Crisis Mode Research Articles

Not anxious enough: The discursive articulation of ontological security in the European Parliament

Abstract This paper makes the case for a discursive understanding of ontological security and demonstrates the utility of such an approach in an analysis of European Parliament (EP) debates between 1990 and 2020. We argue that articulations of ontological (in)security operate through the (re)inscription of a set of metanarratives in what we call ‘discursive nodal points’. Building on an extensive analysis of EP debates over 30 years, we demonstrate that in contrast to the prevailing view of the European Union (EU) as an ‘anxious community’, at least on the political level, EU actors remain surprisingly confident in the European project. While they do invoke challenges to the EU, they see these as incentives to strengthen the integration project and often consider operating in crisis mode as an essential EU characteristic. In doing so, they draw on modernist metanarratives of progress, control, and power to construct an ontologically secure EU. We argue that the future ontological security of the EU will partly depend on allowing for more ambiguity in this modernist narrative without accepting a nationalist counter-narrative that undermines the idea of European integration.

Crisis, temporality and governmental policy agendas: The cases of Finland and Sweden

AbstractCrises transform the temporal orientation of political decision‐making. They demand immediate and decisive action and thus convert time into a means of political control. In these circumstances, assessing the long‐term consequences of proposed policies with respect to welfare, sustainability or justice also becomes demanding. Yet crisis conditions may also contain of elements that can enable positive postcrisis societal changes. Crises can offer opportunities for new developmental measures and building a better future—something political leaders may capitalise on in their agenda‐setting. By analysing the programmes of the post‐2014 Finnish and Swedish governments, this paper seeks to make sense of how the current crisis mode has shaped these countries' politics in terms of their temporal horizons. The analysis focuses on three main perspectives or forms of articulation—innovative stabilisation, long‐termism and synchronisation—by way of which these governments seek to navigate through crises‐afflicted times and offer a desirable future direction for their respective societies. The analysis offers important insights into the (unused) potential of crises to achieve something substantially novel in the Nordic and European political landscape, ultimately advancing the conditions for a future‐regarding democratic system.

COVID time: Temporal imaginaries and pandemic materialities.

Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, several ways of understanding time have emerged: what we may call 'COVID time'. Based on 40 qualitative online interviews in 2022 with Australians living across the continent, this article examines how people situated themselves and COVID-19 in historical time. It further explores how material aspects, place and space (or "pandemic materialities") factored into lived experiences and temporal imaginaries. We focus on how time-related concepts such as synchronisation and the definition of crises and events are interrelated in the participants' understandings of COVID as either over or a continuing crisis. The sociomaterial dimensions that served to alert people to risk and encourage them to engage in preventive action are identified as ways in which COVID time was experienced, remembered, understood and imagined. While some respondents claimed that the present moment was 'post-COVID', for others, the pandemic was far from over in 2022 and indeed stretched into the future. We use a sociomaterial lens to show how respondents portray the 'temporal technologies' and 'objectifications' of the event of COVID-19-the tangible materialisations of its temporal status as either relegated to the past or continuing as a mode of present and future crisis.

Кризис теории и практики правозащитного действия

This article explores problem of the liberal rights and freedoms conceptualization and crisis of the human rights institutions legitimacy, the prospects for theory and practice of the modern defense of human rights. The author believes the human rights institutions to be currently in crisis mode because of their inability to overcome their dependence on the liberal doctrine of rights and freedoms being innate. This doctrine was imposed on the society as the only valid ideology that does not need any scientific verification or ethical mediation and basically is a quasi-religious phenomenon. Today the defense of human rights is the enforcement authority and a political subsystem, as it legitimates and delegitimates political subjects. The human rights institutions can retain their role in society by overcoming their dependence on liberal and other ideologies, abandoning the obsolete enlightenment concept of innate rights and acknowledging the priority of morality in the society.

