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Benny Carlé, Fernand Vermeersch, & Carlos Rojas Palma. (2004). Systems improving communication in case of a nuclear emergency: Two information exchange systems in the Belgian Nuclear Research Center. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 57–62). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Creating a 'common view' between all stakeholders on the course of an emergency situation and the possible consequences is a challenge for any crisis management organisation. In the SCKâEUR¢CEN nuclear emergency preparedness research two projects address two different and particular communication or information management challenges. The HINES system aims at creating a common view by using an information system as a communication tool in an on-site nuclear emergency response room. The MODEM project uses XML-technology to stimulate communication between scientific experts from different countries and institutes by facilitating the exchange of information used in decision support models used to assess the impact of a release of radioactive material in the environment. Both systems are implemented in prototype phase and used regularly during exercises. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Albert Y. Chen, Feniosky Peña-Mora, Saumil J. Mehta, Stuart Foltz, Albert P. Plans, Brian R. Brauer, et al. (2010). A GIS approach to equipment allocation for structural stabilization and civilian rescue. 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: Efficient request and deployment of critical resources for urban search and rescue operations is vital to emergency response. This paper presents a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) supported system for on-site data collection to communicate structural condition, to track search and rescue status, and to request and allocate appropriate resources. The system provides a unified interface for efficient posing, gathering, storing and sharing of building assessment information. Visualization and easy access of such information enables rescuers to response to the disaster with better situational awareness. Resource requests are sent to the GIS resource repository service that enables a visual disaster management environment for resource allocation. Request and deployment of critical resources through this system enables lifesaving efforts, with the appropriate equipment, operator, and materials, become more efficient and effective. System development at the Illinois Fire Service Institute has shown promising results.
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Magnus Jändel, Sinna Lindquist, & Linus Luotsinen. (2013). Social coverage maps. 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. 241–250). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: This paper introduces Social Coverage Maps (SCM) as a visual representation of the societal impact of localized disruptions in urban areas. Incited by the recent deliberate interruption of wireless services for the purpose of crowd control in San Francisco, we focus on the use of SCMs for representing emergent effects of electronic warfare. As a prequel we discuss maps and other visualizations as representations of human behaviour and relations. The SCM concept is defined and grounded in simulation-based parameters. Using an experimental scenario based on cell phone jamming in a city we show how SCMs are generated using an agent-based population simulator. We find that Social Coverage Maps could become a useful tool for analysing emergent effects of actions and events including electronic warfare, roadblocks, smoke, teargas, chemical and radioactive contamination with applications in operational and emergency planning as well as crisis management.
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Alexander Kiselev, & Sergey Bogatov. (2012). Model PROLOG for countermeasures efficacy assessment and its calculation algorithm verification on the base of the Chazhma Bay accident data. 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: Methodical approaches used in the computational model “PROLOG” are given in the paper. This model is intended for assessing radiological situations and an efficiency of counter measures after short term radioactive releases. Basic local Gaussian dispersion algorithm is supplemented with modules for assessing a plume rise, dry deposition velocities, effect of buildings and complex terrain, etc. The modules provide a compromise between simplicity, shortage of initial data and adequacy of the model in case of real accident. Approaches to assess the dose and countermeasure efficiency are presented as well. Plume rise, complex terrain and contaminant polydispersity modeling approaches were tested on the basis of comparison of calculation and experimental results for dose rate and Co-60 surface contamination measured after the Chazhma bay accident in 1985. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Robert Lawatscheck, Stephan Düsterwald, Carsten Wirth, & Torsten Schröder. (2012). ALARM: A modular IT solution to support and evaluate mass casualty incident (MCI) management. 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: ALARM is a modular IT-solution to support emergency medical service (EMS) providers and rescue staff in mass casualty incident response and training. Seven modules were implemented, covering the entire process from preliminary triage, treatment support and resource management to tactical information and registration. Communication technology is used to close information and documentation gaps. The system uses medical algorithms and telemedicine to improve patient treatment. The ALARM system generates logs automatically including procedural time stamps and outcome factors such as triage and transport categories. This allows an objective analysis and comparison of missions and opens a new approach to evidence based MCI management and training. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Paul McGinnity, David Pollard, & David Dawson. (2004). A management information system to support the radiological protection institute of Ireland's emergency response role: Design and implementation. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 39–44). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: A recent review of the procedures covering the RPII's responsibilities under the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents has shown the need for a management information system (MIS) to support the organisation's operational plan for emergency preparedness and response. This paper describes the design objectives and the development of a prototype version of this system. Specific functions of the MIS are highlighted along with a description of the motivation behind their development. This very simple MIS has already helped RPII staff members to operate more efficiently. Finally, some ideas for future development are outlined. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Helena Mitchell, Jeremy Johnson, & Salimah LaForce. (2010). Wireless emergency alerts: An accessibility study. 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: Since 2001, entities in the U.S. have produced studies which address issues regarding the progress of including people with disabilities in emergency planning at the Federal, state and local levels. There is general agreement among these stakeholders that there must be engagement of emergency personnel, robust, reliable and accessible emergency communications to ensure a high quality of public safety. A key step is the development of emergency communication technologies that serve emergency management and public safety personnel's ability to communicate with the public. It is critical that these next-generation warning systems be developed such that persons with disabilities are given equal access to emergency alerts. This paper discusses a research and development effort to identify the accommodations needed by people with disabilities in these next-generation, mobile emergency alerting systems. Prototyping mobile phone-based emergency alert systems are discussed and summative findings from field trials conducted with sensory challenged individuals are presented.
