MRS Training & Rescue

Research on compound dry and heat wave events (CDHWs) has been limited by inconsistencies in the temporal resolutions of their constituent hazards, with droughts commonly characterized at monthly scales and heat waves at daily scales. The development of daily-scale drought indices enables the identification of dry events on a daily basis, thereby facilitating more detailed investigations of CDHWs. Using daily Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (daily-SPEI) data and heat wave records, CDHWs were identified for the period 1961–2020, and their spatiotemporal variations in frequency, duration, dry severity, and heat intensity were systematically analyzed. Extreme CDHWs were further defined based on the upper thresholds of dry severity and heat intensity across all identified events, and changes in their occurrence probabilities, along with the relative contributions of dry events and heat wave events, were examined.The results indicate a widespread intensification of CDHWs across global land areas, with particularly pronounced increases in western North America, eastern South America, Europe, northern Africa, and parts of Asia. The frequency of CDHWs shows significant upward trends since the 1990s, with a marked acceleration in recent years. Notably, extreme CDHWs exhibit more severe changes during 1991–2020 compared with 1961–1990. Consequently, the return periods of extreme CDHWs have decreased significantly across nearly all global land regions, with reductions exceeding 60% in many areas. Control variable experiments further demonstrate that changes in heat wave events contribute more to the reduction in return periods of extreme CDHWs than changes in dry events, accounting for approximately 23%–63% and 6%–13%, respectively. Overall, this study advances the understanding of CDHWs at daily temporal scales and underscores the need to place greater emphasis on extreme compound events under rapidly intensifying climate conditions.

The article examines the issues of providing medical and first aid to the population, the elimination of disaster-related medical consequences, as well as the cooperation of state government bodies in emergency situations. The UN declared the last decade of the 20th century as “International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction”, however the number of emergencies is currently increasing all over the world. According to the WHO, 30% of seriously injured people who were not given medical and first aid on time die one hour after the disaster, 60% after three hours, and 90% after six hours. Among those who were given first aid within 30 minutes after the injury, complications occur twice less often then among those who were given first aid later. The optimal time to provide first aid is 30 minutes after the injury, 5-7 minutes in case of respiratory arrest, and 10 minutes in case of poisoning. However, in disaster areas, appropriate conditions for providing the injured with full medical and first aid, as research has shown, almost always lack. To summarize, it can be concluded that the activities aimed at preventing emergency situations, reducing and eliminating their medical consequences, providing medical and first aid to the population in the territory of the Republic of Armenia requires the collaboration of state government bodies, which would contribute to a more effective implementation of the above-mentioned set of measures and would result in the decrease in the number of unfavorable outcomes.

ABSTRACTUrban river bathing is re‐emerging across Europe, driven by social demand and climate change impacts. The Urban Bathing Consortium, an interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium initiated at the University of Lyon (France), is at the forefront of studying the challenges and opportunities of creating and managing healthy, safe, and accessible river bathing spaces. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers and stakeholders, the consortium proposed an analytical framework, identifying seven critical dimensions for urban river bathing: the history and revival of city‐river relationships, legal and regulatory frameworks, bathing water quality, river drowning risks, river ecosystems, social perspectives, and urban planning. By examining these dimensions with state‐of‐the‐art approaches and drawing on Lyon's experiences, the study provides scientific insights and practical recommendations for future sustainable urban river bathing development. These include revitalizing historical city‐river connections, aligning local regulations with EU guidance, advancing holistic microbial water quality control, enhancing safety measures, incorporating ecological considerations, balancing competing river uses in urban planning, and addressing social needs for inclusive river governance.

Abstract Britain is no longer a superpower. It is now among many ‘middle powers’ in a multi-aligned world. In developing a coherent British foreign policy, we must understand where Britain started, what Britain wants, who Britain stands with, and what Britain can afford.

The digital economy has predetermined the priority of digital transformation of all company processes, including staff training and development. But, not all companies have been able to adjust quickly in the face of the digitalisation of their processes by advanced companies. However, the pandemic COVID-19 radically changed the situation, forcing everyone to urgently switch to a remote work format and introduce digital methods for training and developing staff. The article presents an analysis of the peculiarities of accelerated digital transformation of staff training and development in Russian and foreign companies, and staff assessment during the pandemic. The most frequently used digital methods and approaches to staff development and assessment have been analysed, the main trends in corporate training in Russia and worldwide have been identified, and recommendations for improving digital transformation of training and personnel development in the current environment have been offered.