Resilience of rural micro-businesses in an adverse entrepreneurial environment: adapting to the energy crisis

PurposeThis study aims to examine the potential adaptability and resilience of rural micro-businesses within a business environment affected by successive crises, specifically drawing conclusions on crisis management, while simultaneously highlighting enterprises’ capabilities in managing the current energy crisis, basis the experiences and best practices that they themselves have gained previously.Design/methodology/approachConvenience sampling was applied, effectively identifying 18 micro-entrepreneurs in rural Greece. Subsequently, qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured in-depth interviews.FindingsRural micro-businesses have shown adaptability and resilience to both economic and health crises through financial support received and interventions implemented. However, different crises’ types carry different business risks. The energy crisis has led to business operation’s energy costs and raw material prices multiplying exponentially. Additionally, they received limited financial support causing them to respond to the energy crisis though concrete defensive strategies and innovative interventions.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should examine local bodies and trade unions’ perception on the energy crisis’ impact towards rural entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsThe findings are useful to Greek and European policy-makers and rural micro-entrepreneurs as the experience of dealing with several previous crises can be a useful tool when dealing with current and future crises.Originality/valueThis paper adds to international literature on rural micro-businesses resilience, operating in crisis mode. Additionally, it constitutes novel research exclusively focused on the new challenges faced by rural micro-businesses during the recent energy crisis.

Change Point Detection with Adaptive Measurement Schedules for Network Performance Verification

When verifying that a communications network fulfills its specified performance, it is critical to note sudden shifts in network behavior as quickly as possible. Change point detection methods can be useful in this endeavor, but classical methods rely on measuring with a fixed measurement period, which can often be suboptimal in terms of measurement costs. In this paper, we extend the existing framework of change point detection with a notion of physical time. Instead of merely deciding when to stop, agents must now also decide at which future time to take the next measurement. Agents must now minimize the necessary number of measurements pre- and post-change, while maintaining a trade-off between post-change delay and false alarm rate. We establish, through this framework, the suboptimality of typical periodic measurements and propose a simple alternative, called crisis mode agents. We show analytically that crisis mode agents significantly outperform periodic measurements schemes. We further verify this in numerical evaluation, both on an array of synthetic change point detection problems as well as on the problem of detecting traffic load changes in a 5G test bed through end-to-end RTT measurements.

Understanding past rules of the art in columna-capreoli wood trusses

A transversely isotropic structural model for wood, based on a polytope strength criterion, is proposed and deployed in the analysis of solid wood columna-capreoli A-trusses reproducing the geometry and connection details of those currently erected in the Aula Magna of the Monastery San Lorenzo ad Septimum in Aversa. The predictivity of the polytope strength criterion is assessed verifying its capability of identifying the closest crisis mode against experimental evidence from a simple flexural test, with minimal wood sacrifice. The model is employed in parametric optimization analyses to infer a design provision for the columna-capreoli connection which appears to be in reasonable agreement with the rule of the art empirically inferable from the observation of many samples of open-node King Post A-trusses belonging to the architectural heritage in Campania of historical and artistic value. A final discussion examines a perspective of extending these optimization analyses to the sustainability of the built environment.

Legitimising green monetary policies: market liberalism, layered central banking, and the ECB’s ongoing discursive shift from environmental risks to price stability

ABSTRACT Through the analysis of ECB Executive Board member speeches, we have identified three main narratives about the consequences of the environmental crisis in the monetary authority's spheres of influence: The first emphasises environmental phenomena as financial risks; the second highlights the green investment or financing gap; and the third focuses on the impacts of climate change on price stability. These narratives lead to different forms of legitimisation in terms of why and how the central bank should intervene to tackle climate change. We show that the third narrative is displacing the first as the dominant discourse around ECB climate policy. The shift in focus from the central bank's duties to maintain financial stability to its responsibilities regarding price stability under the primary mandate could lead to far-reaching green monetary policies. However, based on the concept of layered structures, we argue that this change does not signal a departure from market liberal central banking but rather a shift within the prevailing system. What we are witnessing is a new form of market liberalism adapted to climate change, or market liberalism in climate crisis mode.

