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The paper composite sandwich structure with corrugation and honeycomb cores has been widely used in civil and national defense industries, and the cushioning energy absorption characteristic is a key indicator to evaluate the performance of this composite structure. Therefore, this paper is focused on the influences of honeycomb thickness on the shock acceleration response and deformation characteristics to analyze cushioning energy absorption performance of the composite structure by various experimental tests. The experimental result shows that the paper corrugation layer firstly comes into crushed, and then the paper honeycomb layer is crushed. Additionally, the large honeycomb thickness may cause the secondary collapse of paper honeycomb layer. Under the same impact energy or impact mass, the cushioning energy absorption of the single-sided composite sandwich structure is better than that of the double-sided structure with the same honeycomb thickness. However, the impact resistance of the double-sided composite structure is better than that of the single-sided structure. For the paper composite sandwich structures with the honeycomb thicknesses 10, 15, 20, and 25 mm, the increase of honeycomb thickness would decrease the cushioning energy absorption of the whole structure under the drop impact with low energy. However, under the drop impact with high energy, the influence of honeycomb thickness on cushioning energy absorption is contrary. For the paper composite sandwich structure, the specific energy absorption, unit volume energy absorption, and stroke efficiency for the honeycomb thicknesses 10, 15, 20, and 25 mm are higher than those for the honeycomb thickness 70 mm. Therefore, the low honeycomb thickness is more advantageous for the cushioning energy absorption of paper composite sandwich structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, the expectancy disconfirmation model (EDM) was applied to explain the formation of public health emergency preparedness cooperative behavior (EPCB) as well as considering the roles of official media exposure and positive emotions., Design/methodology/approach: The analysis was based on a sample of 374 respondents collected during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A t -test was used to examine the differences in variables by sex, age and educational background. Hypothesis testing was conducted using structural equation modeling. Amos 24.0 and R 4.0.3 were used to analyze the data., Findings: The results indicated that (1) official media exposure has a positive impact on expectations for and perceived performance of public services, as well as positive emotions; (2) the EDM can be used to explain public satisfaction with government public health services; and (3) public satisfaction and positive emotions have positive effects on EPCB; (4) EDM and positive emotions mediate the relationship between official media exposure and EPCB., Originality/value: This study provides practical implications for increasing the EPCB from the perspective of risk communication., (© Emerald Publishing Limited.)

This paper focuses on the relationship between agency and knowledge within the context of rising nationalism and populism. The case is the Czech debate over the reintroduction of civil defence education (CDE). It was abandoned in 1989 but recently, many new and contradictory calls for its return have appeared. We aim to gain an understanding of what the nationalising of education does with actorship in educational governance and how agency is achieved in pushing or criticising nationalist claims in education. The dataset consists of media entries, strategic documents, and interviews. We argue that the populist repertoire intervened significantly in "defining" what is the problem that some groups wanted to solve by a renewal of CDE. This situation stabilised the position of security-military expertise as reasonable knowledge, which concealed the educational nature of the problem and thus denied educational actors a role in agency. The role of the state structures responsible for education was problematised and set the difference of the Czech case in the European context regarding educational governance. We conclude that contemporary nationalists' claims concerning education may be seen as a sign of the changing role of expert knowledge that camouflaged defence education as an educational problem.

Eight essays address a range of topics including government serials and economic analysis, crime statistics and the F.B.I., nuclear holocaust and public policy, the history of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena, Congressman William Steiger and the Congressional Record, and the public papers of Richard Nixon. (EM)

Since the end of the Cold War, Germany has been considered a largely safe country. But increasing terrorism, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and national flood disasters with serious consequences have led to growing attention to civil protection issues in politics and society. Thereby the reduction of possible risks is closely linked to rescue forces being well trained and the population being adequately informed about how to behave during disasters. Thus, adult learning is central to reducing risks associated with disasters. This paper, therefore, examines what works are available from adult and continuing education research on disaster protection in Germany after the 2nd World War. The results of this first comprehensive scoping review in this field show that pedagogical issues in disaster risk reduction are addressed by various disciplines. Most of these are practice-oriented and aim for the development of pedagogical concepts. High-quality scientific works that are empirically based or oriented towards the development of theoretical foundations, are hardly to be found. Overall, this in-depth research thus reveals a large research gap in the field of adult pedagogical research on the area of disaster education in Germany.

