J

The current hyper-volatile, -uncertain, -complex, and -ambiguous (VUCA) threat environment demands a more cohesive support structure for crisis leaders who may be faced with crises of increasing magnitude and frequency and, in some instances, multiple crisis events simultaneously. The project team investigates the perceptions of crisis leaders regarding establishing a crisis leader advisor position for crisis leaders to benefit from their experience while prosecuting crisis response activities. The team linked hyper-VUCA crises, crisis response frameworks, meta-leadership, crisis leader attributes, and advisor attributes. The overall goal of the project is to increase the ability of the crisis leaders to more effectively and efficiently navigate crisis events resulting in more efficient and effective response and recovery. Three research questions were developed to assess the following: thoughts of integrating a crisis leader advisor position; development of a crisis leader advisor certification program; and attributes of crisis leader advisors. A qualitative research methodology using a phenomenological approach was employed. Forty-one participants were purposefully selected and administered a short, on-line survey consisting of 11 questions. Data were analyzed using percentage analysis,weighted sums, and inductive thematic analysis. The project team found an overwhelming support for the crisis leader advisor position and the crisis leader advisor certification program. Additionally, experience and trustworthiness ranked among the top sought after attributes of a crisis leader advisor. The team recommendations included (1) implement a crisis leaders advisor guide/framework; (2) create a formal crisis leader advisor position in national incident management system; (3) implement a crisis leader advisor certification framework; (4) benchmark established advisor programs; and (5) implement a framework to match leaders and advisors.

Agrofuels, Food Sovereignty, and the Contemporary Food Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosset, Peter

2009-01-01

In this article, agrofuels are examined in the context of the world food price crisis and the "food sovereignty" proposal for addressing the crisis. Both short- and long-term causes of the crisis are examined, and while agrofuels are presently not a prime causal factor they are clearly contraindicated by the crisis. Food sovereignty,…

Communicating through Crisis: A Strategy for Organizational Survival.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sturges, David L.

1994-01-01

Suggests that crisis communication should be a part of the larger issues of communication policy and strategy. Builds a case for the need to consider crisis communication in a larger context. Proposes a model of crisis communication content that may serve as a framework for research into the efficacy of communication during crisis episodes. (RS)

School Crisis Management Manual: Guidelines for Administrators. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Judie

This three-part manual is intended for principals and other administrators responsible for developing and managing school crisis plans. Part 1, preparation for a school crisis, includes sections on the selection and training of members of the school crisis team, steps in developing a school crisis plan, and four crisis scenarios to train team…

A CLEAR Plan for School Crisis Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moriarty, Anthony; And Others

1993-01-01

Although many school formulas for crisis management are well coordinated internally, many are also shortsighted in recognizing when a school crisis falls simultaneously into law enforcement's domain. An Illinois high school has devised CLEAR, a crisis management plan delineating cognizance of personnel, the linkages they establish, accountability…

Crisis -- A Leadership Opportunity

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-04-01

recognized the great value in understanding crisis theory and the leadership strategies to employ during these situations. Additionally, we discovered...ed.: 50. Mitroff, Ian I. Crisis leadership : Planning for the Unthinkable. Hoboken: Wiley, 2004. Murphy, P. (1996). "Chaos Theory as a Model...Crisis–A Leadership Opportunity COL Victor Braden, ARNG CAPT Justin Cooper II, USN COL Michael Klingele, USA Lt Col John P

A Crisis of Legendary Proportions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Christopher

2001-01-01

Describes the activities of Indiana University's crisis communications team during the Bob Knight controversy. Discusses how the school's response was based on four crisis communications principles: create a plan, appoint a single spokesperson, respond with open and continuous communications, and expect the unexpected. (EV)

Hyperfibrinogenaemia and hyperviscosity in sickle-cell crisis.

PubMed Central

Richardson, S G; Breeze, G R; Stuart, J

1976-01-01

Plasma fibrinogen concentration and whole-blood viscosity, the latter measured at two shear rates (23 and 230 sec-1), were estimated during eight episodes of sickle-cell crisis and compared with values in 26 sickle-cell anaemia patients who were not in crisis. Painful crisis was associated with a significant increase in both plasma fibrinogen and whole-blood viscosity. Increased fibrinogen-erythrocyte interaction in vivo may be a significant contributory factor to raising blood viscosity and precipitating vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle-cell disease. PMID:977763

Honduran-U.S. Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-08

and congressional approval of 3 “Un 57 Pct de Hondureños Aprueba Gestión Presidente ...DR), by J. F. Hornbeck; and CRS Report R40135, Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues, by Clare Ribando Seelke...elections loom,” Latin American Economy & Business, May 2009. 17 “Desempleo aumentará a causa de crisis económica,” La Prensa (Honduras), May 22, 2009. 18

[Attributes of forest infrastructure].

PubMed

Gao, Jun-kai; Jin, Ying-shan

2007-06-01

This paper discussed the origin and evolution of the conception of ecological infrastructure, the understanding of international communities about the functions of forest, the important roles of forest in China' s economic development and ecological security, and the situations and challenges to the ongoing forestry ecological restoration programs. It was suggested that forest should be defined as an essential infrastructure for national economic and social development in a modern society. The critical functions of forest infrastructure played in the transition of forestry ecological development were emphasized. Based on the synthesis of forest ecosystem features, it was considered that the attributes of forest infrastructure are distinctive, due to the fact that it is constructed by living biological material and diversified in ownership. The forestry ecological restoration program should not only follow the basic principles of infrastructural construction, but also take the special characteristics of forests into consideration in studying the managerial system of the programs. Some suggestions for the ongoing programs were put forward: 1) developing a modern concept of ecosystem where man and nature in harmony is the core, 2) formulating long-term stable investments for forestry ecological restoration programs, 3) implementing forestry ecological restoration programs based on infrastructure construction principles, and 4) managing forests according to the principles of infrastructural construction management.

Organizational Learning and Crisis Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jia

2007-01-01

The impact of crises on organizations has been stronger than ever. This article explores the role of organizational learning in crisis management, an area that has received little attention from HRD community. Recognizing the dynamics and interconnectedness of crisis management, organizational learning, and organizational change, the article…

Aging Water Infrastructure

EPA Science Inventory

The Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) research program is part of EPA’s larger effort called the Sustainable Water Infrastructure (SI) initiative. The SI initiative brings together drinking water and wastewater utility managers; trade associations; local watershed protection organ...

A pre-crisis vs. crisis analysis of peripheral EU stock markets by means of wavelet transform and a nonlinear causality test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polanco-Martínez, J. M.; Fernández-Macho, J.; Neumann, M. B.; Faria, S. H.

2018-01-01

This paper presents an analysis of EU peripheral (so-called PIIGS) stock market indices and the S&P Europe 350 index (SPEURO), as a European benchmark market, over the pre-crisis (2004-2007) and crisis (2008-2011) periods. We computed a rolling-window wavelet correlation for the market returns and applied a non-linear Granger causality test to the wavelet decomposition coefficients of these stock market returns. Our results show that the correlation is stronger for the crisis than for the pre-crisis period. The stock market indices from Portugal, Italy and Spain were more interconnected among themselves during the crisis than with the SPEURO. The stock market from Portugal is the most sensitive and vulnerable PIIGS member, whereas the stock market from Greece tends to move away from the European benchmark market since the 2008 financial crisis till 2011. The non-linear causality test indicates that in the first three wavelet scales (intraweek, weekly and fortnightly) the number of uni-directional and bi-directional causalities is greater during the crisis than in the pre-crisis period, because of financial contagion. Furthermore, the causality analysis shows that the direction of the Granger cause-effect for the pre-crisis and crisis periods is not invariant in the considered time-scales, and that the causality directions among the studied stock markets do not seem to have a preferential direction. These results are relevant to better understand the behaviour of vulnerable stock markets, especially for investors and policymakers.

Lunar phases and crisis center telephone calls.

PubMed

Wilson, J E; Tobacyk, J J

1990-02-01

The lunar hypothesis, that is, the notion that lunar phases can directly affect human behavior, was tested by time-series analysis of 4,575 crisis center telephone calls (all calls recorded for a 6-month interval). As expected, the lunar hypothesis was not supported. The 28-day lunar cycle accounted for less than 1% of the variance of the frequency of crisis center calls. Also, as hypothesized from an attribution theory framework, crisis center workers reported significantly greater belief in lunar effects than a non-crisis-center-worker comparison group.

MFC Communications Infrastructure Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Michael Cannon; Terry Barney; Gary Cook

2012-01-01

Unprecedented growth of required telecommunications services and telecommunications applications change the way the INL does business today. High speed connectivity compiled with a high demand for telephony and network services requires a robust communications infrastructure.   The current state of the MFC communication infrastructure limits growth opportunities of current and future communication infrastructure services. This limitation is largely due to equipment capacity issues, aging cabling infrastructure (external/internal fiber and copper cable) and inadequate space for telecommunication equipment. While some communication infrastructure improvements have been implemented over time projects, it has been completed without a clear overall plan and technology standard.more »   This document identifies critical deficiencies with the current state of the communication infrastructure in operation at the MFC facilities and provides an analysis to identify needs and deficiencies to be addressed in order to achieve target architectural standards as defined in STD-170. The intent of STD-170 is to provide a robust, flexible, long-term solution to make communications capabilities align with the INL mission and fit the various programmatic growth and expansion needs.« less

Crisis and Employment: The Case of Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Dongchul; Shin, Sukha

2012-01-01

This paper examines Korea's employment dynamics and analyzes how adverse impacts could be mitigated during the recent economic crisis in comparison with the 1997 to 1998 Asian crisis. A clear lesson is that policies to mitigate adverse impacts of financial crisis on the macroeconomic level should be given priority for preserving employment. In…

Crisis of Youth or Youth in Crisis? Education, Employment and Legitimation Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Robin; Smyth, John

2016-01-01

This paper uses the Habermasian concept of legitimation crisis to critique the relationship between post-compulsory education and training and the chronic levels of youth unemployment and under-employment which now characterise post-industrial Western economies, such as the UK. It draws on data from an ethnographic study of the lives of young…

A Constructive Approach to Infrastructure: Infrastructure "Breakdowns" and the Cultivation of Rhetorical Wisdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clifton, Jennifer; Loveridge, Jordan; Long, Elenore

2016-01-01

It is not typically the bent of infrastructure to be continually responsive in a way that is expansive and inclusive; instead, for newcomers or those with alternative histories, aims, vision, values, and perspectives, the inertia of infrastructure is more likely to be experienced as infrastructural breakdowns. We ask: "What might wisdom look…

Cardiac troponin I in sickle cell crisis.

PubMed

Aslam, Ahmad K; Rodriguez, Carlos; Aslam, Ahmed F; Vasavada, Balendu C; Khan, Ijaz A

2009-03-20

Gross and microscopic findings consistent with acute and healed myocardial injury without coronary artery disease have been described in autopsy studies of patients with sickle cell crisis. The present study was designed to determine whether serum levels of cardiac troponin I are elevated in sickle cell crisis. Cardiac troponin I levels were measured in 32 patients age>18 years with the admission diagnosis of sickle cell crisis. All patients had cardiac troponin I level drawn >24 h after the onset of symptoms. The clinical profile and electrocardiograms were analyzed. Out of 32 patients, 2 patients had serum cardiac troponin I elevated, both had presented with acute chest syndrome. Serum cardiac troponin I may be elevated during sickle cell crisis, possibly by myocardial ischemia resulting from microvascular coronary obstruction during sickle cell crisis.

Crisis in Context Theory: An Ecological Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myer, Rick A.; Moore, Holly B.

2006-01-01

This article outlines a theory for understanding the impact of a crisis on individuals and organizations. Crisis in context theory (CCT) is grounded in an ecological model and based on literature in the field of crisis intervention and on personal experiences of the authors. A graphic representation denotes key components and premises of CCT,…

Crisis management teams in health organisations.

PubMed

Canyon, Deon V

2012-01-01

Crisis management teams (CMT) are necessary to ensure adequate and appropriate crisis management planning and response to unforeseen, adverse events. This study investigated the existence of CMTs, the membership of CMTs, and the degree of training received by CMTs in Australian health and allied health organisations. This cross-sectional study draws on data provided by executive decision makers in a broad selection of health and allied health organisations. Crisis management teams were found in 44.2 per cent of the health-related organisations surveyed, which is ten per cent lower than the figure for business organisations. Membership of these CMTs was not ideal and did not conform to standard CMT membership profiles. Similarly, the extent of crisis management training in health-related organisations is 20 per cent lower than the figure for business organisations. If organisations do not become pro-active in their crisis management practices, the onus is on government to improve the situation through regulation and the provision of more physical, monetary and skill resources to ensure that the health services of Australia are sufficiently prepared to respond to adverse events.

Smart Valley Infrastructure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maule, R. William

1994-01-01

Discusses prototype information infrastructure projects in northern California's Silicon Valley. The strategies of the public and private telecommunications carriers vying for backbone services and industries developing end-user infrastructure technologies via office networks, set-top box networks, Internet multimedia, and "smart homes"…

Glomerular function in sickle cell disease patients during crisis.

PubMed

Aderibigbe, A; Arije, A; Akinkugbe, O O

1994-06-01

An 8 month prospective study was carried out in 20 adult sickle cell disease (SCD) patients 16 sickle cell anaemia (Hbss) and 4 sickle cell Hbc disease (Hbsc); who had vaso-occlusive crises within the study period to determine the extent of the effect of sickle cell crisis on glomerular function in SCD patients during crisis. The male: female ratio was 1:57 and their mean age was 21.1 +/- 7.9 years. Creatinine clearance (CCr), as an index of glomerular function, was determined at the pre-crisis, crisis, 2 and 4 weeks post-crisis and at the end of the study period. The mean values of their CCr dropped from 113.37 +/- 33.80mls/min at pre-crisis stage to 96.39 +/- 30.13mls/min during crisis (p < 0.001) indicating glomerular dysfunction. It improved significantly to 107.75 +/- 30.20mls/min at 4 weeks post-crisis (p < 0.001). There was no significant differences in the mean values of CCr at the end of the study (116.20 +/- 31.43mls/min) compared to the pre-crisis stage (p > 0.05). It is concluded that glomerular dysfunction in SCD patients during crisis is potentially reversible.

Operational models of infrastructure resilience.

PubMed

Alderson, David L; Brown, Gerald G; Carlyle, W Matthew

2015-04-01

We propose a definition of infrastructure resilience that is tied to the operation (or function) of an infrastructure as a system of interacting components and that can be objectively evaluated using quantitative models. Specifically, for any particular system, we use quantitative models of system operation to represent the decisions of an infrastructure operator who guides the behavior of the system as a whole, even in the presence of disruptions. Modeling infrastructure operation in this way makes it possible to systematically evaluate the consequences associated with the loss of infrastructure components, and leads to a precise notion of "operational resilience" that facilitates model verification, validation, and reproducible results. Using a simple example of a notional infrastructure, we demonstrate how to use these models for (1) assessing the operational resilience of an infrastructure system, (2) identifying critical vulnerabilities that threaten its continued function, and (3) advising policymakers on investments to improve resilience. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

Hearing impairment: a family crisis.

PubMed

Goldberg, H K

1979-01-01

This paper reviews the initial crisis for hearing impaired children and their families from the perspective of the clinician who must assess their adjustment at the point of entry into a school for the deaf. The use of crisis theory as it relates to the special needs of this client group is discussed.

Water Resources Management In The Eastern Himalayan Urban Ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bomjan, S.

The Himalayan ecosystem is one of the most important and threatened ecosystems on the earth. In this region, the scarcity of water in general, and drinking water in par- ticular is affecting common people and drawing the attention of researchers. Given the present situation and governance, in the near future it is most likely to deteriorate further. With expanding population and urbanization, accelerating human activities, and increasing per capita water consumption, problem of water supply in the moun- tain households will be certainly acute in the coming years. This crisis of decreasing availability of water is not only going to hamper the economic development of the region, but is also likely to threaten the very survival of the already marginalised and deprived people who are also on the brink of poverty and are incapable of coping with such crisis. Sustainable water harvesting and management of water resources offers the best hope for meeting the challenges of the growing water crisis. For this appropriate policy intervention, use of latest technology, application of tools like GIS and information from the satellite imageries, community participation and use of tra- ditional knowledge and traditional water management practices will be essential to overcome the challenge of looming water crisis. Darjiling Himalaya, located in the eastern Himalayas has a fragile environment and it is witnessing serious problems both in quality and quantity of water supply. Weak institutional arrangements, lack of awareness among citizens and a gap in the effective arrangements are huge stumbling blocks. This region is endowed with abundance of water resources and rich ecosystem. Therefore, this calls for an effective and participatory water management system with due attention given to the upgradation and expansion of the existing infrastructure. This paper takes a stock of the existing water resources in the Darjiling Himalaya, especially around the town of Darjiling, discusses

Liberian surgical and anesthesia infrastructure: a survey of county hospitals.

PubMed

Knowlton, Lisa Marie; Chackungal, Smita; Dahn, Bernice; LeBrun, Drake; Nickerson, Jason; McQueen, Kelly

2013-04-01

There is a significant burden of disease in low-income countries that can benefit from surgical intervention. The goal of this survey was to evaluate the current ability of the Liberian health care system to provide safe surgical care and to identify unmet needs in regard to trained personnel, equipment, infrastructure, and outcomes measurement. A comprehensive survey tool was developed to assess physical infrastructure of operative facilities, education and training for surgical and anesthesia providers, equipment and medications, and the capacity of the surgical system to collect and evaluate surgical outcomes at district-level hospitals in Africa. This tool was implemented in a sampling of 11 county hospitals in Liberia (January 2011). Data were obtained from the Ministry of Health and by direct government-affiliated hospital site visits. The total catchment area of the 11 hospitals surveyed was 2,313,429--equivalent to roughly 67 % of the population of Liberia (3,476,608). There were 13 major operating rooms and 34 (1.5 per 100,000 population) physicians delivering surgical, obstetric, or anesthesia care including 2 (0.1 per 100,000 population) who had completed formal postgraduate training programs in these specialty areas. The total number of surgical cases for 2010 was 7,654, with approximately 43 % of them being elective procedures. Among the facilities that tracked outcomes in 2010, a total of 11 intraoperative deaths (145 per 100,000 operative cases) were recorded for 2009. The 30-day postoperative mortality at hospitals providing data was 44 (1,359 per 100,000 operative cases). Metrics were also used to evaluate surgical output, safety of anesthesia, and the burden of obstetric disease. A significant volume of surgical care is being delivered at county hospitals throughout Liberia. The density and quality of appropriately trained personnel and infrastructure remain critically low. There is strong evidence for continued development of emergency and

Green Infrastructure 101

EPA Science Inventory

Green Infrastructure 101 • What is it? What does it do? What doesn’t it do? • Green Infrastructure as a stormwater and combined sewer control • GI Controls and Best Management Practices that make sense for Yonkers o (Include operations and maintenance requirements for each)

Education and Our Ecological Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klimas, John

1970-01-01

Discusses causes of our ecological crisis and suggests that in order to overcome the crisis we have to sprinkle our teaching with a sense of wonder, impress upon the youth that there is nothing difficult or mysterious about the ecological viewpoint, give youth an awareness of the diversity of things in our environment, stress interrelationships…

Supervision Experiences of Professional Counselors Providing Crisis Counseling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupre, Madeleine; Echterling, Lennis G.; Meixner, Cara; Anderson, Robin; Kielty, Michele

2014-01-01

In this phenomenological study, the authors explored supervision experiences of 13 licensed professional counselors in situations requiring crisis counseling. Five themes concerning crisis and supervision were identified from individual interviews. Findings support intensive, immediate crisis supervision and postlicensure clinical supervision.

Crisis intervention for people with severe mental illnesses

PubMed Central

Murphy, Suzanne; Irving, Claire B; Adams, Clive E; Driver, Ron

2014-01-01

Background A particularly difficult challenge for community treatment of people with serious mental illnesses is the delivery of an acceptable level of care during the acute phases of severe mental illness. Crisis intervention models of care were developed as a possible solution. Objectives To review the effects of crisis intervention models for anyone with serious mental illness experiencing an acute episode, compared with ‘standard care’. Search methods We updated the 1998, 2003 and 2006 searches with a search of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group’s Register of trials (2010) which is based on regular searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO. Selection criteria We included all randomised controlled trials of crisis intervention models versus standard care for people with severe mental illnesses. Data collection and analysis We independently extracted data from these trials and we estimated risk ratios (RR) or mean differences (MD), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assumed that people who left early from a trial had no improvement. Main results Three new studies have been found since the last review in 2006 to add to the five studies already included in this review. None of the previously included studies investigated crisis intervention alone; all used a form of home care for acutely ill people, which included elements of crisis intervention. However, one of the new studies focuses purely on crisis intervention as provided by Crisis Resolution Home Teams within the UK; the two other new studies investigated crisis houses i.e. residential alternatives to hospitalisation providing home-like environments. Crisis intervention appears to reduce repeat admissions to hospital after the initial ‘index’ crises investigated in the included studies, this was particularly so for mobile crisis teams supporting patients in their own homes. Crisis intervention reduces the number of people leaving the study early, reduces family burden, is a more

Pheochromocytoma crisis is not a surgical emergency.

PubMed

Scholten, Anouk; Cisco, Robin M; Vriens, Menno R; Cohen, Jenny K; Mitmaker, Elliot J; Liu, Chienying; Tyrrell, J Blake; Shen, Wen T; Duh, Quan-Yang

2013-02-01

Pheochromocytoma crisis is a feared and potentially lethal complication of pheochromocytoma. We sought to determine the best treatment strategy for pheochromocytoma crisis patients and hypothesized that emergency resection is not indicated. Retrospective cohort study (1993-2011); literature review (1944-2011). Tertiary referral center. There were 137 pheochromocytoma patients from our center and 97 pheochromocytoma crisis patients who underwent adrenalectomy from the literature. Medical management of pheochromocytoma crisis; adrenalectomy. Perioperative complications, conversion, and mortality. In our database, 25 patients (18%) presented with crisis. After medical stabilization and α-blockade, 15 patients were discharged and readmitted for elective surgery and 10 patients were operated on urgently during the same hospitalization. None underwent emergency surgery. Postoperatively, patients who underwent elective surgery had shorter hospital stays (1.7 vs 5.7 d, P = 0.001) and fewer postoperative complications (1 of 15 [7%] vs 5 of 10 [50%], P = 0.045) and were less often admitted to the intensive care unit (1 of 15 [7%] vs 5 of 10 [50%], P = 0.045) in comparison with urgently operated patients. There was no mortality. Review of the literature (n = 97) showed that crisis patients who underwent elective or urgent surgery vs emergency surgery had less intraoperative (13 of 31 [42%] vs 20 of 25 [80%], P < 0.001) and postoperative complications (15 of 45 [33%] vs 15 of 21 [71%], P = 0.047) and a lower mortality (0 of 64 vs 6 of 33 [18%], P = 0.002). Management of patients presenting with pheochromocytoma crisis should include initial stabilization of the acute crisis followed by sufficient α-blockade before surgery. Emergency resection of pheochromocytoma is associated with high surgical morbidity and mortality.

[The crisis of medicine or the antimedicine crisis].

PubMed

Foucault, M

1976-01-01

In this lecture, Professor Michel Foucault makes an in-depth study of the problems currently afflicting medical institutions and the medical practice. He deals with the thesis set forth by Ivan Illich in his book Medical Nemesis--The expropriation of Health, as well as the 1942 Beveridge Plan, but goes even further back in history to discover the origin of the medical crisis common throughout the world--back to the XVIII century roots of the social practice of medicine. He also describes the phases through which medical activity has passed from then until now and deals with what he calls the political economy of medicine. Finally, he reaches the conclusion that what matters is not so much the present crisis of medicine, which he considers to be a false concept, but the discipline's historical model dating from the XVIII century and serving to determine to what extent it can be modified.

School Buildings in Today's Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blyth, Alastair

2009-01-01

To get a picture of the impact of the current economic and financial crisis on educational building programmes so far, the OECD Centre for Effective Learning Environments (CELE) has been conducting a survey of member countries and regions. The survey focuses on three main issues: the impact of the crisis on publicly funded projects, the impact on…

Complex Networks and Critical Infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setola, Roberto; de Porcellinis, Stefano

The term “Critical Infrastructures” indicates all those technological infrastructures such as: electric grids, telecommunication networks, railways, healthcare systems, financial circuits, etc. that are more and more relevant for the welfare of our countries. Each one of these infrastructures is a complex, highly non-linear, geographically dispersed cluster of systems, that interact with their human owners, operators, users and with the other infrastructures. Their augmented relevance and the actual political and technological scenarios, which have increased their exposition to accidental failure and deliberate attacks, demand for different and innovative protection strategies (generally indicate as CIP - Critical Infrastructure Protection). To this end it is mandatory to understand the mechanisms that regulate the dynamic of these infrastructures. In this framework, an interesting approach is those provided by the complex networks. In this paper we illustrate some results achieved considering structural and functional properties of the corresponding topological networks both when each infrastructure is assumed as an autonomous system and when we take into account also the dependencies existing among the different infrastructures.

The future of infrastructure security :

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garcia, Pablo; Turnley, Jessica Glicken; Parrott, Lori K.

2013-05-01

Sandia National Laboratories hosted a workshop on the future of infrastructure security on February 27-28, 2013, in Albuquerque, NM. The 17 participants came from backgrounds as diverse as federal policy, the insurance industry, infrastructure management, and technology development. The purpose of the workshop was to surface key issues, identify directions forward, and lay groundwork for cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary collaborations. The workshop addressed issues such as the problem space (what is included in infrastructure problems?), the general types of threats to infrastructure (such as acute or chronic, system-inherent or exogenously imposed) and definitions of secure and resilient infrastructures. The workshop concludedmore » with a consideration of stakeholders and players in the infrastructure world, and identification of specific activities that could be undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other players.« less

Geographic Information System Technology Leveraged for Crisis Planning, Emergency, Response, and Disaster Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, A.; Little, M. M.

2013-12-01

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is piloting the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology that can be leveraged for crisis planning, emergency response, and disaster management/awareness. Many different organizations currently use GIS tools and geospatial data during a disaster event. ASDC datasets have not been fully utilized by this community in the past due to incompatible data formats that ASDC holdings are archived in. Through the successful implementation of this pilot effort and continued collaboration with the larger Homeland Defense and Department of Defense emergency management community through the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data Working Group (HIFLD WG), our data will be easily accessible to those using GIS and increase the ability to plan, respond, manage, and provide awareness during disasters. The HIFLD WG Partnership has expanded to include more than 5,900 mission partners representing the 14 executive departments, 98 agencies, 50 states (and 3 territories), and more than 700 private sector organizations to directly enhance the federal, state, and local government's ability to support domestic infrastructure data gathering, sharing and protection, visualization, and spatial knowledge management.The HIFLD WG Executive Membership is lead by representatives from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs - OASD (HD&ASA); the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Protection and Programs Directorate's Office of Infrastructure Protection (NPPD IP); the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Integrated Working Group - Readiness, Response and Recovery (IWG-R3); the Department of Interior (DOI) United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), and DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Musharraf Paradox: The Failure of an Economic Success Story

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

more basic set of issues pre- vailed: People were angry over the fact atta [ flour ] was not avail- able, that food prices were high, and due to this...prices of food items, combined with shortages of sugar, oil and flour , a looming power and gas crisis also worked to dampen the Musharraf economic...resources from the public and private sectors – often to the enrichment of senior officers, both on-duty and retired. The military has come to

Cool Heads: Crisis Management for Administrators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smiar, Nicholas P.

1992-01-01

Applies risk management models to child care administration. These models have been used by corporations to plan for crisis management. The formation of a crisis management policy and procedure is described, and features of effective communication during crises are outlined. (GLR)

A Study of Crisis Management Based on Stakeholders Analysis Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qingchun, Yue

2017-11-01

From the view of stakeholder theory, not only the enterprises should provide services to shareholders, but also take care of the demands of stakeholders. Stakeholders for the enterprise crisis are the organizations and individuals, which cause crisis, respond to the crisis and affected by the enterprise crisis. In this paper, first of all, to comb the development of stakeholder theory systematically; secondly, with the help of the enterprise crisis stakeholder analysis model, analyze the concept of stakeholders for the enterprise crisis and membership, and with the example of Shuanghui Group for further analysis; finally, we put forward relevant proposals for the enterprise crisis from the view of stakeholders.

Write the Plan before You Have the Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wirth, Eileen

2002-01-01

Outlines the development process and essential elements of a crisis communication strategy. Key steps include: (1) selecting a spokesperson; (2) publicizing the spokesperson's identity; (3) preparing a crisis notebook; (4) providing cell phones; (5) choosing a news conference location; (6) rehearsing crisis scenarios; and (7) obtaining interview…

Managing uncertainty: Lessons from volcanic lava disruption of transportation infrastructure in Puna, Hawaii.

PubMed

Kim, Karl; Pant, Pradip; Yamashita, Eric

A recent lava flow in Puna, Hawaii, threatened to close one of the major highways serving the region. This article provides background information on the volcanic hazards and describes events, responses, and challenges associated with managing a complex, long-duration disaster. In addition to the need to better understand geologic hazards and threats, there is a need for timely information and effective response and recovery of transportation infrastructure. This requires coordination and sharing of information between scientists, emergency managers, transportation planners, government agencies, and community organizations. Transportation assets play a critical role in terms of problem definition, response, and recovery. The challenges with managing a long-duration event include: (1) determining when a sufficient threat level exists to close roads; (2) identifying transportation alternatives; (3) assessing impacts on communities including the direct threats to homes, businesses, structures, and infrastructure; (4) engaging communities in planning and deliberation of choices and alternatives; and (5) managing uncertainties and different reactions to hazards, threats, and risks. The transportation planning process provides a pathway for addressing initial community concerns. Focusing not just on roadways but also on travel behavior before, during, and after disasters is a vital aspect of building resilience. The experience in Puna with the volcano crisis is relevant to other communities seeking to adapt and manage long-term threats such as climate change, sea level risk, and other long-duration events.

