Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) has been jointly coordinated by Working Groups I (WGI) and II (WGII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report focuses on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather and climate events, the impacts of such events, and the strategies to manage the associated risks. The IPCC was jointly established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in particular to assess in a comprehensive, objective, and transparent manner all the relevant scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information to contribute in understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, the potential impacts, and the adaptation and mitigation options. Beginning in 1990, the IPCC has produced a series of Assessment Reports, Special Reports, Technical Papers, methodologies, and other key documents which have since become the standard references for policymakers and scientists.This Special Report, in particular, contributes to frame the challenge of dealing with extreme weather and climate events as an issue in decisionmaking under uncertainty, analyzing response in the context of risk management. The report consists of nine chapters, covering risk management; observed and projected changes in extreme weather and climate events; exposure and vulnerability to as well as losses resulting from such events; adaptation options from the local to the international scale; the role of sustainable development in modulating risks; and insights from specific case studies

Improving Frontline Responses to Domestic Violence in Europe

The monograph on improving the response of first responders to domestic violence in Europe aims to identify gaps in the cooperation of first-line responders and deliver recommendations, toolkits and collaborative training for European police organizations and medical and social work professionals. The goal is to improve integrate institutional response to domestic violence. Shared training and adequate risk assessment tools will create a positive feedback loop, increasing reporting rates of domestic violence to police, the medical profession, and community and social work practitioners

Arising: Hurricane (Superstorm) Sandy’s Impact on Design/Planning Professionals

Standing by my bedroom window, looking out at the ocean, a huge wave comes and swallows up my building. Everything around me is gone, including me. I wake up. I am 13 years old and living in the Coney Island Houses on Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. With ongoing anthropogenic changes to the natural environment such as sea level rise and intensifying storms, coastal communities, especially ones segregated by class and culture, are particularly vulnerable in this context that challenges a way of life, and in some instances, threatens that life\u27s survival. This dissertation focuses specifically on what one massive storm - Hurricane Sandy (Superstorm Sandy) - left behind. This research explored how these experiences impacted the design/ planning professionals (architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers) approaches to future climate-related events, as well as the impacts upon them personally, professionally, and societally. A single, embedded case study with narrative inquiry was used to gather first-person accounts and insights into the work, thoughts, and feelings of professionals whom society relies on increasingly as climate-induced crises proliferate. Data were classified into three pillars: Personal (impacts on the self/individual, psycho-social challenges, empathy/stress), Professional (impact to professional practice, reflection on strategies post-Sandy, impact on future events), and Societal (local and global impacts, leadership). Prominent themes under the personal pillar were impermanence, emotional resilience, and dignity. Professionally, Sandy left the study participants looking toward a more reflective design practice. The societal pillar described the broader social issues that emerged from the interviews. Two significant findings were lack of equal attention to marginalized communities and lack of diversity and inclusion within the design/planning profession. As more populations are being impacted by Hurricane Sandy-like events, designers/planners will need to become leaders in changing to both a reflective and proactive stance to professional practice in the context of climate, economic and social justice. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu

Psychosocial support in emergency situations

In recent decades we have witnessed a growing number of major accidents and emergencies caused by natural hazards (floods, earthquakes, cyclones) and human factors (chemical and nuclear accidents, conflicts, terrorism). In such situations, people’s lives are fundamentally changed and accompanied by various social consequences: loss of loved ones, loss of control over one’s own life, loss of the sense of security, hope and initiative, social infrastructure, access to services and assets. Reactions may be various; shock, tears, anger, rage, a sense of hopelessness and an anxiety are just part of the whole range of unpleasant experiences. However, the intensity of the stress responses differs among individuals, but also communities, and thus the needs for interventions are different. The role of organizations dealing with the protection and rescue is to provide immediate assistance and protection, and also psychosocial assistance and support. The psychosocial support is the process of facilitating the recovery of individuals, family and communities from the effects of hazards and it plays a key role in the interventions at major accidents involving large number of victims. Psychosocial support means that in the approach to a person two dimensions are involved influencing each other mutually: psychological (inner, emotional and meditative processes, feelings and reactions of individual) and social (relationships with other people, family networks, social values and culture of the community). The third dimension involves the first responders. Stress can initiate the development of depression, depressive disorders, anxiety, professional burn-out, depersonalization, distress, emotional exhaustion and related mental health problems, as well as other indicators of psychological distress among members of rescue teams. Bearing in mind the importance of psychosocial programs of the nineties, their implementation is supported in many projects and it is proposed that the psychosocial care becomes an integral part of the emergency response of the public health care system