The aim of the study was the need to theoretically and experimentally substantiate the technology of diagnostics and correction of maladjustment changes in the psychoemotional sphere of seafarers at the stages of a long voyage. Materials and methods. The material of the research is dynamic observation in the form of psychological testing, carried out during a long voyage of the crew (n = 48 people) of the BMRT fishing vessel (large freezer fishing trawler) with the home port of Murmansk. The age of the fishermen varied from 22–36 years and averaged 27.0±0.84 years, the duration of the cruise was 152 days to catch fish in the Southwest Atlantic. The subjects belonged to different professional groups, and had worked at sea from 3 to 11 years (M = 5.4±0.26). The research methods were valid methods applied in a complex: a modified eight-color test by M. Luscher, personality questionnaire “EPI” by G. Aysenk, psychodiagnostic test “General assessment of personality” by V.М. Melnikov and L.T. Yampolsky, the MMPI questionnaire «Personal scale of manifestations of anxiety, the questionnaire» Life style index «(«LSI») Kellerman-Plutchik-Conte for identifying types of psychological defenses, the test for the study of reactive and personal anxiety Spielberger-Khanin and the test card SAN (test questionnaire Mini-cartoon). Results and discussion. the study showed that continuous (more than 3 months) fishing in the sea leads to changes in the psycho-emotional sphere of fishermen, manifested in the appearance of signs of psychological maladjustment. The majority of those examined as the leader have a trophotropic (non-optimal) type of mental adaptation to conditions of long-term work at sea, characterized by a decrease in the psychophysical reserves of the body, increased anxiety with the choice of a strategy of passive adaptation to extreme environmental conditions.

To investigate the efficacy of a workplace mental health awareness training program on help-seeking and mental health outcomes. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted comparing those who received standard training (N = 210) or standard training with a mental health awareness module (N = 208). Both groups were followed up for 3 years with the primary outcome being likelihood to seek help. Rates of likely help-seeking were slightly higher in the intervention group 6 months after the training, but this was not maintained over time. There was no significant difference between study conditions for mental health outcomes or actual help-seeking among those with probable mental disorder at any time point. Workplace mental health awareness training has a limited short-term impact on likelihood of help-seeking and does not appear to improve mental health outcomes.

To assess the validity and reliability of a firefighting simulation test (FFST). Sixty-nine operational firefighters completed a best-effort FFST on one occasion and 22 participants completed a further FFST. All participants completed a maximal treadmill test to determine cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max). Time to complete the FFST demonstrated a strong inverse relationship with VO2max (r = -0.73), although the prediction error was high. Reliability of the FFST was high (r = 0.84, P = 0.01), demonstrating a coefficient of variation of 4.5%. The FFST demonstrated reasonable validity as a surrogate assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness for firefighting. The FFST also demonstrated good reliability. Given the apparent magnitude of the prediction error, the FFST would be best used as a training tool, rather than as a primary means of assessing cardiorespiratory fitness for firefighting.

Operasi Search and Rescue (SAR) pada umumnya selalu berpacu dengan waktu yang terbatas dengan kondisi alam dan cuaca yang dinamis seperti kasus hilangnya pesawat Sukhoi Super Jet-100 di gunung salak pada saat promotion flight tahun 2012 yang lalu. Wahana penginderaan jarak jauh berbasis Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) / drone berpenggerak empat (4) rotor yang dapat membantu tim pencari darat memvisualisasi atau mendeteksi lokasi kecelakaan yang terutama berada di wilayah pegunungan atau perbukitan. Akan tetapi luasnya wilayah pencarian dapat menjadi penghalang dalam pencarian jalur optimal menemukan lokasi kecelakaan, untuk itu diperlukan pendekatan cerdas dalam mengoptimalisasikan jalur pencarian UAV tersebut. Penelitian ini mengusulkan simulasi UAV Swarms untuk optimalisasi operasi pencarian dan penyelamatan menggunakan Artificial Bee Colony (ABC). Dengan ABC diharapkan proses pencarian pada wilayah yang luas menjadi lebih optimal dibandingkan dengan pencarian acak yang membutuhkan banyak waktu dan meningkatkan resiko kecelakaan tim penyelamat selama operasi pencarian.

In the framework of public sector, government has an obligation to take care of the rational use of the funds intended for investment. In order to determine the degree of rationality of individual programs or projects, or to make a choice between potential programs and projects, government should apply a methodology for their mutual comparison. Cost-benefit analysis is such a methodological approach for social optimization of policies, programs and projects. The project for improvement of energy efficiency and environmental protection in the case of secondary school in Resen municipality, Republic of Macedonia, is a relevant example for applying this kind of tools for economic analysis.