[Social crisis, spontaneous groups and group order].

PubMed

Edelman, Lucila; Kordon, Diana

2002-12-01

Argentina has gone through very difficult times during the last years and, in particularly, new kinds of social practices have emerged in order to cope with the crisis. This situation demands and urges a new type of reflection upon the double role of groups, as tools to transform reality and as a way to elaborate those processes regarding subjectivity. In this paper we analyse some topics regarding the groupal field (considering spontaneous groups as well as groupal devices that allow to elaborate the crisis). We consider social bond to be the condition of possibility for the existence of the psyche and of time continuity, and that it also makes possible personal and social elaboration of trauma, crisis and social catastrophe. We develop some aspects of an specific device (the reflection group), which we have already depicted in another moment, showing it's usefulness to cope with social crisis and to promote the subjective elaboration of crisis.

77 FR 30589 - SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners LP, SteelRiver Infrastructure Associates LLC, SteelRiver...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-23

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Surface Transportation Board [Docket No. FD 35622] SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners LP, SteelRiver Infrastructure Associates LLC, SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America LP, and Patriot Funding LLC--Control Exemption--Patriot Rail Corp., et al. SteelRiver...

Making green infrastructure healthier infrastructure.

PubMed

Lõhmus, Mare; Balbus, John

2015-01-01

Increasing urban green and blue structure is often pointed out to be critical for sustainable development and climate change adaptation, which has led to the rapid expansion of greening activities in cities throughout the world. This process is likely to have a direct impact on the citizens' quality of life and public health. However, alongside numerous benefits, green and blue infrastructure also has the potential to create unexpected, undesirable, side-effects for health. This paper considers several potential harmful public health effects that might result from increased urban biodiversity, urban bodies of water, and urban tree cover projects. It does so with the intent of improving awareness and motivating preventive measures when designing and initiating such projects. Although biodiversity has been found to be associated with physiological benefits for humans in several studies, efforts to increase the biodiversity of urban environments may also promote the introduction and survival of vector or host organisms for infectious pathogens with resulting spread of a variety of diseases. In addition, more green connectivity in urban areas may potentiate the role of rats and ticks in the spread of infectious diseases. Bodies of water and wetlands play a crucial role in the urban climate adaptation and mitigation process. However, they also provide habitats for mosquitoes and toxic algal blooms. Finally, increasing urban green space may also adversely affect citizens allergic to pollen. Increased awareness of the potential hazards of urban green and blue infrastructure should not be a reason to stop or scale back projects. Instead, incorporating public health awareness and interventions into urban planning at the earliest stages can help insure that green and blue infrastructure achieves full potential for health promotion.

Crisis in Feminism: The United States and France.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogsett, Charlotte

Feminism is experiencing a similar dual crisis in the United States and France. One aspect of this crisis, the movement's alignment with other groups, is destructive, inevitably leading to the subordination of women's issues to "human" issues. The other dimension of the crisis, internal differences, is potentially creative, offering the…

Attribution Theory and Crisis Intervention Therapy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skilbeck, William M.

It was proposed that existing therapeutic procedures may influence attributions about emotional states. Therefore an attributional analysis of crisis intervention, a model of community-based, short-term consultation, was presented. This analysis suggested that crisis intervention provides attributionally-relevant information about both the source…

Green Infrastructure Modeling Tools

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Modeling tools support planning and design decisions on a range of scales from setting a green infrastructure target for an entire watershed to designing a green infrastructure practice for a particular site.

Infrastructure Survey 2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Group of Eight (NJ1), 2012

2012-01-01

In 2011, the Group of Eight (Go8) conducted a survey on the state of its buildings and infrastructure. The survey is the third Go8 Infrastructure survey, with previous surveys being conducted in 2007 and 2009. The current survey updated some of the information collected in the previous surveys. It also collated data related to aspects of the…

Economic crisis and nursing in Spain.

PubMed

Zabalegui, Adelaida; Cabrera, Esther

2010-07-01

The purpose of the present study is to describe the economic context in Spain and its impact on the health care sector and in nursing schools. The global economic crisis is affecting nursing in Spain. This study analyses and compares indicators related to health care and nursing schools among European countries. Some new strategies to cope with the challenges arising from the health care crisis are suggested. Health care costs are increasing as a result of the ageing of the Spanish population, immigration, chronicity of health problems and new medical technology. Nursing education has changed in 2010 from a 3-year diploma programme to a 4-year University degree in Nursing. This change requires new resources involving staff, facilities and equipment, all of which are lacking because of the economic crisis in Spain. The worldwide economic crisis has affected Spain more than it has other European Union (EU) countries. This global crisis has an impact on the health care sector as well on nursing schools. It is essential for nursing management to develop creative approaches to maintain cost effective patient care. New programmes and technology must be carefully evaluated in terms of cost effectiveness before being implemented. All health care professionals should be well informed and have a solid understanding of this situation.

Intervention among Suicidal Men: Future Directions for Telephone Crisis Support Research.

PubMed

Hunt, Tara; Wilson, Coralie J; Woodward, Alan; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian

2018-01-01

Telephone crisis support is a confidential, accessible, and immediate service that is uniquely set up to reduce male suicide deaths through crisis intervention. However, research focusing on telephone crisis support with suicidal men is currently limited. To highlight the need to address service delivery for men experiencing suicidal crisis, this perspective article identifies key challenges facing current telephone crisis support research and proposes that understanding of the role of telephone crisis helplines in supporting suicidal men may be strengthened by careful examination of the context of telephone crisis support, together with the impact this has on help-provision for male suicidal callers. In particular, the impact of the time- and information-poor context of telephone crisis support on crisis-line staff's identification of, and response to, male callers with thoughts of suicide is examined. Future directions for research in the provision of telephone crisis support for suicidal men are discussed.

Governing during an Institutional Crisis: 10 Fundamental Principles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Lawrence

2012-01-01

In today's world, managing a campus crisis poses special challenges for an institution's governing board, which may operate some distance removed from the immediate events giving rise to the crisis. In its most challenging form, a campus crisis--a shooting, a natural disaster, a fraternity hazing death, the arrest of a prominent campus…

Climate Action Benefits: Infrastructure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This page provides background on the relationship between infrastructure and climate change and describes what the CIRA Infrastructure analyses cover. It provides links to the subsectors Bridges, Roads, Urban Drainage, and Coastal Property.

Civilian Skills for African Military Officers to Resolve the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Stability Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Army War College,Strategic... projects build - ing Chinese infrastructure in both rural and urban ar- eas.53 The Chinese model thus instills a lifelong dedica- tion to and...Studies Institute,122 Forbes Avenue,Carlisle,PA,17013 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES

Intervention among Suicidal Men: Future Directions for Telephone Crisis Support Research

PubMed Central

Hunt, Tara; Wilson, Coralie J.; Woodward, Alan; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian

2018-01-01

Telephone crisis support is a confidential, accessible, and immediate service that is uniquely set up to reduce male suicide deaths through crisis intervention. However, research focusing on telephone crisis support with suicidal men is currently limited. To highlight the need to address service delivery for men experiencing suicidal crisis, this perspective article identifies key challenges facing current telephone crisis support research and proposes that understanding of the role of telephone crisis helplines in supporting suicidal men may be strengthened by careful examination of the context of telephone crisis support, together with the impact this has on help-provision for male suicidal callers. In particular, the impact of the time- and information-poor context of telephone crisis support on crisis-line staff’s identification of, and response to, male callers with thoughts of suicide is examined. Future directions for research in the provision of telephone crisis support for suicidal men are discussed. PMID:29404319

Sickle Cell Crisis and the Acute Abdomen

PubMed Central

Nazem, Ahmad; Walker, Mark

1986-01-01

Abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms in sickle cell crisis, and its cause remains controversial. Simple vaso-occlusive crisis may be an explanation. The abdominal pain may also reflect an acute surgical abdomen. A patient presented with sickle cell crisis and abdominal pain; he had a periappendiceal abscess at the site of an appendiceal stump five months after appendectomy. The role of sickle cell anemia in the pathogenesis of this abscess is uncertain. PMID:3531534

Changes in mortality after the recent economic crisis in South Korea.

PubMed

Kim, Hanjoong; Song, Young Jong; Yi, Jee Jeon; Chung, Woo Jin; Nam, Chung Mo

2004-07-01

To examine the changes in all cause mortality and cause-specific mortality after the economic crisis in South Korea. Monthly mortality data for an entire country was used and intervention analysis applied to compare mortality after the crisis with mortality which would have occurred if the trends before the crisis had continued. All cause mortality began to increase about 1 year after the crisis, while cardiovascular increased immediately. Transport accidents decreased significantly during the year following the crisis and then regressed towards the pre-economic crisis level. Suicides increased rapidly and maintained an upward trend but subsequently reduced towards the pre-economic crisis level. This study has shown an evidence of a relationship between economic crisis and mortality.

Utilization of medical care following the Three Mile Island crisis.

PubMed

Houts, P S; Hu, T W; Henderson, R A; Cleary, P D; Tokuhata, G

1984-02-01

Four studies are reported on how utilization of primary health care was affected by the Three Mile Island (TMI) crisis and subsequent distress experienced by persons living in the vicinity of the plant. The studies concerned: 1) Blue Cross-Blue Shield records of claims by primary care physicians in the vicinity of TMI; 2) utilization rates in a family practice located near the facility; 3) interviews with persons living within five miles of TMI following the crisis; and 4) responses to a questionnaire by primary care physicians practicing within 25 miles of TMI. All four studies indicated only slight increases in utilization rates during the year following the crisis. One study found that persons who were upset during the crisis tended to be high practice utilizers both before and after the crisis. These results suggest that, while patterns of physician utilization prior to the TMI crisis predicted emotional response during the crisis, the impact of the TMI crisis on subsequent physician utilization was small.

Utilization of medical care following the Three Mile Island crisis.

PubMed Central

Houts, P S; Hu, T W; Henderson, R A; Cleary, P D; Tokuhata, G

1984-01-01

Four studies are reported on how utilization of primary health care was affected by the Three Mile Island (TMI) crisis and subsequent distress experienced by persons living in the vicinity of the plant. The studies concerned: 1) Blue Cross-Blue Shield records of claims by primary care physicians in the vicinity of TMI; 2) utilization rates in a family practice located near the facility; 3) interviews with persons living within five miles of TMI following the crisis; and 4) responses to a questionnaire by primary care physicians practicing within 25 miles of TMI. All four studies indicated only slight increases in utilization rates during the year following the crisis. One study found that persons who were upset during the crisis tended to be high practice utilizers both before and after the crisis. These results suggest that, while patterns of physician utilization prior to the TMI crisis predicted emotional response during the crisis, the impact of the TMI crisis on subsequent physician utilization was small. PMID:6691524

School Crisis Response: Expecting the Unexpected.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lichtenstein, Robert; And Others

1994-01-01

The typical administrator certification program does not devote specific attention to shootings, suicide, terminal illness, and natural disasters. A crisis of major proportion calls for enlightened leadership: a take-charge manner, combined with effective teamwork and delegation of vital operations. Crisis teams should exist at regional, district,…

Being PREPaREd for Crisis in Northern Colorado

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hancock, Kathy; Malvey, Michelle; Rastatter, Dennis

2010-01-01

The Thompson School District recognized after the Columbine incident in the spring of 1999 that it was lacking an adequate plan for crisis response. Colorado legislation led to a mandate for having a crisis response plan so the district purchased a "canned" crisis response plan that served the needs of response in a very immediate but…

Making green infrastructure healthier infrastructure

PubMed Central

Lõhmus, Mare; Balbus, John

2015-01-01

Increasing urban green and blue structure is often pointed out to be critical for sustainable development and climate change adaptation, which has led to the rapid expansion of greening activities in cities throughout the world. This process is likely to have a direct impact on the citizens’ quality of life and public health. However, alongside numerous benefits, green and blue infrastructure also has the potential to create unexpected, undesirable, side-effects for health. This paper considers several potential harmful public health effects that might result from increased urban biodiversity, urban bodies of water, and urban tree cover projects. It does so with the intent of improving awareness and motivating preventive measures when designing and initiating such projects. Although biodiversity has been found to be associated with physiological benefits for humans in several studies, efforts to increase the biodiversity of urban environments may also promote the introduction and survival of vector or host organisms for infectious pathogens with resulting spread of a variety of diseases. In addition, more green connectivity in urban areas may potentiate the role of rats and ticks in the spread of infectious diseases. Bodies of water and wetlands play a crucial role in the urban climate adaptation and mitigation process. However, they also provide habitats for mosquitoes and toxic algal blooms. Finally, increasing urban green space may also adversely affect citizens allergic to pollen. Increased awareness of the potential hazards of urban green and blue infrastructure should not be a reason to stop or scale back projects. Instead, incorporating public health awareness and interventions into urban planning at the earliest stages can help insure that green and blue infrastructure achieves full potential for health promotion. PMID:26615823

75 FR 67989 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Office of Infrastructure Protection; Infrastructure...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-04

..., National Protection and Programs Directorate, Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP), will submit the... manner.'' DHS designated IP to lead these efforts. Given that the vast majority of the Nation's critical infrastructure and key resources in most sectors are privately owned or controlled, IP's success in achieving the...

Electronic gaming and the obesity crisis.

PubMed

Calvert, Sandra L; Staiano, Amanda E; Bond, Bradley J

2013-01-01

Children and adolescents in the United States and in many countries are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents, partly because of the obesity crisis engulfing the developed world. Exposure to electronic media is often implicated in this crisis because media use, including electronic game play, may promote sedentary behavior and increase consumption of high-calorie foods and beverages that are low in nutritional value. Electronic games, however, may increase children's physical activity and expose them to healthier foods. We examine the role of electronic games in the pediatric obesity crisis and their contribution to more favorable health outcomes. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

Electronic Gaming and the Obesity Crisis

PubMed Central

Calvert, Sandra L.; Staiano, Amanda E.; Bond, Bradley J.

2014-01-01

Children and adolescents in the United States and in many countries are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents, partly because of the obesity crisis engulfing the developed world. Exposure to electronic media is often implicated in this crisis because media use, including electronic game play, may promote sedentary behavior and increase consumption of high-calorie foods and beverages that are low in nutritional value. Electronic games, however, may increase children’s physical activity and expose them to healthier foods. We examine the role of electronic games in the pediatric obesity crisis and their contribution to more favorable health outcomes. PMID:23483693

LENR/"Cold Fusion" and Modern Physics: A Crisis Within a Crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallove, Eugene F. E.

2004-03-01

The primary theorists in the field of Cold Fusion/LENR have generally assumed that the excess heat phenomena is commensurate with nuclear ash (such as helium), whether already identified or presumed to be present but not yet found, and moreover that it can be explained by hydrided metal lattice structures acting coherently. Though this was an excellent initial hypothesis, the commensurate nuclear ash hypothesis has not been proved, and appears to be approximately correct in only a few experiments. At the same time, compelling evidence has also emerged for other microphysical sources of energy that were unexpected by accepted physics. The exemplars have been the work Dr. Randell Mills and his colleagues at BlackLight Power Corporation and Dr. Paulo and Alexandra Correa in Canada.This has led to a crisis within a crisis: Neither "cold fusion" nor "Modern Physics" will be able to explain the full range of experimental data now available---not even the data within "mainstream" cold fusion/LENR per se--- by insisting that the fundamental paradigms of Modern Physics are without significant flaw. The present crisis is of magnitude comparable to the Copernican Revolution. Neither Modern Physics nor Cold Fusion/LENR will survive in their present forms when this long delayed revolution has run its course.

Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit is a toolkit of 5 EPA green infrastructure models and tools, along with communication materials, that can be used as a teaching tool and a quick reference resource when making GI implementation decisions.

Neo-Liberalism in Crisis? Educational Dimensions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Small, David

2011-01-01

Until the global financial crisis, neo-liberalism had appeared invincible. This article examines the global rise of neo-liberalism and its impact on education, particularly its treatment of the social democratic ideal of equality. Drawing on examples from education and other socio-political factors, it considers whether the financial crisis is…

Crisis and Loss: Information for Families.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canter, Andrea, Ed.

1999-01-01

During a crisis, parents can do a great deal to help their child deal with grief and anxiety. This special issue provides information and promising practices that might be helpful in dealing with various crisis situations. Provides the following articles: (1) "Children Killing Children" (Kevin Dwyer); (2) "Disaster: Helping Children…

Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies Assessment

DOE PAGES

Petit, Frederic; Verner, Duane

2016-11-01

Throughout the world there is strong recognition that critical infrastructure security and resilience needs to be improved. In the United States, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) provides the strategic vision to guide the national effort to manage risk to the Nation’s critical infrastructure.”1 The achievement of this vision is challenged by the complexity of critical infrastructure systems and their inherent interdependencies. The update to the NIPP presents an opportunity to advance the nation’s efforts to further understand and analyze interdependencies. Such an important undertaking requires the involvement of public and private sector stakeholders and the reinforcement of existing partnershipsmore » and collaborations within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other Federal agencies, including national laboratories; State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; and nongovernmental organizations.« less

Solving the Antibiotic Crisis.

PubMed

Wright, Gerard D

2015-02-13

Antibiotics are essential for both treating and preventing infectious diseases. Paradoxically, despite their importance as pillars of modern medicine, we are in danger of losing antibiotics because of the evolution and dissemination of resistance mechanisms throughout all pathogenic microbes. This fact, coupled with an inability to bring new drugs to market at a pace that matches resistance, has resulted in a crisis of global proportion. Solving this crisis requires the actions of many stakeholders, but chemists, chemical biologists, and microbiologists must drive the scientific innovation that is required to maintain our antibiotic arsenal. This innovation requires (1) a deep understanding of the evolution and reservoirs of resistance; (2) full knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic action and resistance; (3) the discovery of chemical and genetic probes of antibiotic action and resistance; (4) the integration of systems biology into antibiotic discovery; and (5) the discovery of new antimicrobial chemical matter. Addressing these pressing scientific gaps will ensure that we can meet the antibiotic crisis with creativity and purpose.

Crisis Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brock, Stephen E., Ed.

2011-01-01

This paper presents summaries of four articles relevant to school crisis response. The first article, "Peritraumatic Dissociation Predicts Posttraumatic Stress in Youth Following Accidents" summarized by Jim Matthews, suggests that peritraumatic dissociation is a powerful predictor of PTSD symptoms among youth who have been in a car…

Vygotsky's Crisis: Argument, context, relevance.

PubMed

Hyman, Ludmila

2012-06-01

Vygotsky's The Historical Significance of the Crisis in Psychology (1926-1927) is an important text in the history and philosophy of psychology that has only become available to scholars in 1982 in Russian, and in 1997 in English. The goal of this paper is to introduce Vygotsky's conception of psychology to a wider audience. I argue that Vygotsky's argument about the "crisis" in psychology and its resolution can be fully understood only in the context of his social and political thinking. Vygotsky shared the enthusiasm, widespread among Russian leftist intelligentsia in the 1920s, that Soviet society had launched an unprecedented social experiment: The socialist revolution opened the way for establishing social conditions that would let the individual flourish. For Vygotsky, this meant that "a new man" of the future would become "the first and only species in biology that would create itself." He envisioned psychology as a science that would serve this humanist teleology. I propose that The Crisis is relevant today insofar as it helps us define a fundamental problem: How can we systematically account for the development of knowledge in psychology? I evaluate how Vygotsky addresses this problem as a historian of the crisis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Crisis Simulations in Public Relations Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veil, Shari R.

2010-01-01

Objectives: Students will demonstrate research, decision making, team building, and public speaking skills, while applying issues management and crisis communication concepts in a realistic setting. Courses: Introduction to Public Relations, Public Relations Cases, Crisis Communication.

Green Infrastructure Fact Sheet

EPA Science Inventory

We briefly describe the environmental issues associated with stormwater runoff, describe the purpose of green infrastructure and key techniques used. We also highlight environmental and economic benefits of green infrastructure through text and tables, as well as provide US wate...

Multi-Scale Infrastructure Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) multi-scale infrastructure assessment project supports both water resource adaptation to climate change and the rehabilitation of the nation’s aging water infrastructure by providing tools, scientific data and information to progra...

APhoRISM FP7 project: the Multi-platform volcanic Ash Cloud Estimation (MACE) infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merucci, Luca; Corradini, Stefano; Bignami, Christian; Stramondo, Salvatore

2014-05-01

APHORISM is an FP7 project that aims to develop innovative products to support the management and mitigation of the volcanic and the seismic crisis. Satellite and ground measurements will be managed in a novel manner to provide new and improved products in terms of accuracy and quality of information. The Multi-platform volcanic Ash Cloud Estimation (MACE) infrastructure will exploit the complementarity between geostationary, and polar satellite sensors and ground measurements to improve the ash detection and retrieval and to fully characterize the volcanic ash clouds from source to the atmosphere. The basic idea behind the proposed method consists to manage in a novel manner, the volcanic ash retrievals at the space-time scale of typical geostationary observations using both the polar satellite estimations and in-situ measurements. The typical ash thermal infrared (TIR) retrieval will be integrated by using a wider spectral range from visible (VIS) to microwave (MW) and the ash detection will be extended also in case of cloudy atmosphere or steam plumes. All the MACE ash products will be tested on three recent eruptions representative of different eruption styles in different clear or cloudy atmospheric conditions: Eyjafjallajokull (Iceland) 2010, Grimsvotn (Iceland) 2011 and Etna (Italy) 2011-2012. The MACE infrastructure will be suitable to be implemented in the next generation of ESA Sentinels satellite missions.

Carbon emissions of infrastructure development.

PubMed

Müller, Daniel B; Liu, Gang; Løvik, Amund N; Modaresi, Roja; Pauliuk, Stefan; Steinhoff, Franciska S; Brattebø, Helge

2013-10-15

Identifying strategies for reconciling human development and climate change mitigation requires an adequate understanding of how infrastructures contribute to well-being and greenhouse gas emissions. While direct emissions from infrastructure use are well-known, information about indirect emissions from their construction is highly fragmented. Here, we estimated the carbon footprint of the existing global infrastructure stock in 2008, assuming current technologies, to be 122 (-20/+15) Gt CO2. The average per-capita carbon footprint of infrastructures in industrialized countries (53 (± 6) t CO2) was approximately 5 times larger that that of developing countries (10 (± 1) t CO2). A globalization of Western infrastructure stocks using current technologies would cause approximately 350 Gt CO2 from materials production, which corresponds to about 35-60% of the remaining carbon budget available until 2050 if the average temperature increase is to be limited to 2 °C, and could thus compromise the 2 °C target. A promising but poorly explored mitigation option is to build new settlements using less emissions-intensive materials, for example by urban design; however, this strategy is constrained by a lack of bottom-up data on material stocks in infrastructures. Infrastructure development must be considered in post-Kyoto climate change agreements if developing countries are to participate on a fair basis.

Electronic Gaming and the Obesity Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calvert, Sandra L.; Staiano, Amanda E.; Bond, Bradley J.

2013-01-01

Children and adolescents in the United States and in many countries are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents, partly because of the obesity crisis engulfing the developed world. Exposure to electronic media is often implicated in this crisis because media use, including electronic game play, may promote sedentary behavior and…

Pakistan's Education Crisis: The Real Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naviwala, Nadia

2016-01-01

Pakistan suffers from an extensive education crisis. Millions of Pakistani children do not attend school, and those that do must deal with absent teachers and poor learning environments, among other challenges. While this crisis is frequently discussed in Pakistan and beyond, it is often misunderstood. This new Wilson Center report, based on…

Crisis Communications in a Digital World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trump, Kenneth S.

2015-01-01

Kenneth Trump, a school safety expert who consults with districts on how to respond to school safety crises, explains how the new prevalence of threats of violence being delivered over digital and social media creates for administrators a "communication crisis" that unfolds alongside the real or perceived crisis of school safety being…

Crisis and Loss: Information for Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canter, Andrea, Ed.

1999-01-01

Crisis intervention is a vital component of any comprehensive approach to maintaining psychological well being. An active school-based crisis intervention team can make a powerful contribution to a school's sense of community and commitment to taking care of each other. This special edition presents promising practices that may be helpful to…

The consequences of the economic crisis in radiology.

PubMed

2015-12-01

The effects of the economic crisis have led to complex problems in radiology. The crisis has led to a reduction in the turnover of imaging equipment. This reflects on the quantity and quality of output, an aspect which is worsened by the contraction of the radiology market, late payments on supplies, and competitive procurement of medical goods centralized on a regional or national level. Many local and national institutions have operated with significant reductions of reimbursement for procedures, forcing a reorganization of facilities, manpower, and equipment. The reduction in operating margins of the industry has resulted in a reduction of invested capital for projects of industrial R&D and direct or indirect sponsorship. The quality of care will be affected with less comfortable conditions, reduction of local availability of radiologists, and failure to invest in lower dose equipment to control population medical radiation exposure. The crisis resulted in a reduction in the number of graduates in medicine and scholarships for specialization induced by linear cuts will result in a drastic reduction of radiological specialists. This will favour the development of teleradiology services, with the risk of accelerating the demedicalisation of radiology departments, and isolation of the professionals. • The economic crisis has led to reduction in the turnover of imaging equipment. • The economic crisis has led to reductions of reimbursement for procedures. • The economic crisis has led to reductions in operating margins of the industry. • The economic crisis has led to contraction of quantity and quality of output. • The economic crisis resulted in demedicalisation of radiology departments and isolation of professionals.

Technological disasters, crisis management and leadership stress.

PubMed

Weisaeth, Lars; Knudsen, Øistein; Tønnessen, Arnfinn

2002-07-01

This paper discusses how psychological stress disturbs decision making during technological crisis and disaster, and how to prevent this from happening. This is exemplified by scientific studies of a Norwegian large scale accident involving hazardous material, and of handling the far-off effects of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The former constitutes an operative level of crisis management, whereas the latter involves crisis management at the strategic and political level. We conclude that stress had a negative effect on decision making in both cases.

What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Crisis? A Commentary on Michael Young's Article "Overcoming the Crisis in Curriculum Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lundgren, Ulf P.

2015-01-01

Michael Young's article "Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach" ("JCS, 45", 2) is discussed from the starting point that the claimed crisis is constructed from a decisive solution, that is the solution determines what is a crisis. But curriculum research and curriculum theory are in need of…

Crisis management, capabilities and preparedness: the case of public hospitals in Iran.

PubMed

Najafbagy, Reza

2010-01-01

Crises occurred in recent decades show that organizations' preparedness to predict and respond to undesired problems is directly related to the degree of their capabilities and preparedness to manage crises in this context, hospitals compared to other organizations are more viable to suffer damages if a crisis occurs. This study investigates the degree of public hospitals capabilities and preparedness to handled possible crises. Responses from hospital managers and directors show that most of them were not familiar with crisis management, while majority of them mentioned that they had crisis management plan and committee in their hospitals. Moreover, most of the respondents believed that if a crisis occurs in the hospital, patients, personnel and documents will be the first victims of the crisis. The study also indicates that having a crisis plan and crisis committee without being familiar with knowledge of crisis management, do not help managers to cope with crisis. Moreover, correlations show that older managers were more familiar with crisis management experiences abroad, and defined responsibilities contributed to setting up crisis committee, and taking crisis seriously.

44 CFR 206.171 - Crisis counseling assistance and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Crisis counseling assistance... Assistance § 206.171 Crisis counseling assistance and training. (a) Purpose. This section establishes the policy, standards, and procedures for implementing section 416 of the Act, Crisis Counseling Assistance...

44 CFR 206.171 - Crisis counseling assistance and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2012-10-01 2011-10-01 true Crisis counseling assistance... Assistance § 206.171 Crisis counseling assistance and training. (a) Purpose. This section establishes the policy, standards, and procedures for implementing section 416 of the Act, Crisis Counseling Assistance...

44 CFR 206.171 - Crisis counseling assistance and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Crisis counseling assistance... Assistance § 206.171 Crisis counseling assistance and training. (a) Purpose. This section establishes the policy, standards, and procedures for implementing section 416 of the Act, Crisis Counseling Assistance...

44 CFR 206.171 - Crisis counseling assistance and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Crisis counseling assistance... Assistance § 206.171 Crisis counseling assistance and training. (a) Purpose. This section establishes the policy, standards, and procedures for implementing section 416 of the Act, Crisis Counseling Assistance...

Resilient Communication: A New Crisis Communication Strategy for Homeland Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

communication theory. Author, Timothy Coombs , in Ongoing Crisis Communication , discusses the need for a crisis management 10 plan to prepare for potential... COMMUNICATION : A NEW CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY by Sharon L. Watson March 2012 Thesis Advisor: Christopher Bellavita...REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Resilient Communication : A New Crisis Communication

Multifractal analysis of Asian markets during 2007-2008 financial crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasan, Rashid; Mohammad, Salim M.

