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Christoph Aubrecht, Klaus Steinnocher, & Hermann Huber. (2014). DynaPop – Population distribution dynamics as basis for social impact evaluation in crisis management. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 314–318). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: In this paper ongoing developments regarding the conceptual setup and subsequent implementation logic of a seamless spatio-temporal population dynamics model are presented. The DynaPop model aims at serving as basic input for social impact evaluation in crisis management. In addition to providing the starting point for assessing population exposure dynamics, i.e. the location and number of affected people at different stages during an event, knowledge of spatio-temporal population distribution patterns is also considered crucial for a set of other related aspects in disaster risk and crisis management including evacuation planning and casualty assessment. DynaPop is implemented via a gridded spatial disaggregation approach and integrates previous efforts on spatio-temporal modeling that account for various aspects of population dynamics such as human mobility and activity patterns that are particularly relevant in picturing the highly dynamic daytime situation.
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Christoph Aubrecht, Sérgio Freire, Josef Fröhlich, Beatrice Rath, & Klaus Steinnocher. (2011). Integrating the concepts of foresight and prediction for improved disaster risk management. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This discussion paper focuses on conceptualizing the ultimate goal in disaster management, i.e. reduction of future risks and impacts and explicitly highlights how actions taken in various phases of integrated disaster risk management influence vulnerability and eventually overall risk characteristics. First, the advancement of the disaster management concept evolving from a cyclic perspective to a spiral view is described and the various stages of disaster management including risk analysis, mitigation, and response are explained. In an attempt to improve and advance disaster risk management, next, the concepts of foresight and prediction are described and its major differences are highlighted. Finally, the basic framework of risk governance is considered for integrating foresight and prediction and thus lifting disaster management to the next level. Active and transparent communication and participation is seen as the key for successfully implementing risk governance.
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Oleg Aulov, Adam Price, & Milton Halem. (2014). AsonMaps: A platform for aggregation visualization and analysis of disaster related human sensor network observations. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 802–806). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe AsonMaps, a platform for collection, aggregation, visualization and analysis of near real-time, geolocated quantifiable information from a variety of heterogeneous social media outlets in order to provide emergency responders and other coordinating federal agencies not only with the means of listening to the affected population, but also to be able to incorporate this data into geophysical and probabilistic disaster forecast models that guide their response actions. Hurricane Sandy disaster is examined as a use-case scenario discussing the different types of quantifiable information that can be extracted from Instagram and Twitter.
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Aurélie Congès, Alexis Evain, Olivier Chabiron, Col. Jacob Graham(USMC, R.), & Frédérick Benaben. (2020). Virtual Reality to Train for Crisis Management. In Amanda Hughes, Fiona McNeill, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2020 Conference Proceedings – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1100–1112). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: The EGCERSIS project aims at using virtual reality to improve the efficiency of the crisis management preparation phase. The idea is to tackle the drawbacks of regular crisis management exercises thanks to fully configurable scenarios taking place in digital twins of real critical sites. Virtual exercises will improve, among other things, the frequency, efficiency, and modularity of crisis management preparation, while reducing its costs. In this article, we demonstrate the idea of the project through a simple use-case taking place in a metro station and involving three crisis responders. By linking virtual exercises to our crisis management platform, we also want to demonstrate the usefulness of decision-support systems during a crisis.
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Arif Cagdas Aydinoglu, Elif Demir, & Serpil Ates. (2011). Designing a harmonized geo-data model for Disaster Management. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: There are problems for managing and sharing geo-data effectively in Turkey. The key to resolving these problems is to develop a harmonized geo-data model. General features of this model are based on ISO/TC211 standards, INSPIRE Data Specifications, and expectations of Turkey National GIS actions. The generic conceptual model components were defined to harmonize geo-data and to produce data specifications. In order to enable semantic interoperability, application schemas were designed for data themes such as administrative unit, address, cadastre/building, hydrographic, topography, geodesy, transportation, and land cover/use. The model, as base and the domain geo-data model, is a starting point to create sector models in different thematic areas. Disaster Management Geo-data Model model was developed as an extension of base geo-data model to manage geo-data collaborate on disaster management activities. This model includes existing geo-data special for disaster management activities and dynamic data collecting during disaster.