Assessment of Patient Safety Culture in Midwives

Although there may be different definitions in national and international literature, patient safety, in general terms, encompasses all the precautions taken by healthcare professionals in healthcare institutions to prevent harm to individuals as a result of care delivery. It is an indispensable component of quality healthcare services. Patient safety, crucial in all healthcare services, becomes even more significant during the pivotal period of pregnancy, which is a physiological process but also involves a delicate balance between health and illness. Therefore, it is expected that midwives working in the delivery room, in particular, handle patient safety with utmost care. In recent years, with the increase in studies related to the culture of patient safety, the quality, satisfaction, and safety of care provided by midwives have also become subjects of investigation. This thesis aims to assess the levels of patient safety culture perception among midwives working in the delivery room, as well as to evaluate their opinions regarding patient safety and identify the behaviors influencing these opinions. The population of the study consists of midwives working in the delivery rooms of Muş and Bitlis provinces. The sample selection was not applied; all midwives who wished to participate in the study were included. Data analysis was conducted using the computer-assisted SPSS 22.0 software package. Percentage distributions were used in statistical evaluation, and for group comparisons, the significance was determined by the "Chi-square (X2) test" for categorical variables, the "t-test" for comparing means between two groups, and the "one-way ANOVA test" for evaluating the significance of differences among more than two group means. The level of statistical significance was accepted as p< 0.05 for all tests. Midwives' perceptions of patient safety culture were rated as moderate with 57%, and their patient safety ratings were determined to be "very good" with 44.4%. Within the scope of the hospital survey, among the 12 sub-areas of patient safety culture, "teamwork within units" had the highest positive response rate at 79.7%, while "non-punitive response to error" stood out with the lowest positive response percentage at 27.4%. The highest percentage of positive responses in the hospital survey regarding patient safety culture was determined to belong to the statement 'We work together as a team when there is a lot of work that needs to be done urgently, with 85.6%. The lowest percentage of positive responses was for the statement 'We work in crisis mode when there is a lot of work to be done and it needs to be done very quickly,' which was 12.2%." In the conducted comparisons, a significant relationship was found between midwives' working province, age groups, marital status, duration of employment in the institution, duration of work in the unit, professional experience, weekly working hours, and employment status parameters with the percentages of positive responses given to the sub-areas of the hospital survey on patient safety culture. When evaluating patient safety practices in the delivery room, factors affecting working conditions, adequacy of staff numbers, and patient safety should also be taken into consideration. In order for patient safety practices to be carried out comprehensively, regular training, involvement of midwives in the process, and active participation are required.

Hospital MCI Response Plan Analysis in a Low Resource Country After a Mass Casualty Incident: The Beirut Blast

Abstract Objective Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) come unannounced, mandating the immediate shift from the daily routine to crisis mode through the implementation of an MCI response plan (plan). On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion devastated the Lebanese capital, Beirut, causing 8643 injuries and 200 deaths.1 The private Lebanese American University Medical Center in Beirut has an an estimated 10,000 emergency department (ED) visits per year. The purpose of this study is to analyse the plan of this private hospital in a low resource country in response to a blast MCI. Methods A retrospective analysis of the expected outcome of the pre-existing plan was performed. Results Major flaws were noted. Triage was impossible using the START method and will be done outside the ED dividing patients into walking and non-walking. Identification and registration of patients was impossible. Patients will be assigned a number and be registered later. Colored jackets were created to recognize response team members for better organization.t Radiologic imaging will be ordered only when they change the patients’ disposition. Conclusion This analysis showed failure of the plan at different levels and adjustments were made to advance the plan. Periodic exercises and annual review are needed for continuous improvement.

Role of Information Systems in Effective Management of Human Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Employees and employers were thrown into uncertainty and chaos during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, where they had no clear idea of exactly what they should do. Human resource managers operated in crisis mode since the beginning of the pandemic, that is, from 2020 to the first half of 2021. In this period, human resource managers sorted out the possibilities and probabilities on how employees could work from home and formulated strategies for providing them with extra mental and physical care, and they worked harder than ever on corporate-level initiatives to maintain the operations of their companies. The function of Human Resource (HR) has fundamentally changed as businesses have adapted to a new normal and the dust continues to settle. Throughout the pandemic, non-clinical organizations faced uncertain challenges, strategies, and had to make unique decisions regarding human resource management. There have been a variety of detrimental consequences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including economic shocks, global health crisis, changes in social behaviors, and challenges for businesses in sustaining their operations. The role of information systems in the management of human resources during the COVID-19 pandemic has been studied in this research. After gathering 400 records from credible publications, duplicates were removed, inclusion and exclusion criteria were used, and 130 papers were finally included in this research. By analyzing the selected papers, it was found in this study that organizations need to be flexible, improve their internal efficiency, acquire talent, and implement innovative changes based on organizational needs in order to ensure smooth business operations. It is possible to improve employees’ mental health, satisfaction, productivity, motivation, and workplace health and safety by implementing appropriate human resource management strategies and innovative information systems and IT tools. A conceptual model that establishes relationships between variables is also presented as an outcome of this research.