2015-02-01

2007-2008 US financial crisis adversely affected the stock markets all over the world. Asian markets also came under pressure and were differently affected. As markets under stress could reveal features that remain hidden under normal conditions, we use MF-DFA technique to investigate the multifractal structure of the US and seven Asian stock markets during the crisis period. The overall period of study, from 01 July 2002 to 31 December 2013, is divided into three sub-periods: pre-crisis period, crisis period and post-crisis period. We find during the crisis period markets of the US, Japan, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Indonesia show very strong non-linearity for positive values of the moment q. We calculate the singularity spectra, f(α) for the three sub-periods for all markets. During the crisis period, we observe that the peaks of the f(α) spectra shift to lower values of α and markets of the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Indonesia exhibit increased long range correlations of large fluctuations in index returns. We also study the impact of the crisis on the power law exponent in the tail region of the cumulative return distribution and find that by excluding the crisis period from the overall data sets, the tail exponent increases across all markets.

Developing an infrastructure index : phase I.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

Over the past decade the American Society of Civil Engineers has used the Infrastructure Report : Card to raise awareness of infrastructure issues. Aging and deteriorating infrastructure has : recently been highlighted in the popular media. However, ...

CALS Infrastructure Analysis. Draft. Volume 21

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1990-03-01

This executive overview to the DoD CALS Infrastructure Analysis Report summarizes the Components' current effort to modernize the DoD technical data infrastructure. This infrastructure includes all existing and planned capabilities to acquire, manage...

Biofeedback Training in Crisis Managers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Janka, A; Adler, C; Brunner, B; Oppenrieder, S; Duschek, S

2017-06-01

Working in crisis environments represents a major challenge, especially for executive personnel engaged in directing disaster operations, i.e. crisis managers. Crisis management involves operating under conditions of extreme stress resulting, for instance, from high-level decision-making, principal responsibility for personnel, multitasking or working under conditions of risk and time pressure. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a newly developed biofeedback training procedure based on electrodermal activity, especially designed for the target group of crisis managers. The training comprised exercises promoting acquisition of control over sympathetic arousal under resting conditions and during exposure to visual, acoustic and cognitive stressors resembling situations related to crisis management. In a randomized controlled design, 36 crisis managers were assigned to either a biofeedback training group or waiting list control group. Subjective stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale. In the training group, stress level markedly decreased; the decrease remained stable at follow-up 2 months after the training. The results indicate that biofeedback training in crisis management is an effective method for stress management that may help to reduce vulnerability to stress-related performance decline and stress-related disease.

Ischemic stroke risk factors during Greek economic crisis.

PubMed

Katsanos, Aristeidis H; Fiolaki, Aidonio; Markou, Sofia; Markoula, Sofia; Kosmidou, Maria; Kyritsis, Athanassios P; Giannopoulos, Sotirios

2016-02-01

The impact of Greece's economic crisis on healthcare is of great concern. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of economic crisis on the prevention of cerebral ischemic events. Retrospective analysis of patients with ischemic stroke (IS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) admitted to a tertiary neurological department in northwestern Greece during the period 2008-2014. Using 2011 as the transitional year IS/TIA patients were dichotomized according to their admission date in two subgroups: the "before economic crisis" subgroup and the "after economic crisis" subgroup. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictor variables of statin/antihypertensive pretreatment. Patients admitted after the economic crisis outbreak (mean age: 57.6 ± 13.5 years) were found to have lower waist periphery measurements (p = 0.001), lower incidence of diabetes (p = 0.028), hyperlipidemia (p = 0.002) and metabolic syndrome(p < 0.001), at stroke onset with lower rates of antilipidemic treatment prescription prior to stroke onset compared to those patients with cerebral ischemia that were hospitalized before the financial crisis (mean age: 59.6 ± 11.1 years). However, between the two subgroups were no significant differences in the rates of untreated patients with hyperlipidemia (p = 0.189) and/or hypertension (p = 0.313). Even though statin pretreatment prior to stroke onset was found to be reduced during economic crisis compared to the period before the crisis, (OR = 0.58, 95%CI: 0.34-0.95, p = 0.032), this association did not retain statistical significance in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR = 1.69, 95%CI = 0.83-3.42, p = 0.143). Our study supports that at present financial crisis has not significantly affected the prevention of cerebrovascular events in the citizens of a provincial city area. Data from other regions and time-periods are needed for the final verdict. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cloud Infrastructure & Applications - CloudIA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulistio, Anthony; Reich, Christoph; Doelitzscher, Frank

The idea behind Cloud Computing is to deliver Infrastructure-as-a-Services and Software-as-a-Service over the Internet on an easy pay-per-use business model. To harness the potentials of Cloud Computing for e-Learning and research purposes, and to small- and medium-sized enterprises, the Hochschule Furtwangen University establishes a new project, called Cloud Infrastructure & Applications (CloudIA). The CloudIA project is a market-oriented cloud infrastructure that leverages different virtualization technologies, by supporting Service-Level Agreements for various service offerings. This paper describes the CloudIA project in details and mentions our early experiences in building a private cloud using an existing infrastructure.

Content Knowledge--The Real Reading Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kato, Tsuguhiko; Manning, Maryann

2007-01-01

The perceived crisis in reading achievement may be misplaced--the real crisis may be what is ignored in the curriculum. People are alarmed at the lack of emphasis being placed on teaching content knowledge in many of today's classrooms. They laugh when Jay Leno takes to the street, interviewing teenagers and young adults who do not have the…

Geographic Hotspots of Critical National Infrastructure.

PubMed

Thacker, Scott; Barr, Stuart; Pant, Raghav; Hall, Jim W; Alderson, David

2017-12-01

Failure of critical national infrastructures can result in major disruptions to society and the economy. Understanding the criticality of individual assets and the geographic areas in which they are located is essential for targeting investments to reduce risks and enhance system resilience. Within this study we provide new insights into the criticality of real-life critical infrastructure networks by integrating high-resolution data on infrastructure location, connectivity, interdependence, and usage. We propose a metric of infrastructure criticality in terms of the number of users who may be directly or indirectly disrupted by the failure of physically interdependent infrastructures. Kernel density estimation is used to integrate spatially discrete criticality values associated with individual infrastructure assets, producing a continuous surface from which statistically significant infrastructure criticality hotspots are identified. We develop a comprehensive and unique national-scale demonstration for England and Wales that utilizes previously unavailable data from the energy, transport, water, waste, and digital communications sectors. The testing of 200,000 failure scenarios identifies that hotspots are typically located around the periphery of urban areas where there are large facilities upon which many users depend or where several critical infrastructures are concentrated in one location. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Defining crisis in families of individuals with autism spectrum disorders

PubMed Central

Wingsiong, Aranda; Lunsky, Yona

2014-01-01

Parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder often report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and mental health–related issues. The combination of stressors and family adjustment difficulties can cause distress which may develop into a crisis. Understanding crisis in the family is important to mental health practice since it can serve as a guide in delivering service to at-risk families. This study investigated the subjective experience of crisis in 155 mothers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Thematic analysis revealed that crisis is characterized by factors influencing four major areas: demands, internal capabilities, external resources, and subjective appraisal. Understanding what crisis means to families of individuals with autism spectrum disorder can help inform effective preventative and crisis services. PMID:24254639

40 CFR 166.49 - Public notice of crisis exemptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Public notice of crisis exemptions... PROGRAMS EXEMPTION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES FOR USE OF PESTICIDES UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS Crisis Exemptions § 166.49 Public notice of crisis exemptions. (a) Periodic notices. At least quarterly, the...

Elevated IL-8 levels during sickle cell crisis.

PubMed

Duits, A J; Schnog, J B; Lard, L R; Saleh, A W; Rojer, R A

1998-11-01

The vaso-occlusive process (VOC) in sickle cell disease is of a complex nature. It involves intricate interactions between sickle red blood cells, endothelium and probably also leukocytes. As these interactions are regulated by cytokines, we analyzed the role of the potent neutrophil chemokine IL-8 by measuring serum levels in sickle cell patients during sickle cell crisis. These results were compared to nonsymptomatics and healthy controls. In patients having a vaso-occlusive crisis both HbSS and HbSC patients showed significantly enhanced serum IL-8 levels compared to healthy controls. Several of these patients showed extremely elevated serum IL-8 levels which were independent of the crisis inducing factor. Furthermore, a sickle cell patient with VOC as a complication of rhGM-CSF treatment similarly showed high IL-8 serum levels at crisis onset. Nonsymptomatic sickle cell patients serum IL-8 levels were comparable to healthy controls. These results implicate a role for IL-8 at or during (the initiation of) sickle cell crisis.

TCIA Secure Cyber Critical Infrastructure Modernization.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Keliiaa, Curtis M.

The Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia Labs) tribal cyber infrastructure assurance initiative was developed in response to growing national cybersecurity concerns in the the sixteen Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defined critical infrastructure sectors1. Technical assistance is provided for the secure modernization of critical infrastructure and key resources from a cyber-ecosystem perspective with an emphasis on enhanced security, resilience, and protection. Our purpose is to address national critical infrastructure challenges as a shared responsibility.

EV Charging Infrastructure Roadmap

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karner, Donald; Garetson, Thomas; Francfort, Jim

2016-08-01

As highlighted in the U.S. Department of Energy’s EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, vehicle technology is advancing toward an objective to “… produce plug-in electric vehicles that are as affordable and convenient for the average American family as today’s gasoline-powered vehicles …” [1] by developing more efficient drivetrains, greater battery energy storage per dollar, and lighter-weight vehicle components and construction. With this technology advancement and improved vehicle performance, the objective for charging infrastructure is to promote vehicle adoption and maximize the number of electric miles driven. The EV Everywhere Charging Infrastructure Roadmap (hereafter referred to as Roadmap) looks forward and assumesmore » that the technical challenges and vehicle performance improvements set forth in the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge will be met. The Roadmap identifies and prioritizes deployment of charging infrastructure in support of this charging infrastructure objective for the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge« less

40 CFR 166.50 - Reporting and recordkeeping requirements for crisis exemption.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... requirements for crisis exemption. 166.50 Section 166.50 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... EMERGENCY CONDITIONS Crisis Exemptions § 166.50 Reporting and recordkeeping requirements for crisis... a crisis exemption must be immediately reported to the Agency. (b) Final reports. (1) A report...

Foreign currency exchange network topology across the 2008 credit crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharif, Shamshuritawati; Ap, Nuraisah Che; Ruslan, Nuraimi

2017-05-01

A stable world currency exchange rate is a very important aspect to be considered for a developed country, i.e Malaysia. A better understanding about the currencies itself is needed nowadays. This project is about to understanding the fluctuation and to identify the most influential world currencies in the three different cases; before credit crisis, during credit crisis and after credit crisis. A network topology approach is use to examine the interrelationship between currencies based on correlation analysis. With this point of view, those relationships can be measured by a correlation structure among the currencies. The network can be analyse by filtering the important information using minimum spanning tree (MST) and interpret it using degree centrality as the centrality measure. This topology will give a useful guide to understand the behaviour and determine the most influential currency in the network as a part of a complex system. All currencies are compared among the three different cases; before credit crisis, during credit crisis and after credit crisis period. The result of this project shows that Unites State Dollar (USD), Brazilian Real (BRL), United Kingdom Pound (EUR) and Danish Krone (DKK) are the most influential currencies before the credit crisis period. With respect to during the credit crisis, New Zealand Dollar (NZD) dominates the network and it is followed by Singapore Dollar (SGD) for after the credit crisis period.

When a Crisis Hits, Will Your School Be Ready?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decker, Robert H.

This guidebook describes the components involved in proactively developing a comprehensive crisis-management plan. Chapter 1 explains the philosophical underpinnings of a crisis-management plan and discusses the importance of vision and staff development. Chapter 2 answers the questions: Why do we need a crisis-management plan? Who needs to be…

Predicting Active Duty Air Force Pilot Attrition Given an Anticipated Increase in Major Airline Pilot Hiring

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

of the RAND Corporation. CHILDREN AND FAMILIES EDUCATION AND THE ARTS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INFRASTRUCTURE AND...of service changes. This time, the landscape is different. As such, this dissertation intends to illustrate the effect that looming increases in...Accounting Office, 1999a; Grier, 1998). This prediction was bolstered by a free -falling ACP take rate, which ended the year at 26 percent. In a September

An Information-Processing Model of Crisis Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egelhoff, William G.; Sen, Falguni

1992-01-01

Develops a contingency model for managing a variety of corporate crises. Views crisis management as an information-processing situation and organizations that must cope with crisis as information-processing systems. Attempts to fit appropriate information-processing mechanisms to different categories of crises. (PRA)

Wundt contested: The first crisis declaration in psychology.

PubMed

Mülberger, Annette

2012-06-01

When reflecting on the history and the present situation of their field, psychologists have often seen their discipline as being in a critical state. The first author to warn of a crisis was, in 1897, the now scarcely known philosopher Rudolf Willy. He saw a crisis in psychology resulting, firstly, from a profuse branching out of psychology. Adopting a radical empiriocriticist point of view, he, secondly, made the metaphysical stance of scholars like Wilhelm Wundt responsible for the crisis. Meanwhile, the priest Constantin Gutberlet responded to the claim of crisis arguing, on the contrary, that the crisis resulted from research that was empirical only. Throughout the discipline psychologists felt troubled by a widespread sense of fragmentation in the field. I will argue that this is due to psychology's early social success and popularization in modern society. Moreover the paper shows that the first declaration of crisis emerged at a time when a discussion of fundamentals was already underway between Wundt and the empiriocriticist Richard Avenarius. The present historical research reveals the depth of the confrontation between Wundt and Willy, entailing a clash of two worldviews that embrace psychological, epistemological, and political aspects. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Collaboration Infrastructure for Hydrologic Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarboton, D. G.; Idaszak, R.; Castillo, C.; Yi, H.; Jiang, F.; Jones, N.; Goodall, J. L.

2016-12-01

Data and modeling infrastructure is becoming increasingly accessible to water scientists. HydroShare is a collaborative environment that currently offers water scientists the ability to access modeling and data infrastructure in support of data intensive modeling and analysis. It supports the sharing of and collaboration around "resources" which are social objects defined to include both data and models in a structured standardized format. Users collaborate around these objects via comments, ratings, and groups. HydroShare also supports web services and cloud based computation for the execution of hydrologic models and analysis and visualization of hydrologic data. However, the quantity and variety of data and modeling infrastructure available that can be accessed from environments like HydroShare is increasing. Storage infrastructure can range from one's local PC to campus or organizational storage to storage in the cloud. Modeling or computing infrastructure can range from one's desktop to departmental clusters to national HPC resources to grid and cloud computing resources. How does one orchestrate this vast number of data and computing infrastructure without needing to correspondingly learn each new system? A common limitation across these systems is the lack of efficient integration between data transport mechanisms and the corresponding high-level services to support large distributed data and compute operations. A scientist running a hydrology model from their desktop may require processing a large collection of files across the aforementioned storage and compute resources and various national databases. To address these community challenges a proof-of-concept prototype was created integrating HydroShare with RADII (Resource Aware Data-centric collaboration Infrastructure) to provide software infrastructure to enable the comprehensive and rapid dynamic deployment of what we refer to as "collaborative infrastructure." In this presentation we discuss the

Ideological Responses to the EU Refugee Crisis

PubMed Central

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Krouwel, André P. M.; Emmer, Julia

2017-01-01

The 2016 European Union (EU) refugee crisis exposed a fundamental distinction in political attitudes between the political left and right. Previous findings suggest, however, that besides political orientation, ideological strength (i.e., political extremism) is also relevant to understand such distinctive attitudes. Our study reveals that the political right is more anxious, and the political left experiences more self-efficacy, about the refugee crisis. At the same time, the political extremes—at both sides of the spectrum—are more likely than moderates to believe that the solution to this societal problem is simple. Furthermore, both extremes experience more judgmental certainty about their domain-specific knowledge of the refugee crisis, independent of their actual knowledge. Finally, belief in simple solutions mediated the relationship between ideology and judgmental certainty, but only among political extremists. We conclude that both ideological orientation and strength matter to understand citizens’ reactions to the refugee crisis. PMID:29593852

Developing Sustainable Urban Water-Energy Infrastructures: Applying a Multi-Sectoral Social-Ecological-Infrastructural Systems (SEIS) Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramaswami, A.

2016-12-01

Urban infrastructure - broadly defined to include the systems that provide water, energy, food, shelter, transportation-communication, sanitation and green/public spaces in cities - have tremendous impact on the environment and on human well-being (Ramaswami et al., 2016; Ramaswami et al., 2012). Aggregated globally, these sectors contribute 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 96% of global water withdrawals. Urban infrastructure contributions to such impacts are beginning to dominate. Cities are therefore becoming the action arena for infrastructure transformations that can achieve high levels of service delivery while reducing environmental impacts and enhancing human well-being. Achieving sustainable urban infrastructure transitions requires: information about the engineered infrastructure, and its interaction with the natural (ecological-environmental) and the social sub-systems In this paper, we apply a multi-sector, multi-scalar Social-Ecological-Infrastructural Systems framework that describes the interactions among biophysical engineered infrastructures, the natural environment and the social system in a systems-approach to inform urban infrastructure transformations. We apply the SEIS framework to inform water and energy sector transformations in cities to achieve environmental and human health benefits realized at multiple scales - local, regional and global. Local scales address pollution, health, wellbeing and inequity within the city; regional scales address regional pollution, scarcity, as well as supply risks in the water-energy sectors; global impacts include greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts. Different actors shape infrastructure transitions including households, businesses, and policy actors. We describe the development of novel cross-sectoral strategies at the water-energy nexus in cities, focusing on water, waste and energy sectors, in a case study of Delhi, India. Ramaswami, A.; Russell, A.G.; Culligan, P.J.; Sharma, K

Responding to the Unthinkable: School Crisis Response and Recovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Katherine C.; Rossen, Eric

2014-01-01

The mental health implications of crisis exposure have emerged as a critical and challenging facet of school safety and crisis response, expanding our focus to encompass both psychological and physical safety, as well as prevention and recovery. Best practice reflects this evolution in our understanding and encompasses the continuum of crisis and…

Wilderness Crisis Management. Explore Magazine Technical Series No. 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raffan, James

This paper deals with managing a crisis in a wilderness situation. The terms "crisis" and "turning point" are used to describe what is more traditionally called an accident. Using these terms introduces the idea that crisis events occur as logical consequences of preceding decisions, errors, or omissions, not as the result of…

On the Epistemological Crisis in Genomics

PubMed Central

Dougherty, Edward R

2008-01-01

There is an epistemological crisis in genomics. At issue is what constitutes scientific knowledge in genomic science, or systems biology in general. Does this crisis require a new perspective on knowledge heretofore absent from science or is it merely a matter of interpreting new scientific developments in an existing epistemological framework? This paper discusses the manner in which the experimental method, as developed and understood over recent centuries, leads naturally to a scientific epistemology grounded in an experimental-mathematical duality. It places genomics into this epistemological framework and examines the current situation in genomics. Meaning and the constitution of scientific knowledge are key concerns for genomics, and the nature of the epistemological crisis in genomics depends on how these are understood. PMID:19440447

The Resilient Infrastructure Initiative

DOE PAGES

Clifford, Megan

2016-10-01

Infrastructure is, by design, largely unnoticed until it breaks down and services fail. This includes water supplies, gas pipelines, bridges and dams, phone lines and cell towers, roads and culverts, railways, and the electric grid—all of the complex systems that keep our societies and economies running. Climate change, population growth, increased urbanization, system aging, and outdated design standards stress existing infrastructure and its ability to satisfy the rapidly changing demands from users. Here, the resilience of both physical and cyber infrastructure systems, however, is critical to a community as it prepares for, responds to, and recovers from a disaster, whethermore » natural or man-made.« less

Clarkesville Green Infrastructure Implementation Strategy

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The report outlines the 2012 technical assistance for Clarkesville, GA to develop a Green Infrastructure Implementation Strategy, which provides the basic building blocks for a green infrastructure plan:

The Puerto Rico Healthcare Crisis.

PubMed

Roman, Jesse

2015-12-01

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an organized nonincorporated territory of the United States with a population of more than 3.5 million U.S. citizens. The island has been the focus of much recent attention due to the recent default on its debt (estimated at more than $70 billion), high poverty rates, and increasing unemployment. Less attention, however, has been given to the island's healthcare system, which many believe is on the verge of collapsing. Healthcare makes up 20% of the Puerto Rican economy, and this crisis affects reimbursement rates for physicians while promoting the disintegration of the island's healthcare infrastructure. A major contributor relates to a disparity in federal funding provided to support the island's healthcare system when compared with that provided to the states in the mainland and Hawaii. Puerto Rico receives less federal funding for healthcare than the other 50 states and the District of Columbia even though it pays its share of social security and Medicare taxes. To make matters worse, the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services is planning soon to implement another 11% cut in Medical Advantage reimbursements. This disparity in support for healthcare is considered responsible for ∼$25 billion of Puerto Rico's total debt. The impact of these events on the health of Puerto Ricans in the island cannot be entirely predicted, but the loss of healthcare providers and diminished access to care are a certainty, and quality care will suffer, leading to serious implications for those with chronic medical disorders including respiratory disease.

The Cuban Missile Crisis: Evolving Historical Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medland, William J.

1990-01-01

Presents a synthesis of the views of participants and counterviews of scholars concerning the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Reviews historical and analytical accounts of the crisis. Describes critical areas of conflicting interpretations by historians and participants. Includes an annotated bibliography of teaching resources. (NL)

ITER Cryoplant Infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauve, E.; Monneret, E.; Voigt, T.; Vincent, G.; Forgeas, A.; Simon, M.

2017-02-01

The ITER Tokamak requires an average 75 kW of refrigeration power at 4.5 K and 600 kW of refrigeration Power at 80 K to maintain the nominal operation condition of the ITER thermal shields, superconducting magnets and cryopumps. This is produced by the ITER Cryoplant, a complex cluster of refrigeration systems including in particular three identical Liquid Helium Plants and two identical Liquid Nitrogen Plants. Beyond the equipment directly part of the Cryoplant, colossal infrastructures are required. These infrastructures account for a large part of the Cryoplants lay-out, budget and engineering efforts. It is ITER Organization responsibility to ensure that all infrastructures are adequately sized and designed to interface with the Cryoplant. This proceeding presents the overall architecture of the cryoplant. It provides order of magnitude related to the cryoplant building and utilities: electricity, cooling water, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).

Adverse effect of the financial crisis in Greece on perinatal factors.

PubMed

Zografaki, Irini; Papamichail, Dimitris; Panagiotopoulos, Takis

2018-05-16

Starting in 2008 recession affected many European countries and especially Greece. Previous studies have reported increases in low birth weight, preterm birth and stillbirth rates in Greece during early crisis. In our study we used data on births from 1980 to 2014 that allowed us to distinguish recent changes, which could possibly be attributed to the financial crisis, from long term trends, and controlled for maternal age and country of origin as potential confounders. Our study covered a longer period (up to 2014) than what has been studied before and looked separately at the effect of early and established crisis. We used national vital statistics data from 1980 to 2014. We performed age standardization and calculated age standardized rates and standardized rate ratios (SRRs) for perinatal factors for three time periods (pre-crisis, early crisis and established crisis) for Greek and non-Greek women. We found an increase in low birth weight deliveries independent of maternal age and origin and an increased stillbirth rate in Greek women younger than 25 in early (RR = 1.42 95%CI: 1.12-1.80) and established crisis periods (RR = 1.36 95%CI: 1.07-1.72) compared with pre-crisis. Non-Greek women have also been affected, with their advantage regarding birth outcomes becoming less profound in the established crisis period (low birth weight: established crisis SRR = 0.84 95%CI: 0.82-0.87, pre-crisis SRR = 0.79 95% CI: 0.76- 0.81). The financial crisis has possibly adversely affected perinatal factors in Greece. Our results highlight the need of appropriate public health interventions and family support policies, especially for younger people, unemployed and immigrants.

[Hypertensive crisis in children and adolescents].

PubMed

Skrzypczyk, Piotr; Roszkowska-Blaim, Maria; Daniel, Maria

2013-12-01

Hypertensive crisis is a sudden rise in blood pressure above 99 c. for sex, age and height +5 mm Hg. Depending on patient's symptoms, hypertensive crisis can be divided into hypertensive emergency severe arterial hypertension with target organ insufficiency and/r damage (central nervous system, heart, kidney, eye), and hypertensive urgency - severe arterial hypertension without target organ insufficiency and damage with non-specific symptoms like: headaches, vertigo, nasal bleeding, nausea, and vomiting. The most common causes of hypertensive crisis in neonates and infants are renal artery thrombosis, broncho-pulmonary dysplasia, and coarctation of aorta; in older children - kidney diseases and renal artery stenosis. In neonates and infants symptoms of cardiac failure predominate, whereas in older children symptoms from central nervous system (headaches, nausea, vomiting, changes in level of consciousness, seizures, focal deficits). Hypertensive crisis is treated with fast- and short-acting medications; 25% reduction of blood pressure within first 8 hours is recommended, with complete normalization within 24-48 hours. Hypertensive emergency should be treated with intravenous agents (labetalol, hydralazine, nicardipine, and sodium nitroprusside), hypertensive urgency with intravenous or oral agents like nifedipine, isradipine, clonidine and minoxidil. Nicardipine is a first-choice medication in neonates.

Green Infrastructure Checklists and Renderings

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Materials and checklists for Denver, CO to review development project plans for green infrastructure components, best practices for inspecting and maintaining installed green infrastructure. Also includes renderings of streetscape projects.

[Assessing aggression in patients of the mental health crisis service].

PubMed

Penterman, E J M; Nijman, H L I

2009-01-01

Care workers of the outreach psychiatric crisis team are frequently confronted with aggressive patients. To prevent dangerous situations from developing it could be advantageous to have in place a method of risk assessment that is based on information about patients before they are actually contacted by the crisis team. To test the predictive validity of an instrument specifically designed to assess the risks of aggression from severely disturbed psychiatric patients before they are seen by the crisis team. Over a period of two years and prior to any outreach contact with patients in crisis situations a Checklist of Risks to the Crisis team (CRC) was completed. Then, following outreach contact with the patient any perceived aggression was recorded by means of the Staff Observation Aggression Scale-Revised (SOAS-R). Aggressive behaviour by patients was observed during 51 of 499 crisis contacts with members of the outreach crisis team. On the basis of three factors in the CRC, namely the clinical assessment on a visual-analogue scale, an estimate of the number of aggressive persons in the vicinity of the crisis patient concerned and the reporting of crises by the patient himself, it was possible to predict outwardly directed aggression with a sensitivity of 74% and a specificity of 84%. Although the findings still need to be reproduced, an instrument such as the crc could be very useful to members of the crisis service.

'HTA for Crisis': sharing experiences during the 7th EBHC Symposium.

PubMed

Wladysiuk, Magdalena; Tabor, Anna; Godman, Brian

2013-02-01

The Central and Eastern European Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care was founded in Krakow, Poland in 2003. On October 8th and 9th, the 7th symposium took place titled 'HTA for Crisis'. This meeting was attended by over 250 decision makers, evidence-based specialists, healthcare managers, commercial company personnel and experts. The symposium was principally divided into four main themes: insurance in times of crisis; importance of pricing of health services in times of crisis; managing welfare benefits in times of crisis and Health Technology Assessment in crisis-laden countries. The symposium finished by debating potential ways forward for healthcare systems in times of crisis.

Cell Death During Crisis Is Mediated by Mitotic Telomere Deprotection

PubMed Central

Hayashi, Makoto T.; Cesare, Anthony J.; Rivera, Teresa; Karlseder, Jan

2015-01-01

Tumour formation is blocked by two barriers, replicative senescence and crisis1. Senescence is triggered by short telomeres and is bypassed by disruption of tumour suppressive pathways. After senescence bypass, cells undergo crisis, during which almost all of the cells in the population die. Cells that escape crisis harbor unstable genomes and other parameters of transformation. The mechanism of cell death during crisis remained elusive. We show that cells in crisis undergo spontaneous mitotic arrest, resulting in death during mitosis or in the following cell cycle. The phenotype was induced by loss of p53 function, and suppressed by telomerase overexpression. Telomere fusions triggered mitotic arrest in p53-compromised non-crisis cells, indicating such fusions as the underlying cause. Exacerbation of mitotic telomere deprotection by partial TRF2 knockdown2 increased the ratio of cells that died during mitotic arrest and sensitized cancer cells to mitotic poisons. We propose a crisis pathway wherein chromosome fusions induce mitotic arrest, resulting in mitotic telomere deprotection and cell death, thereby eliminating precancerous cells from the population. PMID:26108857

31 CFR 800.208 - Critical infrastructure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Critical infrastructure. 800.208..., AND TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.208 Critical infrastructure. The term critical infrastructure means, in the context of a particular covered transaction, a system or asset, whether physical or...

31 CFR 800.208 - Critical infrastructure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Critical infrastructure. 800.208..., AND TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.208 Critical infrastructure. The term critical infrastructure means, in the context of a particular covered transaction, a system or asset, whether physical or...

31 CFR 800.208 - Critical infrastructure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Critical infrastructure. 800.208..., AND TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.208 Critical infrastructure. The term critical infrastructure means, in the context of a particular covered transaction, a system or asset, whether physical or...

31 CFR 800.208 - Critical infrastructure.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance:Treasury 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Critical infrastructure. 800.208..., AND TAKEOVERS BY FOREIGN PERSONS Definitions § 800.208 Critical infrastructure. The term critical infrastructure means, in the context of a particular covered transaction, a system or asset, whether physical or...