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Thomas Bader, Andreas Meissner, & Rolf Tscherney. (2008). Digital Map Table with Fovea-Tablett®: Smart furniture for emergency operation centers. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 679–688). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: During large-scale crisis events special emergency management structures are put in place in order to execute administrative-strategic and/or technical-tactical functions for potentially large geographical areas. The adequacy of information systems and the communication capabilities within such management structures largely determine the quality of situation awareness and are thus crucial for the effectiveness and efficiency of the emergency managers' work. In this field, this paper makes a threefold contribution: In the first part we provide a description of the organizational structure and the tasks in an emergency operation center (EOC) from a practitioner's perspective. Based on this primer, in the second part we propose four guidelines which help to design human-computer interfaces, especially adequate smart room technology, for this domain. Third, we present a system we designed along these guidelines. We specifically discuss the introduction of a Digital Map Table with Fovea-Tablett® into an EOC as “smart furniture” supporting both team and individual work.
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Kartikeya Bajpai, & Anuj Jaiswal. (2011). A framework for analyzing collective action events on Twitter. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Recent years have witnessed multiple international protest movements which have purportedly been greatly affected by the use of Twitter, a micro-blogging platform. Social movement actors in Iran, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand are thought to have utilized Twitter to spread information, co-ordinate protest activities, evade government censorship and, in some cases, to spread misinformation. We propose a framework for conceptualizing and analyzing Twitter data related to contentious collective action crises. Our primary research goal is to delineate a framework informed with a social movements lens and to demonstrate the framework by means of Twitter usage data related to the Thailand protests of 2010. Our proposed framework concerns itself with two aspects of protest activities and Twitter usage, namely, analyzing the content and structure of messages and our construct of Twitter protest waves.
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Menelaos Bakopoulos, Sofia Tsekeridou, Eri Giannaka, Zheng-Hua Tan, & Ramjee Prasad. (2011). Command & control: Information merging, selective visualization and decision support for emergency handling. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Emergency situations call for the timely collaboration and error free communication of first responder (FR) teams from their Command Posts (CP) and between themselves. First responder teams must form and adapt their plans and actions as a real-time critical situation unfolds. This paper presents an advanced Command Post application that manages a diversity of FR teams during an emergency. Data from biometric, fire and/or gas sensors in addition to received annotated videos from first responders on site, carrying personal digital assistants (PDAs), are simultaneously managed. The presented system provides properly configured access to and alert-dependent visualization of real time location, biometric, gas, fire and annotated video data from FRs in the field to allow for effective reaction and decision support from CP personnel. Additionally, the system forms an information management system for all necessary information to be quickly handy during emergency handling, such as FR information, critical infrastructure information, historical information, etc. This system has been validated through qualitative analysis in a field trial at the M30 tunnel in Madrid by participating end users.
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Robert Baksa, & Murray Turoff. (2010). The current state of continuous auditing and emergency management's valuable contribution. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Continuous Auditing systems require that human judgment be formalized and automated, which can be a complex, costly and computationally intensive endeavor. However, Continuous Auditing systems have similarities with Emergency Management and Response systems, which integrate Continuous Auditing's detection and alerting functions with the tracking of decisions and decision options for the situations that could be more effectively handled by human judgment. Emergency Management and Response systems could be an effective prototype to help overcome some of the implementation obstacles that are impeding Continuous Auditing systems' implementation rate. Continuous Auditing has the potential to transform the existing audit paradigm from periodic reviews of a few accounting transactions to a continuous review of all transactions, which thereby could vastly strengthen an organization's risk management and business processes. Although Continuous Auditing implementations are occurring, their adoption is slower than expected. With the goal of providing an empirical and methodological foundation for future Continuous Auditing systems and possibly inspiring additional investigation into merging the Continuous Auditing and Emergency Management streams of research, this paper provides several definitions of Continuous Auditing, suggests possible architectures for these systems, lists some common implementation challenges and highlights a few examples of how Emergency Management research could potentially overcome them.
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Victor A. Bañuls, Murray Turoff, & Joaquin Lopez. (2010). Clustering scenarios using cross-impact analysis. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Scenarios are frequently used in Emergency Planning and Preparedness. These scenarios are developed based on the hypothesis of occurrence or not of significant events. This is a complex process because of the interrelations between events. This fact, along with the uncertainty about the occurrence or non-occurrence of the events, makes the scenario generation process a challenging issue for emergency managers. In this work a new step-by-step model for clustering scenarios via cross-impact is proposed. The authors. proposal adds tools for detecting critical events and graphical representation to the previous scenario-generation methods based on Cross-Impact Analysis. Moreover, it allows working with large sets of events without using great computational infrastructures. These contributions are expected to be useful for supporting the analysis of critical events and risk assessment tasks in Emergency Planning and Preparedness. Operational issues and practical implications of the model are discussed by means of an example.
