Estimation of radiation-induced health hazards from a “dirty bomb” attack with radiocesium under different assault and rescue conditions

In the case of a terrorist attack by a “dirty bomb”, blast injuries, external irradiation and the incorporation of radioactivity are to be expected. Departing from information about the radiological attack scenario with cesium-137 in the U.S. National Scenario Planning Guide, we estimated the radiological doses absorbed. Similar calculations were performed for a smaller plume size and a detonation in a subway. For conditions as described in the U.S. scenario, the committed effective dose amounted to a maximum of 848 mSv, even for very unfavorable conditions. Red bone marrow equivalent doses are insufficient to induce acute radiation sickness (ARS). In the case of a smaller plume size, the ARS threshold may be exceeded in some cases. In a subway bombing, doses are much higher and the occurrence of ARS should be expected. The health hazards from a dirty bomb attack will depend on the location and the explosive device. The derived Haddon matrix indicates that preparing for such an event includes education of all the medical staff about radiation effects, the time lines of radiation damages and the treatment priorities. Further determinants of the outcome include rapid evacuation even from difficult locations, the availability of a specific triage tool to rapidly identify victims at risk for ARS, the availability of an antidote stockpile and dedicated hospital beds to treat seriously irradiated victims.

“You Don’t Know Who This Man Is”: Hospitality and Trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear

This paper explores the themes of hospitality and trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear (2015) by focusing on the modes of encounter with the Other in the play. As Lucy, a woman in her twenties, tries to come to terms with the death of her mother as a result of an unspecified bomb attack, she finds out that her estranged brother, Jason, killed himself. In the meantime, however, a man who claims to be her brother keeps turning up at her door, and through these encounters we can trace the possibilities and limits of hospitality. By referring to the theories of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Sara Ahmed on home and hospitality, this paper argues that in The Human Ear, the redefinition of the relationship with the Other is represented as a means to come to terms with trauma as Lucy’s process of welcoming the stranger is connected to her process of healing from trauma.

Psychosocial work factors and sick leave risk after a terrorist bomb attack: a survey and registry-based longitudinal study of governmental employees in Norway

ObjectivesStudies show that social support may reduce the negative psychological effects of terror. The aim was to explore the effects of the psychosocial work environment on sick leave risk among governmental employees after a workplace bomb attack.DesignWe linked longitudinal survey data collected at 10 and 22 months after the bombing with registry data on doctor-certified sick leave collected from 42 months before the attack to 33 months after the attack. ORs and rate ratios were estimated with mixed effects hurdle models.SettingThe bombing of the government ministries in Oslo, Norway, 22 July 2011.ParticipantsWe identified 1625 participants from a cohort of 3520 employees working in the ministries during the bombing in 2011.ResultsAfter adjustment for confounders, social support from coworkers reduced the odds of sick leave (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.93), and there was marginal evidence for reduced odds with support from superior (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.03). A social work climate, an innovative climate and a human resource primacy climate (HRP) reduced the sick leave risk (eg, HRP OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.90). The hurdle model found no associations between psychosocial support at work and the duration of sick leave.ConclusionsPsychosocial support at work can enhance employees’ work ability after terror and reduce the sick leave risk by more than 20%. However, a supportive psychosocial work environment did not reduce the duration of sickness absence. The protective role of psychosocial work factors on sick leave may be most significant when employees are at work and interact with their work environment.

Suicide Bomb Attack Identification and Analytics through Data Mining Techniques

Suicide bomb attacks are a high priority concern nowadays for every country in the world. They are a massively destructive criminal activity known as terrorism where one explodes a bomb attached to himself or herself, usually in a public place, taking the lives of many. Terrorist activity in different regions of the world depends and varies according to geopolitical situations and significant regional factors. There has been no significant work performed previously by utilizing the Pakistani suicide attack dataset and no data mining-based solutions have been given related to suicide attacks. This paper aims to contribute to the counterterrorism initiative for the safety of this world against suicide bomb attacks by extracting hidden patterns from suicidal bombing attack data. In order to analyze the psychology of suicide bombers and find a correlation between suicide attacks and the prediction of the next possible venue for terrorist activities, visualization analysis is performed and data mining techniques of classification, clustering and association rule mining are incorporated. For classification, Naïve Bayes, ID3 and J48 algorithms are applied on distinctive selected attributes. The results exhibited by classification show high accuracy against all three algorithms applied, i.e., 73.2%, 73.8% and 75.4%. We adapt the K-means algorithm to perform clustering and, consequently, the risk of blast intensity is identified in a particular location. Frequent patterns are also obtained through the Apriori algorithm for the association rule to extract the factors involved in suicide attacks.

Characteristics of Homemade Explosive Materials and the Possibilities of their Identification

One of the greatest challenges for explosive ordnance disposal operators is the disarming process of an improvised explosive device. These dangerous devices are often made from homemade explosive. Committing a bomb attack in urban areas is a basic weapon of terrorists, which may claim civilians’ lives. The main aim of experts is to avoid any lethal attack and to stop terrorists who endanger our life. Identifying homemade explosives may also help during the fight against terrorism since information may be provided this way, which is essential for professionals who work in the areas of operations. Usage of high-tech equipment provides stable and reliable background in the field of explosives’ analysis.

Preparing for a “dirty bomb” attack: the optimum mix of medical countermeasure resources

Background In radiological emergencies with radionuclide incorporation, decorporation treatment is particularly effective if started early. Treating all people potentially contaminated (“urgent treatment”) may require large antidote stockpiles. An efficacious way to reduce antidote requirements is by using radioactivity screening equipment. We analyzed the suitability of such equipment for triage purposes and determined the most efficient mix of screening units and antidote daily doses. Methods The committed effective doses corresponding to activities within the detection limits of monitoring portals and mobile whole-body counters were used to assess their usefulness as triage tools. To determine the optimal resource mix, we departed from a large-scale scenario (60,000 victims) and based on purchase prices of antidotes and screening equipment in Germany, we calculated efficiencies of different combinations of medical countermeasure resources by data envelopment analysis. Cost-effectiveness was expressed as the costs per life year saved and compared to risk reduction opportunities in other sectors of society as well as the values of a statistical life. Results Monitoring portals are adequate instruments for a sensitive triage after cesium-137 exposure with a high screening throughput. For the detection of americium-241 whole-body counters with a lower daily screening capacity per unit are needed. Assuming that 1% of the potentially contaminated patients actually need decorporation treatment, an efficient resource mix includes 6 monitoring portals and 25 mobile whole-body counters. The optimum mix depends on price discounts and in particular the fraction of victims actually needing treatment. The cost-effectiveness of preparedness for a “dirty bomb” attack is less than for common health care, but costs for a life year saved are less than for many risk-reduction interventions in the environmental sector. Conclusion To achieve economic efficiency a high daily screening capacity is of major importance to substantially decrease the required amount of antidote doses. Among the determinants of the number of equipment units needed, the fraction of the potentially contaminated victims that actually needs treatment is the most difficult to assess. Judging cost-effectiveness of the preparedness for “dirty bomb” attacks is an issue of principle that must be dealt with by political leaders.