Chromothripsis and kataegis induced by telomere crisis

PubMed Central

Maciejowski, John; Li, Yilong; Bosco, Nazario; Campbell, Peter J.; de Lange, Titia

2015-01-01

Telomere crisis occurs during tumorigenesis when depletion of the telomere reserve leads to frequent telomere fusions. The resulting dicentric chromosomes have been proposed to drive genome instability. Here we examine the fate of dicentric human chromosomes in telomere crisis. We observed that dicentric chromosomes invariably persisted through mitosis and developed into 50-200 μm chromatin bridges connecting the daughter cells. Before their resolution at 3-20 h after anaphase, the chromatin bridges induced nuclear envelope rupture in interphase, accumulated the cytoplasmic 3' nuclease TREX1, and developed RPA-coated single stranded (ss) DNA. CRISPR knockouts showed that TREX1 contributed to the generation of the ssDNA and the resolution of the chromatin bridges. Post-crisis clones showed chromothripsis and kataegis, presumably resulting from DNA repair and APOBEC editing of the fragmented chromatin bridge DNA. We propose that chromothripsis in human cancer may arise through TREX1-mediated fragmentation of dicentric chromosomes formed in telomere crisis. PMID:26687355

Urbanization eases water crisis in China

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wu, Yiping; Liu, Shu-Guang; Ji, Chen

2012-01-01

Socioeconomic development in China has resulted in rapid urbanization, which includes a large amount of people making the transition from rural areas to cities. Many have speculated that this mass migration may have worsened the water crisis in many parts of the country. However, this study shows that the water crisis would be more severe if the rural-to-urban migration did not occur.

[Celiac crisis: presentation as bleeding diathesis].

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Sebastián; Toro, Martín; Cassar, Alejandro; Ongay, Rodrigo; Isaguirre, Jorge; López, Candelaria; Benedetti, Laura

2009-03-01

Celiac crisis is a severe and potentially fatal complication of celiac disease. Unusual at present, it has been described mainly in children younger than 2-years-old, but reports in adults do exist. We report a 26-years-old lady with tetany and bleeding diathesis at presentation. In spite of it rareness, it is important to consider celiac crisis among the multiple manifestations of celiac disease.

[Attempted suicide during the financial crisis in Athens].

PubMed

Stavrianakos, K; Kontaxakis, V; Moussas, G; Paplos, K; Papaslanis, T; Havaki-Kontaxaki, B; Papadimitriou, Gn

2014-01-01

Suicidal behavior is considered as the result of complex cognitive and emotional processes and it is a timeless, global and multifactorial phenomenon. Periods of financial crises in the past, such as the Great Depression in the USA in 1929 and the economic crises of Asia, Russia and Argentina in the late 1990s, have been associated with impairment of mental health of the economically affected. Unemployment, job insecurity, debts, poverty and social exclusion seems to lead to higher incidence of anxiety and depressive symptoms and increased suicidality. Alcohol and substance use and the reduction of the state budget for health services reinforce the negative effects of the economic recession on mental health. The financial crisis which currently affects many European countries began in 2008 and its impact on the mental health of European citizens is in progress. Greece is probably the most affected country by the European financial crisis. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential impact of the crisis' consequences on the attempted suicide rates in the Athens population and the differentiation of suicide attempters on social, demographic and clinical-psychopathological parameters during the crisis. A retrospective study was conducted. The semi-structured records of 165 attempters who were hospitalized in the Internal Medicine Clinics of the "Sotiria" General Hospital in Athens, after attempted suicide in the years 2007 and 2011, before and during the financial crisis respectively, were studied. Among suicide attempters 95(57.6%) were suffering from mental disorders. Most often diagnoses were these of mood disorders (n=60, 63.2%). Demographic data, current psychiatric disorder, previous suicide attempt and severity of psychopathology at the time of suicide attempt were recorded for each patient. Furthermore, the severity of each suicide attempt was estimated. Suicide attempts were 70 in 2007, before the financial crisis (mean age 36.9 years, 71% women

Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Psychological Distress and Impairment.

PubMed

Kitchingman, Taneile A; Wilson, Coralie J; Caputi, Peter; Wilson, Ian; Woodward, Alan

2018-01-01

In order to respond to crises with appropriate intervention, crisis workers are required to manage their own needs as well as the needs of those they respond to. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to examine whether telephone crisis support workers experience elevated symptoms of psychological distress and are impaired by elevated symptoms. Studies were identified in April 2015 by searching three databases, conducting a gray literature search, and forward and backward citation chaining. Of 113 identified studies, seven were included in the review. Results suggest that that telephone crisis support workers experience symptoms of vicarious traumatization, stress, burnout, and psychiatric disorders, and that they may not respond optimally to callers when experiencing elevated symptoms of distress. However, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn due to the paucity and methodological limitations of available data. While the most comprehensive search strategy possible was adopted, resource constraints meant that conference abstracts were not searched and authors were not contacted for additional unpublished information. There is an urgent need to identify the impact of telephone crisis support workers' role on their well-being, the determinants of worker well-being in the telephone crisis support context, and the extent to which well-being impacts their performance and caller outcomes. This will help inform strategies to optimize telephone crisis support workers' well-being and their delivery of support to callers.

Miscarriage: A Special Type of Family Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Randal D.; Hooks, Daniel

1987-01-01

Surveyed 102 women about their experience with miscarriage. Found that family resource variables were a much stronger predictor of level of crisis and recovery than were personal or community resource variables. Adaptation and cohesion were significant predictors of speed or recovery and level of crisis, respectively. (Author/NB)

Do You Have a Crisis Management Plan?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pleviak, Walter; Milkevitch, Frank

2001-01-01

Although certain crises cannot be prevented, reactions to many can be planned. A crisis-management team should be organized for each building. Critical crisis-plan elements include telephone trees, forms, reference articles, sample letters, and processes for dealing with local media. Spokespersons should have facts straight before speaking. (MLH)

Linear infrastructure impacts on landscape hydrology.

PubMed

Raiter, Keren G; Prober, Suzanne M; Possingham, Hugh P; Westcott, Fiona; Hobbs, Richard J

2018-01-15

The extent of roads and other forms of linear infrastructure is burgeoning worldwide, but their impacts are inadequately understood and thus poorly mitigated. Previous studies have identified many potential impacts, including alterations to the hydrological functions and soil processes upon which ecosystems depend. However, these impacts have seldom been quantified at a regional level, particularly in arid and semi-arid systems where the gap in knowledge is the greatest, and impacts potentially the most severe. To explore the effects of extensive track, road, and rail networks on surface hydrology at a regional level we assessed over 1000 km of linear infrastructure, including approx. 300 locations where ephemeral streams crossed linear infrastructure, in the largely intact landscapes of Australia's Great Western Woodlands. We found a high level of association between linear infrastructure and altered surface hydrology, with erosion and pooling 5 and 6 times as likely to occur on-road than off-road on average (1.06 erosional and 0.69 pooling features km -1 on vehicle tracks, compared with 0.22 and 0.12 km -1 , off-road, respectively). Erosion severity was greater in the presence of tracks, and 98% of crossings of ephemeral streamlines showed some evidence of impact on water movement (flow impedance (62%); diversion of flows (73%); flow concentration (76%); and/or channel initiation (31%)). Infrastructure type, pastoral land use, culvert presence, soil clay content and erodibility, mean annual rainfall, rainfall erosivity, topography and bare soil cover influenced the frequency and severity of these impacts. We conclude that linear infrastructure frequently affects ephemeral stream flows and intercepts natural overland and near-surface flows, artificially changing site-scale moisture regimes, with some parts of the landscape becoming abnormally wet and other parts becoming water-starved. In addition, linear infrastructure frequently triggers or exacerbates erosion

Facing the Crisis: Third World Agriculture in the 1980s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Ajit; Tabatabai, Hamid

1990-01-01

Examines how developing nations' agrarian economy fared in the 1980s in the wake of the world economic crisis. Discusses how the economic crisis affected agricultural development and whether the performance of the agrarian economy was responsible for the economic crisis. (JOW)

School Crisis Aftermath: Care for the Caregivers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paine, Cathy Kennedy

2009-01-01

"Professional" crisis caregivers (e.g., emergency responders, mental health providers, medical professionals, victim assistance counselors, and faith leaders) are trained to handle exposure to images of destruction and loss and to help victims or survivors cope with the impact of a crisis. They try to help individuals, schools, and communities…

When a Crisis Occurs: A Trustee's Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenney, Phyllis Gutierrez

1997-01-01

Argues that, although crises are unavoidable, they can be planned for and that there should be a crisis management model for each situation. Discusses components of an effective crisis management plan, including clear lines of governance, trust, and communication between boards and the president and effective communication with the media and…

PLANNING AND RESPONSE IN THE AFTERMATH OF A LARGE CRISIS: AN AGENT-BASED INFORMATICS FRAMEWORK*

PubMed Central

Barrett, Christopher; Bisset, Keith; Chandan, Shridhar; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Chungbaek, Youngyun; Eubank, Stephen; Evrenosoğlu, Yaman; Lewis, Bryan; Lum, Kristian; Marathe, Achla; Marathe, Madhav; Mortveit, Henning; Parikh, Nidhi; Phadke, Arun; Reed, Jeffrey; Rivers, Caitlin; Saha, Sudip; Stretz, Paula; Swarup, Samarth; Thorp, James; Vullikanti, Anil; Xie, Dawen

2014-01-01

We present a synthetic information and modeling environment that can allow policy makers to study various counter-factual experiments in the event of a large human-initiated crisis. The specific scenario we consider is a ground detonation caused by an improvised nuclear device in a large urban region. In contrast to earlier work in this area that focuses largely on the prompt effects on human health and injury, we focus on co-evolution of individual and collective behavior and its interaction with the differentially damaged infrastructure. This allows us to study short term secondary and tertiary effects. The present environment is suitable for studying the dynamical outcomes over a two week period after the initial blast. A novel computing and data processing architecture is described; the architecture allows us to represent multiple co-evolving infrastructures and social networks at a highly resolved temporal, spatial, and individual scale. The representation allows us to study the emergent behavior of individuals as well as specific strategies to reduce casualties and injuries that exploit the spatial and temporal nature of the secondary and tertiary effects. A number of important conclusions are obtained using the modeling environment. For example, the studies decisively show that deploying ad hoc communication networks to reach individuals in the affected area is likely to have a significant impact on the overall casualties and injuries. PMID:25580055

PLANNING AND RESPONSE IN THE AFTERMATH OF A LARGE CRISIS: AN AGENT-BASED INFORMATICS FRAMEWORK*

PubMed

Barrett, Christopher; Bisset, Keith; Chandan, Shridhar; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Chungbaek, Youngyun; Eubank, Stephen; Evrenosoğlu, Yaman; Lewis, Bryan; Lum, Kristian; Marathe, Achla; Marathe, Madhav; Mortveit, Henning; Parikh, Nidhi; Phadke, Arun; Reed, Jeffrey; Rivers, Caitlin; Saha, Sudip; Stretz, Paula; Swarup, Samarth; Thorp, James; Vullikanti, Anil; Xie, Dawen

2013-01-01

We present a synthetic information and modeling environment that can allow policy makers to study various counter-factual experiments in the event of a large human-initiated crisis. The specific scenario we consider is a ground detonation caused by an improvised nuclear device in a large urban region. In contrast to earlier work in this area that focuses largely on the prompt effects on human health and injury, we focus on co-evolution of individual and collective behavior and its interaction with the differentially damaged infrastructure. This allows us to study short term secondary and tertiary effects. The present environment is suitable for studying the dynamical outcomes over a two week period after the initial blast. A novel computing and data processing architecture is described; the architecture allows us to represent multiple co-evolving infrastructures and social networks at a highly resolved temporal, spatial, and individual scale. The representation allows us to study the emergent behavior of individuals as well as specific strategies to reduce casualties and injuries that exploit the spatial and temporal nature of the secondary and tertiary effects. A number of important conclusions are obtained using the modeling environment. For example, the studies decisively show that deploying ad hoc communication networks to reach individuals in the affected area is likely to have a significant impact on the overall casualties and injuries.

Assessment of pre-crisis and syn-crisis seismic hazard at Campi Flegrei and Mt. Vesuvius volcanoes, Campania, southern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Convertito, Vincenzo; Zollo, Aldo

2011-08-01

In this study, we address the issue of short-term to medium-term probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for two volcanic areas, Campi Flegrei caldera and Mt. Vesuvius in the Campania region of southern Italy. Two different phases of the volcanic activity are considered. The first, which we term the pre-crisis phase, concerns the present quiescent state of the volcanoes that is characterized by low-to-moderate seismicity. The second phase, syn-crisis, concerns the unrest phase that can potentially lead to eruption. For the Campi Flegrei case study, we analyzed the pattern of seismicity during the 1982-1984 ground uplift episode (bradyseism). For Mt. Vesuvius, two different time-evolutionary models for seismicity were adopted, corresponding to different ways in which the volcano might erupt. We performed a site-specific analysis, linked with the hazard map, to investigate the effects of input parameters, in terms of source geometry, mean activity rate, periods of data collection, and return periods, for the syn-crisis phase. The analysis in the present study of the pre-crisis phase allowed a comparison of the results of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for the two study areas with those provided in the Italian national hazard map. For the Mt. Vesuvius area in particular, the results show that the hazard can be greater than that reported in the national hazard map when information at a local scale is used. For the syn-crisis phase, the main result is that the data recorded during the early months of the unrest phase are substantially representative of the seismic hazard during the whole duration of the crisis.

Modeling joint restoration strategies for interdependent infrastructure systems

PubMed Central

Simonovic, Slobodan P.

2018-01-01

Life in the modern world depends on multiple critical services provided by infrastructure systems which are interdependent at multiple levels. To effectively respond to infrastructure failures, this paper proposes a model for developing optimal joint restoration strategy for interdependent infrastructure systems following a disruptive event. First, models for (i) describing structure of interdependent infrastructure system and (ii) their interaction process, are presented. Both models are considering the failure types, infrastructure operating rules and interdependencies among systems. Second, an optimization model for determining an optimal joint restoration strategy at infrastructure component level by minimizing the economic loss from the infrastructure failures, is proposed. The utility of the model is illustrated using a case study of electric-water systems. Results show that a small number of failed infrastructure components can trigger high level failures in interdependent systems; the optimal joint restoration strategy varies with failure occurrence time. The proposed models can help decision makers to understand the mechanisms of infrastructure interactions and search for optimal joint restoration strategy, which can significantly enhance safety of infrastructure systems. PMID:29649300

Modeling joint restoration strategies for interdependent infrastructure systems.

PubMed

Zhang, Chao; Kong, Jingjing; Simonovic, Slobodan P

2018-01-01

Life in the modern world depends on multiple critical services provided by infrastructure systems which are interdependent at multiple levels. To effectively respond to infrastructure failures, this paper proposes a model for developing optimal joint restoration strategy for interdependent infrastructure systems following a disruptive event. First, models for (i) describing structure of interdependent infrastructure system and (ii) their interaction process, are presented. Both models are considering the failure types, infrastructure operating rules and interdependencies among systems. Second, an optimization model for determining an optimal joint restoration strategy at infrastructure component level by minimizing the economic loss from the infrastructure failures, is proposed. The utility of the model is illustrated using a case study of electric-water systems. Results show that a small number of failed infrastructure components can trigger high level failures in interdependent systems; the optimal joint restoration strategy varies with failure occurrence time. The proposed models can help decision makers to understand the mechanisms of infrastructure interactions and search for optimal joint restoration strategy, which can significantly enhance safety of infrastructure systems.

EPA NRMRL green Infrastructure research

EPA Science Inventory

Green Infrastructure is an engineering approach to wet weather flow management that uses infiltration, evapotranspiration, capture and reuse to better mimic the natural drainage processes than traditional gray systems. Green technologies supplement gray infrastructure to red...

Crisis on campus: Eating disorder intervention from a developmental-ecological perspective.

PubMed

Taylor, Julia V; Gibson, Donna M

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to review a crisis intervention using the developmental-ecological protocol (Collins and Collins, 2005) with a college student presenting with symptomatology of an active eating disorder. Participants included University Wellness Center employees responding to the crisis. Methods include an informal review of the crisis intervention response and application of the ABCDE developmental-ecological crisis model. Results reported include insight into crisis intervention when university counseling and health center is not available as resources. ABCDE Developmental-ecological model recommendations for university faculty and staff are included.

Towards integrated crisis support of regional emergency networks.

PubMed

Caro, D H

1999-01-01

Emergency and crisis management pose multidimensional information systems challenges for communities across North America. In the quest to reduce mortality and morbidity risks and to increase the level of crisis preparedness, regional emergency management networks have evolved. Integrated Crisis Support Systems (ICSS) are enabling information technologies that assist emergency managers by enhancing the ability to strategically manage and control these regional emergency networks efficiently and effectively. This article underscores the ICCS development, control and leadership issues and their promising implications for regional emergency management networks.

Interactions among human behavior, social networks, and societal infrastructures: A Case Study in Computational Epidemiology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrett, Christopher L.; Bisset, Keith; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Eubank, Stephen; Lewis, Bryan; Kumar, V. S. Anil; Marathe, Madhav V.; Mortveit, Henning S.

Human behavior, social networks, and the civil infrastructures are closely intertwined. Understanding their co-evolution is critical for designing public policies and decision support for disaster planning. For example, human behaviors and day to day activities of individuals create dense social interactions that are characteristic of modern urban societies. These dense social networks provide a perfect fabric for fast, uncontrolled disease propagation. Conversely, people’s behavior in response to public policies and their perception of how the crisis is unfolding as a result of disease outbreak can dramatically alter the normally stable social interactions. Effective planning and response strategies must take these complicated interactions into account. In this chapter, we describe a computer simulation based approach to study these issues using public health and computational epidemiology as an illustrative example. We also formulate game-theoretic and stochastic optimization problems that capture many of the problems that we study empirically.

Organizational Strategies for Critical Transportation Infrastructure: Characteristics of Urban Resilience. The Case of Montreal.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beauregard, Stéphane; Therrien, Marie-Christine; Normandin, Julie-Maude

2010-05-01

Organizational Strategies for Critical Transportation Infrastructure: Characteristics of Urban Resilience. The Case of Montreal. Stéphane Beauregard M.Sc. Candidate École nationale d'administration publique Julie-Maude Normandin Ph.D. Candidate École nationale d'administration publique Marie-Christine Therrien Professor École nationale d'administration publique The proposed paper presents preliminary results on the resilience of organizations managing critical infrastructure in the Metropolitan Montreal area (Canada). A resilient city is characterized by a network of infrastructures and individuals capable of maintaining their activities in spite of a disturbance (Godschalk, 2002). Critical infrastructures provide essential services for the functioning of society. In a crisis situation, the interruption or a decrease in performance of critical infrastructures could have important impacts on the population. They are also vulnerable to accidents and cascading effects because on their complexity and tight interdependence (Perrow, 1984). For these reasons, protection and security of the essential assets and networks are one of the objectives of organizations and governments. But prevention and recovery are two endpoints of a continuum which include also intermediate concerns: ensuring organizational robustness or failing with elegance rather than catastrophically. This continuum also includes organizational resilience (or system), or the ability to recover quickly after an interruption has occurred. Wildavsky (1988) proposes that anticipation strategies work better against known problems while resilience strategies focus on unknown problems. Anticipation policies can unnecessarily immobilize investments against risks, while resilience strategies include the potential for a certain sacrifice in the interests of a more long-term survival and adaptation to changing threats. In addition, a too large confidence in anticipation strategies can bring loss of capacity of an

Practicing discernment: pastoral care in crisis situations.

PubMed

Landes, Scott D

2010-01-01

This article correlates a particular experience of providing pastoral care for a person in a crisis situation with a particular understanding of the practice of pastoral care. Through engaging in correlative practical theology, it highlights the need for practicing discernment when providing pastoral care for persons utilizing narratives to work through crisis situations.

Crisis Management's New Role in Educational Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gainey, Barbara S.

2009-01-01

From natural disasters to the financial debacle, it is clear to the educational community that crises know no boundaries. Far from a passing fad, crisis planning must be an integrated part of effective school district leadership. Two studies explore the status of crisis management in selected public school systems and offer recommendations for…

Financial Crisis Management in Higher Education: Responses by 20 Private Colleges and Universities to the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorantes, Andrew R.; Low, Justin R.

2016-01-01

As a result of the Great Recession, higher education in the United States suffered from the most significant financial crisis since the Great Depression (Breneman 2008; Zumeta 2010). This crisis affected all institutions of higher education since it challenged three major revenue sources: net tuition income, endowment income, and gift income…

Nested barriers to low-carbon infrastructure investment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Granoff, Ilmi; Hogarth, J. Ryan; Miller, Alan

2016-12-01

Low-carbon, 'green' economic growth is necessary to simultaneously improve human welfare and avoid the worst impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Infrastructure choices underpin both the growth and the carbon intensity of the economy. This Perspective explores the barriers to investing in low-carbon infrastructure and some of the policy levers available to overcome them. The barriers to decarbonizing infrastructure 'nest' within a set of barriers to infrastructure development more generally that cause spending on infrastructure--low-carbon or not--to fall more than 70% short of optimal levels. Developing countries face additional barriers such as currency and political risks that increase the investment gap. Low-carbon alternatives face further barriers, such as commercialization risk and financial and public institutions designed for different investment needs. While the broader barriers to infrastructure investment are discussed in other streams of literature, they are often disregarded in literature on renewable energy diffusion or climate finance, which tends to focus narrowly on the project costs of low- versus high-carbon options. We discuss how to overcome the barriers specific to low-carbon infrastructure within the context of the broader infrastructure gap.

Green infrastructure.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-06-01

The transportation industry has increasingly recognized the vital role sustainability serves in promoting and : protecting the transportation infrastructure of the nation. Many state Departments of Transportation have : correspondingly increased effo...

EFAB Report: Green Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance Finance

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In this report, EFAB defines green infrastructure, outlines the benefits of green infrastructure, introduces green infrastructure operations and maintenance costs, and identifies and evaluates diverse ways to fund/finance green infrastructure O&M costs.

Stress in crisis managers: evidence from self-report and psychophysiological assessments.

PubMed

Janka, A; Adler, C; Fischer, L; Perakakis, P; Guerra, P; Duschek, S

2015-12-01

Directing disaster operations represents a major professional challenge. Despite its importance to health and professional performance, research on stress in crisis management remains scarce. The present study aimed to investigate self-reported stress and psychophysiological stress responses in crisis managers. For this purpose, 30 crisis managers were compared with 30 managers from other disciplines, in terms of self-reported stress, health status and psychophysiological reactivity to crisis-related and non-specific visual and acoustic aversive stimuli and cognitive challenge. Crisis managers reported lower stress levels, a more positive strain-recuperation-balance, greater social resources, reduced physical symptoms, as well as more physical exercise and less alcohol consumption. They exhibited diminished electrodermal and heart rate responses to crisis-related and non-specific stressors. The results indicate reduced stress and physical complaints, diminished psychophysiological stress reactivity, and a healthier life-style in crisis managers. Improved stress resistance may limit vulnerability to stress-related performance decline and facilitate preparedness for major incidents.

Trust, confidence, and the 2008 global financial crisis.

PubMed

Earle, Timothy C

2009-06-01

The 2008 global financial crisis has been compared to a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami," a disaster in which the loss of trust and confidence played key precipitating roles and the recovery from which will require the restoration of these crucial factors. Drawing on the analogy between the financial crisis and environmental and technological hazards, recent research on the role of trust and confidence in the latter is used to provide a perspective on the former. Whereas "trust" and "confidence" are used interchangeably and without explicit definition in most discussions of the financial crisis, this perspective uses the TCC model of cooperation to clearly distinguish between the two and to demonstrate how this distinction can lead to an improved understanding of the crisis. The roles of trust and confidence-both in precipitation and in possible recovery-are discussed for each of the three major sets of actors in the crisis, the regulators, the banks, and the public. The roles of trust and confidence in the larger context of risk management are also examined; trust being associated with political approaches, confidence with technical. Finally, the various stances that government can take with regard to trust-such as supportive or skeptical-are considered. Overall, it is argued that a clear understanding of trust and confidence and a close examination of the specific, concrete circumstances of a crisis-revealing when either trust or confidence is appropriate-can lead to useful insights for both recovery and prevention of future occurrences.

Resilience in social insect infrastructure systems

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Both human and insect societies depend on complex and highly coordinated infrastructure systems, such as communication networks, supply chains and transportation networks. Like human-designed infrastructure systems, those of social insects are regularly subject to disruptions such as natural disasters, blockages or breaks in the transportation network, fluctuations in supply and/or demand, outbreaks of disease and loss of individuals. Unlike human-designed systems, there is no deliberate planning or centralized control system; rather, individual insects make simple decisions based on local information. How do these highly decentralized, leaderless systems deal with disruption? What factors make a social insect system resilient, and which factors lead to its collapse? In this review, we bring together literature on resilience in three key social insect infrastructure systems: transportation networks, supply chains and communication networks. We describe how systems differentially invest in three pathways to resilience: resistance, redirection or reconstruction. We suggest that investment in particular resistance pathways is related to the severity and frequency of disturbance. In the final section, we lay out a prospectus for future research. Human infrastructure networks are rapidly becoming decentralized and interconnected; indeed, more like social insect infrastructures. Human infrastructure management might therefore learn from social insect researchers, who can in turn make use of the mature analytical and simulation tools developed for the study of human infrastructure resilience. PMID:26962030

Resilience in social insect infrastructure systems.

PubMed

Middleton, Eliza J T; Latty, Tanya

2016-03-01

Both human and insect societies depend on complex and highly coordinated infrastructure systems, such as communication networks, supply chains and transportation networks. Like human-designed infrastructure systems, those of social insects are regularly subject to disruptions such as natural disasters, blockages or breaks in the transportation network, fluctuations in supply and/or demand, outbreaks of disease and loss of individuals. Unlike human-designed systems, there is no deliberate planning or centralized control system; rather, individual insects make simple decisions based on local information. How do these highly decentralized, leaderless systems deal with disruption? What factors make a social insect system resilient, and which factors lead to its collapse? In this review, we bring together literature on resilience in three key social insect infrastructure systems: transportation networks, supply chains and communication networks. We describe how systems differentially invest in three pathways to resilience: resistance, redirection or reconstruction. We suggest that investment in particular resistance pathways is related to the severity and frequency of disturbance. In the final section, we lay out a prospectus for future research. Human infrastructure networks are rapidly becoming decentralized and interconnected; indeed, more like social insect infrastructures. Human infrastructure management might therefore learn from social insect researchers, who can in turn make use of the mature analytical and simulation tools developed for the study of human infrastructure resilience. © 2016 The Author(s).

Guide of Hypertensive Crisis Pharmacotherapy.

PubMed

Wani-Parekh, Priyanka; Blanco-Garcia, Carlos; Mendez, Melissa; Mukherjee, Debabrata

2017-01-01

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the number one cause of death globally compared to any other cause. CVD accounts for approximately 17.3 million deaths per year and are rising. Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Approximately, 80 million people suffer from hypertension in the U.S. While, majority of these individuals are on antihypertensive medications only 54% of individuals with hypertension are optimally controlled. Heart failure and stroke are some of the devastating complications of uncontrolled hypertension. Hypertensive crisis can be classified as either an urgency or emergency; difference between the two is the presence of end organ damage, which is noted in hypertensive emergency. Hypertensive crisis is usually treated by parenteral antihypertensive medications. The main drug classes of drugs for treatment are nitrates, calcium channel blockers, dopamine-1 agonists, adrenergic-blocking agents etc. In this review, we discuss approach to management of hypertensive crisis and each drug class with its physiology and complications. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Capsaicin and arterial hypertensive crisis.

PubMed

Patanè, Salvatore; Marte, Filippo; La Rosa, Felice Carmelo; La Rocca, Roberto

2010-10-08

Chili peppers are rich in capsaicin. The potent vasodilator calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is stored in a population of C-fiber afferents that are sensitive to capsaicin. CGRP and peptides released from cardiac C fibers have a beneficial effect in myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. It has been reported that capsaicin pretreatment can deplete cardiac C-fiber peptide stores. Furthermore, it has also been reported that capsaicin-treated pigs have significantly increased mean arterial blood pressure compared with controls, and that the decrease in CGRP synthesis and release contributes to the elevated blood pressure. A case has also been reported of an arterial hypertensive crisis in a patient with a large ingestion of peppers and chili peppers the day before. We present a case of an arterial hypertensive crisis in a 19-year-old Italian man with an abundant ingestion of peppers and of chili peppers the preceding day. This case describes an unusual pattern of arterial hypertensive crisis due to capsaicin. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Resource Guide for Crisis Management in Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaPointe, Richard T.; And Others

A crisis can occur at any time, whether or not a school's staff plans for it. This resource guide is a compilation of user-friendly examples of policies, procedures, guidelines, checklists, and forms to help Virginia schools develop and implement a systematic crisis-management plan. Chapter 1 provides an introductory overview of the essential…

The Financial Crisis in the Community College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lombardi, John

The author examines the financial crisis in community colleges on a national scale in this first paper in a projected long-range study of this crucial topic. Economic causes contributing to the crisis include inflation, rising enrollments, and such labor-intensive aspects as spiraling labor and security costs, and increasing demands for funds by…

Rapid assessment of the HIV/AIDS crisis in racial and ethnic minority communities: an approach for timely community interventions.

PubMed

Needle, Richard H; Trotter, Robert T; Singer, Merrill; Bates, Christopher; Page, J Bryan; Metzger, David; Marcelin, Louis H

2003-06-01

The US Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus, created a new initiative to address the disproportionate ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis in racial/ethnic minority populations. This initiative included deploying technical assistance teams through the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. The teams introduced rapid assessment and response methodologies and trained minority communities in their use. The first 3 eligible cities (Detroit, Miami, and Philadelphia) focused assessments in small geographic areas, using multiple methodologies to obtain data. Data from the first 3 eligible cities provided critical information about changing the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the local level, including program and policy changes and infrastructure redeployment targeted at the most serious social and environmental conditions.

Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina.

PubMed

Bryant, Amy G; Levi, Erika E

2012-12-01

This study assessed the accuracy of medical information provided by crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina. We performed a secondary data analysis of a "secret shopper survey" performed by a nonprofit organization. Reports from phone calls and visits to crisis pregnancy centers were analyzed for quality and content of medical information provided. Web sites of crisis pregnancy centers in the state were also reviewed. Thirty-two crisis pregnancy centers were contacted. Nineteen of these were visited. Fourteen centers (44%) offered that they "provide counseling on abortion and its risks." Inaccurate information provided included a link between abortion and breast cancer (16%), infertility (26%) and mental health problems (26%). Of the 36 Web sites identified, 31 (86%) provided false or misleading information, including 26 sites (72%) linking abortion to "post-abortion stress." Many crisis pregnancy centers give inaccurate medical information regarding the risks of abortion. Overstating risks stigmatizes abortion, seeks to intimidate women and is unethical. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alcohol and the economic crisis in Argentina: recent findings.

PubMed

Munné, Myriam I

2005-12-01

In 2002 Argentina participated in the GENACIS project (Gender, Alcohol, and Culture: An International Study) as one of the countries funded by the World Health Organization. Four questions about the current economic crisis in Argentina were added to the original GENACIS questionnaire in order to find out the opinions of the general population in relation to alcohol and the economic crisis. Gender differences in the answers to these questions were examined. Logistic regression was used to identify demographic, drinking pattern and drinking problems variables related significantly to responses to the economic crisis questions. During the economic crisis people stopped or reduced going to bars and instead drank at home or at friends' homes. A large number of respondents also reported that people had changed to cheaper or lower-quality alcoholic drinks. Women were more likely to agree with statements that the economic crisis had increased 'escape' drinking and required reductions in money spent on alcohol; men were more likely to agree that the crisis had led to less drinking in bars and to the purchase of cheaper or lower-quality alcoholic beverages. Respondents who reported having significant others with drinking-related problems were more likely to endorse all four statements about effects of the economic crisis on drinking behaviour. A qualitative approach was used to discuss themes in the general comments that were recorded by the interviewers while collecting data. A strongly moralistic attitude towards alcohol was present in these comments, especially among women. The findings suggest that the economic crisis in Argentina led to major changes in patterns of drinking that differed according to gender roles and other demographic variables. The long-term effects of these changes remain to be determined as economic circumstances improve.

Widespread arsenic contamination of soils in residential areas and public spaces: an emerging regulatory or medical crisis?

PubMed

Belluck, D A; Benjamin, S L; Baveye, P; Sampson, J; Johnson, B

2003-01-01

A critical review finds government agencies allow, permit, license, or ignore arsenic releases to surface soils. Release rates are controlled or evaluated using risk-based soil contaminant numerical limits employing standardized risk algorithms, chemical-specific and default input values. United States arsenic residential soil limits, approximately 0.4- approximately 40 ppm, generally correspond to a one-in-one-million to a one-in-ten-thousand incremental cancer risk range via ingestion of or direct contact with contaminated residential soils. Background arsenic surface soil levels often exceed applicable limits. Arsenic releases to surface soils (via, e.g., air emissions, waste recycling, soil amendments, direct pesticide application, and chromated copper arsenic (CCA)-treated wood) can result in greatly elevated arsenic levels, sometimes one to two orders of magnitude greater than applicable numerical limits. CCA-treated wood, a heavily used infrastructure material at residences and public spaces, can release sufficient arsenic to result in surface soil concentrations that exceed numerical limits by one or two orders of magnitude. Although significant exceedence of arsenic surface soil numerical limits would normally result in regulatory actions at industrial or hazardous waste sites, no such pattern is seen at residential and public spaces. Given the current risk assessment paradigm, measured or expected elevated surface soil arsenic levels at residential and public spaces suggest that a regulatory health crisis of sizeable magnitude is imminent. In contrast, available literature and a survey of government agencies conducted for this paper finds no verified cases of human morbidity or mortality resulting from exposure to elevated levels of arsenic in surface soils. This concomitance of an emerging regulatory health crisis in the absence of a medical crisis is arguably partly attributable to inadequate government and private party attention to the issue.

How Should the Financial Crisis Change How We Teach Economics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shiller, Robert J.

2010-01-01

Student dissatisfaction with teaching of economics--particularly with macroeconomics--during the current financial crisis mirrors dissatisfaction that was expressed during the last big crisis, the Great Depression. Then and now, a good number of students have felt that their lectures bear little relation to the economic crisis raging outside the…

Infrastructure Task Force Sustainable Infrastructure Goals and Concepts Document

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This document outlines the concepts of appropriate infrastructure and sustainable management entities to guide the coordinated federal efforts to achieve greater sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

A Human Rights Crisis in Indian Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vigil, Chris

2015-01-01

There is a human rights crisis in Indian Country. This crisis--one of many--is the result of an almost universal lack of legal representation of Native people when they appear as defendants in tribal courts. The lack of lay advocates and attorneys representing Native defendants creates tremendous problems for tribal members who find themselves in…

The Leading Edge: Enduring a Campus Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moeser, James

2003-01-01

On June 2003, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) faced a frightening crisis when an employee was diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In this article, the author looks back and identifies four factors that enabled the university to navigate this crisis. These factors were: (1) leadership at every level; (2)…

The Philadelphia School District's Ongoing Financial Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caskey, John; Kuperberg, Mark

2014-01-01

This article describes the budget crisis that the School District of Philadelphia has faced for the past few years. Three specific events triggered the 2012 crisis: an abrupt reduction in federal and state funding, the inability of the district to cut many of its costs, and political pressures on the district to spend available revenues in a given…

The Component Model of Infrastructure: A Practical Approach to Understanding Public Health Program Infrastructure

PubMed Central

Snyder, Kimberly; Rieker, Patricia P.

2014-01-01

Functioning program infrastructure is necessary for achieving public health outcomes. It is what supports program capacity, implementation, and sustainability. The public health program infrastructure model presented in this article is grounded in data from a broader evaluation of 18 state tobacco control programs and previous work. The newly developed Component Model of Infrastructure (CMI) addresses the limitations of a previous model and contains 5 core components (multilevel leadership, managed resources, engaged data, responsive plans and planning, networked partnerships) and 3 supporting components (strategic understanding, operations, contextual influences). The CMI is a practical, implementation-focused model applicable across public health programs, enabling linkages to capacity, sustainability, and outcome measurement. PMID:24922125

Addressing the Child and Maternal Mortality Crisis in Haiti through a Central Referral Hospital Providing Countrywide Care

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Lee D; Judd, Thomas M; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A

2016-01-01

The neonatal, infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in Haiti are the highest in the Western Hemisphere, with rates similar to those found in Afghanistan and several African countries. We identify several factors that have perpetuated this health care crisis and summarize the literature highlighting the most cost-effective, evidence-based interventions proved to decrease these mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries. To create a major change in Haiti’s health care infrastructure, we are implementing two strategies that are unique for low-income countries: development of a countrywide network of geographic “community care grids” to facilitate implementation of frontline interventions, and the construction of a centrally located referral and teaching hospital to provide specialty care for communities throughout the country. This hospital strategy will leverage the proximity of Haiti to North America by mobilizing large numbers of North American medical volunteers to provide one-on-one mentoring for the Haitian medical staff. The first phase of this strategy will address the child and maternal health crisis. We have begun implementation of these evidence-based strategies that we believe will fast-track improvement in the child and maternal mortality rates throughout the country. We anticipate that, as we partner with private and public groups already working in Haiti, one day Haiti’s health care system will be among the leaders in that region. PMID:26934625

Addressing the Child and Maternal Mortality Crisis in Haiti through a Central Referral Hospital Providing Countrywide Care.

PubMed

Jacobs, Lee D; Judd, Thomas M; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A

2016-01-01

The neonatal, infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in Haiti are the highest in the Western Hemisphere, with rates similar to those found in Afghanistan and several African countries. We identify several factors that have perpetuated this health care crisis and summarize the literature highlighting the most cost-effective, evidence-based interventions proved to decrease these mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries.To create a major change in Haiti's health care infrastructure, we are implementing two strategies that are unique for low-income countries: development of a countrywide network of geographic "community care grids" to facilitate implementation of frontline interventions, and the construction of a centrally located referral and teaching hospital to provide specialty care for communities throughout the country. This hospital strategy will leverage the proximity of Haiti to North America by mobilizing large numbers of North American medical volunteers to provide one-on-one mentoring for the Haitian medical staff. The first phase of this strategy will address the child and maternal health crisis.We have begun implementation of these evidence-based strategies that we believe will fast-track improvement in the child and maternal mortality rates throughout the country. We anticipate that, as we partner with private and public groups already working in Haiti, one day Haiti's health care system will be among the leaders in that region.

Disrupting gatekeeping practices: Journalists’ source selection in times of crisis

PubMed Central

van der Meer, Toni G.L.A.; Verhoeven, Piet; Beentjes, Johannes W.J.; Vliegenthart, Rens

2016-01-01

As gatekeepers, journalists have the power to select the sources that get a voice in crisis coverage. The aim of this study is to find out how journalists select sources during a crisis. In a survey, journalists were asked how they assess the following sources during an organizational crisis: news agencies, an organization undergoing a crisis, and the general public. The sample consisted of 214 Dutch experienced journalists who at least once covered a crisis. Using structural equation modeling, sources’ likelihood of being included in the news was predicted using five source characteristics: credibility, knowledge, willingness, timeliness, and the relationship with the journalist. Findings indicated that during a crisis, news agencies are most likely to be included in the news, followed by the public, and finally the organization. The significance of the five source characteristics is dependent on source type. For example, to be used in the news, news agencies and organizations should be mainly evaluated as knowledgeable, whereas information from the public should be both credible and timely. In addition, organizations should not be seen as too willing or too eager to communicate. The findings imply that, during a crisis, journalists remain critical gatekeepers; however, they rely mainly on familiar sources. PMID:29278263

Disrupting gatekeeping practices: Journalists' source selection in times of crisis.

PubMed

van der Meer, Toni G L A; Verhoeven, Piet; Beentjes, Johannes W J; Vliegenthart, Rens

2017-10-01

As gatekeepers, journalists have the power to select the sources that get a voice in crisis coverage. The aim of this study is to find out how journalists select sources during a crisis. In a survey, journalists were asked how they assess the following sources during an organizational crisis: news agencies, an organization undergoing a crisis, and the general public. The sample consisted of 214 Dutch experienced journalists who at least once covered a crisis. Using structural equation modeling, sources' likelihood of being included in the news was predicted using five source characteristics: credibility, knowledge, willingness, timeliness, and the relationship with the journalist. Findings indicated that during a crisis, news agencies are most likely to be included in the news, followed by the public, and finally the organization. The significance of the five source characteristics is dependent on source type. For example, to be used in the news, news agencies and organizations should be mainly evaluated as knowledgeable, whereas information from the public should be both credible and timely. In addition, organizations should not be seen as too willing or too eager to communicate. The findings imply that, during a crisis, journalists remain critical gatekeepers; however, they rely mainly on familiar sources.

Memories of Crisis: Bohr, Kuhn, and the Quantum Mechanical ``Revolution''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seth, Suman

2013-04-01

``The history of science, to my knowledge,'' wrote Thomas Kuhn, describing the years just prior to the development of matrix and wave mechanics, ``offers no equally clear, detailed, and cogent example of the creative functions of normal science and crisis.'' By 1924, most quantum theorists shared a sense that there was much wrong with all extant atomic models. Yet not all shared equally in the sense that the failure was either terribly surprising or particularly demoralizing. Not all agreed, that is, that a crisis for Bohr-like models was a crisis for quantum theory. This paper attempts to answer four questions: two about history, two about memory. First, which sub-groups of the quantum theoretical community saw themselves and their field in a state of crisis in the early 1920s? Second, why did they do so, and how was a sense of crisis related to their theoretical practices in physics? Third, do we regard the years before 1925 as a crisis because they were followed by the quantum mechanical revolution? And fourth, to reverse the last question, were we to call into the question the existence of a crisis (for some at least) does that make a subsequent revolution less revolutionary?

An Analysis of Secondary Schools' Crisis Management Preparedness: National Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Cheantel M.; Kritsonis, William Allan

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze crisis management plans of schools that have experienced crisis situations in the past. The plans used by these schools to manage these crisis situations will be evaluated for their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in re-establishing stability to their organization. With such information, other schools may…

The Infrastructure of Academic Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davey, Ken

1996-01-01

Canadian university infrastructures have eroded as seen in aging equipment, deteriorating facilities, and fewer skilled personnel to maintain and operate research equipment. Research infrastructure includes administrative overhead, facilities and equipment, and research personnel including faculty, technicians, and students. The biggest erosion of…

18 CFR 35.35 - Transmission infrastructure investment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... infrastructure investment. 35.35 Section 35.35 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY... AND TARIFFS Transmission Infrastructure Investment Provisions § 35.35 Transmission infrastructure investment. (a) Purpose. This section establishes rules for incentive-based (including performance-based...

Financial crisis, austerity, and health in Europe.

PubMed

Karanikolos, Marina; Mladovsky, Philipa; Cylus, Jonathan; Thomson, Sarah; Basu, Sanjay; Stuckler, David; Mackenbach, Johan P; McKee, Martin

2013-04-13

The financial crisis in Europe has posed major threats and opportunities to health. We trace the origins of the economic crisis in Europe and the responses of governments, examine the effect on health systems, and review the effects of previous economic downturns on health to predict the likely consequences for the present. We then compare our predictions with available evidence for the effects of the crisis on health. Whereas immediate rises in suicides and falls in road traffic deaths were anticipated, other consequences, such as HIV outbreaks, were not, and are better understood as products of state retrenchment. Greece, Spain, and Portugal adopted strict fiscal austerity; their economies continue to recede and strain on their health-care systems is growing. Suicides and outbreaks of infectious diseases are becoming more common in these countries, and budget cuts have restricted access to health care. By contrast, Iceland rejected austerity through a popular vote, and the financial crisis seems to have had few or no discernible effects on health. Although there are many potentially confounding differences between countries, our analysis suggests that, although recessions pose risks to health, the interaction of fiscal austerity with economic shocks and weak social protection is what ultimately seems to escalate health and social crises in Europe. Policy decisions about how to respond to economic crises have pronounced and unintended effects on public health, yet public health voices have remained largely silent during the economic crisis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Managing a Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, Dennis

2016-01-01

Planning ahead, practicing your response for various scenarios, being open and honest, showing empathy and respect for other peoples' perspectives and assuring stakeholders that you have the situation covered are the foundations of communicating successfully during a crisis, experts say. This article provides strategies for Community College…

Intranasal dexmedetomidine for adrenergic crisis in familial dysautonomia.

PubMed

Spalink, Christy L; Barnes, Erin; Palma, Jose-Alberto; Norcliffe-Kaufmann, Lucy; Kaufmann, Horacio

2017-08-01

To report the use of intranasal dexmedetomidine, an α 2 -adrenergic agonist for the acute treatment of refractory adrenergic crisis in patients with familial dysautonomia. Case series. Three patients with genetically confirmed familial dysautonomia (case 1: 20-year-old male; case 2: 43-year-old male; case 3: 26-year-old female) received intranasal dexmedetomidine 2 mcg/kg, half of the dose in each nostril, for the acute treatment of adrenergic crisis. Within 8-17 min of administering the intranasal dose, the adrenergic crisis symptoms abated, and blood pressure and heart rate returned to pre-crises values. Adrenergic crises eventually resumed, and all three patients required hospitalization for investigation of the cause of the crises. Intranasal dexmedetomidine is a feasible and safe acute treatment for adrenergic crisis in patients with familial dysautonomia. Further controlled studies are required to confirm the safety and efficacy in this population.

Summary of the June 2009 Educationtoday Crisis Survey: Initial Reflections on the Impact of the Economic Crisis on Education. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 43

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karkkainen, Kiira

2010-01-01

This paper provides initial reflections on the impact of the economic crisis on education across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area by analysing the OECD educationtoday crisis survey responses of June 2009. It first looks at the impact of the crisis on education demand and participation, after which the focus…

Development of a lunar infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, J. D.

If humans are to reside continuously and productively on the Moon, they must be surrounded and supported there by an infrastructure having some attributes of the support systems that have made advanced civilization possible on Earth. Building this lunar infrastructure will, in a sense, be an investment. Creating it will require large resources from Earth, but once it exists it can do much to limit the further demands of a lunar base for Earthside support. What is needed for a viable lunar infrastructure? This question can be approached from two directions. The first is to examine history, which is essentially a record of growing information structures among humans on Earth (tribes, agriculture, specialization of work, education, ethics, arts and sciences, cities and states, technology). The second approach is much less secure but may provide useful insights: it is to examine the minimal needs of a small human community - not just for physical survival but for a stable existence with a net product output. This paper presents a summary, based on present knowledge of the Moon and of the likely functions of a human community there, of some of these infrastructure requirements, and also discusses possible ways to proceed toward meeting early infrastructure needs.

Development of effective prophylaxis against intraoperative carcinoid crisis.

PubMed

Woltering, Eugene A; Wright, Anne E; Stevens, Melissa A; Wang, Yi-Zarn; Boudreaux, John P; Mamikunian, Gregg; Riopelle, James M; Kaye, Alan D

2016-08-01

The prophylactic use of a preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative high-dose continuous octreotide acetate infusion was evaluated for its ability to minimize the incidence of carcinoid crises during neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cytoreductive surgeries. A retrospective study was approved by the institutional review boards at Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner operating room and multispecialty NET clinic. One hundred fifty consecutive patients who underwent a total of 179 cytoreductive surgeries for stage IV, small bowel NETs. All patients received a 500-μg/h infusion of octreotide acetate preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively. Anesthesia and surgical records were reviewed. Carcinoid crisis was defined as a systolic blood pressure of less than 80mm Hg for greater than 10minutes. Patients who experienced intraoperative hypertension or hypotension, profound tachycardia, or a "crisis" according to the operative note were also reviewed. One hundred sixty-nine (169/179; 94%) patients had normal anesthesia courses. The medical records of 10 patients were further investigated for a potential intraoperative crisis using the aforementioned criteria. Upon review, 6 patients were determined to have had a crisis. The final incidence of intraoperative crisis was 3.4% (6/179). A continuous high-dose infusion of octreotide acetate intraoperatively minimizes the incidence of carcinoid crisis. We believe that the low cost and excellent safety profile of octreotide warrant the use of this therapy during extensive surgical procedures for midgut and foregut NETs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Big Wind Turbines Require Infrastructure Upgrades - Continuum Magazine |

Science.gov Websites

rapidly. To that end, NREL has been completing electrical infrastructure upgrades to accommodate utility in the fall of 2009 necessitated infrastructure upgrades. Now the NWTC's electrical infrastructure eastern-most row on site. Interconnecting these large turbines required major electrical infrastructure

76 FR 81956 - National Infrastructure Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-29

... through the Secretary of Homeland Security with advice on the security of the critical infrastructure... critical infrastructure as directed by the President. At this meeting, the committee will receive work from... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY [Docket No. DHS-2011-0117] National Infrastructure Advisory...

76 FR 36137 - National Infrastructure Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-21

... Homeland Security with advice on the security of the critical infrastructure sectors and their information systems. The NIAC will meet to address issues relevant to the protection of critical infrastructure as... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY [Docket No. DHS-2011-0034] National Infrastructure Advisory...

Politics and Public Health: The Flint Drinking Water Crisis.

PubMed

Gostin, Lawrence O

2016-07-01

The Flint, Michigan, lead drinking water crisis is perhaps the most vivid current illustration of health inequalities in the United States. Since 2014, Flint citizens-among the poorest in America, mostly African American-had complained that their tap water was foul and discolored. But city, state, and federal officials took no heed. In March 2016, an independent task force found fault at every level of government and also highlighted what may amount to criminal negligence for workers who seemingly falsified water-quality results, allowing the people of Flint to continue to be exposed to water well above the federally allowed lead levels. It would have been possible to prevent lead seeping into the drinking water by treating the pipes with federally approved anticorrosives for around $100 per day. But today the cost of repairing the Flint water system is estimated at $1.5 billion, and fixing the ageing and lead-laden system across the United States would cost at least $1.3 trillion. How will Flint residents get justice and fair compensation for the wrongs caused by individual and systemic failures? And how will governments rebuild a water infrastructure that is causing and will continue to cause toxic conditions, particularly in economically marginalized cities and towns across America? © 2016 The Hastings Center.

Assessing aggression risks in patients of the ambulatory mental health crisis team.

PubMed

Penterman, Berry; Nijman, Henk

2011-08-01

During outreaching crisis visits, crisis team members run the risk of being confronted with aggressive behavior from their patients. To prevent dangerous situations, a method to assess risks in advance, on the basis of information received before the visit to the patient in crisis, could prove useful. During a two-year period, crisis team members completed a checklist before visiting patients in psychiatric crises. After each crisis visit, if there had been any aggression, this was recorded by means of the SOAS-R. In 51 of 499 crisis visits (10%) aggression was documented. The results indicate that the predictive validity of the presented checklist for occurrences of aggression may be fair-to-good. Use of the checklist in everyday crisis team practice seems recommendable as it structures the way risks are assessed before entering a potentially dangerous situation.

The financial crisis in Europe: Impact on satisfaction with life.

PubMed

Clench-Aas, Jocelyne; Holte, Arne

2017-08-01

The 2008 financial crisis in Europe came abruptly and surprisingly. Many countries also suffered a second recession during the period 2010-2012. We examined the impact of the crisis on life satisfaction (LS) by country and individual socioeconomic level. We used a representative sample from the European Social Survey (2002-2014) with data from 26 countries ( N = 294,407). LS was measured with a single question with 11 response alternatives. Time from start of crisis (either 2008 or 2010-2012) was determined separately for each interview. Data were analyzed by multilevel analysis Results: There was a sharp decrease in LS in the beginning of the crisis in 2008, and another, but not so severe, decline in 2011, each of them of short duration. However, there was also a slight and progressive yearly decrease in LS that continued one to at least 3 years after either financial crisis that was independent of the effect of being unemployed. Associations varied considerably between countries. A negative decline after the financial crisis was especially evident among those in the most educated groups, and in those in the higher occupational levels. The 2008 financial crisis had a double effect on LS: (1) a sharp short-term decrease consistent with the Easterlin paradox; (2) a slighter long-term progressive decrease that was over and above the strong negative relationship with unemployment that lasted several years. The long-term decline in LS after the start of the financial crisis tended to occur especially in the higher socioeconomic groups.

[Public health in major socio-economic crisis].

PubMed

Cosmacini, G

2014-01-01

The term "crisis" in different cultures (such as ancient Greece or China) can have a positive meaning, since it indicates a time of growth, change and opportunity. Over the centuries there have been times of severe economic and social crisis that led to the implementation of major reforms and improved population health. Nowadays, despite the new economic crisis which has also affected health care for its rising costs, health economics does not hesitate to affirm the importance of key objectives such as prevention and medical assistance. Prevention is not prediction. Prevention means "going upstream" and fixing a problem at the source; the goal is to reduce diseases' effects, causes and risk factors, thereby reducing the prevalence of costly medical conditions.

Greece Financial Crisis and Quality of Life.

PubMed

Mechili, Aggelos E; Kalokairinou, Athena; Kaitelidou, Dafni; Diomidous, Marianna

2015-01-01

The last six years the global community is facing an economic crisis that first appeared in USA. This crisis has a lot of impacts especially in health sector. Unemployment, job insecurity and the loss of disposable income have a significant impact in health too. The main objective of this research was to investigate the quality of life of the general population in Greece during the financial crisis. To collect the data it has been used the Greek version of Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36v2). In general, income, level of education, cohabitation and parenthood had a significant impact in quality of life. As a conclusion, unemployed participants' score was lower in the entire dimensions and in the two summary scales too.

Attenuating a sickle cell crisis with annexin V.

PubMed

Kennedy, James Randall

2015-05-01

A sickle cell crisis is a painful and dangerous condition that defies effective treatment but fortunately it usually terminates spontaneously and patients spend far more time crisis free than in its painful throes. This suggests that an unstable physiologic balance exists between steady state sickle cell disease (SCD) and the crisis state and if this is so a therapeutic nudge during a crisis may help to terminate it. Annexin V may be able to provide this push. The phosphatidylserine (PS) molecules normally appear on the surface of senescent erythrocytes where they are recognized by macrophages and rapidly removed so that normally only about 1% are present in the circulation but in SCD 30-40% are prematurely senescent and their removal is delayed. The PS+ sickle erythrocytes remaining in the circulation adhere to the endothelium and their exposed PS acts as a platform for the initiation of the coagulation cascade that is responsible for clot propagation. Annexin V's great affinity for PS allows it to bond to it forming a shield that blocks both of these actions suggesting that its therapeutic administration during a sickle crisis may be able to hasten its termination. Copyright © 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Specialized Police-Based Mental Health Crisis Response: The First 10 Years of Colorado's Crisis Intervention Team Implementation.

PubMed

Khalsa, Hari-Mandir K; Denes, Attila C; M Pasini-Hill, Diane; Santelli, Jeffrey C; Baldessarini, Ross J

2018-02-01

This study examined the implementation of crisis intervention teams by law enforcement agencies in Colorado. Rates of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) use, arrests, use of force, and injuries were assessed during 6,353 incidents involving individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Relationships among original complaint, psychiatric illness, substance abuse, violence risk, and disposition of crisis calls were analyzed. Rates of SWAT use (<1%), injuries (<1%), arrests (<5%), and use of force (<5%) were low. The relative risk of transfer to treatment (versus no transfer) was significantly higher for incidents involving psychiatric illness, suicide threat or attempt, weapons, substance abuse, and violence potential. Use of force or SWAT, arrests, and injuries were infrequent. Suicide risk, psychiatric illness and substance abuse, even in the presence of a weapon or violence threat, increased the odds of transfer to treatment, whereas suicide risk lowered the odds of transfer to jail.

Coping with Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akenhead, James; Andreani, Alan

2002-01-01

School officials put a crisis communications plan into action after two Ohio students died and a third became critically ill from meningitis in May 2001. A mass immunization program prevented a major outbreak, and rumor control helped calm the public's fears. Recounts things learned from the experience. (MLF)

Critical Infrastructure Rebuild Prioritization using Simulation Optimization

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

23 Figure 2.9 Production by temperature and production made from a crude oil (EIA.com)24 Figure 2.10 Natural gas industry... Oil infrastructure physical layer ...................................................................... 45 Figure 3.6 Natural gas infrastructure...information layer.......................................................... 55 Figure 3.11 Oil infrastructure information layer

A Proposed Solution to the Scholarly Communications Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schatzle, Chad

2005-01-01

After reviewing the history and parameters of the scholarly communications crisis, particularly in regard to skyrocketing prices for journals in the natural sciences, the author reviews and rejects previously attempted solutions. He then employs the principles of game theory in proposing a new solution to the crisis.

The impact of communication on human behaviour in times of crisis.

PubMed

MacLeod, Andrew

Decision makers have constantly sought to find the most appropriate ways to use communication to influence behaviour during times of crises to assist in their recovery. This paper will investigate why policy makers wish to utilise effective crisis communications and explore the importance of crisis communication on influencing human behaviour in a time of crisis as well as the influence that the medium of communication can have. It will be noted that the medium of the message is important to ensure that the correct audience has been reached. This paper will suggest that, for decision makers to maximise the impact of crisis communications during a crisis, they must utilise rhetoric and cognitive response theory. It will also be suggested that the most importance factor in influencing behaviour in a time of crisis is that communications are provided from a credible source and are empathic in nature.

The implementation of psychiatric advance directives: experiences from a Dutch crisis card initiative.

PubMed

van der Ham, Alida J; Voskes, Yolande; van Kempen, Nel; Broerse, Jacqueline E W; Widdershoven, Guy A M

2013-06-01

The crisis card is a specific form of psychiatric advance directive, documenting mental clients' treatment preferences in advance of a potential psychiatric crisis. In this paper, we aim to provide insight into implementation issues surrounding the crisis card. A Dutch crisis-card project formed the scope of this study. Data were collected through interviews with 15 participants from six stakeholder groups. Identified implementation issues are: (a) The role of the crisis-card counselor, (b) lack of distribution and familiarity, (c) care professionals' routines, and (d) client readiness. The crisis-card counselor appears to play a key role in fostering benefits of the crisis card by supporting clients' perspectives. More structural integration of the crisis card in care processes may enhance its impact, but should be carefully explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

77 FR 19300 - National Infrastructure Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-30

... Homeland Security with advice on the security of the critical infrastructure sectors and their information systems. The NIAC will meet to address issues relevant to the protection of critical infrastructure as... Group regarding the scope of the next phase of the Working Group's critical infrastructure resilience...

Serum ferritin concentration in sickle cell crisis.

PubMed Central

Brownell, A; Lowson, S; Brozović, M

1986-01-01

Serum ferritin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBD) were studied during 21 vaso-occlusive crises in 12 adults with sickle cell disease (11 SS, 1 S beta degrees). The patients comprised three groups: those who had been untransfused (4), those who had received occasional exchange transfusion in crisis (3), and those who had been multiply transfused (5). Serum ferritin concentrations in crisis were compared with those of the steady state value. Rises in serum ferritin concentrations occurred in all crises in all groups. Although AST, alkaline phosphatase, and HBD rose, there was no correlation between these and log ferritin concentrations. The clinical impression was that the degree of rise in ferritin related to the severity of the particular crisis, and the above results showed that haemolysis and liver damage were not causally related to this rise. An estimate of serum ferritin cannot be used to assess the state of iron balance in sickle cell disease unless the patient is in the steady state. The considerable rise in serum ferritin concentration found in crisis, however, may be a useful marker of the extent of vaso-occlusion and tissue damage. PMID:3958215

Management of myasthenic crisis in a child.