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Victor A. Bañuls, Murray Turoff, & Starr Roxanne Hiltz. (2012). Supporting collaborative scenario analysis through Cross-Impact. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Scenarios can enhance the understanding of emergency teams about the factors which are involved in the definition of an emergency plan and how different actors participate in it. Cross-Impact Analysis aims at contributing to this goal through allowing the collaborative development of scenarios out of large event sets, and this ultimately reduces the complexity for estimating a working model. In this paper we analyze how to apply Cross-Impact Analysis for developing collaborative scenarios in Emergency Preparedness. In order to illustrate this research effort hypothetical results of a dirty bomb attack scenario exercise are presented. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the ability of a group to create a working model of the scenario that may be used to examine the consequences of various assumptions about preparedness, plans, and the actions taken during the event. The method may be used as either a planning tool and/or a training tool. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Jane Barnett, William Wong, David Westley, Rick Adderley, & Michelle Smith. (2011). Startle points: A proposed framework for identifying situational cues, and developing realistic emergency training scenarios. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Real-world crises are not prescriptive and may contain unexpected events, described here as startle points. Including these events in emergency training simulator scenarios is crucial in order to prepare for startle points that may arise in the real world. Startle points occur when individuals who assess and monitor emergency scenarios, are suddenly faced with an unexpected event, and are unsure how to proceed. This paper offers a non-empirical framework that explores how cues generated by startle points affect decision making. Future research will use the framework to explore how experts and novices experience, and then adapt to startle points, as a function of decision mode, situation awareness, and emotional arousal. The resulting data can then be used to identify cues surrounding startle points and as a consequence, create dynamic scenarios for online training simulators so that individuals can prepare and adapt to them, and transfer acquired skills to real-world emergencies.
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Jonathan L. Barr, Annie M. Boek Peddicord, Russ Burtner, & Heidi A. Mahy. (2011). Current domain challenges in the emergency response community. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper describes the development of a framework targeted to technology providers to better understand the grand domain challenges of the emergency response and management community (EM). In developing this framework, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers interviewed subject matter experts (SMEs) across the EM domain and corroborated these findings with current literature. We are presently examining relationships and dependencies within the framework. We anticipate that a thorough understanding of these gaps and dependencies will allow for a more informed approach to prioritizing research, developing tools, and applying technology to enhance performance in the EM community.
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Marie Bartels. (2014). Communicating probability: A challenge for decision support systems. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 260–264). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: This paper presents observations made in the course of two interorganizational crisis management exercises that were conducted in order to identify requirements for a decision support system for critical infrastructure operators. It brings into focus how different actors deal with the uncertainty of information that is relevant for other stakeholders and therefore is to be shared with them. It was analyzed how the participants articulated und comprehended assessments on how probable the reliability of a given data or prognosis was. The recipients of the information had to consider it when making decisions concerning their own network. Therefore they had to evaluate its reliability. Different strategies emerged.
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Anne Marie Barthe, Matthieu Lauras, & Frédérick Benaben. (2011). Improving the design of interoperable platform through a structured case study description approach: Application to a nuclear crisis. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In this article, we briefly describe a crisis management case that has been chosen (in the European funded project PLAY) to test the federated-open-trusted platform for event-driven interaction between services. A description of such complex use case in natural language is obviously limited and should be completed with a formal description methodology to gather the necessary knowledge. Considering our technical requirements we suggest to combine the S-Cube approach with the model driven architecture approach to propose a complete and structured case study description framework. Then this article presents a nuclear crisis case modeled according to these guidelines.
