Texas 9-1-1: Emergency telecommunications and the genesis of surveillance infrastructure

Infrastructures of surveillance—everyday, taken-for-granted, institutionalized and technically mediated practices which identify, observe, and analyze individual actions—permeate society. These infrastructures mediate the production of social knowledge and action toward individuals. This article examines the genesis of one such infrastructure, namely the coordinated practices of identifying and locating mobile phone users during emergency (9-1-1) calls. Implementing this infrastructure has entailed creating and coordinating systems to locate wireless phones, to deliver the emergency calls to the appropriate service agency, and to deliver appropriate services to the emergency event. This implementation has occurred within historically specific regulatory, political, cultural, technological, and economic contexts and has specific implications for general surveillance practice. Focusing primarily on the state of Texas, this article examines the development of systems which store and deliver individuals’ geographic location. It argues that, despite privacy laws tightly restricting the use of information generated in the 9-1-1 process, and despite the special purpose to which the 9-1-1 system is dedicated, the wireless 9-1-1 initiative has created the infrastructure for a general purpose locational surveillance infrastructure capable both of surveilling broad patterns of activities and of responding to particular individuals. Moreover, the infrastructure is more available to police agencies and to well-established and well-funded corporate entities than to grass roots organizations. This trend is driven by the need to coordinate a national emergency response system within a fractured telecommunication industry, by the desire of marketers to understand and address their customers’ habits of mobility, and by an increasing willingness of police agencies to include widespread surveillance under the rubric of “emergency services.” Policy responses such as greater ability to opt out of the surveillance system, public oversight of emergency operations, and greater public access to the infrastructure itself might mitigate the most harmful potential social effects of this infrastructure, while distributing its benefits in a more democratic and egalitarian way.     

Minimising emergency response time of ambulances through pre-positioning in Dhaka city,Bangladesh

This study conducted a large-scale survey in Dhaka, Bangladesh; the survey involved 95 major hospitals, more than 3000 emergency room patients, and 2 of the largest ambulance operators. Currently, most ambulances are parked within the vicinity of hospitals and are either dispatched or fetched by the acquaintances of the patient on demand, resulting in lengthy round trips. Reducing the response time of ambulances would certainly improve the emergency service, and pre-positioning of the ambulances could be a solution to reducing the response time. This study used two approaches to address the problem. First, the location-allocation problem was solved to find the optimal number of ambulance locations by maximising the demand coverage. Second, separate location-allocation for the peak and off-peaks, using K-means clustering, was applied to systematically optimise the ambulance positioning in small clusters near demand points. These approaches could substantially improve the existing emergency response time. Distributing ambulances near demand points yielded greater improvements in response time than when the ambulances are stationed near hospitals.     

Resilience and Justice

The term resilience has become the popular formulation for plans that deal with preparedness for disaster. It implies adaptation rather than returning to a pre‐crisis state. Its use has been extended from environmental events to social and economic crises. Its fault is that it obfuscates underlying conflict and the distribution of benefits resulting from policy choices. Development of resilience policies is cloaked in complicated models showing complexity and indeterminacy. Marxist analysis provides insights that cut through the failure of these models to assign agency, but it does not offer approaches short of revolution to assist present‐day planning. The conclusion of the essay presents strategies that can lead to greater justice in planning to cope with the impacts of devastating events.     

A model for planning locations of temporary distribution facilities for emergency response

We propose a network flow model for dynamic selection of temporary distribution facilities and allocation of resources for emergency response planning. The model analyzes the transfer of excess resources between temporary facilities operating in different time periods in order to reduce deprivation. Numerical analysis shows that the location of temporary facilities is determined by the demand and supply points. This work contributes to the emergency response planning that requires a quick response for the supply of relief materials immediately after a disaster hits a particular area.     