Forced Migration in the Asia Pacific Region: A History of Predictable Crises

Summary The focus of this article is on how forced migration is regulated in the Asia Pacific region. While each new case of mass migration is widely characterised as an unprecedented crisis, history shows that much about these ‘crises’ was perfectly predictable. Resort to what Charlesworth identifies as ‘crisis mode’ short-circuits historical perspectives and obscures structural injustice. If we step back from the language of crisis, we can turn our focus to what the legal and institutional contexts in which forced migration occurs and that make it such a devastating experience.

Perspectives on Assessing the Flexibility of Hospitals for Crisis Mode Operations: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Netherlands.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed healthcare design at the heart of the crisis. Hospitals faced challenges such as rapidly increasing their intensive care unit capacity, enabling physical distancing measures, quickly converting to telehealth and telework practices, and above all, keeping patients and staff safe. Improving flexibility in hospital facility design and adaptability of hospital operations to function in "crisis mode" can be seen as ways of future-proofing for pandemics. In a design brief, flexibility is typically mentioned as an important target. Meanwhile, robustness of technical infrastructure is called for, and standardization at unit level with single-occupancy inpatient accommodation may be considered a way to enhance flexibility and adaptability in dealing with a surge in infectious patients. To future-proof facility design with pandemic preparedness and resilience in mind, this study evaluated what kinds of interventions were taken in Dutch hospital facilities and what perspectives need to be considered when hospitals operate in crisis mode. We have collected data from facility and estate professionals from 30 Dutch hospitals. Using a practice-based approach, in-depth interviewing helped uncover and compare successful operational strategies and design elements that provided the flexibility needed in the early stages of the recent crisis. As we looked at existing facilities and alterations made to allow hospitals to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, we discovered that staff availability and adaptability were deemed crucial. We add the perspective of staff as an essential factor to be considered when future-proofing hospital facility desigr crisis mode operation.

Challenges and recommendations for advancing respite care for families of children and youth with special health care needs: A qualitative exploration.

Caring for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) is a significant undertaking for families. While respite care is intended to address this burden, demand continues to exceed supply. Exploring the perspectives of respite service providers (SPs) and stakeholders (SKs) provides unique insight into families' needs and respite care systems. We conducted semistructured interviews with 41 respite care SPs and SKs across four Canadian provinces to ascertain perspectives on current and ideal respite care for families of CYSHCN. The analysis included delineating units of meaning from the data, clustering units of meaning to form thematic statements and extracting themes. The second-level analysis involved applying themes and subthemes to cross-functional process maps. Participants noted the critical, but sometimes absent role of Community Service Workers, who have the ability to support families accessing and navigating respite care systems. SPs and SKs identified current respite systems as operating in crisis mode. New findings suggest an ideal respite care system would incorporate advocacy for families, empower families and value CYSHCN, their families and respite workers. The evidence of unmet respite care needs of families of CYSHCN across Canada has long been available. Our findings identifying respite system challenges and solutions can be used by funders and policymakers for planning and enhancing resources, and by healthcare professionals, respite care providers and SKs to understand barriers and take action to improve respite outcomes to meet the respite needs of all families and CYSHCN. The research team is composed of patients, researchers, clinicians and decision-makers along with our Family Advisory Committee (FAC) composed of members of families of CYSHNC. The FAC was formed and met regularly with research team members, knowledge users and collaborators throughout the study to provide input on design, review themes and ensure findings are translated and disseminated in a meaningful way.

Ready, set, crisis – transitioning to crisis mode in local public administration

ABSTRACT Local public administrations are typically the first responders during disruptive crisis events. Building on literature on fast-response organizations, this study theorizes on their ability to transition effectively from routine bureaucracy to crisis mode. Empirically, we study early responses to COVID-19 in Germany with agency-level survey data. The findings suggest that an effective switch between practices cannot be explained by crisis severity alone. Instead, organizational, technical, and individual preparedness of local administrations matter. These results provide insights into the conditions that enable administrations to respond effectively to crisis events, offering a comprehensive understanding of crisis management capabilities at the local level.

Of House and Home: The meanings of housing for women engaged in criminalised street-based sex work

Despite emerging as a core concern for street-based sex workers participating in prostitution diversion programmes (PDPs), housing has received limited empirical attention. In this article, we explore the meanings of housing in the context of court-affiliated PDPs in the US cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia based on interviews and focus groups with 31 PDP participants and 32 criminal legal system professionals. Three themes emerged: (a) housing precarity and crisis mode, (b) housing as a foundation, and (c) housing as an idea(l). PDPs prioritise therapeutic interventions targeting individual behaviours and attitudes over meeting basic needs, often placing programme participants in substandard housing and removing them from existing networks of support. Such prioritisation, which often conflicts with participants’ expressed preferences, does not always leave them better off in the short or long term. PDPs’ neglect of the quality, type, and meaning of housing reveals and reinforces a fundamental disregard for people in street-based sex trade as multifaceted, agentic human beings. We conclude that programmes must prioritise home as a ‘comfort zone’ that must be afforded to all people.