Abstract: In the mid-1970s, American civil defense authorities became increasingly concerned with the potential threat of fission reactor accidents. Research from the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency began to be aimed not just at the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare but also peacetime emergencies as part of a "dual use" philosophy. The Brookhaven National Laboratory received funding to create a prototype radioiodine air sampling system, with multiple publications detailing the creation of the air sampler itself and a special CD V-700 survey meter that accompanied it. In late March 1979, the system found its first operational employment at the reactor accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Despite successful use and further study, the BNL Air Sampler was not widely fielded by the federal government. However, lessons learned from its employment and development may be applicable to contemporary radiological emergency response., Competing Interests: The author declares no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Health Physics Society.)

Long understood as the key document in Britain's Cold War history, the Duncan Sandys Defence White Paper of 1957 nevertheless has a largely forgotten context: home defence. This article argues that understanding this context allows important new conclusions to be drawn concerning the drafting, presentation and the reception of the document and the deterrent strategy it expounded. It argues that the Paper failed to establish a new doctrine for civil defence which reconciled the policy with the wider deterrent strategy. In doing this, the Paper presented a muddled policy to the public: one which failed to justify the reductions in civil defence provision but which stressed the destructive power of thermonuclear weapons. This had the effect of encouraging the critics of the government's nuclear strategy to flag up the absence of adequate civil defence measures and highlight the 'admission' that there was no defence against the hydrogen bomb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim was to explore the natural disaster preparedness strategies of Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs), focussing on aspects relevant to people with dementia., Methods: An online survey was sent to 2617 RACF managers, with 416 responding. Questions included the following: (a) demographics; (b) presence and detail level of disaster/evacuation plans; and (c) references to people with dementia., Results: One in four facilities had experienced a natural disaster in the previous five years. The majority had plans for natural disaster and evacuation. Two-thirds recognised the unique needs of people with dementia. Managers anticipated that residents with dementia would require more staff time and resources and might become disoriented., Conclusions: Gaps identified in existing RACF evacuation plans highlighted challenges in ensuring the ongoing safety and care of residents, especially those with dementia. Facilities need to have adequate plans and processes that minimise the potential risks of natural disasters., (© 2019 AJA Inc.)

Vulnerability to natural disasters is increasing globally 1-3 . In parallel, the responsibility for natural hazard preparedness has shifted to communities and individuals 4 . It is therefore crucial that households increase their preparedness, yet adoption of household preparedness measures continues to be low, even in high-risk regions 5-8 . In addition, few hazard-preparedness interventions have been evaluated longitudinally using observational measures. Therefore, we conducted a controlled intervention with a 12-month follow-up on adults in communities in the United States and Turkey that focused on improving household earthquake and fire preparedness. We show that this Fix-it intervention, involving evidence-based, face-to-face workshops, increased multihazard preparedness in both cultures longitudinally. Compared to baseline, the primary outcome-overall preparedness-increased significantly in the intervention groups, with more improvement in earthquake preparedness in the Turkish participants and more improvements in fire preparedness in the US participants. High baseline outcome expectancy and home ownership predicted overall preparedness change in both intervention groups longitudinally, implying that a sense of agency influences preparedness. An unintended consequence of observation is that it may increase preparedness, as even the control groups changed their behaviour. Therefore, observation of home preparatory behaviours by an external source may be a way to extend multihazard preparedness across a population.

