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"PREVENTION ACTIVITIES"
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Illuminating the dark arts of war : terrorism, sabotage, and subversion in homeland security and the new conflict
Since 9/11, the dominant view is that we have entered an era of new conflict in which technology has empowered non-state actors who now pose unprecedented and unmanageable threats to U.S. national security. This unique work studies a range of threats, from homegrown and foreign terrorism to the possibility of cyber- or Chinese sabotage and fears of religious subversion to challenge every aspects of this new conflict argument and expose its underlying exaggerations and misunderstandings. Examining such issues as political violence, the role of religion in terrorism, the impact of technology, and the political aspects of homeland security, this unique survey demonstrates how such activities as terrorism are limited by their clandestine nature. It also addresses why we need to switch our strategic focus and increase the role citizens have in dealing with such threats.
Book
Transportation and Revolt
During World War I, German soldiers shot down carrier pigeons for fear the birds were carrying enemy communiqués; in Mexico, the United States, and other countries, mules were used for smuggling and secret travel in mountainous areas; in the British Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British feared that supplies for anti-imperialist rebellion were being transported by canal. In this book, Jacob Shell argues that many political regimes have historically associated certain modes of transportation with revolt or with subversive activities -- and have responded by acting to destroy or curtail those modes of transportation. Constructing a conceptual framework linking physical geography with the politics of mobility, Shell presents historical examples of the secret, subversive mobilization of people and cargo across watery spaces and harsh terrain, carried by watercraft and transport animals including pigeons, mules, camels, elephants, and sled dogs. Efforts to suppress such clandestine mobilities ranged from the violent (the shooting of pigeons) to the indirect -- curtailing financial support, certain kinds of social knowledge, or schemes for infrastructural development. To show how such efforts at immobilization could affect cities and urban transportation, Shell looks at the Port of New York in the early twentieth century, where potentially transformative plans for inner-city freight transportation were rejected -- likely, Shell argues, due to fears of anarchist activities. The innovative argument advanced by Shell inTransportation and Revoltchallenges conventional wisdom about the supposed obsolescence of transport methods that have become marginalized in the modern era.
eBook
Transportation and revolt : pigeons, mules, canals, and the vanishing geographies of subversive mobility
\"Modes of transportation understood, by political regimes in different times and places, as intrinsically useful for clandestine movement, subversive mobility, and smuggling for revolt. Contents: Chapters look at canal transportation, several types of animal transportation (mules, elephants, camels and sled-dogs are all treated at some length), and inner-city freight-carrying infrastructure\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
Inclusion of prevention scenarios in LCA of construction waste management
PurposeLife cycle assessment (LCA) has been applied extensively for the environmental evaluation of solid waste management. However, there are only a limited number of approaches based on the LCA perspective to deal with waste prevention, which constitutes the first and overriding principle of the waste management hierarchy, both in relation to solid waste in general and to construction waste (CW) in particular. This paper explores the possibilities of the LCA for the evaluation of CW management that includes prevention activities.MethodsBased on literature, the functional unit and system boundaries used in the traditional LCA of CW management are redefined to include prevention scenarios; this leads to two methodological options (options 1 and 2). From the above, general and simplified models were developed. The general model evaluates CW management scenarios composed of several CW fractions, while the simplified model is applicable to the analysis of one separated CW fraction. A case study was carried out on new buildings in Spain. Optimization and substitution measures of prevention were developed and four CW management scenarios were compared using the general model. The simplified model was applied to the management of concrete waste.Results and discussionSeveral environmental impact categories were evaluated. The redefinition of the functional unit and the system boundaries allowed the assessment of prevention scenarios in the traditional LCA of CW management, confirming the findings of previous studies. Prevention was the most favorable scenario, since, in addition to reducing 60% of the amount of CW generated, it would have also reduced at least 60% of all impacts of the categories analyzed.ConclusionsMost CW prevention studies in the reviewed literature are focused on the reduction of the quantities of waste. The methodological approaches in this study allow a greater insight into the effects of prevented CW on the environment. The proposed models could support the preparation of national waste programs and could serve as an instrumental tool to simulate the environmental impacts of CW management scenarios that include waste prevention.
Journal Article
Effectiveness of waste prevention program in primary students’ schools
Even though reducing waste is at the top of the waste hierarchy, no real decoupling between waste generation and consumption has been demonstrated. Several waste directives had been published from EU, but they have only brought minor changes within the key objective of reducing waste generation. Most efforts have been targeted towards greater amounts of recycling and better management of waste disposal. While these are necessary and socially beneficial goals, they are not adequate for the achievement of long-term sustainability goals. The purpose of this study is to understand students’ knowledge, attitudes and behavioural changes in relation to the water plastic bottle of 500 ml. Understanding waste prevention behaviour (WPB) could enable schools’ principals, local authorities and committees as well as decision makers to design and implement more effective policies for reducing the amount of specific waste streams that is generated. Students in a daily base bring their own water containers of 500 ml or buy water from the school as they do not feel safe to use other sources of water. Nine hundred ninety-eight refilling stainless steel water refilling bottles (SSWRB–of 600 ml) were shared to the students in four primary schools. The results indicated that the students are presented with different behaviours from class to class for many reasons; most of them are related with what their parents believe, and how themselves or the synergies between them reacts and affected.