Singapore in 2022

As in 2021, Singapore in 2022 remained largely in crisis mode despite resolving the keystone issue of political succession, with a prime-minister-in-waiting clearly in place. Still, COVID-19, together with the continued US–China economic and political conflicts, the negative fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the anticipation of a possible recession in 2023, continued to cast dark clouds over Singapore and its politico-economic future. These developments were somewhat counterbalanced by positive developments in regional diplomacy, which acted as possible shock absorbers of negative fallout from outside the region. Still, Singapore appears to be at a crossroads, with political changes at home being challenged by external developments, and with the shape of things to come in Singapore remaining largely unknown.

Case Study: Impact of Regulatory Restrictions and Tax Policy on Breakeven Analysis and Risk Management

The objective of this case study is to enable students to analyze the financial impact of an unexpected catastrophic event on a retail business and how the strategic operational decisions made in response to regulatory restrictions and changes in tax policy impact the business’s risk tolerance and breakeven analysis. To provide students with a context for comparison, this case study provides students with the opportunity to analyze the financial statements of a retail business prior to the occurrence of an unexpected catastrophic event, how the catastrophic event impacted revenue and profitability, and how the risk reduction strategies the business employed contained the adverse impact of the factors brought on by that catastrophic event on breakeven. This case study addresses a core gap in the body of knowledge by analyzing a business in three distinct stages of the business life cycle: (1) in the start-up phase; (2) in pre-crisis operations mode; and (3) in crisis mode confronted with an unexpected catastrophic event amidst governmental shutdowns, state and federal regulatory restrictions, and emergency changes to the tax policy. Examining a fictitious restaurant (a composite of the sales statistics of three actual restaurants located in Long Island, New York from 2019 to 2021) in operation for one year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, students are given the opportunity to think critically about how strategic operational decisions made to generate sales, to minimize risk, to comply with mandated state government policy, and to take advantage of federal tax relief policy, collectively changed the financial projections and impacted the breakeven analysis of that business. Students are able to evaluate business start-up costs, first year (pre-pandemic) sales and costs, and second year (during pandemic) sales and costs of a retail business. Students then evaluate how the United States’ federal PPP relief loan program, along with other pandemic relief programs for businesses and individuals, impacted profitability and business strategy. Students also assess risk, risk tolerance, and how the strategies employed to minimize risk impact a business. The motivation for this case study is to provide students with an illustrative example of an entity at various stages of the business life cycle, to explore the surrounding context of the impact of external environmental events, and to identify the effects of strategic operational responses to the various regulatory changes that were brought on by a catastrophic event. This case study is designed for use in courses that study revenue projection, tax, internal controls, breakeven analysis, and risk management. Teaching Note: While this case study uses a restaurant as a model, prior understanding of the restaurant industry is not necessary. Any student or instructor can use their practical knowledge and experience as a consumer to adequately analyze the issues presented.

Project Management in Digital Forensic Investigations

Digital forensic investigations often occur in crisis mode or with little advanced notice. Digital forensic examiner background and expertise can vary widely, and all too often forensic training is specific to a particular tool set. These factors can limit the ability to manage digital forensic projects. Project management has been used in the Information Technology field for decades, and many of the benefits of this type of structured approach can lead to stronger and more consistent investigation outcomes. This article proposes utilizing project management principles such as developing a project plan with time estimates and dependencies, risk management, and a post case review to improve digital forensic case management. The combination of project management and utilizing best practices in an investigation execution strategy for digital forensic investigations can lead to improved outcomes.

2023 and the Battle Between Inflation and the Clean Energy Transition

As we enter 2023 amidst a continual energy and inflation crisis mode, along with major initiatives to reduce the use of carbon‐based fuels, it is worth examining the relationship between environmental activism and inflation—both in oil and natural gas prices and in the prices for other goods dependent on oil and natural gas. I have been devoted to various environmental goals for most of my life, with the impact of carbon on climate change having been important since 1970. It was an underlying reason for my deciding to enter the natural gas industry, as the carbon content of coal and oil was already clearly problematic.