Public support is a critical factor in the outcome of interstate conflicts, yet, how it operates, interacts with hard power, or influences the overall military outlook remains surprisingly undertheorized. Public support has been particularly salient for such states as Finland and Ukraine that have faced opponents of vastly greater military size, capability, and sophistication. This paper advances an original theory on the strategic utility of public support for conflict through an analysis of the case of Taiwan, a potential current flashpoint for a great power war. This paper assesses trends in Taiwanese public support for resisting a Chinese invasion over time, identifies a major upswing in the public's willingness to fight, and argues that further coordination by state and societal actors could deter a Chinese attack or at least greatly increase the costs of an invasion and the likelihood of failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the circumstances under which the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adjust peace operations mandates to safeguard civilians during mass atrocities. Peacekeepers are usually deployed where civilians face threats from rebels and/or government forces. The literature shows that, with adequate numbers, peacekeepers effectively protect human lives. Additionally, the norms of Protection of Civilians (PoC) and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) create expectations that missions will be adjusted to protect individuals at grave risk. The paper evaluates cases where PKO were active during the occurrence of targeted mass killings (TMK), covering the years from 2006 to 2017. Using a qualitative mixed-methods approach, this study relies on the TMK dataset from the Australian National University and the Peacekeeping Mandates (PEMA) database to compare the timelines of PKO and spot whether mandates were changed after mass atrocities with new tasks to protect civilians. The paper also briefly assesses the case of South Sudan to evaluate the congruence between mass atrocity triggers and mandate adjustments. Our analysis aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing the UNSC's decision-making process in adjusting peace operation mandates to protect civilians during mass atrocities and its limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the relationship between organizational learning culture, psychological contract breach, work engagement, training simulation and transfer of training, to examine the effect of transfer of training on organizational citizenship behaviour and to determine the mediating effect of transfer of training on the relationship between organizational learning culture, psychological contract breach, work engagement and training simulation with organizational citizenship behaviour. This study investigated these relationships in the context of public sector organizations in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: The data for this study were collected by using the purposive sampling from Malaysian Civil Defence Force or Angkatan Pertahanan Awam (APM) employees who attended a disaster preparedness training programme between March to May 2015. The questionnaire was the main tool for the data gathering. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling technique using AMOS 22 version software. Findings: The findings showed that work engagement and training simulation are the factors that influence the transfer of training, and there is a positive effect of the transfer of training on the organizational citizenship behaviour. The result also demonstrated that the transfer of training is the mediator in the relationship between work engagement, training simulation and organizational citizenship behaviour. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on public sector areas which is Malaysia Civil Defense Force (APM). No interview session was conducted due to the time constraint in completing this study. Originality/value: This study extends the existing understanding of factors that influence transfer of training and the effect of transfer of training on employees and organization. In other words, through the positive transfer of training, organizations not only attain positive returns on their training investment but also improve the performance and the work attitude of the organization's employees.

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Background: The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (RCRC) utilizes specialized Emergency Response Units (ERUs) for international disaster response. However, data collection and reporting within ERUs have been time-consuming and paper-based. The Red Cross Red Crescent Health Information System (RCHIS) was developed to improve clinical documentation and reporting, ensuring accuracy and ease of use while increasing compliance with reporting standards. Case presentation: RCHIS is an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Health Information System (HIS) designed for RCRC ERUs. It can be accessed on Android tablets or Windows laptops, both online and offline. The system securely stores data on Microsoft Azure cloud, with synchronization facilitated through a local ERU server. The functional architecture covers all clinical functions of ERU clinics and hospitals, incorporating user-friendly features. A pilot study was conducted with the Portuguese Red Cross (PRC) during a large-scale event. Thirteen super users were trained and subsequently trained the staff. During the four-day pilot, 77 user accounts were created, and 243 patient files were documented. Feedback indicated that RCHIS was easy to use, requiring minimal training time, and had sufficient training for full utilization. Real-time reporting facilitated coordination with the civil defense authority. Conclusions: The development and pilot use of RCHIS demonstrated its feasibility and efficacy within RCRC ERUs. The system addressed the need for an EMR and HIS solution, enabling comprehensive clinical documentation and supporting administrative reporting functions. The pilot study validated the training of trainers' approach and paved the way for further domestic use of RCHIS. RCHIS has the potential to improve patient safety, quality of care, and reporting efficiency within ERUs. Automated reporting reduces the burden on ERU leadership, while electronic compilation enhances record completeness and correctness. Ongoing feedback collection and feature development continue to enhance RCHIS's functionality. Further trainings took place in 2023 and preparations for international deployments are under way. RCHIS represents a significant step toward improved emergency medical care and coordination within the RCRC and has implications for similar systems in other Emergency Medical Teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nuclear deterrent and conventional capabilities of both Pakistan and India contribute extensively towards maintaining peace and strategic stability in the region. In South Asia, both states have significantly increased their nuclear and conventional capabilities. The recent new trends, at regional as well as global levels, such as growing conventional asymmetry, changing policies of the nonproliferation regime, and the introduction of more sophisticated weapon capabilities pose a direct pernicious challenge to deterrence stability of Pakistan and India - as both nuclear states are immensely increasing their defence system. Through the lens of structural deterrence theory, this paper examines the strategic threats posed to deterrence stability in South Asia. Complete deterrence has become a mirage in South Asia. This paper examines the strategic imbalance in South Asia as the most pertinent threat - the two nuclear adversaries, India and Pakistan, are accumulating military power. This paper argues that strategic imbalance has serious implications for the South Asian region. In this paper, we employ the interpretative methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An excerpt from the white paper "China's National Defense in 2004," is presented.