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Anne Marie Barthe, Sabine Carbonnel, Frédérick Bénaben, & Hervé Pingaud. (2012). Event-driven agility of crisis management collaborative processes. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: This article aims at presenting a whole approach of Information Systems interoperability management in a crisis management cell. We propose a Mediation Information System (MIS) to help the crisis cell partners to design, run and manage the workflows of the response to a crisis situation. The architecture of the MIS meets the need of low coupling between the partners' Information System components and the need of agility for a such platform. Based on the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and the Event Driven Architecture (EDA) principles which, combined to the Complex Event Processing (CEP) principles, it will leads to an easier orchestration, choreography and real-time monitoring of the workflows' activities, and even allows the automated agility of the crisis response on-the-fly-we consider agility as the ability of the processes to remain consistent with the response to the crisis-. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Anne Marie Barthe, Sébastien Truptil, & Frédérick Bénaben. (2014). Agility of crisis response: Gathering and analyzing data through an event-driven platform. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 250–254). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The goal of this article is to introduce a platform (called Agility Service) that gathers and analyses data coming from both crisis response and crisis field by using the principles of Complex Event Processing. As a crisis situation is an unstable phenomenon (by nature or by effect of the applied response), the crisis response may be irrelevant after a while: lack of resources, arrival of a new stakeholder, unreached objectives, over-crisis, etc. Gathering data, analyze and aggregate it to deduce relevant information concerning the current crisis situation, and making this information available to the crisis cell to support decision making: these are the purposes of the described platform. A use case based on the Fukushima's nuclear accident is developed to illustrate the use of the developed prototype.
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Anne Marie Barthe, Frédérick Bénaben, Sébastien Truptil, & Hervé Pingaud. (2013). A flexible network of sensors: Case study. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 344–348). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: The goal of this article is to introduce a plastic architecture of a survey system dedicated to any kind of geographical area that requires to be observed. The principle of this architecture is to allow to change dynamically the set of sensors that is used to monitor the area and also to provide an analyze system able to deal with this unstable set of sensors. Based on Event-Driven Architecture (EDA) technology, such a system does not provide new features compared with traditional set of static sensors connected through cables to dozens of bulbs lighting when a predefined subset of measures is not in the expected range. However, the introduced architecture provides a completely agile and dynamic system of measurement where neither the network of sensors nor the system of measure interpretation is static.
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Gabriel Bartl, Lars Gerhold, & Matthias Wählisch. (2014). Towards a theoretical framework of acceptance for surveillance systems at airports. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 299–303). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: In this paper we illustrate (a) the background and goals of the interdisciplinary research project SAFEST and (b) first insights from the socio-scientific part within the project. Technical systems are often established without considering explicitly ethical, legal, and social implications. This frequently leads to a lack of acceptance. This paper aims at compiling an analytical scheme that tries to demonstrate the relevance of the social context for the emergence of different modes of acceptance in reference to surveillance systems at airports. It is intended to guide the technical experts to deal with and reflect acceptance issues in the process of technical development.
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Michael R. Bartolacci, Christoph Aubrecht, & Dilek Ozceylan Aubrecht. (2014). A portable base station optimization model for wireless infrastructure deployment in disaster planning and management. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 50–54). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: Disaster response requires communications among all affected parties including emergency responders and the affected populace. Wireless telecommunications, if available through a fixed structure cellular mobile network, satellites, portable station mobile networks and ad hoc mobile networks, can provide this means for such communications. While the deployment of temporary mobile networks and other wireless equipment following disasters has been successfully accomplished by governmental agencies and mobile network providers following previous disasters, there appears to be little optimization effort involved with respect to maximizing key performance measures of the deployment or minimizing overall 'cost' (including time aspects) to deploy. This work-in-progress does not focus on the question of what entity will operate the portable base during a disaster, but on optimizing the placement of mobile base stations or similar network nodes for planning and real time management purposes. An optimization model is proposed for the staging and placement of portable base stations to support disaster relief efforts.
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Bas Lijnse. (2019). Robust Private Web Maps with Open Tools and Open Data. In Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management. Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: Crisis management information often has a geospatial dimension that allows it to be visualized on a map. As
more and more systems are developed as web-based applications, maps have also become a common sight in such
applications. The de-facto solution to add maps to web-based applications is to integrate a third-party service.
For web-based crisis management information systems, this approach has two disadvantages. First, the third-party
service must be available and reachable. Second, by using third-party services you implicitly share what you are
viewing, with the risk of unintentionally exposing sensitive location information. In this Tool Talks paper, we show
how to create a robust and private alternative for web-based maps using open source tools and open data.