Journal Article
Too Costly to Disregard: The Cost Competitiveness of Environmental Operating Practices
Achieving the dual goal of improved environmental and financial performance has become a universal business concern. Our study distinguishes between firms’ environmental behaviors and their environmental performance, a distinction that has been largely disregarded in previous empirical studies that analyze the association between environmental performance and financial performance. As an improvement in environmental performance itself does not necessarily guarantee positive financial returns, our study pays particular attention to the value-added nature of preemptive environmental activities, investigating the effects of plant-level pollution prevention activities (PPAs) on environmental performance and financial performance in terms of cost competitiveness and market valuation. Drawing on detailed environmental information about 18,743 chemical plants in the U.S. and analyzing a multi-level panel dataset constructed bottom-up from plant-level data to their parent firms’ performance data, we find that more intensive PPAs are associated with both superior environmental performance and improved cost competitiveness but do not necessarily lead to higher market valuation. Our study illuminates the specific environmental activities and conditions linked to environmental and financial performance, thereby offering managers practical guidance in pursuing both sustainable and profitable businesses under increasingly stringent environmental standards.
Journal Article
Discussion on methods to include prevention activities in waste management LCA
PURPOSE: Waste prevention has been assigned increasing attention worldwide during recent years, and it is expected to become one of the core elements of waste management planning in the near future. In this framework, this paper presents and discusses two possible LCA approaches for the evaluation of the environmental and energetic performance of municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems which include the effects of waste prevention activities. METHODS: The two approaches are conceived for the comparison of waste management scenarios including waste prevention activities with baseline scenarios without waste prevention. For both of them, the functional unit is defined and the system boundaries are described with reference to different typologies of waste prevention activities identified in an extensive review. The procedure for the calculation of the LCA impacts of scenarios is also reported and an example illustrating the processes to be included in system boundaries for a specific waste prevention activity is provided. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The presented approaches lead to the same result in terms of difference between the LCA impacts of a waste prevention scenario and of a baseline one. However, because of the partially different upstream system boundaries, different values of the impacts of single scenarios are obtained and the application of the two approaches is more suitable in different situations and in analyses with different purposes. The methodological aspects that can complicate the applicability of the two approaches are discussed lastly. CONCLUSIONS: The environmental and energetic performance of MSW management scenarios including waste prevention activities can be evaluated with the two LCA approaches presented in this paper. They can be used for many purposes such as, among the most general, evaluating the upstream and downstream environmental consequences of implementing particular waste prevention activities in a given waste management system, complementing waste reduction indicators with LCA-based indicators and supporting with quantitative evidence the strategic and policy relevance of waste prevention.
Journal Article
Falls from Height in the Construction Industry: A Critical Review of the Scientific Literature
Globally, falls from height (FFH) are a substantial public health jeopardy and are among the important leading causes of serious and fatal injuries for construction workers. A comprehensive understanding of the causal factors in FFH incidents is urgently required; however, the literature appears to lack a scientific review of FFH. In this study, 297 articles that contribute to the topic of fall incidents were reviewed. Seventy-five (75) articles met the criteria for relevance and were aggregated in a database to support a critical review. A synthesis of macro-variables approach was adopted rather than a structured meta-analysis. Such a method of analysis provides the flexibility to combine previous studies' findings. The most common factors associated with FFH are risky activities, individual characteristics, site conditions, organizational characteristics, agents (scaffolds/ladders) and weather conditions. The outcomes contributed to identifying the most significant research area for safety enhancement by improving engineering facilities, behaviour investigations and FFH prevention methods.
Journal Article
Accident prevention activity and accident experience in the Republic of Korea military
IntroductionAccording to data released by the Korea National Statistical Office, the number of accidents has been decreasing since 2012. However, a considerable number of deaths related to safety accidents (23–46 deaths) are still reported annually. This study aimed to observe the correlation between accident prevention activities in the Republic of Korea (ROK) military and the incidence of safety accidents.MethodsThe study used data from the 2014–2015 Military Health Survey and included 13 618 responses (Army: 8414 (61.8%); Navy/Marine: 2262 (16.6%); Air Force: 2942 (21.6%)) from the ROK military personnel. Accident experiences and thoughts on accident prevention activities were self-reported. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the validity of accident prevention activity and accident experience.ResultsOf the 13 618 military personnel who responded, 12.0% reported experiencing safety accidents in the military and 1020 (7.5%) felt that accident prevention activities in the military were insufficient. On logistic regression analysis, we found a significant difference (insufficiency OR=1.56, CI 1.31 to 1.86). In particular, military personnel who belong to the Army and Navy were more likely to think that accident prevention activities were insufficient. In addition, military personnel who experienced falls/slips, crash, and laceration/puncture wound/amputation/penetrating wound accidents were more likely to think accident prevention activities were insufficient.ConclusionsOur study found that accident prevention activities in the military and accident experiences were related. It is necessary for the ROK Ministry of Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force headquarters to re-evaluate their accident prevention systems.
Journal Article
The global hiv epidemics among people who inject drugs
This publication addresses research questions related to an increase in the levels of access and utilization for four key interventions that have the potential to significantly reduce HIV infections among People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) and their sexual and injecting partners, and hence morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). These interventions are drawn from nine consensus interventions that comprise a 'comprehensive package' for PWID. The four interventions are: Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP), Medically Assisted Therapy (MAT), HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). The book summarizes the results from several recent reviews of studies related to the effectiveness of the four key interventions in reducing risky behaviors in the context of transmitting or acquiring HIV infection. Overall, the four key interventions have strong effects on the risk of HIV infection among PWID via different pathways, and this determination is included in the documents proposing the comprehensive package of interventions. In order to attain the greatest effect from these interventions, structural issues must be addressed, especially the removal of punitive policies targeting PWID in many countries. The scientific evidence presented here, the public health rationale, and the human rights imperatives are all in accord: we can and must do better for PWID. The available tools are evidence-based, right affirming, and cost effective. What are required now are political will and a global consensus that this critical component of global HIV can no longer be ignored and under-resourced.
eBook