The relevance of this study is determined by the current instability of the global political climate in the world and the outbreak of a number of military conflicts, which necessitates the study of the mechanisms of activity of structures that protect the interests of the population and the state. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to analyse the algorithm for the activities of civil defence authorities, particularly in wartime conditions. Among the methods used are the methods of logical analysis, deduction, synthesis, induction, functional analysis, analogy. This study provides a detailed analysis of the importance and key role played by civil protection agencies in addressing the challenges of protecting, ensuring security and developing society. The importance of their function lies in the effective implementation of strategies aimed at protecting the population and the state in times of threat and danger. The analysis in this paper takes into account the various components necessary for the successful management of various types of warfare. This includes the study of effective strategies for interaction and coordination between civil protection authorities and military command and control. Particular attention is paid to the key factors that determine the effectiveness of the organisation of interaction between military authorities and protection commissioners. Similarly, significant was the analysis of the demand for the resolution of qualitative foresight implementation tasks. Accordingly, an algorithm that will provide a more detailed and relevant examination of the wartime operational algorithm of the governing bodies has been developed. The practical value of the obtained results is that it will increase the appropriate level of combat alertness, the guarantor of the protection of the national interests of the state and its population, its territorial integrity and will generally raise the level of effectiveness of the relevant bodies considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the dynamics of nonviolent action in situations of armed conflict has been labelled as the 'new frontier' in resistance studies. This paper assesses the growing body of literature on civilian resistance against rebel groups. Drawn from a systematic review of academic articles, book chapters, and policy documents, examples of civilian resistance are ordered in three distinct categories of unarmed action: deception; dissent; and defiance. This classification provides the conceptual framework to tackle the main research question: does civilian resistance against rebels work to protect unarmed populations from violence and harm? By scrutinising the effectiveness of civilian resistance, the paper seeks to provide a necessary corrective to the dominant view expressed in the literature, which, as argued, is overly optimistic regarding the prospects of wringing substantial concessions from armed groups via nonviolent action. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications, focusing on normative challenges facing external actors eager to support civilian resisters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its foundation as a private corporation in 1694, the Bank of England extended large amounts of credit to support the British private economy and to support an increasingly centralised British state. The Bank helped the British state reach a position of geopolitical and economic hegemony in the international economic order. In this paper, we deploy recalibrated financial data to analyse an evolving trajectory of connections between the British economy, the state, and the Bank of England. We show how these connections contributed to form an effective and efficient fiscal–naval state and promote the development of a system of financial intermediation for the economy. This symbiotic relationship became stronger after 1793. The evidence that we consider here shows that although the Bank was nominally a private institution and profits were paid to its shareholders, it was playing a public role well before Bagehot's doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bionic flapping wing vehicles have great potential for civil and defense applications due to their flexibility and concealment at low Reynolds numbers. Since traditional flow field pattern recognition methods are difficult to identify effective information from the measured local flow field and deduce the state information of the moving body, this study uses an artificial intelligence method to establish the internal correlation between flow field pattern and state information. Specifically, a fully connected neural network is adopted to recognize the tandem flapping wings' flow field pattern by using different data acquisition methods and detector array distribution methods. Compared with the neural network based on time series data, the neural network based on spatial distribution data can realize the real-time judgment of flow field environment, which is closer to the real-time requirements in practical applications. In the paper, the intelligent perception of multi-flapping wings' flow field environment with sparse detectors is carried out and lays the theoretical foundation for autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance of flapping wing aircrafts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the changes in the state of Ukraine's natural environment, namely due to the fire on its territories as a result of military operations. Remote sensing can be considered as a decision support tool for landscape management, remote sensing plays a vital operational tool in the affected areas to assess the consequences, as well as to make appropriate decisions to protect the environment and support environmental recovery programs in these areas. This paper presented applying of remote sensing methods to assess large fires caused by military events in Ukraine war using the VIIRS spectroradiometer (375 m) on board the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite and NOAA-20 satellites, as well as NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) resource. The paper presents examples of the use of remote sensing to detect changes in territories affected by military operations, and provided estimates of the total number of fires in 2022. Authors proposed a methodology for obtaining daily data on the localization of fires in the territories of active hostilities, in particular in 15 regions of Ukraine that are closest to the front line. Results of this paper indicated the VIIRS spectroradiometer and the FIRM's resource as an effective tool for monitoring fires and assessing changes in the environment caused by them as a result of military operations in Ukraine. The possibility of using satellite imagery for operational fire monitoring has been proven, which, in combination with traditional ground-based data, can play a crucial role in protecting civilians and providing evidence of environmental violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This content analysis study examined whether a disaster preparedness education smartphone application created by a New Zealand city matches what experts say are effiective ways of teaching disaster preparedness and teaching via an app. The app was assessed to ascertain if it excelled as a platform for learning, communicated effiectively, addressed factors that can hinder people from preparing, and provided information for special needs populations. Results show that the app addressed most factors that hinder preparedness, provided information for some special needs populations, excelled as a platform for learning, and communicated effiectively. The app's weaknesses include the fact that it lacked targeted information for low-income residents. The findings provide insight on how organizations can effiectively use apps to teach disaster preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Accident Reporting and Guiding Operational System (ARGOS) is a decision support system used to assist in the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) to nuclear and radiological incidents. The ARGOS user group has been formed that is made up of government agencies across many countries that have a role in EPR to nuclear and radiological incidents. In 2020, a desktop exercise was organised for the members of the ARGOS user group. The exercise involved two hypothetical accidents at different times on the same date, namely a radiological release from a floating nuclear power plant (NPP) off the Norwegian coast and from the Loviisa NPP in Finland. The objectives of the exercise were to train and increase knowledge of the ARGOS system, to perform a comparison of model outputs, and to compare the recommendations of protective actions. In the case of the floating NPP the source term was provided, while in the Loviisa NPP scenario the participants were required to provide their own source term based on a description of the accident. The results on radiological consequences based on dispersion modelling, protective actions, source terms and dispersion modelling settings were collected from participants. A comparison was made between each of these reported aspects. In general, it was found that there was general agreement between the results for the floating nuclear power plant scenario in the sense of plume direction and extent, while in the case of the Loviisa NPP scenario, there was much greater variation, with the difference in source term estimates between the participants being an influencing factor. The participants acknowledged that taking part in an exercise of this nature increased their knowledge and understanding about using decision support tools such as ARGOS in planning and responding to nuclear and radiological emergencies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper reports on the construction and initial testing of a computer-based interactive flood hazard management simulation, designed for undergraduates taking an applied geomorphology course. Details of the authoring interface utilized to create the simulation are presented. Students act as the managers of civil defence utilities in a fictional town, and have to respond to changes in local conditions to prevent a flood disaster. An SMS messaging service presents the managers with real-time situation updates, and enables them to respond immediately. No significant difference is observed between the standard of student performance under these conditions of authentic assessment in the simulation and that attained in the other, more traditional, elements of assessment in the course. Future refinements intended to overcome identified weaknesses in the simulation are outlined. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables and 1 note.)

