Is Epidemiology the Key to Cumulative Risk Assessment?

Although cumulative risk assessment by definition evaluates the joint effects of chemical and nonchemical stressors, studies to date have not considered both dimensions, in part because toxicological studies cannot capture many stressors of interest. Epidemiology can potentially include all relevant stressors, but developing and extracting the necessary information is challenging given some of the inherent limitations of epidemiology. In this article, I propose a conceptual framework within which epidemiological studies could be evaluated for their inclusion into cumulative risk assessment, including a problem formulation/planning and scoping step that focuses on stressors meaningful for risk management decisions, extension of the chemical mixtures framework to include nonchemical stressors, and formal consideration of vulnerability characteristics of the population. In the long term, broadening the applicability and informativeness of cumulative risk assessment will require enhanced communication and collaboration between epidemiologists and risk assessors, in which the structure of social and environmental epidemiological analyses may be informed in part by the needs of cumulative risk assessment.     

Regulation and Risk in Social Work: The General Social Care Council and the Social Care Register in Context

The 2000 Care Standards Act led to the setting up the GeneralSocial Care Council (GSCC) as the new governing professionalbody for social workers and other social care employees in England.¹The GSCC published national Codes of Practice for social carestaff and their employers in 2002, whilst 1 April 2003 saw theintroduction of the Social Care Register. The stated aim ofthese developments is to protect the public, improve the qualityof care offered by social workers and increase public confidencein the profession. However, such intentions disguise the increasein regulatory control that the GSCC and social care employershave gained over the workforce—intrusions that have metrelatively little criticism. By locating these developmentswithin a broader social context, one in which risk and its managementare at the forefront of contemporary social policy and practice,this paper argues that underlying the debate is a climate offear and distrust in which there is a tendency to view peopleas either vulnerable, dangerous or both. Such a degraded viewof the subjects of social work also pertains to social workersthemselves, who are simultaneously seen as assessors of risk,at risk and as a risk.     

气候变化适应性资金分配机制研究

在新的国际气候变化框架中,获取和分配适应性资金非常重要。在发展中国家,要实现适应资金分配的透明、高效和公平,需要建立科学的评价指标体系。气候变化自然影响、国家的适应能力和执行能力是影响气候变化脆弱性的最主要因素。应按照自然影响和适应能力(表征脆弱性)以及执行力(表征适应性效率)进行分组,建立一系列指标以实现适应性资金分配的透明、高效和公平原则。研究结果表明:自然影响和适应能力共同决定了一个国家的气候变化脆弱性影响,越是脆弱性国家对适应性资金的要求越强烈,如非洲诸国,这些国家需要适应性援助(包括资金、项目等输入);同时,必须提高这些国家的执行能力,才能实现资金使用的有效性。     

国际合作中敏感性和脆弱性的关系和规律探究——以中国—东盟经贸数据为量化分析样本

国际经济相互依赖一直都是国际合作领域的重要研究话题。基欧汉和奈通过敏感性和脆弱性两个概念建构了新自由制度主义理论,将相互依赖理论推向了巅峰。然而,此后的学者较少对国际经济相互依赖关系中的敏感性和脆弱性概念进行研究。事实上,敏感性和脆弱性之间是存在一定联系的,通过引入维持成本和退出成本,能够进一步深化对两个概念的理解,进而探索并归纳两个概念的关系和规律。敏感性和脆弱性将共同影响一国的战略决策,并且最终影响双边经济相互依赖关系的发展,这对分析和深入理解中国与东盟的经济相互依赖关系有一定的帮助,也能为双边关系的未来发展带来一定的启示。     

公共安全管理中的环境脆弱性研究概述

在突发事件的公共安全管理中,不仅需要研究灾害发生前的准备、灾害发生时的应对以及灾后的恢复重建工作,更要关注灾害减除(Mitigation)工作,而减少环境脆弱性则是灾害减除工作的主要内容之一,同时也是减少灾害的发生频率及其造成损失的关键步骤。作为公共安全管理的重要组成部分,环境脆弱性研究不仅要关注人类社会外部环境的脆弱性,更要关注人类社会自身的脆弱性;减小环境的脆弱性是防灾于未然的有效途径,其意义在一定程度上大于公共安全管理周期中的准备、应对和恢复阶段。     

顾客资源管理能力与企业脆弱性关联分析

顾客资源管理,是一种以“顾客为导向”的企业经营管理模式,其核心思想是将顾客作为企业最重要的资源。顾客资源是企业生存和发展的基础,如何有效地进行顾客资源管理是企业能否获得持续性竞争优势的关键。通过文献回顾,文章将顾客资源管理能力划分为七个方面：顾客知识管理能力、顾客赢利分析能力、顾客识别能力、顾客获取能力、顾客挽留能力、顾客定制能力和顾客价值提升能力。通过实证分析,验证了顾客资源管理能力与企业脆弱性的关联性。研究结果表明：顾客资源管理能力各维度变量均对企业脆弱性有显著的负向影响。     

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Adaptation to Environmental Risk: A Case Study of Climate Change and Flooding in Bangladesh

In this article we investigate the complex relationship between environmental risk, poverty, and vulnerability in a case study carried out in one of the poorest and most flood-prone countries in the world, focusing on household and community vulnerability and adaptive coping mechanisms. Based upon the steadily growing amount of literature in this field we develop and test our own analytical model. In a large-scale household survey carried out in southeast Bangladesh, we ask almost 700 floodplain residents living without any flood protection along the River Meghna about their flood risk exposure, flood problems, flood damage, and coping mechanisms. Novel in our study is the explicit testing of the effectiveness of adaptive coping strategies to reduce flood damage costs. We show that, households with lower income and less access to productive natural assets face higher exposure to risk of flooding. Disparity in income and asset distribution at community level furthermore tends to be higher at higher risk exposure levels, implying that individually vulnerable households are also collectively more vulnerable. Regarding the identification of coping mechanisms to deal with flood events, we look at both the ex ante household level preparedness for flood events and the ex post availability of community-level support and disaster relief. We find somewhat paradoxically that the people that face the highest risk of flooding are the least well prepared, both in terms of household-level ex ante preparedness and community-level ex post flood relief.     

Intimate Partner Abuse of Older Men: Considerations for the Assessment of Risk

SUMMARY

Intimate partner abuse among older persons, though less common than among the general population, is a significant concern. Drawing from the intimate partner abuse and elder abuse literatures, this paper presents considerations for the assessment of risk for intimate partner abuse perpetrated against older men, with reference to the prevalent gendered view of abuse between intimate partners. Potential victim and perpetrator risk factors specific to this context are discussed and existing risk assessment tools are introduced. Implications and future research directions are discussed with regard to the application of risk assessment technology to this context.     

Constructions of ‘vulnerability’ in comparative perspective: Scottish protection policies and the trouble with ‘adults at risk’

This paper places Scottish adult support and protection (ASP) policy in the context of debates about the nature of ‘vulnerability’ and its usefulness as a defining concept in law and social policy. It examines the construction of ‘adults at risk’ in ASP policy, using a comparison with the construction of children in Scottish child protection policy, on the one hand, and women in Scottish domestic abuse policy, on the other, to illuminate the nature of the vulnerability that ASP considers itself to be addressing. It then problematises this construction, drawing both on the social model of disability and on an ethic of care. It concludes that current ASP policy remains underpinned by unhelpful assumptions about disabled people, older people and people with mental or physical health problems. A more inclusive understanding of vulnerability would be more empowering to these people and others, in policies concerned with mistreatment and abuse.