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Bas Lijnse. (2022). Modeling Real World Crisis Management Plans with C2Sketch. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 404–413). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: When crisis management plans are described in natural language documents, they may contain logical inconsistencies or ambiguities that are not immediately apparent. To allow automated early detection of such errors, they need to be described in a well defined formalism. C2Sketch is a tool for modeling command and control systems that provides such a structure for formalizing (crisis management) plans. However, C2Sketch is in active development and to what extent real-world crisis management plans can be expressed in it is unknown. In this exploratory study the unstructured text of a small sample of publicly available regional-level crisis management plans was translated systematically into structured C2Sketch mission-plans to uncover limitations and opportunities for further development of the tool. The plans contained enough information to largely capture the networks of actors and their tasks therein, but did contain enough operational information to develop complete C2Sketch models from.
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Irma Becerra-Fernandez, Weidong Xia, Arvind Gudi, & Jose Rocha. (2008). Task characteristics, knowledge sharing and integration, and emergency management performance: Research agenda and challenges. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 88–92). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Emergency management tasks are inherently complex and dynamic, requiring quick knowledge sharing and decision coordination among multiple organizations across different levels and locations. However, there is a general lack of understanding about how to describe and assess the complex and dynamic nature of emergency management tasks and how knowledge integration help managers improve emergency management task performance. This paper describes a research project that aims at (1) developing the concepts of task complexity and uncertainty of emergency management tasks and (2) testing the mediating role of knowledge sharing and knowledge integration between emergency management task characteristics and performance. The overall research agenda, approaches, challenges and the advantages of utilizing a virtual Emergency Operations Center (vEOC) for this line of research are discussed.
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Robert Bell, & Elizabeth Avery Gomez. (2011). Business continuity for small business owners: Do the tools fit their need? In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Business continuity planning for private sector organizations has not reached the level of readiness as has the public sector. This disparity has reached national attention as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security addressed it in a statement, “ensuring Americas small businesses have the critical information and training they need to better respond to disasters will strengthen the entire nations preparedness and resilience (DHS, 2010).” The release of this statement and the DHS program (PS-Prep) was a promise to provide the necessary tools to small business owners so they could build effective business continuity plans. The major contributions of this research will be to provide an evaluation of the applicability of PS-Prep to small businesses, and to provide the needs assessment for parallel research of leveraging the current capabilities of a Business Emergency Operations Center in the development of a Virtual Small Business Emergency Operations Center (VSBEOC).
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Narjès Bellamine-Ben Saoud, Julie Dugdale, Bernard Pavard, Mohamed Ben Ahmed, Tarek Ben Mna, & Néjia Ben Touati. (2004). Towards planning for emergency activities in large-scale accidents: An interactive and generic agent-based simulator. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 173–177). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In this paper we describe the design and development of an interactive and generic agent based simulator, providing valuable support for organizing the emergency rescue plans of a large-scale accident. Analysis of real rescue activities has been conducted in collaboration with medical experts in order to understand the collaborative process and the involved actors and features. Based on the emergency analysis, an agent-based model and simulator was constructed including (1) the autonomous Agents – representing victims with evolving illness and rescuers (doctors, nurses, fireman) collaborating to rescue the first ones; (2) the Environment -representing the accident site having obstacles and dangerous areas and where the victims are initially spread and the doctors move to explore -perceive – treat and helpers evacuate; (3) the Interactions between rescuers – exploring collectively, evacuating by pairs, communicating directly or via artefacts- (4) the Organization of actors as distributed “independent” sub-teams in various site sub-zones or as a centralized whole team conducted by the rescue chief; and (5) the User interfaces allowing mainly initial configuration of the simulations (e.g. number of victims and states, followed strategies, rescuers behaviours), continuous visual control of the process of rescuing (e.g. site overview with acting-interacting agents, graphics, text descriptions), dynamic changes of parameters of an on-going simulation (e.g. adding new victims, adding new rescuers, or adding dangerous zones or new obstacles on sites) as well as step-by-step simulation. This simulation shows that it is possible to create a virtual environment with cooperating agents interacting in a dynamic environment. On-line and off-line analysis of simulation traces and results enable us first understanding complex situations in rescuing activities in large-scale accidents, and than planning for responding to crisis situation. This simulation approach is useful for identifying the best scenarios and eliminating potential catastrophic combinations of parameters and values, where rescue performance could be significantly impacted. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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