Current figurations of the "immigration problem" in the United States challenge our understanding of the rhetoricity of contemporary bordering practices. The public discourse of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps serves to chart the alienization of undocumented migrants and the enactment of alien abjection on the U.S.-Mexico border. Alienization promises an antidote to majoritarian anxieties regarding national disunity in the form of a shoring-up of cultural boundaries that border-crossing subjects render troublesome. Ultimately, the fence logic engendered by groups such as the Minutemen reveals how struggles over the boundaries of citizenship both enable and limit an affect-charged civic imaginary. (Contains 81 notes.)

"Civil defence pedagogies" normalise continuous emergency through educational channels such as school, community and adult education. Using critical whiteness studies, and critiques of white supremacy from critical race theory, as a conceptual base, the protection of whiteness, and particularly the white middle-class family, is considered to be centrally important to civil defence in education. Civil defence is not only classed and state-centred, but a racialised and eugenic discourse where the state considers not necessarily the survival of the majority of white people, but the continuity of whiteness to be prioritised above the survival of people of colour. Within these policies, the enterprising white, middle-class, suburban family has provided a key role as main reference, beneficiary, activist and supporter of civil defence pedagogies. Through the use of policy analysis and documentation from the USA in the 1950s and the UK in the 1980s, I discuss representations of the family, race and class in civil defence pedagogies. Although whiteness is contextualised by geography and history, there is congruence in terms of the eugenic tendencies of these seemingly innocuous pedagogies. (Contains 2 figures and 1 note.)