Current State of (Dis)Integration: Public Health and Fusion Centers

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody Minks ◽  
Anke Richter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Public Health Information

AbstractObjectiveResponding to large-scale public health emergencies relies heavily on planning and collaboration between law enforcement and public health officials. This study examines the current level of information sharing and integration between these domains by measuring the inclusion of public health in the law enforcement functions of fusion centers.MethodsSurvey of all fusion centers, with a 29.9% response rate.ResultsOnly one of the 23 responding fusion centers had true public health inclusion, a decrease from research conducted in 2007. Information sharing is primarily limited to information flowing out of the fusion center, with little public health information coming in. Most of the collaboration is done on a personal, informal, ad-hoc basis. There remains a large misunderstanding of roles, capabilities, and regulations by all parties (fusion centers and public health). The majority of the parties appear to be willing to work together, but there but there is no forward momentum to make these desires a reality. Funding and staffing issues seem to be the limiting factor for integration.ConclusionThese problems need to be urgently addressed to increase public health preparedness and enable a decisive and beneficial response to public health emergencies involving a homeland security response.

Towards A Multi-FPGA Infrared Simulator

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinay Sriram ◽  
David Kearney
Keyword(s):  
Homeland Security ◽  
Reconfigurable Computing ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computation Time ◽  
Ccd Camera ◽  
Hardware Acceleration ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Scene Simulation

High speed infrared (IR) scene simulation is used extensively in defense and homeland security to test sensitivity of IR cameras and accuracy of IR threat detection and tracking algorithms used commonly in IR missile approach warning systems (MAWS). A typical MAWS requires an input scene rate of over 100 scenes/second. Infrared scene simulations typically take 32 minutes to simulate a single IR scene that accounts for effects of atmospheric turbulence, refraction, optical blurring and charge-coupled device (CCD) camera electronic noise on a Pentium 4 (2.8GHz) dual core processor [7]. Thus, in IR scene simulation, the processing power of modern computers is a limiting factor. In this paper we report our research to accelerate IR scene simulation using high performance reconfigurable computing. We constructed a multi Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware acceleration platform and accelerated a key computationally intensive IR algorithm over the hardware acceleration platform. We were successful in reducing the computation time of IR scene simulation by over 36%. This research acts as a unique case study for accelerating large scale defense simulations using a high performance multi-FPGA reconfigurable computer.

Beyond Counterterrorism

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla M. Regan ◽  
Torin Monahan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Homeland Security ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Fusion Center ◽  
Department Of Homeland Security ◽  
Fusion Centers ◽  
Mission Creep ◽  
New Challenges

Decentralized organizational approaches to security provision introduce new challenges for controlling information-sharing practices, safeguarding civil liberties, and ensuring accountability. Department of Homeland Security “fusion centers,” and the multiple organizations and databases that are part of fusion centers, engender an environment in which information is migrating beyond original purposes of counterterrorism. Indeed, based on intensive qualitative research, the authors have found that fusion centers that were originally oriented toward “counterterrorism” have quickly broadened their scope to include all crimes, and those that began as “all crimes” have migrated only marginally to terrorism. This is the result of three quite predictable factors: fusion centers have to be valuable to their states, there is too little activity that is clearly terrorism related, and fusion center personnel have to use their time and skills constructively. Nonetheless, even if local policing needs are met through fusion-center funding and support, many of the activities of fusion-center analysts lend themselves to mission creep and violations of civil liberties.

Punishing Polluters: Trends, Local Practice, and Influences, and Their Implications for Administrative Law Enforcement in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin van Rooij ◽  
Li Na ◽  
Wang Qiliang
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Citizen Complaints ◽  
Resource Capacity ◽  
Over Time

Scholars and politicians often complain about how weak administrative law enforcement is in China. To better understand the challenges in law enforcement, as well as variation in actual practices and influences on such practices, the current paper analyzes Chinese pollution law enforcement data from the last two decades as well as in depth qualitative case studies of everyday enforcement practices. It finds that recently enforcement has become much more frequent and stricter. It finds that recent changes in national legislation, centralization reforms, increased citizen complaints, as well as enforcement campaigns all played a role in this. While this has helped strengthen enforcement, and maybe has played a part in recent pollution reductions, it has not fundamentally overcome structural enforcement impediments. The increased authority, independence, and pressure on environmental authorities for stricter enforcement, does not seem to be matched with sufficient investment in resource capacity and support for regular procedural enforcement practices. In addition, the ad-hoc pressure on enforcement has undermined regular legal procedure and stimulated greater socio-economic inequality. These findings about pollution enforcement force us to question simplistic static generalizations of administrative law enforcement and instead develop both large-scale studies that map change over time as well as in-depth case studies that provide a thorough picture of actual practices on the ground. Moreover, the paper concludes that a true picture of administrative enforcement must move beyond looking at the enforcement itself, to looking at how it arrives at the regulated companies and shapes their compliance.