PubMed

Rybojad, Beata; Lesiuk, Witold; Fijałkowska, Anna; Rybojad, Paweł; Sawicki, Marek; Lesiuk, Leszek

2013-01-01

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder of peripheral nervous system, leading to fluctuating muscle weakness. It is caused by circulating antibodies that block acetylcholine nicotinic postsynaptic receptors at the postsynaptic neuromuscular junction. Myasthenic crisis is a life-threatening complication, which is defined as weakness from acquired myasthenia gravis. In this paper we described a 15-year-old boy who was admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit due to myasthenic crisis. He had suffered not only from myasthenia gravis but also hypothyroidism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The patient required mechanical ventilation and was successfully treated with both plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulins. He recovered from the crisis and then thymectomy was performed. Perioperative period and anaesthesia passed uncomplicated. Discharged home from the hospital after 2.5 month-treatment, for the last 4 years, he has only come on scheduled outpatient medical appointments. This case reveals that myasthenic crisis, albeit rare, may occur in male adolescents. In such cases multidisciplinary care followed by surgery becomes a procedure of choice. Concomitant medical problems, if well controlled, do not affect the results of outcome of the underlying disease.

Public Health Crisis Preparedness and Response in Korea

PubMed Central

Lee, Hye-Young; Oh, Mi-Na; Park, Yong-Shik; Chu, Chaeshin; Son, Tae-Jong

2013-01-01

Since the 2006 Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan according to the World Health Organization’s recommendation, the Republic of Korea has prepared and periodically evaluated the plan to respond to various public health crises including pandemic influenza. Korea has stockpiled 13,000,000 doses of antiviral drugs covering 26% of the Korean population and runs 519 isolated beds in 16 medical institutions. The division of public health crisis response in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in charge of responding to public health crises caused by emerging infectious diseases including severe acute respiratory syndrome, avian influenza human infection, and pandemic influenza. Its job description includes preparing for emerging infectious diseases, securing medical resources during a crisis, activating the emergency response during the crisis, and fortification of capabilities of public health personnel. It could evolve into a comprehensive national agency to deal with public health crisis based on the experience of previous national emerging infectious diseases. PMID:24298444

Spanning trees and the Eurozone crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, João

2013-12-01

The sovereign debt crisis in the euro area has not yet been solved and recent developments in Spain and Italy have further deteriorated the situation. In this paper we develop a new approach to analyze the ongoing Eurozone crisis. Firstly, we use Maximum Spanning Trees to analyze the topological properties of government bond rates’ dynamics. Secondly, we combine the information given by both Maximum and Minimum Spanning Trees to obtain a measure of market dissimilarity or disintegration. Thirdly, we extend this measure to include a convenient distance not limited to the interval [0, 2]. Our empirical results show that Maximum Spanning Tree gives an adequate description of the separation of the euro area into two distinct groups: those countries strongly affected by the crisis and those that have remained resilient during this period. The measures of market dissimilarity also reveal a persistent separation of these two groups and, according to our second measure, this separation strongly increased during the period July 2009-March 2012.

[Hypertensive crisis in infancy and childhood].

PubMed

Wirbelauer, J; Strotmann, J; Kirchhoff, A; Darge, K; Thomas, W

2008-01-01

The extended physical examination of a patient includes measurement of blood pressure. In infancy and childhood the blood pressure measurement may be difficult due to an uncooperative and restless patient. In a 16-month-old girl apparently unmeasurable blood pressure was a hypertensive crisis with systolic blood pressure of more than 200 mmHg. The cause of the hypertension was found to be a nephroblastoma. In the case of rapidly progressive arterial hypertension in another 16-month-old girl with left ventricular dilatation and reduced function was a consequence of kidney dysplasia. Headache attacks lead to diagnosis of a subtotal coarctation of the aortic isthmus in a 17-year-old boy. Hypertensive crisis in infancy, childhood and adolescence is discussed based on these case reports. Special features of blood pressure measurement in the pediatric age group, pathogenesis of hypertensive crisis and the potential therapies are discussed incorporating a brief review of the literature.

Chapter 2. Surge capacity and infrastructure considerations for mass critical care. Recommendations and standard operating procedures for intensive care unit and hospital preparations for an influenza epidemic or mass disaster.

PubMed

Hick, John L; Christian, Michael D; Sprung, Charles L

2010-04-01

To provide recommendations and standard operating procedures for intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital preparations for a mass disaster or influenza epidemic with a specific focus on surge capacity and infrastructure considerations. Based on a literature review and expert opinion, a Delphi process was used to define the essential topics including surge capacity and infrastructure considerations. Key recommendations include: (1) hospitals should increase their ICU beds to the maximal extent by expanding ICU capacity and expanding ICUs into other areas; (2) hospitals should have appropriate beds and monitors for these expansion areas; hospitals should develop contingency plans at the facility and government (local, state, provincial, national) levels to provide additional ventilators; (3) hospitals should develop a phased staffing plan (nursing and physician) for ICUs that provides sufficient patient care supervision during contingency and crisis situations; (4) hospitals should provide expert input to the emergency management personnel at the hospital both during planning for surge capacity as well as during response; (5) hospitals should assure that adequate infrastructure support is present to support critical care activities; (6) hospitals should prioritize locations for expansion by expanding existing ICUs, using postanesthesia care units and emergency departments to capacity, then step-down units, large procedure suites, telemetry units and finally hospital wards. Judicious planning and adoption of protocols for surge capacity and infrastructure considerations are necessary to optimize outcomes during a pandemic.

The Function of Epideictic and Deliberative Strategies in Presidential Crisis Rhetoric.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dow, Bonnie J.

1989-01-01

Argues for a revised perspective on presidential crisis rhetoric informed by an understanding of differing exigencies and functions. Uses speeches by Ronald Reagan to examine two types of crisis rhetoric. Concludes that crisis rhetoric can not be viewed as a homogeneous type of discourse. (MM)

Resilience vs soft crisis: dynamic risk assessment in complex hybrid systems. Case history of Ginosa (Taranto, Southern Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parisi, Alessandro; Argentiero, Ilenia; Fidelibus, Maria Dolores; Pellicani, Roberta; Spilotro, Giuseppe

2017-04-01

Considering a natural system without human-induced modifications, its resilience can be altered by many natural drivers (e.g. geological characteristics, climate) and their spatial modifications over time. Therefore, natural hazardous phenomena could shift natural system over tipping points in an easier or more difficult way. So long as natural system does not involve human settlements or transport infrastructures, natural system risk assessment could not be a basic topic. Nowadays, human activities have modified many natural systems forming, as a result, hybrid systems (both human and natural), in which natural and human-induced drivers modify hybrid systems vulnerability in order to decrease or increase their resilience: scientists define this new age Anthropocene. In this context, dynamic risk assessment of hybrid systems is required in order to avoid disaster when hazardous phenomena occur, but it is a quite complex issue. In fact, soft crisis emerging signals are difficult to identify because of wrong risk perception and lack of communication. Furthermore, natural and human-induced modifications are rarely registered and supervised by governments, so it is fairly difficult defining how systems resilience changes over time. Inhabitants of Ginosa (Taranto, South of Italy) had modified many old rock dwellings over thousand years since the Middle Ages. Indeed, they had built up three-storey houses on three hypogeum levels of rock dwellings along the ravine. The Matrice street collapse in Ginosa is an example of how natural and human-induced spatial modifications over time had led a soft crisis to evolve in a disaster, fortunately without fatalities. This research aim is to revisit events before the Matrice street collapse on the 21st January 2014. The will is to define the relationship between the hybrid system resilience and soft crisis variation over time and how human and natural drivers were involved in the shift.

Developing Discourse of Renewal during a Campus Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boatwright, Brandon; Mazer, Joseph P.

2017-01-01

Course: This assignment is a unit activity designed for use in a skills-focused undergraduate public relations, organizational communication, or crisis communication course. Objective: The goal of this activity is to increase students' understanding of and ability to apply discourse of renewal in a crisis scenario. Students will work…

COOPEUS - connecting research infrastructures in environmental sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koop-Jakobsen, Ketil; Waldmann, Christoph; Huber, Robert

2015-04-01

The COOPEUS project was initiated in 2012 bringing together 10 research infrastructures (RIs) in environmental sciences from the EU and US in order to improve the discovery, access, and use of environmental information and data across scientific disciplines and across geographical borders. The COOPEUS mission is to facilitate readily accessible research infrastructure data to advance our understanding of Earth systems through an international community-driven effort, by: Bringing together both user communities and top-down directives to address evolving societal and scientific needs; Removing technical, scientific, cultural and geopolitical barriers for data use; and Coordinating the flow, integrity and preservation of information. A survey of data availability was conducted among the COOPEUS research infrastructures for the purpose of discovering impediments for open international and cross-disciplinary sharing of environmental data. The survey showed that the majority of data offered by the COOPEUS research infrastructures is available via the internet (>90%), but the accessibility to these data differ significantly among research infrastructures; only 45% offer open access on their data, whereas the remaining infrastructures offer restricted access e.g. do not release raw data or sensible data, demand user registration or require permission prior to release of data. These rules and regulations are often installed as a form of standard practice, whereas formal data policies are lacking in 40% of the infrastructures, primarily in the EU. In order to improve this situation COOPEUS has installed a common data-sharing policy, which is agreed upon by all the COOPEUS research infrastructures. To investigate the existing opportunities for improving interoperability among environmental research infrastructures, COOPEUS explored the opportunities with the GEOSS common infrastructure (GCI) by holding a hands-on workshop. Through exercises directly registering resources

Hierarchical Coloured Petrinet Based Healthcare Infrastructure Interdependency Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nivedita, N.; Durbha, S.

2014-11-01

To ensure a resilient Healthcare Critical Infrastructure, understanding the vulnerabilities and analysing the interdependency on other critical infrastructures is important. To model this critical infrastructure and its dependencies, Hierarchal Coloured petri net modelling approach for simulating the vulnerability of Healthcare Critical infrastructure in a disaster situation is studied.. The model enables to analyse and understand various state changes, which occur when there is a disruption or damage to any of the Critical Infrastructure, and its cascading nature. It also enables to explore optimal paths for evacuation during the disaster. The simulation environment can be used to understand and highlight various vulnerabilities of Healthcare Critical Infrastructure during a flood disaster scenario; minimize consequences; and enable timely, efficient response.

Green Infrastructure

EPA Science Inventory

Large paved surfaces keep rain from infiltrating the soil and recharging groundwater supplies. Alternatively, Green infrastructure uses natural processes to reduce and treat stormwater in place by soaking up and storing water. These systems provide many environmental, social, an...

Data Updating Methods for Spatial Data Infrastructure that Maintain Infrastructure Quality and Enable its Sustainable Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murakami, S.; Takemoto, T.; Ito, Y.

2012-07-01

The Japanese government, local governments and businesses are working closely together to establish spatial data infrastructures in accordance with the Basic Act on the Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information (NSDI Act established in August 2007). Spatial data infrastructures are urgently required not only to accelerate computerization of the public administration, but also to help restoration and reconstruction of the areas struck by the East Japan Great Earthquake and future disaster prevention and reduction. For construction of a spatial data infrastructure, various guidelines have been formulated. But after an infrastructure is constructed, there is a problem of maintaining it. In one case, an organization updates its spatial data only once every several years because of budget problems. Departments and sections update the data on their own without careful consideration. That upsets the quality control of the entire data system and the system loses integrity, which is crucial to a spatial data infrastructure. To ensure quality, ideally, it is desirable to update data of the entire area every year. But, that is virtually impossible, considering the recent budget crunch. The method we suggest is to update spatial data items of higher importance only in order to maintain quality, not updating all the items across the board. We have explored a method of partially updating the data of these two geographical features while ensuring the accuracy of locations. Using this method, data on roads and buildings that greatly change with time can be updated almost in real time or at least within a year. The method will help increase the availability of a spatial data infrastructure. We have conducted an experiment on the spatial data infrastructure of a municipality using those data. As a result, we have found that it is possible to update data of both features almost in real time.

Infrastructure Commons in Economic Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frischmann, Brett M.

This chapter briefly summarizes a theory (developed in substantial detail elsewhere)1 that explains why there are strong economic arguments for managing and sustaining infrastructure resources in an openly accessible manner. This theory facilitates a better understanding of two related issues: how society benefits from infrastructure resources and how decisions about how to manage or govern infrastructure resources affect a wide variety of public and private interests. The key insights from this analysis are that infrastructure resources generate value as inputs into a wide range of productive processes and that the outputs from these processes are often public goods and nonmarket goods that generate positive externalities that benefit society as a whole. Managing such resources in an openly accessible manner may be socially desirable from an economic perspective because doing so facilitates these downstream productive activities. For example, managing the Internet infrastructure in an openly accessible manner facilitates active citizen involvement in the production and sharing of many different public and nonmarket goods. Over the last decade, this has led to increased opportunities for a wide range of citizens to engage in entrepreneurship, political discourse, social network formation, and community building, among many other activities. The chapter applies these insights to the network neutrality debate and suggests how the debate might be reframed to better account for the wide range of private and public interests at stake.

Crisis intervention for people with severe mental illnesses.

PubMed

Murphy, Suzanne M; Irving, Claire B; Adams, Clive E; Waqar, Muhammad

2015-12-03

A particularly difficult challenge for community treatment of people with serious mental illnesses is the delivery of an acceptable level of care during the acute phases of severe mental illness. Crisis-intervention models of care were developed as a possible solution. To review the effects of crisis-intervention models for anyone with serious mental illness experiencing an acute episode compared to the standard care they would normally receive. If possible, to compare the effects of mobile crisis teams visiting patients' homes with crisis units based in home-like residential houses. We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Study-Based Register of Trials. There is no language, time, document type, or publication status limitations for inclusion of records in the register. This search was undertaken in 1998 and then updated 2003, 2006, 2010 and September 29, 2014. We included all randomised controlled trials of crisis-intervention models versus standard care for people with severe mental illnesses that met our inclusion criteria. We independently extracted data from these trials and we estimated risk ratios (RR) or mean differences (MD), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed risk of bias for included studies and used GRADE to create a 'Summary of findings' table. The update search September 2014 found no further new studies for inclusion, the number of studies included in this review remains eight with a total of 1144 participants. Our main outcomes of interest are hospital use, global state, mental state, quality of life, participant satisfaction and family burden. With the exception of mental state, it was not possible to pool data for these outcomes.Crisis intervention may reduce repeat admissions to hospital (excluding index admissions) at six months (1 RCT, n = 369, RR 0.75 CI 0.50 to 1.13, high quality evidence), but does appear to reduce family burden (at six months: 1 RCT, n = 120, RR 0.34 CI 0.20 to 0.59, low quality evidence), improve

Crisis management with applicability on fire fighting plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panaitescu, M.; Panaitescu, F. V.; Voicu, I.; Dumitrescu, L. G.

2017-08-01

The paper presents a case study for a crisis management analysis which address to fire fighting plants. The procedures include the steps of FTA (Failure tree analysis). The purpose of the present paper is to describe this crisis management plan with tools of FTA. The crisis management procedures have applicability on anticipated and emergency situations and help to describe and planning a worst-case scenario plan. For this issue must calculate the probabilities in different situations for fire fighting plants. In the conclusions of paper is analised the block diagram with components of fire fighting plant and are presented the solutions for each possible risk situations.

Hypertensive Crisis From the Aquamantys Bipolar Sealing System.

PubMed

Hardy, Brian C; Giordano, Christopher R

2016-12-15

Hypertension is a common occurrence during general anesthesia. Apart from pathological causes of hypertension, it is rarely extreme enough to be classified as a hypertensive crisis (systolic blood pressure >180 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure >120 mm Hg). There is literature concerning the unintentional electrocauterization of the adrenal gland leading to hypertensive crisis, but to date, no reports have been made of adrenal stimulation from the use of an Aquamantys for hemostasis. Here, we report such a case when a hypertensive crisis (systolic blood pressure >300 mm Hg) occurred while using an Aquamantys during a liver transplant after unintentional stimulation of the adrenal glands.

Thyrotoxic and pheochromocytoma multisystem crisis: a case report.

PubMed

Suzuki, Kodai; Miyake, Takahito; Okada, Hideshi; Yamaji, Fuminori; Kitagawa, Yuichiro; Fukuta, Tetsuya; Yasuda, Ryu; Tanaka, Yoshihito; Okamoto, Haruka; Nachi, Sho; Doi, Tomoaki; Yoshida, Takahiro; Kumada, Keisuke; Yoshida, Shozo; Ushikoshi, Hiroaki; Toyoda, Izumi; Ogura, Shinji

2017-06-23

Thyrotoxic crisis and pheochromocytoma multisystem crisis are rare, life-threatening, emergency endocrine diseases with various clinical manifestations. Here we report a case of a patient who simultaneously developed thyrotoxic crisis and pheochromocytoma multisystem crisis and required intensive cardiovascular management. A 60-year-old Asian man experienced nausea and vomiting, and subsequently developed dyspnea and cold sweats while farming. His serum free thyroxine, free triiodothyronine, and thyrotropin receptor antibody levels were elevated at 2.9 ng/dL, 7.2 pg/dL, and 4.7 IU/L, respectively. Serum thyrotropin levels were suppressed at less than 0.01 μIU/mL. Thyroid echography demonstrated no thyroid swelling (23 × 43 mm). A whole body computed tomography was performed for systemic evaluation. This revealed exophthalmos and a mass of size 57 × 64 mm in the anterior pararenal space. Based on these findings, we made an initial diagnosis of thyrotoxic crisis secondary to exacerbation of Grave's hyperthyroidism. Treatment was begun with an iodine agent at a dose of 36 mg/day, thiamazole at a dose of 30 mg/day, and hydrocortisone at a dose of 300 mg daily for 3 consecutive days. To control tachycardia, continuous intravenously administered propranolol and diltiazem infusions were given. At the same time, small doses of doxazosin and carvedilol were used for both alpha and beta adrenergic blockade. On hospital day 5, his blood pressure and serum catecholamine concentrations (adrenalin 42,365 pg/mL, dopamine 6409 pg/mL, noradrenalin 72,212 pg/mL) were still high despite higher beta blocker and calcium channel blocker doses. These findings contributed to the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma multisystem crisis with simultaneous thyrotoxic crisis. We increased the doses of doxazosin and carvedilol, which stabilized his hemodynamic status. On hospital day 16, metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy showed high accumulation in the right adrenal gland tumor

Structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure.

PubMed

Brownjohn, J M W

2007-02-15

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a term increasingly used in the last decade to describe a range of systems implemented on full-scale civil infrastructures and whose purposes are to assist and inform operators about continued 'fitness for purpose' of structures under gradual or sudden changes to their state, to learn about either or both of the load and response mechanisms. Arguably, various forms of SHM have been employed in civil infrastructure for at least half a century, but it is only in the last decade or two that computer-based systems are being designed for the purpose of assisting owners/operators of ageing infrastructure with timely information for their continued safe and economic operation. This paper describes the motivations for and recent history of SHM applications to various forms of civil infrastructure and provides case studies on specific types of structure. It ends with a discussion of the present state-of-the-art and future developments in terms of instrumentation, data acquisition, communication systems and data mining and presentation procedures for diagnosis of infrastructural 'health'.

Cyberwarfare on the Electricity Infrastructure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murarka, N.; Ramesh, V.C.

2000-03-20

The report analyzes the possibility of cyberwarfare on the electricity infrastructure. The ongoing deregulation of the electricity industry makes the power grid all the more vulnerable to cyber attacks. The report models the power system information system components, models potential threats and protective measures. It therefore offers a framework for infrastructure protection.

Democracy in Crisis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neill, Brenda

2006-01-01

This article discusses the state of Canadian democracy. Although calling Canadian democracy as something to be in a crisis is still debatable, the author expresses worry over the declining turnout levels in recent elections. Canada--along with a number of other liberal democracies--has experienced a significant and consistent decline in election…

LCG/AA build infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodgkins, Alex Liam; Diez, Victor; Hegner, Benedikt

2012-12-01

The Software Process & Infrastructure (SPI) project provides a build infrastructure for regular integration testing and release of the LCG Applications Area software stack. In the past, regular builds have been provided using a system which has been constantly growing to include more features like server-client communication, long-term build history and a summary web interface using present-day web technologies. However, the ad-hoc style of software development resulted in a setup that is hard to monitor, inflexible and difficult to expand. The new version of the infrastructure is based on the Django Python framework, which allows for a structured and modular design, facilitating later additions. Transparency in the workflows and ease of monitoring has been one of the priorities in the design. Formerly missing functionality like on-demand builds or release triggering will support the transition to a more agile development process.

Sharp Transition in the Lift Force of a Fluid Flowing Past Nonsymmetrical Obstacles: Evidence for a Lift Crisis in the Drag Crisis Regime.

PubMed

Bot, Patrick; Rabaud, Marc; Thomas, Goulven; Lombardi, Alessandro; Lebret, Charles

2016-12-02

Bluff bodies moving in a fluid experience a drag force which usually increases with velocity. However in a particular velocity range a drag crisis is observed, i.e., a sharp and strong decrease of the drag force. This counterintuitive result is well characterized for a sphere or a cylinder. Here we show that, for an object breaking the up-down symmetry, a lift crisis is observed simultaneously to the drag crisis. The term lift crisis refers to the fact that at constant incidence the time-averaged transverse force, which remains small or even negative at low velocity, transitions abruptly to large positive values above a critical flow velocity. This transition is characterized from direct force measurements as well as from change in the velocity field around the obstacle.

Benchmarking infrastructure for mutation text mining

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Experimental research on the automatic extraction of information about mutations from texts is greatly hindered by the lack of consensus evaluation infrastructure for the testing and benchmarking of mutation text mining systems. Results We propose a community-oriented annotation and benchmarking infrastructure to support development, testing, benchmarking, and comparison of mutation text mining systems. The design is based on semantic standards, where RDF is used to represent annotations, an OWL ontology provides an extensible schema for the data and SPARQL is used to compute various performance metrics, so that in many cases no programming is needed to analyze results from a text mining system. While large benchmark corpora for biological entity and relation extraction are focused mostly on genes, proteins, diseases, and species, our benchmarking infrastructure fills the gap for mutation information. The core infrastructure comprises (1) an ontology for modelling annotations, (2) SPARQL queries for computing performance metrics, and (3) a sizeable collection of manually curated documents, that can support mutation grounding and mutation impact extraction experiments. Conclusion We have developed the principal infrastructure for the benchmarking of mutation text mining tasks. The use of RDF and OWL as the representation for corpora ensures extensibility. The infrastructure is suitable for out-of-the-box use in several important scenarios and is ready, in its current state, for initial community adoption. PMID:24568600

Benchmarking infrastructure for mutation text mining.

PubMed

Klein, Artjom; Riazanov, Alexandre; Hindle, Matthew M; Baker, Christopher Jo

2014-02-25

Experimental research on the automatic extraction of information about mutations from texts is greatly hindered by the lack of consensus evaluation infrastructure for the testing and benchmarking of mutation text mining systems. We propose a community-oriented annotation and benchmarking infrastructure to support development, testing, benchmarking, and comparison of mutation text mining systems. The design is based on semantic standards, where RDF is used to represent annotations, an OWL ontology provides an extensible schema for the data and SPARQL is used to compute various performance metrics, so that in many cases no programming is needed to analyze results from a text mining system. While large benchmark corpora for biological entity and relation extraction are focused mostly on genes, proteins, diseases, and species, our benchmarking infrastructure fills the gap for mutation information. The core infrastructure comprises (1) an ontology for modelling annotations, (2) SPARQL queries for computing performance metrics, and (3) a sizeable collection of manually curated documents, that can support mutation grounding and mutation impact extraction experiments. We have developed the principal infrastructure for the benchmarking of mutation text mining tasks. The use of RDF and OWL as the representation for corpora ensures extensibility. The infrastructure is suitable for out-of-the-box use in several important scenarios and is ready, in its current state, for initial community adoption.

5 CFR 550.409 - Evacuation payments during a pandemic health crisis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... health crisis. 550.409 Section 550.409 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL... during a pandemic health crisis. (a) An agency may order one or more employees to evacuate from their... the employee) during a pandemic health crisis without regard to whether the agency and the employee...

International labor migration and financial crisis in Korea.

PubMed

Hyunho, S

1999-06-01

Although the Korean economy became severely depressed because of the financial crisis in November 1997, most foreign migrant workers in the country opted to stay rather than return to their home countries. This study examined the causes of their relative immobility at both the macro- and microlevel through the use of government statistics and survey data. The first section of this study explored in- and outflows of migrant workers in relation to labor market conditions and government interventions before and after the crisis. The second section looked into the effects of the crisis on the companies employing migrant workers, while the final section investigated the effects of the crisis on migrant workers. The findings of this study indicated that the amnesty measure, which was a major government policy to reduce the number of illegal sojourners, exerted some positive effect in the first months after the crisis. Employment and income opportunities at origin countries are important factors determining mobility. Moreover, manufacturing companies still prefer to hire migrant workers before native workers because of cheaper wages for the former. Overall, most migrant workers, regardless of their sojourn status, desire to stay in Korea because of two main reasons: 1) their total earnings are less than their migration costs; 2) they cannot get a job in their home country.

Does teaching crisis resource management skills improve resuscitation performance in pediatric residents?*.

PubMed

Blackwood, Jaime; Duff, Jonathan P; Nettel-Aguirre, Alberto; Djogovic, Dennis; Joynt, Chloe

2014-05-01

The effect of teaching crisis resource management skills on the resuscitation performance of pediatric residents is unknown. The primary objective of this pilot study was to determine if teaching crisis resource management to residents leads to improved clinical and crisis resource management performance in simulated pediatric resuscitation scenarios. A prospective, randomized control pilot study. Simulation facility at tertiary pediatric hospital. Junior pediatric residents. Junior pediatric residents were randomized to 1 hour of crisis resource management instruction or no additional training. Time to predetermined resuscitation tasks was noted in simulated resuscitation scenarios immediately after intervention and again 3 months post intervention. Crisis resource management skills were evaluated using the Ottawa Global Rating Scale. Fifteen junior residents participated in the study, of which seven in the intervention group. The intervention crisis resource management group placed monitor leads 24.6 seconds earlier (p = 0.02), placed an IV 47.1 seconds sooner (p = 0.04), called for help 50.4 seconds faster (p = 0.03), and checked for a pulse after noticing a rhythm change 84.9 seconds quicker (p = 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in time to initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (p = 0.264). The intervention group had overall crisis resource management performance scores 1.15 points higher (Ottawa Global Rating Scale [out of 7]) (p = 0.02). Three months later, these differences between the groups persisted. A 1-hour crisis resource management teaching session improved time to critical initial steps of pediatric resuscitation and crisis resource management performance as measured by the Ottawa Global Rating Scale. The control group did not develop these crisis resource management skills over 3 months of standard training indicating that obtaining these skills requires specific education. Larger studies of crisis resource education are

A scoping review of crisis teams managing dementia in older people.

PubMed

Streater, Amy; Coleston-Shields, Donna Maria; Yates, Jennifer; Stanyon, Miriam; Orrell, Martin

2017-01-01

Research on crisis teams for older adults with dementia is limited. This scoping review aimed to 1) conduct a systematic literature review reporting on the effectiveness of crisis interventions for older people with dementia and 2) conduct a scoping survey with dementia crisis teams mapping services across England to understand operational procedures and identify what is currently occurring in practice. For the systematic literature review, included studies were graded using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist. For the scoping survey, Trusts across England were contacted and relevant services were identified that work with people with dementia experiencing a mental health crisis. The systematic literature review demonstrated limited evidence in support of crisis teams reducing the rate of hospital admissions, and despite the increase in number of studies, methodological limitations remain. For the scoping review, only half (51.8%) of the teams had a care pathway to manage crises and the primary need for referral was behavioral or psychological factors. Evidence in the literature for the effectiveness of crisis teams for older adults with dementia remains limited. Being mainly cohort designs can make it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. In practice, it appears that the pathway for care managing crisis for people with dementia varies widely across services in England. There was a wide range of names given to the provision of teams managing crisis for people with dementia, which may reflect the differences in the setup and procedures of the service. To provide evidence on crisis intervention teams, a comprehensive protocol is required to deliver a standardized care pathway and measurable intervention as part of a large-scale evaluation of effectiveness.

Power-law behavior in complex organizational communication networks during crisis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uddin, Shahadat; Murshed, Shahriar Tanvir Hasan; Hossain, Liaquat

2011-08-01

Communication networks can be described as patterns of contacts which are created due to the flow of messages and information shared among participating actors. Contemporary organizations are now commonly viewed as dynamic systems of adaptation and evolution containing several parts, which interact with one another both in internal and in external environment. Although there is limited consensus among researchers on the precise definition of organizational crisis, there is evidence of shared meaning: crisis produces individual crisis, crisis can be associated with positive or negative conditions, crises can be situations having been precipitated quickly or suddenly or situations that have developed over time and are predictable etc. In this research, we study the power-law behavior of an organizational email communication network during crisis from complexity perspective. Power law simply describes that, the probability that a randomly selected node has k links (i.e. degree k) follows P(k)∼k, where γ is the degree exponent. We used social network analysis tools and techniques to analyze the email communication dataset. We tested two propositions: (1) as organization goes through crisis, a few actors, who are prominent or more active, will become central, and (2) the daily communication network as well as the actors in the communication network exhibit power-law behavior. Our preliminary results support these two propositions. The outcome of this study may provide significant advancement in exploring organizational communication network behavior during crisis.