流行病应急响应的国际合作——联合国领导下的禽流感防疫机制透析

随着跨国公共卫生安全在全球治理中分量日益加重,流行病应急响应（Epidemic preparedness and response）的国际合作逐步被提上了全球日程。2005年,人感染高致病性禽流感在全球范围内的大规模传播,国际社会尤其是联合国领导下的相关组织如何构建防疫机制来应对这一形势成为焦点。经过多年的努力,联合国领导下的禽流感防疫机制日臻完善,该机制主要包括核心领导机构、法理基础、重要应急措施以及相关国际行为体参与4个方面。同时,该机制的有效性与局限性并存,值得引起人们的注意。     

Stochastic optimization for investment in facilities in emergency prevention

A coordinated approach is developed to integrate three preventive measures (i.e. building reinforcement, reinforcement of road networks, and facility location of relief supplies), with the objectives of minimizing budgets and risk-induced penalties. The Conditional Value-at-Risk is employed as a decision-making tool to evaluate diverse decisions of prevention based on the degree of risk aversion. Based on a real-world case of an earthquake, a series of scenarios were designed, and the applicability of the proposed model was studied. The coordinated approach for investing preventive measures is cost-efficient in helping reduce the impact of disaster on society.     

重大突发公共卫生事件科技研发应急体系运行机制研究

在突发事件应急管理过程中,科技研发支撑作用十分关键,亟需建立突发公共卫生事件科研应急体系长效运行机制。基于科技研发应急体系的复杂性、适应性特征,从主体属性和体系架构两个层面入手,分析重大突发公共卫生事件科技研发应急体系的复杂适应系统特征,运用复杂适应系统理论模型和动态闭环螺旋模型,研究重大突发公共卫生事件科技研发应急体系运行机制。研究发现,重大突发公共卫生事件背景下,科技研发应急体系具有复杂适应系统的7个基本特征,是典型的复杂适应系统;科技研发应急体系中,科研攻关专家组、诊疗医院、科技部门等科研主体具有各自内部模型,并通过6大标识进行聚集;科技研发应急体系存在事件—需求引导、主体协同、资源交互、成果转化机制。同时,新冠病毒肺炎疫情应对实践表明,疫情防控救治进程中科技研发应急体系存在并遵循上述运行机制。     

数字化赋能视角下突发公共事件应急管理系统研究——以新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情为例

基于应对新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情治理的实践背景,以数字化赋能理论为分析视角,从结构赋能、资源赋能和心理赋能3个层面提出数字化赋能应急管理的内在机制。在此基础上,结合“共同治理”和“元治理”理念,对数字化赋能情境下突发公共事件合作治理系统目标、构成主体和运作机制进行探索性研究。结合案例探讨公民参与、数字化赋能如何进一步提升国家治理能力,对我国新时期应急治理体系完善和治理能力现代化建设具有一定启示意义。     

发达国家应急管理特点研究

发达国家基本上都是依据法律建立立体化、网络化的综合减灾、应急管理体系,从上到下常设专职机构,由相关专业人员组成抢险救援队伍,军事化或准军事化管理,建立严格而高效的政府信息发布系统,明确政府相关职能和部门合作事项,有超前的灾害研究和事故预防机制,普遍重视灾害意识培养和全社会的应急培训,有充足的应急准备和可靠的信息网络保障.对我们国家应急管理体系建设很有借鉴和启示作用.     

城市灾害应急预案基本要素探讨

目前,城市灾害管理正在逐渐受到各级政府的重视,为了有效地减轻城市灾害的损失,一些大中城市开始制定灾害应急预案.然而,在应该制定什么样的城市应急预案才能真正在救灾抢险中发挥最大作用等方面仍缺少必要的论证和探讨.文章从政府灾害应急救灾的基本程序入手,对城市灾害应急预案的基本要素进行了探讨,提出了城市灾害预测评价和防灾规划是制定城市灾害应急预案的基础,而灾害应急指挥系统、灾害情报体系、救灾抢险体系、应急医疗体系、应急避难体系和交通管理体系六大主要因素构成了城市灾害应急预案的基本要素.