In Preparation or Response: Examining Health Care Coalitions Amid a Changing Economic and Political Landscape

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 698-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Dornauer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Community Health Centers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Operations Capabilities

ABSTRACTThe Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the US Department of Health and Human Services leads the nation in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies, in part through formal collaborations between hospitals, health systems, community health centers, public health departments, and community organizations via health care coalitions (HCCs). HCCs endeavor to meet the medical surge demands inherent to disasters and to improve health outcomes before, during, and after public health emergencies. Nevertheless, significant changes in health economics and policy can impact the operations, capabilities, and scope of HCCs. Specifically, hospital consolidation and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are altering the national health care landscape, as well as the emergency preparedness sector, and are challenging HCCs to adapt to large-scale, industry-wide transformations. This article examines HCCs in the context of the developments of hospital consolidation and the ACA in order to facilitate future discourse regarding the strategy and policy of HCCs amid a changing economic and political landscape. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:698–703)

A Conceptual Framework for Allocation of Federally Stockpiled Ventilators During Large-Scale Public Health Emergencies

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Zaza ◽  
Lisa M. Koonin ◽  
Adebola Ajao ◽  
Scott V. Nystrom ◽  
Richard Branson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Health Emergencies

Assessing Cross-Sectoral and Cross-Jurisdictional Coordination for Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 36-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Hogan ◽  
Cheryl H. Bullard ◽  
Daniel Stier ◽  
Matthew S. Penn ◽  
Teresa Wall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Private Health Care ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Legal Responses ◽  
Health Threats ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Military

A community's abilities to promote health and maximize its response to public health threats require fulfillment of one of the four elements of public health legal preparedness, the capacity to effectively coordinate law-based efforts across different governmental jurisdictions, as well as across multiple sectors and disciplines. Government jurisdictions can be viewed “vertically” in that response efforts may entail coordination in the application of laws across multiple levels, including local, state, tribal, and federal governments, and even with international organizations. Coordination of legal responses to public health emergencies also may involve a horizontal dimension comprising numerous and diverse sectors, such as public health, public and private health care, emergency management, education, law enforcement, the judiciary, and the military.Although responses to many acute health threats can implicate multiple jurisdictions and sectors, the jurisdictional and sectoral dimensions of legal preparedness are complex and may vary substantially by the nature of a threat, its geographic and geopolitical extent, and the operational response demanded.

Making HIS More Agile, Relevant and Public Health Friendly: Lessons from Covid-19 in India

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundeep Sahay ◽  
Arunima S Mukherjee ◽  
Carolyn K Tauro ◽  
Arijit Sen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Public Health Information

Anthony Giddens, the noted sociologist, describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘digidemic,’ emphasizing the inextricable linkages between the pandemic and the digital. As the pandemic has spread globally, countries have adopted different strategies to leverage digital technologies, in their design, development, implementation, and governance to address the pandemic. Some of these strategies have worked well and others have not so. We submitted this paper at the time when India was fighting the first COVID-19 wave and are submitting this revised version as India fights a much tougher second wave. And between these two waves, we have witnessed some flattening of the COVID-19 curve and the onset of a rigorous vaccination drive. This paper aims to try to analyse some experiences of how countries leveraged digital technologies in their information systems response, such as from Sri Lanka, South Korea and anchored in a historical understanding of public Health Information Systems (HIS) in India, build key learnings for strengthening HIS in India, both for pandemic situations and also routine health management. These include i) improving agility, reflecting the ability of the HIS to provide timely information for supporting local action; ii) improving relevance, implying providing required information for supporting the desired action for different stakeholders; and, iii) public friendliness, implying the HIS should help support population health at large in an equitable manner. We argue that these learnings are not only relevant for strengthening the HIS response to pandemic management but also more broadly for strengthening Indian public HIS covering routine systems. These learnings are particularly pertinent in the current ‘digital’ context in India, where large-scale interventions related to the National Digital Health Mission are currently being planned and implemented. For good or bad, the ‘digital’ is inevitable in public health systems globally, and it becomes important for researchers and practitioners to engage with this process of understanding the digital interventions and contribute to strengthening the health systems.

scholarly journals Law Enforcement Fusion Centers: Cultivating an Information Sharing Environment while Safeguarding Privacy

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy G. Carter ◽  
David L. Carter ◽  
Steve Chermak ◽  
Edmund McGarrell
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Fusion Centers
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