Crisis of Meaning Predicts Suicidality in Youth Independently of Depression.

PubMed

Schnell, Tatjana; Gerstner, Rebekka; Krampe, Henning

2018-02-23

At times, the question for meaning comes to nothing and a crisis of meaning ensues. This state is very painful, but difficult to account. Both those who suffer from it and care professionals find themselves at a loss for words. This study introduces an operationalization of a crisis of meaning. It aims to distinguish the concept from depression, and to investigate whether a crisis of meaning can explain suicidality beyond the known protective and risk factors self-esteem, family functioning, life-event load, and depression. Final-year school pupils in Ecuador (N = 300) completed questionnaires assessing the above variables. Data were analyzed using chi-square, hierarchic multiple regression, serial mediation, and moderator analyses. Crisis of meaning was distinguished from depression. It explained a significant amount of variance in suicidality beyond the mentioned protective and risk factors. For males, crisis of meaning was the only significant risk factor, and the strongest predictor overall. The acute risk factors depression and crisis of meaning mediated the effects of the baseline factors self-esteem, family functioning, and life-event load on suicidality. The study was cross-sectional; assessed factors predicted variance in suicidal thoughts, plans, and past suicide attempts, while their relevance cannot be generalized to actual future suicide attempts. A crisis of meaning is an important factor to take into account in further research on the prevention and treatment of people at risk of suicide.

Dutch guideline for the management of hypertensive crisis -- 2010 revision.

PubMed

van den Born, B J H; Beutler, J J; Gaillard, C A J M; de Gooijer, A; van den Meiracker, A H; Kroon, A A

2011-05-01

Hypertensive crises are divided into hypertensive urgencies and emergencies. Together they form a heterogeneous group of acute hypertensive disorders depending on the presence or type of target organs involved. Despite better treatment options for hypertension, hypertensive crisis and its associated complications remain relatively common. In the Netherlands the number of patients starting renal replacement therapy because of 'malignant hypertension' has increased in the past two decades. In 2003, the first Dutch guideline on hypertensive crisis was released to allow a standardised evidence-based approach for patients presenting with a hypertensive crisis. In this paper we give an overview of the current management of hypertensive crisis and discuss several important changes incorporated in the 2010 revision. These changes include a modification in terminology replacing 'malignant hypertension' with 'hypertensive crisis with retinopathy and reclassification of hypertensive crisis with retinopathy under hypertensive emergencies instead of urgencies. With regard to the treatment of hypertensive emergencies, nicardipine instead of nitroprusside or labetalol is favoured for the management of perioperative hypertension, whereas labetalol has become the drug of choice for the treatment of hypertension associated with pre-eclampsia. For the treatment of hypertensive urgencies, oral administration of nifedipine retard instead of captopril is recommended as first-line therapy. In addition, a section on the management of hypertensive emergencies according to the type of target organ involved has been added. Efforts to increase the awareness and treatment of hypertension in the population at large may lower the incidence of hypertensive crisis and its complications.

Hyperparathyroid crisis presenting with hyperemesis gravidarum.

PubMed

Yilmaz, Banu Aktaş; Altay, Mustafa; Değertekin, Ceyla Konca; Çimen, Ali Riza; Iyidir, Özlem Turhan; Biri, Aydan; Yüksel, Osman; Törüner, Füsun Baloş; Arslan, Metin

2014-10-01

Primary hyperparathyroidism during pregnancy is a rare condition, and the diagnosis may be confounded by pregnancy related conditions. Since the appropriate management reduces the maternal and fetal complications; differential diagnosis becomes quite crucial. Clinical course of a patient with hyperparathyroid crisis will be discussed with the review of the literature. A 22-year- old, (gravida 2, para 1) woman was presented with hyperparathyroid crisis at the 11th weeks' gestation. She was hospitalized twice due to hyperemesis gravidarum. When she was admitted to the hospital for the third time due to increased vomiting and weight-loss, serum biochemistry panel was performed and it revealed severe hypercalcemia that serum Ca was 17.59 mg/dl, and she was referred to our hospital as parathyroid crisis. Maternal hypercalcemia was resolved after urgent parathyroidectomy. She was diagnosed as preeclampsia at the 30 weeks' gestation and delivered a male infant weighing 1,090 g at 33 weeks' gestation with APGAR scores 6 at 1 min, and 7 at min 5, without evidence of neonatal hypocalcemia or tetany. Urgent parathyroidectomy is the definite treatment in symptomatic patients with hyperparathyroidism during pregnancy. Resolving maternal hypercalcemia prevents neonatal tetany and hypocalcemia. Hyperemesis may lead to hypercalcemic crisis in patients with hyperparathyroidism, so serum Ca level should be checked in patients with hyperemesis gravidarum especially who detoriate rapidly. Although they share some common pathogenetic mechanisms, there is not enough evidence for attributing preeclampsia to primary hyperparathyroidism.

The effect of the Syrian crisis on organ transplantation in Syria.

PubMed

Saeed, Bassam

2015-04-01

The war in Syria that started in March 2011 has destroyed much of the country's infrastructure including many hospitals. The total number of kidney transplants performed in Syria in 2010 was 385 transplants before the number gradually declined to 154 transplants in 2013, a decrease of 60%. In addition, the number of operational kidney transplant centers has decreased from 8 to 4 centers. Unrelated-donor kidney transplant decreased from 70% during the years that preceded the crisis to 47% in 2013. More than 50% of physicians and surgeons involved in kidney transplant are not practicing transplant currently in their centers. Difficulties in the provision of immunosuppressive drugs for all patients in all provinces constitute a major challenge for the health authorities and transplant patients, especially patients who cannot arrange an alternate source. The project to initiate liver transplant came to a halt because foreign trainers could not visit Syria. The autologous bone marrow transplant program continued to function, but in a smaller and irregular manner. The commitment of transplant teams despite the large challenges was, and still is, extraordinary. In conclusion, all aspects of organ transplant have been affected, paralyzing new projects and negatively affecting existing programs.

The synergy of the refugee crisis and the financial crisis in Greece: Impact on mental health.

PubMed

Anagnostopoulos, Dimitris C; Giannakopoulos, George; Christodoulou, Nikos G

2017-06-01

The current global financial crisis that started in 2008 resulted in a significant decline in global trade, slowing/reversing economic growth worldwide, and a dramatic increase in public sector debt. At the same time, the global migrant/refugee crisis has reached extreme rates, with millions of people being forced to abandon their homes and communities because of war, political violence or related threats. There is a broad consensus about the deleterious consequences of these crises on psychological well-being, depression, anxiety disorders, insomnia, alcohol abuse and suicidal behavior. Although the separate consequences of economic recession and immigration are extensively discussed in previous research, we know very little about the processes through which the intersection of economic crisis and migrant crisis contributes to the vulnerabilities of natives and migrants during these crises. Of particular concern is the status of children, adolescents and their families, who constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in society. To discuss the contexts that economic and migrant crises shape and suggest possible effects of this intersection on mental health risks, especially among children, adolescents and their families, through reflecting on the recent experience in Greece. Review of the literature and critical analysis of the effects of the confluent crises. The interactive effects of these two crises need further exploration. Novel and diverse models of psychological understanding need to be developed in order to manage the effects of the confluent crises. The role of mental health professionals is crucial in this respect, offering culturally flexible, accommodating and empathetic approaches, allowing healing and acceptance in the face of adversity.

The visible problems of an "invisible" profession: the crisis and challenge for nursing.

PubMed

Fagin, C M

1987-01-01

Although I found the special fall 1986 issue of Inquiry, on social responsibility in health care, thought provoking, the nursing profession was conspicuous by its absence. This evoked a letter to the editor, which resulted in an invitation to write this paper, dealing with the challenges and issues facing nursing in the years to come. Among the matters I discuss are the looming shortage of skilled registered nurses, the expanding roles of and opportunities for nurses, the alarming drop in the numbers of highly qualified young people interested in nursing careers, and the necessity of educating nurses in mainstream university baccalaureate programs.

Crisis Reliability Indicators Supporting Emergency Services (CRISES): A Framework for Developing Performance Measures for Behavioral Health Crisis and Psychiatric Emergency Programs.

PubMed

Balfour, Margaret E; Tanner, Kathleen; Jurica, Paul J; Rhoads, Richard; Carson, Chris A

2016-01-01

Crisis and emergency psychiatric services are an integral part of the healthcare system, yet there are no standardized measures for programs providing these services. We developed the Crisis Reliability Indicators Supporting Emergency Services (CRISES) framework to create measures that inform internal performance improvement initiatives and allow comparison across programs. The framework consists of two components-the CRISES domains (timely, safe, accessible, least-restrictive, effective, consumer/family centered, and partnership) and the measures supporting each domain. The CRISES framework provides a foundation for development of standardized measures for the crisis field. This will become increasingly important as pay-for-performance initiatives expand with healthcare reform.

Rapid Assessment of the HIV/AIDS Crisis in Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities: An Approach for Timely Community Interventions

PubMed Central

Needle, Richard H.; Trotter, Robert T.; Singer, Merrill; Bates, Christopher; Page, J. Bryan; Metzger, David; Marcelin, Louis H.

2003-01-01

Objectives. The US Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus, created a new initiative to address the disproportionate ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis in racial/ethnic minority populations. Methods. This initiative included deploying technical assistance teams through the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. The teams introduced rapid assessment and response methodologies and trained minority communities in their use. Results. The first 3 eligible cities (Detroit, Miami, and Philadelphia) focused assessments in small geographic areas, using multiple methodologies to obtain data. Conclusions. Data from the first 3 eligible cities provided critical information about changing the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the local level, including program and policy changes and infrastructure redeployment targeted at the most serious social and environmental conditions. PMID:12773364

Crisis Intervention and Counseling by Telephone. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lester, David, Ed.

This extensively revised second edition provides a practical framework for offering immediate problem-solving assistance by telephone to persons in crisis. The text offers specific techniques to deal with out-of-control situations with the highly important initial steps to protect the caller, the crisis worker, and the community. The scope of the…

Toward Successful School Crisis Intervention: 9 Key Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaksec, Charles M., III

2007-01-01

Despite their best and frequently heroic efforts, school crisis intervention teams often find themselves unprepared for the many types of tragedies they face. This timely text prompts crisis intervention team members to reevaluate their beliefs and practices and consider a new approach to dealing with school crises. The author, a longtime school…

The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education. Issue Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Bob

2010-01-01

The current process and infrastructure for educating students in this country cannot sustain itself any longer. In just about every other facet of society, at work and at home, technology has transformed the way Americans go about their lives. Yet schools have been slow to embrace the transformative power of technology. Although computers are…

Toolkit of Available EPA Green Infrastructure Modeling ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This webinar will present a toolkit consisting of five EPA green infrastructure models and tools, along with communication material. This toolkit can be used as a teaching and quick reference resource for use by planners and developers when making green infrastructure implementation decisions. It can also be used for low impact development design competitions. Models and tools included: Green Infrastructure Wizard (GIWiz), Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST), Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) Model, Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), and the National Stormwater Calculator (SWC). This webinar will present a toolkit consisting of five EPA green infrastructure models and tools, along with communication material. This toolkit can be used as a teaching and quick reference resource for use by planners and developers when making green infrastructure implementation decisions. It can also be used for low impact development design competitions. Models and tools included: Green Infrastructure Wizard (GIWiz), Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST), Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) Model, Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), and the National Stormwater Calculator (SWC).

Crisis Management Systems: A Case Study for Aspect-Oriented Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kienzle, Jörg; Guelfi, Nicolas; Mustafiz, Sadaf

The intent of this document is to define a common case study for the aspect-oriented modeling research community. The domain of the case study is crisis management systems, i.e., systems that help in identifying, assessing, and handling a crisis situation by orchestrating the communication between all parties involved in handling the crisis, by allocating and managing resources, and by providing access to relevant crisis-related information to authorized users. This document contains informal requirements of crisis management systems (CMSs) in general, a feature model for a CMS product line, use case models for a car crash CMS (CCCMS), a domain model for the CCCMS, an informal physical architecture description of the CCCMS, as well as some design models of a possible object-oriented implementation of parts of the CCCMS backend. AOM researchers who want to demonstrate the power of their AOM approach or technique can hence apply the approach at the most appropriate level of abstraction.

Crisis management aspects of bam catastrophic earthquake: review article.

PubMed

Sadeghi-Bazargani, Homayoun; Azami-Aghdash, Saber; Kazemi, Abdolhassan; Ziapour, Behrad

2015-01-01

Bam earthquake was the most catastrophic natural disasters in recent years. The aim of this study was to review different aspects of crisis management during and after the catastrophic earthquake in Bam City, Iran. Data needed for this systematic review were collected through searching PubMed, EMBASE and SID databases, for the period from 2003 to 2011. Keywords included earthquake, Iran and Bam earthquake. The data were summarized and were analyzed using Content Analysis. Out of 422 articles, 25 articles were included in the study. Crisis Management aspects and existing pitfalls were classified into seven categories including planning and organization, human resource management, management of logistics, international humanitarian aids, field performance of the military and security forces, health and medical service provision, and information management. Positive aspects and major pitfalls of crisis management have been introduced in all the mentioned categories. The available evidence indicated poor crisis management during Bam earthquake that resulted in aggravating the losses as well as diminishing the effect of interventions. Thus, concerning the importance of different aspects of the crisis management and the high prevalence of disasters in Iran, the observed vulnerability in disaster management process should be addressed.

Nursing in Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fulcher, Roxanne

2007-01-01

Both the nation's health-care and nursing education systems are in crisis. While the care provided by registered nurses (RNs) is essential to patients' recovery from acute illness and to the effective management of their chronic conditions, the United States is experiencing a nursing shortage that is anticipated to increase as baby boomers age and…

Crisis and emergency risk communication as an integrative model.

PubMed

Reynolds, Barbara; W Seeger, Matthew

2005-01-01

This article describes a model of communication known as crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC). The model is outlined as a merger of many traditional notions of health and risk communication with work in crisis and disaster communication. The specific kinds of communication activities that should be called for at various stages of disaster or crisis development are outlined. Although crises are by definition uncertain, equivocal, and often chaotic situations, the CERC model is presented as a tool health communicators can use to help manage these complex events.

Crisis management: an extended reference framework for decision makers.

PubMed

Carone, Alessandro; Iorio, Luigi Di

2013-01-01

The paper discusses a reference framework for capabilities supporting effective crisis management. This framework has been developed by joining experiences in the field and knowledge of organisational models for crisis management, and executives' empowerment, coaching and behavioural analysis. The paper is aimed at offering further insight to executives on critical success factors and means for managing crisis situations by extending the scope of analysis to human behaviour, to emotions and fears and their correlation with decision making. It is further intended to help familiarise them and to facilitate approaching a path towards emotional awareness.

Factors predicting crisis counselor referrals to other crisis counseling, disaster relief, and psychological services: a cross-site analysis of post-Katrina programs.

PubMed

Rosen, Craig S; Matthieu, Monica M; Norris, Fran H

2009-05-01

An important aspect of crisis counseling is linking survivors with services for their unmet needs. We examined determinants of referrals for disaster relief, additional crisis counseling, and psychological services in 703,000 crisis counseling encounters 3-18 months after Hurricane Katrina. Referrals for disaster relief were predicted by clients' losses, age (adults rather than children), and urbanicity. Referrals for additional counseling and psychological services were predicted by urbanicity, losses and trauma exposure, prior trauma, and preexisting mental health problems. Counseling and psychological referrals declined over time despite continuing mental health needs. Results confirm large urban-rural disparities in access to services.

The TENCompetence Infrastructure: A Learning Network Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogten, Hubert; Martens, Harrie; Lemmers, Ruud

The TENCompetence project developed a first release of a Learning Network infrastructure to support individuals, groups and organisations in professional competence development. This infrastructure Learning Network infrastructure was released as open source to the community thereby allowing users and organisations to use and contribute to this development as they see fit. The infrastructure consists of client applications providing the user experience and server components that provide the services to these clients. These services implement the domain model (Koper 2006) by provisioning the entities of the domain model (see also Sect. 18.4) and henceforth will be referenced as domain entity services.

Impact of CNG Crisis on Student's Academic Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azeem, Kiran; Nadeem, Wajiha; Zia, Afsa; Shehzad, Shiza; Anwar, Zara

2017-01-01

The goal of this study is to determine the impact of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) crisis on Student's Academic Life of Karachi Pakistan. This research helps in observing the behavior of students and their educational progress includes depression and anxiety, rate of absenteeism and undesirable results in exams threatens due to CNG crisis and…

School Crisis Teams within an Incident Command System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nickerson, Amanda B.; Brock, Stephen E.; Reeves, Melissa A.

2006-01-01

Despite the increasing attention given to the need for schools to be prepared to respond in a variety of crisis situations, there is a lack of information about how to coordinate with multiple agencies following a crisis. This article describes the U. S. Department of Homeland Security's (2004) National Incident Management System and its Incident…

Energy shortage: a benign crisis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armstrong, E.L.

The energy crisis is real and the days of cheap and plentiful energy are gone, perhaps forever. Resources and technology are available to meet the energy austerity. The good evolving from the energy crisis means conservation in many considerations of city planning such as master planning for transportation, water supply, sewers, and utilities; urban construction; and recreation facilities near subdivisions. Urban and suburban areas are evolving from low density residential communities clustering around a well-defined central city to a collection of regional subcenters around the central-city area, each consisting of malls, high- rise office buildings, industrial areas, and apartment complexesmore » linked by belt highways. (MCW)« less

The correlation between stress and economic crisis: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Mucci, Nicola; Giorgi, Gabriele; Roncaioli, Mattia; Fiz Perez, Javier; Arcangeli, Giulio

2016-01-01

In 2008 a deep economic crisis started in the US and rapidly spread around the world. The crisis severely affected the labor market and employees’ well-being. Hence, the aim of this work is to implement a systematic review of the principal studies that analyze the impact of the economic crisis on the health of workers. We conducted our search on the PubMed database, and a total of 19 articles were selected for review. All studies showed that the economic crisis was an important stressor that had a negative impact on workers’ mental health. Most of the studies documented that a rise in unemployment, increased workload, staff reduction, and wages reduction were linked to an increased rate of mood disorders, anxiety, depression, dysthymia, and suicide. Some studies showed that problems related to the crisis may have also affected the general health of workers by increasing the risk of such health problems as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Finally, some studies looked at the impact of the crisis on health care services. These studies demonstrated that the reduction in public expenditure on health care services, and the reduction of public hospital budgets due to the recession, led to organizational problems (eg, medical supply shortages). PMID:27143898

The correlation between stress and economic crisis: a systematic review.

PubMed

Mucci, Nicola; Giorgi, Gabriele; Roncaioli, Mattia; Fiz Perez, Javier; Arcangeli, Giulio

2016-01-01

In 2008 a deep economic crisis started in the US and rapidly spread around the world. The crisis severely affected the labor market and employees' well-being. Hence, the aim of this work is to implement a systematic review of the principal studies that analyze the impact of the economic crisis on the health of workers. We conducted our search on the PubMed database, and a total of 19 articles were selected for review. All studies showed that the economic crisis was an important stressor that had a negative impact on workers' mental health. Most of the studies documented that a rise in unemployment, increased workload, staff reduction, and wages reduction were linked to an increased rate of mood disorders, anxiety, depression, dysthymia, and suicide. Some studies showed that problems related to the crisis may have also affected the general health of workers by increasing the risk of such health problems as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Finally, some studies looked at the impact of the crisis on health care services. These studies demonstrated that the reduction in public expenditure on health care services, and the reduction of public hospital budgets due to the recession, led to organizational problems (eg, medical supply shortages).

A scoping review of crisis teams managing dementia in older people

PubMed Central

Streater, Amy; Coleston-Shields, Donna Maria; Yates, Jennifer; Stanyon, Miriam; Orrell, Martin

2017-01-01

Background Research on crisis teams for older adults with dementia is limited. This scoping review aimed to 1) conduct a systematic literature review reporting on the effectiveness of crisis interventions for older people with dementia and 2) conduct a scoping survey with dementia crisis teams mapping services across England to understand operational procedures and identify what is currently occurring in practice. Methods For the systematic literature review, included studies were graded using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist. For the scoping survey, Trusts across England were contacted and relevant services were identified that work with people with dementia experiencing a mental health crisis. Results The systematic literature review demonstrated limited evidence in support of crisis teams reducing the rate of hospital admissions, and despite the increase in number of studies, methodological limitations remain. For the scoping review, only half (51.8%) of the teams had a care pathway to manage crises and the primary need for referral was behavioral or psychological factors. Conclusion Evidence in the literature for the effectiveness of crisis teams for older adults with dementia remains limited. Being mainly cohort designs can make it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. In practice, it appears that the pathway for care managing crisis for people with dementia varies widely across services in England. There was a wide range of names given to the provision of teams managing crisis for people with dementia, which may reflect the differences in the setup and procedures of the service. To provide evidence on crisis intervention teams, a comprehensive protocol is required to deliver a standardized care pathway and measurable intervention as part of a large-scale evaluation of effectiveness. PMID:29042760

75 FR 21011 - Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-22

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY [Docket No. DHS-2010-0032] Critical Infrastructure Partnership... Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) charter renewal. SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security... and Outreach Division, Office of Infrastructure Protection, National Protection and Programs...

World Hunger Crisis Kit. Hope for the Hungry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woito, Robert, Ed.

This booklet introduces the problem of world hunger and provides information, facts, and perspectives about the crisis. Section one presents the reader with the basic facts of the hunger crisis through a self-survey, a statistical study of the developed Oil Producing Export Countries (OPEC), and a one-page indication of what one would have to give…

The Crisis Crisis in Higher Education: Is That a Wolf or a Pussycat at the Academy's Door? ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birnbaum, Robert; Shushok, Frank

This paper reviews the literature using the word "crisis" in relation to current higher education and analyzes claims of three specific crises of the past 25 years. It considers reasons why educational institutions may be particularly vulnerable to claims of crisis and offers some ideas about the nature of higher education crises and the…

Nucleosomes and neutrophil activation in sickle cell disease painful crisis

PubMed Central

Schimmel, Marein; Nur, Erfan; Biemond, Bart J.; van Mierlo, Gerard J.; Solati, Shabnam; Brandjes, Dees P.; Otten, Hans-Martin; Schnog, John-John; Zeerleder, Sacha

2013-01-01

Activated polymorphonuclear neutrophils play an important role in the pathogenesis of vaso-occlusive painful sickle cell crisis. Upon activation, polymorphonuclear neutrophils can form neutrophil extracellular traps. Neutrophil extracellular traps consist of a meshwork of extracellular DNA, nucleosomes, histones and neutrophil proteases. Neutrophil extracellular traps have been demonstrated to be toxic to endothelial and parenchymal cells. This prospective cohort study was conducted to determine neutrophil extracellular trap formation in sickle cell patients during steady state and painful crisis. As a measure of neutrophil extracellular traps, plasma nucleosomes levels were determined and polymorphonuclear neutrophil activation was assessed measuring plasma levels of elastase-α1-antitrypsin complexes in 74 patients in steady state, 70 patients during painful crisis, and 24 race-matched controls using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. Nucleosome levels in steady state sickle cell patients were significantly higher than levels in controls. During painful crisis levels of both nucleosomes and elastase-α1-antitrypsin complexes increased significantly. Levels of nucleosomes correlated significantly to elastase-α1-antitrypsin complex levels during painful crisis, (Sr = 0.654, P<0.001). This was seen in both HbSS/HbSβ0-thalassemia (Sr=0.55, P<0.001) and HbSC/HbSβ+-thalassemia patients (Sr=0.90, P<0.001) during painful crisis. Levels of nucleosomes showed a correlation with length of hospital stay and were highest in patients with acute chest syndrome. These data support the concept that neutrophil extracellular trap formation and neutrophil activation may play a role in the pathogenesis of painful sickle cell crisis and acute chest syndrome. PMID:23911704

40 CFR 166.53 - EPA review of crisis exemption and revocation of authority.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false EPA review of crisis exemption and... CONDITIONS Crisis Exemptions § 166.53 EPA review of crisis exemption and revocation of authority. (a) Review. When a crisis exemption is about to be or has already been declared by a State or Federal agency, EPA...

SARS: Key factors in crisis management.

PubMed

Tseng, Hsin-Chao; Chen, Thai-Form; Chou, Shieu-Ming

2005-03-01

This study was conducted at a single hospital selected in Taipei during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak from March to July, 2003 in Taiwan. During this period of time, 104 SARS patients were admitted to the hospital. There were no negative reports related to the selected hospital despite its being located right in the center of an area struck by the epidemic. The purpose of this study was to identify the key factors enabling the hospital to survive SARS unscathed. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with the nursing directors and nursing managers of the SARS units, along with a review of relevant hospital documents. The five key elements identified as survival factors during this SARS crisis are as follows: 1. good control of timing for crisis management, 2. careful decision-making, 3. thorough implementation, 4. effective communication, and 5. trust between management and employees. The results of this study reconfirmed the selected hospital as a model for good crisis management during the SARS epidemic.

Would the Discovery of ETI Provoke a Religious Crisis?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peters, Ted

Noting how some prophets of crisis forecast that traditional religious traditions are vulnerable to challenge if not collapse upon confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings, this chapter subjects this claim to examination. Citing findings from the Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey, we find evidence that those who affirm religious belief have no difficulty affirming the existence of ETI and incorporating ETI into their respective worldviews. This applies to Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, and to those who self-identify as non-religious. Surprisingly, the self-identified non-religious respondents are the only ones who fear a religious crisis precipitated by contact with extraterrestrials, a crisis expected to happen to others but not to themselves. Turning to the new field of Astrotheology, the question of de-centering both geocentrism and anthropocentrism is raised in light of the prospect of discovering intelligent celestial neighbors.

Development of a public health nursing data infrastructure.

PubMed

Monsen, Karen A; Bekemeier, Betty; P Newhouse, Robin; Scutchfield, F Douglas

2012-01-01

An invited group of national public health nursing (PHN) scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders met in October 2010 identifying a critical need for a national PHN data infrastructure to support PHN research. This article summarizes the strengths, limitations, and gaps specific to PHN data and proposes a research agenda for development of a PHN data infrastructure. Future implications are suggested, such as issues related to the development of the proposed PHN data infrastructure and future research possibilities enabled by the infrastructure. Such a data infrastructure has potential to improve accountability and measurement, to demonstrate the value of PHN services, and to improve population health. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reclaiming the Idea of the University as a Possible Solution to Today's Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavlenko, Sonia; Bojan, Cristina

2014-01-01

Higher education has always been associated in one way or another with crisis. One could even argue that the university has always faced one type of crisis or another. The one debated the most is the economic crisis; however, there are many debates focusing on other types of crisis. Furthermore, all major reforms in the history of higher education…

The nature and causes of the global water crisis: Syndromes from a meta-analysis of coupled human-water studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, V.; Lambin, E. F.; Gorelick, S. M.; Thompson, B. H.; Rozelle, S.

2012-10-01

Freshwater scarcity has been cited as the major crisis of the 21st century, but it is surprisingly hard to describe the nature of the global water crisis. We conducted a meta-analysis of 22 coupled human-water system case studies, using qualitative comparison analysis (QCA) to identify water resource system outcomes and the factors that drive them. The cases exhibited different outcomes for human wellbeing that could be grouped into a six "syndromes": groundwater depletion, ecological destruction, drought-driven conflicts, unmet subsistence needs, resource capture by elite, and water reallocation to nature. For syndromes that were not successful adaptations, three characteristics gave cause for concern: (1) unsustainability—a decline in the water stock or ecosystem function that could result in a long-term steep decline in future human wellbeing; (2) vulnerability—high variability in water resource availability combined with inadequate coping capacity, leading to temporary drops in human wellbeing; (3) chronic scarcity—persistent inadequate access and hence low conditions of human wellbeing. All syndromes could be explained by a limited set of causal factors that fell into four categories: demand changes, supply changes, governance systems, and infrastructure/technology. By considering basins as members of syndrome classes and tracing common causal pathways of water crises, water resource analysts and planners might develop improved water policies aimed at reducing vulnerability, inequity, and unsustainability of freshwater systems.

75 FR 75611 - Critical Infrastructure Protection Month, 2010

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-03

... Part IV The President Proclamation 8607--Critical Infrastructure Protection Month, 2010..., 2010 Critical Infrastructure Protection Month, 2010 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation During Critical Infrastructure Protection Month, we highlight the vast network of systems and...

Behaviour of Lyapunov exponents near crisis points in the dissipative standard map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pompe, B.; Leven, R. W.

1988-11-01

We numerically study the behaviour of the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent λ1 in dependence on a control parameter in the 2D standard map with dissipation. In order to investigate the system's motion in parameter intervals slightly above crisis points we introduce "partial" Lyapunov exponents which characterize the average exponential divergence of nearby orbits on a semi-attractor at a boundary crisis and on distinct parts of a "large" chaotic attractor near an interior crisis. In the former case we find no significant difference between λ1 in the pre-crisis regime and the partial Lyapunov exponent describing transient chaotic motions slightly above the crisis. For the latter case we give a quantitative description of the drastic increase of λ1. Moreover, a formula which connects the critical exponent of a chaotic transient above a boundary crisis with a pointwise dimension is derived.