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Public Policy: Why ethics matters

Ethics is a vigorously contested field. There are many competing moral frameworks, and different views about how normative considerations should inform the art and craft of governmental policy making. What is not in dispute, however, is that ethics matters. The ethical framework adopted by policy analysts and decision makers not only shapes how policy problems are defined, framed and analysed, but also influences which ethical principles and values are taken into account and their weighting. As a result, ethics can have a profound impact, both on the character of the policy process and the choices made by decision makers. Public Policy – Why Ethics Matters brings together original contributions from leading scholars and practitioners with expertise in various academic disciplines, including economics, philosophy, physics, political science, public policy and theology. The volume addresses three main issues: fist, the ethical considerations that should inform the conduct of public officials and the task of policy analysis; second, the ethics of climate change; and third, ethics and economic policy. While the contributors have varying views on these important issues, they share a common conviction that the ethical dimensions of public policy need to be better understood and given proper attention in the policy-making process

Usability analysis of contending electronic health record systems

In this paper, we report measured usability of two leading EHR systems during procurement. A total of 18 users participated in paired-usability testing of three scenarios: ordering and managing medications by an outpatient physician, medicine administration by an inpatient nurse and scheduling of appointments by nursing staff. Data for audio, screen capture, satisfaction rating, task success and errors made was collected during testing. We found a clear difference between the systems for percentage of successfully completed tasks, two different satisfaction measures and perceived learnability when looking at the results over all scenarios. We conclude that usability should be evaluated during procurement and the difference in usability between systems could be revealed even with fewer measures than were used in our study. © 2019 American Psychological Association Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

A systems approach to leadership development in the Dubai Police : using soft systems methodology (SSM)

The Dubai Police, striving to meet the needs of one of the most rapidly developing communities in the world, found themselves struggling to satisfy the needs of an expanding and increasingly diverse population as well as dealing with the expectations within the force from high-qualified officers who had benefited from education in the most modern universities.Seeking to improve the service to all stakeholders, HE the Commander-in-Chief introduced the concept of Total Quality Management. The introduction and continuing application of Total Quality Management was undertaken by an over-arching general department dedicated to Total Quality together with the introduction of experts into every general department. Unfortunately, the benefits were not as universal or as consistent as had been hoped. It was thought blocks to progress arose from the rigidity of the hierarchical and militaristic style of leadership prevalent in the force. A leadership style more inclusive of officers at all level was needed, one which was also alive to the expectations of external stakeholders, the residents, visitors and executives of business interests in Dubai. The researcher was asked to study how leadership operated in the Dubai Police, how leaders viewed progress in Total Quality Management among their peers and subordinates and how subordinates assessed their immediate superiors’ performance as leaders. To this end, 31 semi-structured interviews provided data for qualitative analysis and 475 respondents completed a questionnaire for quantitative analysis. The interviews revealed great respect for the military traditions of the Dubai Police, pride in progress made in Total Quality Management to date, an acknowledgement that this had been uneven and of the existence of pockets of resistance, results borne out of the responses to the questionnaire. Subjects were keen to improve the situation but had not embraced the latest management techniques available, tending to use reductionist methods to solve problems.The researcher was requested to explore the benefits of holistic systems thinking to liberate consideration of problems and blocks to further progress in Total Quality Management. The Dubai Police were advised that systems thinking has advantages over older methods as it involves consideration of all aspects of a problem as a whole, including the interest of all stakeholders, leading to more satisfactory solutions of wider application. Among its advantages are the broader spectrum of investigation called for the greater involvement of subordinates so that a much more detailed (richer) picture can be obtained. The Dubai Police were therefore recommended to employ Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as a means to achieving flexibility in leadership, deeper involvement of lower tiers of management in planning and quicker reaction to changing crime patterns. The Dubai Police should study western policing methods more deeply and invoke local universities in further research. The research indicated the Dubai Police needed to be more attuned to global development in policing attitudes and techniques