Towards security governance as a critical tool: a conceptual outline

This article argues that security governance can and should be reframed as a critical tool that enables us to understand and reappraise concrete practices of security provision. Security governance needs to move beyond the functional mapping of different governing arrangements and the presumption that security governance leads to effective and legitimate problem-solving in a quasi-automatic manner. In this article, we propose a framework that identifies the essential characteristics of security governance and turns them into critical questions with the aim to reveal persisting frictions and dilemmas. First, we trace the rise of security governance as concept and practice over the past decade and identify its central characteristics with regard to prerequisites, structures and consequences. Second, we reframe the core characteristics of security governance into critical questions and thereby develop an understanding of security governance as a critical tool. Finally, we illustrate the relevance of this approach with examples from EU security governance.     

Equity and cost-effectiveness of multilateral adaptation finance: are they friends or foes?

This paper analyzes potential criteria to allocate international funding for adaptation to climate change, as a response to one of the main governance challenges of international adaptation funding—the prioritization of project proposals given scarce funding. Based on the review of the equity and cost-effectiveness literature and relevant policy documents, we identify three potential indicators for equity (vulnerability level, poverty, equal funding per capita), and three indicators for cost-effectiveness (economic savings in absolute and relative terms, human lives saved). Applying these simple indicators to information provided in all 39 project documents considered by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) in 2011, we find that projects approved or endorsed by the AFB rank high according to one cost-effectiveness indicator (absolute economic savings), while they rather rank low according to all equity and further cost-effectiveness indicators. Furthermore, we analyze whether equity and cost-effectiveness are two contradicting goals, or whether ways can be found to reconcile both goals in multilateral adaptation finance. We conclude from both the theory and the 39 analyzed project documents that a pure economic definition of cost-effectiveness tends to be in contradiction with equity but that trade-offs between equity and cost-effectiveness can be limited if relative economic savings or human live savings are used as indicator for cost-effectiveness.     

Evaluation of a Headspace Solid‐Phase Microextraction Method for the Analysis of Ignitable Liquids in Fire Debris

The chemical analysis of fire debris represents a crucial part in fire investigations to determine the cause of a fire. A headspace solid‐phase microextraction (HS‐SPME) procedure for the detection of ignitable liquids in fire debris using a fiber coated with a mixture of three different sorbent materials (Divinylbenzene/Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane, DVB/CAR/PDMS) is described. Gasoline and diesel fuel were spiked upon a preburnt matrix (wood charcoal), extracted and concentrated with HS‐SPME and then analyzed with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The experimental conditions—extraction temperature, incubation and exposure time—were optimized. To assess the applicability of the method, fire debris samples were prepared in the smoke density chamber (SDC) and a controlled‐atmosphere cone calorimeter. The developed methods were successfully applied to burnt particleboard and carpet samples. The results demonstrate that the procedure that has been developed here is suitable for detecting these ignitable liquids in highly burnt debris.     

Analysis of Factors of Overpricing in Public Procurement: A Study for Low-performing EU Countries

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the issue of overpricing of public procurement in low-performing EU countries. It examines a uniquely large sample of public procurement in 11 Central and Eastern European countries. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze the factors that influence public contract. Our results indicate that institutional factors have a greater impact on overpricing than individual decisions by the contracting authority. Our analysis for low-performing EU countries provides interesting results and also draws attention to behavior that is not typical of the better established and more advanced EU countries. Our results are particularly important for public policy in each country, as they show the direction of regulatory action in the field of public procurement. The results introduce a debate on the appropriateness of “one size fits all” regulations within the EU.     

Pitfalls in diagnosis of occupational lung disease for purposes of compensation--one physician's perspective

Occupational caused lung disease (OLD) is almost always compensable, either by application to workers' compensation agencies or by a civil lawsuit. For this reason the diagnosis usually comes under close scrutiny. Several pitfalls can occur when a physician diagnoses a patient as having lung disease of occupational origin, especially when compensation is at issue. These pitfalls can trap both the attorney advocate and his client, and lead to a result opposite of that intended (e.g., the claim one supports can be denied). For purposes of discussion I have categorized the pitfalls as follows: A. Making an unsupported medical diagnosis (looking for a "quick fix"). B. Echoing an unsupported diagnosis made by someone else. C. Inadequate clarification of 'impairment' and 'disability.' D. Ignoring or minimizing relevant medical history. E. Arguing against yourself. F. Ignoring the possibility of a rare or unusual diagnosis. G. Not obtaining or reviewing independent chest x-rays and reports. H. Attributing causation with certainty when it is unwarranted by the facts. I. Relying on a claimant's own smoking history. J. Misinterpreting pulmonary function and arterial blood gas tests. K. Missing the real cause of a patient's complaint. L. Diagnosing occupational lung disease without attempting to remove the patient from the cause. M. Confusion over basic terminology and pathophysiology in OLD. N. Using sloppy or incorrect language, including misspelling. O. Not saying "I don't know," when you don't know. Pitfalls in diagnosis generally arise from either physician bias or inadequate evaluation. Although most pitfalls seem to be made by physicians on the plaintiff's side, they are also made by physicians on the defendant's side, as when bias interferes with recognizing a condition that is occupational in origin. Ideally, the fact that diagnosis of OLD involves the legal profession should not affect a physician's objectivity or clinical approach. Physicians have an obligation to help assure that deserving patients receive compensation, and that claimants without a compensable occupational illness are not unjustly rewarded. However, the attorney's need to prove a diagnosis "with medical certainty," and the defendant's need to refute that diagnosis with equal certainty, often skew what would otherwise be a straightforward diagnostic process. Resulting pitfalls in diagnosis can, in the end, trap the physician advocate and the side he is trying to help.     

Medical examiner response to the drug overdose epidemic in King County Washington: “Real-time” surveillance,data science,and applied forensic epidemiology

As the overdose epidemic overwhelmed medicolegal death investigation offices and toxicology laboratories, the King County Medical Examiner's Office responded with “real-time” fatal overdose surveillance to expedite death certification and information dissemination through assembling a team including a dedicated medicolegal death investigator, an information coordinator, and student interns. In-house testing of blood, urine, and drug evidence from scenes was performed using equipment and supplies purchased for surveillance. Collaboration with state laboratories allowed validation. Applied forensic epidemiology accelerated data dissemination. From 2010 to 2022, the epidemic claimed 5815 lives in King County; the last 4 years accounted for 47% of those deaths. After initiating the surveillance project, in-house testing was performed on blood from 2836 decedents, urine from 2807, and 4238 drug evidence items from 1775 death scenes. Time to complete death certificates decreased from weeks to months to hours to days. Overdose-specific information was distributed weekly to a network of law enforcement and public health agencies. As the surveillance project tracked the epidemic, fentanyl and methamphetamine became dominant and were associated with other indicators of social deterioration. In 2022, fentanyl was involved in 68% of 1021 overdose deaths. Homeless deaths increased sixfold; in 2022, 67% of 311 homeless deaths were due to overdose; fentanyl was involved in 49% and methamphetamine in 44%. Homicides increased 250%; in 2021, methamphetamine was positive in 35% of 149 homicides. The results are relevant to the value of rapid surveillance, its impact on standard operations, selection of cases requiring autopsy, and collaboration with other agencies in overdose prevention.