Emotional First Aid: Crisis Development and Systems of Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenbluh, Edward S.; And Others

This instructional manual takes a developmental approach toward understanding the psychological, social and behavioral dynamics of human crisis. The manual describes the behavior patterns characterizing various psychological and physical crises, and provides background information and methods of crisis intervention with which to manage each. In…

Family Therapy with Reconstituted Families: A Crisis-Induction Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baptiste, David A.

1983-01-01

Describes a crisis-based therapeutic approach for overcoming resistance in reconstituted families. Presents therapeutically induced crisis as a means through which therapists might purposefully disequilibrate families in which resistance is high and subsequently redirect them to meaningful change. Reviews implications and contraindications for the…

Debriefing decreases mental workload in surgical crisis: A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Boet, Sylvain; Sharma, Bharat; Pigford, Ashlee-Ann; Hladkowicz, Emily; Rittenhouse, Neil; Grantcharov, Teodor

2017-05-01

Mental workload is the amount of mental effort involved in performing a particular task. Crisis situations may increase mental workload, which can subsequently negatively impact operative performance and patient safety. This study aims to measure the impact of learning through debriefing and a systematic approach to crisis on trainees' mental workload in a simulated surgical crisis. Twenty junior surgical residents participated in a high-fidelity, simulated, postoperative crisis in a surgical ward environment (pretest). Participants were randomized to either an instructor-led debriefing, including performance feedback (intervention; n = 10) or no debriefing (control; n = 10). Subjects then immediately managed a second simulated crisis (post-test). Mental workload was assessed in real time during the scenarios using a previously validated, wireless, vibrotactile device. Mental workload was represented by subject response times to the vibrations, which were recorded and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Participants in the debriefing arm had a significantly reduced median response time in milliseconds (post-test minus pretest -695, quartile range -2,136 to -297) compared to participants in the control arm (42, -1,191 to 763), (between-arm difference P = .049). Debriefing after simulated surgical crisis situations may improve performance by decreasing trainee's mental workload during a subsequent simulated surgical crisis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transportation infrastructure resiliency : a review of transportation infrastructure resiliency in light of future impacts of climate change

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-06

The threat of global climate change and its impact on our worlds infrastructure is a rapidly growing reality. Particularly, as seen in recent storm events such as Hurricane Katrina and Sandy in the United States, transportation infrastructure is o...

EPA Research Highlights: EPA Studies Aging Water Infrastructure

EPA Science Inventory

The nation's extensive water infrastructure has the capacity to treat, store, and transport trillions of gallons of water and wastewater per day through millions of miles of pipelines. However, some infrastructure components are more than 100 years old, and as the infrastructure ...

Adrenal crisis in treated Addison's disease: a predictable but under-managed event.

PubMed

White, Katherine; Arlt, Wiebke

2010-01-01

Adrenal crisis is a life-threatening event that occurs regularly in Addison's patients receiving standard replacement therapy. Patient reports suggest that it is an underestimated and under-managed event. To assess the frequency of adrenal crisis in diagnosed patients and to understand the factors contributing to the risks of adrenal crisis. We conducted a postal survey of Addison's patients in four countries, UK (n=485), Canada (n=148), Australia (n=123) and New Zealand (n=85) in 2003, asking about patients' experiences of adrenal crisis and their demographic characteristics. In 2006, a shorter follow-up survey was conducted in the UK (n=261). The frequency and causes of adrenal crisis were compared across both surveys. Demographic data from the 2003 survey were analysed to establish the main variables associated with an elevated risk of crisis. Around 8% of diagnosed cases can be expected to need hospital treatment for adrenal crisis annually. Exposure to gastric infection is the single most important factor predicting the likelihood of adrenal crisis. Concomitant diabetes and/or asthma increase the frequency of adrenal crises reported by patients. The endocrinologist has a responsibility to ensure that Addison's patients have adequate access to life-saving emergency injection materials and repeated, practical training sessions in how to use them, while the general practitioner plays a vital role as in arranging prompt emergency admissions.

Mission Command: Retooling the Leadership Paradigm for Homeland Security Crisis Response?

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

security crisis management. While, there is some literature regarding the efforts by the USFS and the federal wildland firefighting community towards...psychologically stressful and potentially overwhelming. The need to communicate and cooperate with other agencies in a crisis places added...environment where formal hierarchies and tightly controlled plans may become irrelevant in a crisis . Grant and De Waard examined the communication

Acute oculogyric crisis in a patient taking clebopride.

PubMed

Kim, Woojun; Lee, Kwang-Soo; Kim, Yeong-In; Kim, Joong-Seok

2008-01-01

We present a 21-year-old woman with an oculogyric crisis following the administration of clebopride. Based on the temporal relationship of the administration of clebopride to the occurrence of the event and the absence of other possible etiologies, clebopride is implicated as the cause of this acute oculogyric crisis, despite the fact that a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be confirmed.

The Fiscal Crisis of the State: A Case Study of Education in Detroit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Richard Child

In this case study, the effect of the Detroit fiscal crisis on the city's public school system is analyzed in terms of the history of the fiscal crisis, the reasons for the crisis, and State, teacher, public and city reaction to the situation. The changing demography of Detroit and the events leading up to the financial crisis are described. Such…

Strategic plan for infrastructure optimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Donley, C.D.

This document represents Fluor Daniel Hanford`s and DynCorp`s Tri-Cities Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 1998--2002, the road map that will guide them into the next century and their sixth year of providing safe and cost effective infrastructure services and support to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Hanford Site. The Plan responds directly to the issues raised in the FDH/DOE Critical Self Assessment specifically: (1) a strategy in place to give DOE the management (systems) and physical infrastructure for the future; (2) dealing with the barriers that exist to making change; and (3) a plan to right-size the infrastructuremore » and services, and reduce the cost of providing services. The Plan incorporates initiatives from several studies conducted in Fiscal Year 1997 to include: the Systems Functional Analysis, 200 Area Water Commercial Practices Plan, $ million Originated Cost Budget Achievement Plan, the 1OO Area Vacate Plan, the Railroad Shutdown Plan, as well as recommendations from the recently completed Review of Hanford Electrical Utility. These and other initiatives identified over the next five years will result in significant improvements in efficiency, allowing a greater portion of the infrastructure budget to be applied to Site cleanup. The Plan outlines a planning and management process that defines infrastructure services and structure by linking site technical base line data and customer requirements to work scope and resources. The Plan also provides a vision of where Site infrastructure is going and specific initiatives to get there.« less

The Czech National Grid Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chudoba, J.; Křenková, I.; Mulač, M.; Ruda, M.; Sitera, J.

2017-10-01

The Czech National Grid Infrastructure is operated by MetaCentrum, a CESNET department responsible for coordinating and managing activities related to distributed computing. CESNET as the Czech National Research and Education Network (NREN) provides many e-infrastructure services, which are used by 94% of the scientific and research community in the Czech Republic. Computing and storage resources owned by different organizations are connected by fast enough network to provide transparent access to all resources. We describe in more detail the computing infrastructure, which is based on several different technologies and covers grid, cloud and map-reduce environment. While the largest part of CPUs is still accessible via distributed torque servers, providing environment for long batch jobs, part of infrastructure is available via standard EGI tools in EGI, subset of NGI resources is provided into EGI FedCloud environment with cloud interface and there is also Hadoop cluster provided by the same e-infrastructure.A broad spectrum of computing servers is offered; users can choose from standard 2 CPU servers to large SMP machines with up to 6 TB of RAM or servers with GPU cards. Different groups have different priorities on various resources, resource owners can even have an exclusive access. The software is distributed via AFS. Storage servers offering up to tens of terabytes of disk space to individual users are connected via NFS4 on top of GPFS and access to long term HSM storage with peta-byte capacity is also provided. Overview of available resources and recent statistics of usage will be given.

Qualitative Investigation of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan in a UK NHS Crisis Care Setting.

PubMed

Ashman, Michael; Halliday, Vanessa; Cunnane, Joseph G

2017-07-01

Crisis theory suggests that in addition to presenting a threat to mental well-being, crises are also opportunities where successful interventions can lead to successful outcomes. UK mental health crisis teams aim to reduce hospital admission by treating people at home and by building resilience and supporting learning from crisis, yet data on repeat crisis episodes suggest this could be improved. This qualitative study sought to explore the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) as a means of supporting resilience-building and maximising the opportunity potential of crisis. The following themes emerged: The meaning of crisis; Engaging with the WRAP process; WRAP and self-management; and Changes and transformations. This research suggests that WRAP has potential in supporting recovery from crisis, revealing insights into the nature of crisis which can inform the further development of crisis services.

Deficient crisis-probing practices and taken-for-granted assumptions in health organisations.

PubMed

Canyon, Deon V; Adhikari, Ashmita; Cordery, Thomas; Giguère-Simmonds, Philippe; Huang, Jessica; Nguyen, Helen; Watson, Michael; Yang, Daniel

2011-04-18

The practice of crisis-probing in proactive organisations involves meticulous and sustained investigation into operational processes and management structures for potential weaknesses and flaws before they become difficult to resolve. In health organisations, crisis probing is a necessary part of preparing to manage emerging health threats. This study examined the degree of pre-emptive probing in health organisations and the type of crisis training provided to determine whether or not they are prepared in this area. This evidence-based study draws on cross-sectional responses provided by executives from chiropractic, physiotherapy, and podiatry practices; dental and medical clinics; pharmacies; aged care facilities; and hospitals. The data show a marked lack of mandatory probing and a generalised failure to reward crisis reporting. Crisis prevention training is poor in all organisations except hospitals and aged care facilities where it occurs at an adequate frequency. However this training focuses primarily on natural disasters, fails to address most other crisis types, is mostly reactive and not designed to probe for and uncover key taken-for-granted assumptions. Crisis-probing in health organisations is inadequate, and improvements in this area may well translate into measurable improvements in preparedness and response outcomes.

Deficient crisis-probing practices and taken-for-granted assumptions in health organisations

PubMed Central

Canyon, Deon V.; Adhikari, Ashmita; Cordery, Thomas; Giguère-Simmonds, Philippe; Huang, Jessica; Nguyen, Helen; Watson, Michael; Yang, Daniel

2011-01-01

The practice of crisis-probing in proactive organisations involves meticulous and sustained investigation into operational processes and management structures for potential weaknesses and flaws before they become difficult to resolve. In health organisations, crisis probing is a necessary part of preparing to manage emerging health threats. This study examined the degree of pre-emptive probing in health organisations and the type of crisis training provided to determine whether or not they are prepared in this area. This evidence-based study draws on cross-sectional responses provided by executives from chiropractic, physiotherapy, and podiatry practices; dental and medical clinics; pharmacies; aged care facilities; and hospitals. The data show a marked lack of mandatory probing and a generalised failure to reward crisis reporting. Crisis prevention training is poor in all organisations except hospitals and aged care facilities where it occurs at an adequate frequency. However this training focuses primarily on natural disasters, fails to address most other crisis types, is mostly reactive and not designed to probe for and uncover key taken-for-granted assumptions. Crisis-probing in health organisations is inadequate, and improvements in this area may well translate into measurable improvements in preparedness and response outcomes. PMID:24149030

Ghosts of Crisis Past.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopfer, Leopold E.; Champagne, Audrey B.

1990-01-01

Discussed is the history of school science curriculum reform from the Sputnik era to 1990. The relationship between the crisis in the 1950s and 1990 is addressed. A list of curriculum development programs for all levels and special needs students is included. (KR)

Permafrost Hazards and Linear Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stanilovskaya, Julia; Sergeev, Dmitry

2014-05-01

The international experience of linear infrastructure planning, construction and exploitation in permafrost zone is being directly tied to the permafrost hazard assessment. That procedure should also consider the factors of climate impact and infrastructure protection. The current global climate change hotspots are currently polar and mountain areas. Temperature rise, precipitation and land ice conditions change, early springs occur more often. The big linear infrastructure objects cross the territories with different permafrost conditions which are sensitive to the changes in air temperature, hydrology, and snow accumulation which are connected to climatic dynamics. One of the most extensive linear structures built on permafrost worldwide are Trans Alaskan Pipeline (USA), Alaska Highway (Canada), Qinghai-Xizang Railway (China) and Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean Oil Pipeline (Russia). Those are currently being influenced by the regional climate change and permafrost impact which may act differently from place to place. Thermokarst is deemed to be the most dangerous process for linear engineering structures. Its formation and development depend on the linear structure type: road or pipeline, elevated or buried one. Zonal climate and geocryological conditions are also of the determining importance here. All the projects are of the different age and some of them were implemented under different climatic conditions. The effects of permafrost thawing have been recorded every year since then. The exploration and transportation companies from different countries maintain the linear infrastructure from permafrost degradation in different ways. The highways in Alaska are in a good condition due to governmental expenses on annual reconstructions. The Chara-China Railroad in Russia is under non-standard condition due to intensive permafrost response. Standards for engineering and construction should be reviewed and updated to account for permafrost hazards caused by the

Effects of global financial crisis on network structure in a local stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobi, Ashadun; Maeng, Seong Eun; Ha, Gyeong Gyun; Lee, Jae Woo

2014-08-01

This study considers the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis on threshold networks of a local Korean financial market around the time of the crisis. Prices of individual stocks belonging to KOSPI 200 (Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200) are considered for three time periods, namely before, during, and after the crisis. Threshold networks are constructed from fully connected cross-correlation networks, and thresholds of cross-correlation coefficients are assigned to obtain threshold networks. At the high threshold, only one large cluster consisting of firms in the financial sector, heavy industry, and construction is observed during the crisis. However, before and after the crisis, there are several fragmented clusters belonging to various sectors. The power law of the degree distribution in threshold networks is observed within the limited range of thresholds. Threshold networks are fatter during the crisis than before or after the crisis. The clustering coefficient of the threshold network follows the power law in the scaling range.

Modeling and Managing Risk in Billing Infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baiardi, Fabrizio; Telmon, Claudio; Sgandurra, Daniele

This paper discusses risk modeling and risk management in information and communications technology (ICT) systems for which the attack impact distribution is heavy tailed (e.g., power law distribution) and the average risk is unbounded. Systems with these properties include billing infrastructures used to charge customers for services they access. Attacks against billing infrastructures can be classified as peripheral attacks and backbone attacks. The goal of a peripheral attack is to tamper with user bills; a backbone attack seeks to seize control of the billing infrastructure. The probability distribution of the overall impact of an attack on a billing infrastructure also has a heavy-tailed curve. This implies that the probability of a massive impact cannot be ignored and that the average impact may be unbounded - thus, even the most expensive countermeasures would be cost effective. Consequently, the only strategy for managing risk is to increase the resilience of the infrastructure by employing redundant components.

Arid Green Infrastructure for Water Control and Conservation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Green infrastructure is an approach to managing wet weather flows using systems and practices that mimic natural processes. It is designed to manage stormwater as close to its source as possible and protect the quality of receiving waters. Although most green infrastructure practices were first developed in temperate climates, green infrastructure also can be a cost-effective approach to stormwater management and water conservation in arid and semi-arid regions, such as those found in the western and southwestern United States. Green infrastructure practices can be applied at the site, neighborhood and watershed scales. In addition to water management and conservation, implementing green infrastructure confers many social and economic benefits and can address issues of environmental justice. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commissioned a literature review to identify the state-of-the science practices dealing with water control and conservation in arid and semi-arid regions, with emphasis on these regions in the United States. The search focused on stormwater control measures or practices that slow, capture, treat, infiltrate and/or store runoff at its source (i.e., green infrastructure). The material in Chapters 1 through 3 provides background to EPA’s current activities related to the application of green infrastructure practices in arid and semi-arid regions. An introduction to the topic of green infrastructure in arid and semi-arid regions i

Positioning infrastructure and technologies for low-carbon urbanization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chester, Mikhail V.; Sperling, Josh; Stokes, Eleanor; Allenby, Braden; Kockelman, Kara; Kennedy, Christopher; Baker, Lawrence A.; Keirstead, James; Hendrickson, Chris T.

2014-10-01

The expected urbanization of the planet in the coming century coupled with aging infrastructure in developed regions, increasing complexity of man-made systems, and pressing climate change impacts have created opportunities for reassessing the role of infrastructure and technologies in cities and how they contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Modern urbanization is predicated on complex, increasingly coupled infrastructure systems, and energy use continues to be largely met from fossil fuels. Until energy infrastructures evolve away from carbon-based fuels, GHG emissions are critically tied to the urbanization process. Further complicating the challenge of decoupling urban growth from GHG emissions are lock-in effects and interdependencies. This paper synthesizes state-of-the-art thinking for transportation, fuels, buildings, water, electricity, and waste systems and finds that GHG emissions assessments tend to view these systems as static and isolated from social and institutional systems. Despite significant understanding of methods and technologies for reducing infrastructure-related GHG emissions, physical, institutional, and cultural constraints continue to work against us, pointing to knowledge gaps that must be addressed. This paper identifies three challenge themes to improve our understanding of the role of infrastructure and technologies in urbanization processes and position these increasingly complex systems for low-carbon growth. The challenges emphasize how we can reimagine the role of infrastructure in the future and how people, institutions, and ecological systems interface with infrastructure.

Analyzing the financial crisis using the entropy density function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Gabjin; Kim, Ho-yong; Ahn, Seok-Won; Kwak, Wooseop

2015-02-01

The risk that is created by nonlinear interactions among subjects in economic systems is assumed to increase during an abnormal state of a financial market. Nevertheless, investigating the systemic risk in financial markets following the global financial crisis is not sufficient. In this paper, we analyze the entropy density function in the return time series for several financial markets, such as the S&P500, KOSPI, and DAX indices, from October 2002 to December 2011 and analyze the variability in the entropy value over time. We find that the entropy density function of the S&P500 index during the subprime crisis exhibits a significant decrease compared to that in other periods, whereas the other markets, such as those in Germany and Korea, exhibit no significant decrease during the market crisis. These findings demonstrate that the S&P500 index generated a regular pattern in the return time series during the financial crisis.

Policy model for space economy infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komerath, Narayanan; Nally, James; Zilin Tang, Elizabeth

2007-12-01

Extraterrestrial infrastructure is key to the development of a space economy. Means for accelerating transition from today's isolated projects to a broad-based economy are considered. A large system integration approach is proposed. The beginnings of an economic simulation model are presented, along with examples of how interactions and coordination bring down costs. A global organization focused on space infrastructure and economic expansion is proposed to plan, coordinate, fund and implement infrastructure construction. This entity also opens a way to raise low-cost capital and solve the legal and public policy issues of access to extraterrestrial resources.

CRISIS2012: An Updated Tool to Compute Seismic Hazard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ordaz, M.; Martinelli, F.; Meletti, C.; D'Amico, V.

2013-05-01

CRISIS is a computer tool for probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), whose development started in the late 1980's at the Instituto de Ingeniería, UNAM, Mexico. It started circulating outside the Mexican borders at the beginning of the 1990's, when it was first distributed as part of SEISAN tools. Throughout the years, CRISIS has been used for seismic hazard studies in several countries in Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile), and in many other countries of the World. CRISIS has always circulated free of charge for non-commercial applications. It is worth noting that CRISIS has been mainly written by people that are, at the same time, PSHA practitioners. Therefore, the development loop has been relatively short, and most of the modifications and improvements have been made to satisfy the needs of the developers themselves. CRISIS has evolved from a rather simple FORTRAN code to a relatively complex program with a friendly graphical interface, able to handle a variety of modeling possibilities for source geometries, seismicity descriptions and ground motion prediction models (GMPM). We will describe some of the improvements made for the newest version of the code: CRISIS 2012.These improvements, some of which were made in the frame of the Italian research project INGV-DPC S2 (http://nuovoprogettoesse2.stru.polimi.it/), funded by the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC; National Civil Protection Department), include: A wider variety of source geometries A wider variety of seismicity models, including the ability to handle non-Poissonian occurrence models and Poissonian smoothed-seismicity descriptions. Enhanced capabilities for using different kinds of GMPM: attenuation tables, built-in models and generalized attenuation models. In the case of built-in models, there is, by default, a set ready to use in CRISIS, but additional custom GMPMs

Psychological Health Before, During, and After an Economic Crisis: Results from Indonesia, 1993 - 2000.

PubMed

Friedman, Jed; Thomas, Duncan

The 1997 Indonesian financial crisis resulted in severe economic dislocation and political upheaval, and the detrimental consequences for economic welfare, physical health, and child education have been established in several studies. The crisis also adversely impacted the psychological well-being of the Indonesian population. Comparing responses of the same individuals interviewed before and after the crisis, we document substantial increases in several different dimensions of psychological distress among male and female adults across the entire age distribution. In addition, the imprint of the crisis can be seen in the differential impacts of the crisis on low education groups, the rural landless, and residents in those provinces that were most affected by the crisis. Elevated levels of psychological distress persist even after indicators of economic well-being such as household consumption had returned to pre-crisis levels, suggesting the deleterious effects of the crisis on the psychological well-being of the Indonesian population may be longer lasting than the impacts on economic well-being.

Microvascular oxygen consumption during sickle cell pain crisis.

PubMed

Rowley, Carol A; Ikeda, Allison K; Seidel, Miles; Anaebere, Tiffany C; Antalek, Matthew D; Seamon, Catherine; Conrey, Anna K; Mendelsohn, Laurel; Nichols, James; Gorbach, Alexander M; Kato, Gregory J; Ackerman, Hans

2014-05-15

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder characterized by chronic hemolytic anemia and episodic vaso-occlusive pain crises. Vaso-occlusion occurs when deoxygenated hemoglobin S polymerizes and erythrocytes sickle and adhere in the microvasculature, a process dependent on the concentration of hemoglobin S and the rate of deoxygenation, among other factors. We measured oxygen consumption in the thenar eminence during brachial artery occlusion in sickle cell patients and healthy individuals. Microvascular oxygen consumption was greater in sickle cell patients than in healthy individuals (median [interquartile range]; sickle cell: 0.91 [0.75-1.07] vs healthy: 0.75 [0.62-0.94] -ΔHbO2/min, P < .05) and was elevated further during acute pain crisis (crisis: 1.10 [0.78-1.30] vs recovered: 0.88 [0.76-1.03] -ΔHbO2/min, P < .05). Increased microvascular oxygen consumption during pain crisis could affect the local oxygen saturation of hemoglobin when oxygen delivery is limiting. Identifying the mechanisms of elevated oxygen consumption during pain crisis might lead to the development of new therapeutic interventions. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01568710.

Hypertensive crisis-induced electrocardiographic changes: a case series.

PubMed

Farha, Khalid Abou; van Vliet, André; van Marle, Sjoerd; Vrijlandt, Patrick; Westenbrink, Daan

2009-08-20

Myocardial injury is one of the most notorious complications of a hypertensive crisis. Key electrocardiograph signs used to detect cardiac injury such as ST segment changes and cardiac arrhythmias usually indicate acute ongoing end-organ damage. Lack of early signs to predict end-organ damage might lead to a delay in the initiation of therapy and selection of the incorrect therapeutic strategy. We describe five cases of tall, hyper acute symmetrical T-waves alone or accompanied by other electrocardiograph abnormalities in five healthy participants: three women aged 52, 60 and 62-years and two men aged 49 and 66-years, during a tyramine-monoamine oxidase-inhibitor interaction, phase I clinical trial. T-wave changes appeared early during the course of the hypertensive crisis and were attributed to subendocardial ischemia. The changes were transient and reverted to baseline in parallel with a fall in blood pressure. Recognition of tall symmetrical T-waves in early phases of hypertensive crisis heralds commencement of myocardial damage. This calls for prompt medical intervention to avoid an impending irreversible myocardial injury. It is our belief that these findings will add new insight into the management of hypertensive crisis and will open avenues of further investigation.

Developing schools' capacities to respond to community crisis: the Tennessee initiative.

PubMed

Love, Rene A; Cobb, Nicole

2012-08-01

The development and implementation of a statewide initiative addressing mental health issues within schools postcrisis. The potential for a community crisis occurs every day. After a crisis, schools are practical, logical, and effective places to help students recover from a tragedy. If crisis-related trauma is not addressed adequately, it can impact academic outcomes such as reading achievement, grade point average, and overall academic performance. For these reasons, it is imperative that school administrators support students in the aftermath of a crisis. This ongoing project continues in an effort to support students, faculty, and staff after a traumatic event within the Tennessee public school system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Perioperative pharmacological management of pulmonary hypertensive crisis during congenital heart surgery.

PubMed

Brunner, Nathan; de Jesus Perez, Vinicio A; Richter, Alice; Haddad, François; Denault, André; Rojas, Vanessa; Yuan, Ke; Orcholski, Mark; Liao, Xiaobo

2014-03-01

Pulmonary hypertensive crisis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension secondary to congenital heart disease (PAH-CHD) who require cardiac surgery. At present, prevention and management of perioperative pulmonary hypertensive crisis is aimed at optimizing cardiopulmonary interactions by targeting prostacyclin, endothelin, and nitric oxide signaling pathways within the pulmonary circulation with various pharmacological agents. This review is aimed at familiarizing the practitioner with the current pharmacological treatment for dealing with perioperative pulmonary hypertensive crisis in PAH-CHD patients. Given the life-threatening complications associated with pulmonary hypertensive crisis, proper perioperative planning can help anticipate cardiopulmonary complications and optimize surgical outcomes in this patient population.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Natural Gas Fueling Infrastructure

Science.gov Websites

Development Infrastructure Development to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center : Natural Gas Fueling Infrastructure Development on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center : Natural Gas Fueling Infrastructure Development on Twitter Bookmark Alternative Fuels Data Center: Natural

The usefulness of information and communication technologies in crisis response.

PubMed

Paul, Sharoda A; Reddy, Madhu; Abraham, Joanna; DeFlitch, Christopher; Deflitch, Christopher J

2008-11-06

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a vital role in coordinating crisis response between pre-hospital services and emergency departments of hospitals. In spite of the advances in these technologies, there remain a variety of challenges to their usage during a crisis. To identify these challenges, we conducted focus group interviews with emergency department (ED) and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. We found that ED and EMS personnel have widely varying perceptions about the usefulness and ease-of-use of information tools and communication tools used in crisis management. We discuss the importance of bringing together communication and information tools into integrated networks of ICTs for effective crisis response. We also highlight design features of ICTs which can support seamless and effective communication and coordination between ED and EMS teams.

The Usefulness of Information and Communication Technologies in Crisis Response

PubMed Central

Paul, Sharoda A.; Reddy, Madhu; Abraham, Joanna; DeFlitch, Christopher

2008-01-01

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a vital role in coordinating crisis response between pre-hospital services and emergency departments of hospitals. In spite of the advances in these technologies, there remain a variety of challenges to their usage during a crisis. To identify these challenges, we conducted focus group interviews with emergency department (ED) and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. We found that ED and EMS personnel have widely varying perceptions about the usefulness and ease-of-use of information tools and communication tools used in crisis management. We discuss the importance of bringing together communication and information tools into integrated networks of ICTs for effective crisis response. We also highlight design features of ICTs which can support seamless and effective communication and coordination between ED and EMS teams. PMID:18998898

Responding to the global economic crisis: inclusive social work practice.

PubMed

Strier, Ron

2013-10-01

The present global economic crisis raises new concerns for social workers. One of its most visible results is the further socioeconomic decline and marginalization of excluded populations. This article suggests that the current circumstances require a much more engaged, egalitarian, and reflexive practice-a practice, based on social rights, that matches the magnitude of the crisis and its negative impact on traditional social work constituencies. Consequently, the article suggests the concept of inclusive social work practice (ISWP), a conceptual framework whose main principles respond to four processes of social exclusion closely related to the present global crisis: extreme social isolation, growing dependency, multiple deprivation, and internalized oppression. The author describes the impact of the global crisis on patterns of social exclusion and presents the methodological foundations of the ISWP framework.

What to Do before the Violence Happens: Designing the Crisis Communication Plan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armistead, Lew

1996-01-01

When a crisis arrives, two elements can help save your school's reputation: the principal's precrisis credibility with the public and the press and a crisis communication plan. Crisis plans should designate a school spokesperson and procedures for gathering, communicating, and disseminating information. Key audiences include staff, students, and…

The Role of Perception in Crisis Management: A Tale of Two Hurricanes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olaniran, Bolanle A.

2007-01-01

The "anticipatory" model of crisis management draws the attention of crisis practitioners and researchers to the precrisis phase of crisis management. The model views institutions' position as a condition that has implications for peoples' perceptions regarding the lack of control over factors such as policies, human resources,…

The Psychology of a Crisis: An Opportunity To Learn.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whiting, Peggy P.

1998-01-01

Crisis events may be viewed as expected, sudden, or catastrophic. Survivors have common needs: recognition of loss, soothing of fear, a sense of what happened, expression of feelings, assistance with adjustment, shared closure rituals, and ways to remember. Schools' crisis-response plans should include intervention and postintervention activities…

Avoiding School Management Conflicts and Crisis through Formal Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nwogbaga, David M. E.; Nwankwo, Oliver U.; Onwa, Doris O.

2015-01-01

This paper examined how conflicts and crisis can be avoided through formal communication. It was necessitated by the observation that most of the conflicts and crisis which tend to mar school management today are functions of the inconsistencies arising from "grapevines, rumours, and gossips" generated through informal communication…

Technology Education Tackles Energy Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cutshall, Sandy

2002-01-01

Describes the solar-hydrogen technologies at the East Valley Institute of Technology, the only technology center in the nations that offers this class. Describes its focus on solving the energy crisis. (JOW)

49 CFR 536.5 - Trading infrastructure.