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Wolfgang Raskob, Florian Gering, & Valentin Bertsch. (2009). Approaches to visualisation of uncertainties to decision makers in an operational decision support system. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Decision making in case of any emergency is associated with uncertainty of input data, model data and changing preferences in the decision making process. Uncertainty handling was from the beginning an integral part of the decision support system RODOS for the off-site emergency management following nuclear or radiological emergencies. What is missing so far is the visualisation of the uncertainties in the results of the model calculations. In this paper we present the first attempt to visualise uncertain information in the early and late phase of the decision making process. For the early phase, the area of sheltering was selected as example. For the later phase, the results of the evaluation subsystem of RODOS were selected being used for the analysis of remediation measures such as agricultural management options. Both attempts are still under discussion but the presentation of the early phase uncertainty will be realised in the next version.
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Wolfgang Raskob, Valentin Bertsch, Jutta Geldermann., Sandra Baig, & Florian Gering. (2005). Demands to and experience with the decision support system rodos for off-site emergency management in the decision making process in Germany. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2005 – 2nd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 269–278). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Emergency situations, man-made as well as natural, can differ considerably. However, they share the characteristic of sudden onset, involve complex decisions and necessitate a coherent and effective emergency management. In the event of a nuclear or radiological accident in Europe, the real-time on-line decision support system RODOS provides support from the early phase through to the medium and long-term phases. This paper describes the demands to a Decision Support System from a user-centred view as well as experiences gained from conducting moderated decision making workshops based on a hypothetical accident scenario focusing on the evaluation of long-term countermeasures using the simulation capabilities of the RODOS system and its recently integrated evaluation component Web-HIPRE, a tool for multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).
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Milica Stojmenovic, Cathy Dudek, Patrick Noonan, Bruce Tsuji, Devjani Sen, & Gitte Lindgaard. (2011). Identifying user requirements for a CBRNE management system: A comparison of data analysis methods. 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: The purpose of this paper was to identify an effective user-requirements data analysis method for informing the design of a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) management decision support system. Data were collected from a large simulation involving medical, police, hazmat/firefighters and subjected to three different kinds of analysis methods: Social Network Analysis, Content Analysis, and Observational Analysis. While all three methods yielded valuable information, the observational method was by far the best for the present purpose.
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Milica Stojmenovic, & Gitte Lindgaard. (2014). Probing PROBE: A field study of an advanced decision support prototype for managing chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) events. 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. 90–99). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The purpose of this field study was investigate teamwork and communication among event management personnel, to assess the degree to which PROBE, the advanced prototype they were using to manage a CBRNE simulation, would adequately meet their needs. The study was a continuation of previous research conducted in the early phase of PROBE development. Two communication-related analyses were applied to identify instances of effective and of ineffective communication among the management team. These revealed that communication was mostly effective. However, the one serious communication breakdown that was observed could have had fatal consequences. It showed that great care must be taken to ensure the safety of first responders at all times when evaluating prototypes in the field. A list of questions was generated from the lessons learned to assist future researchers prepare for CBRNE field studies.
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Tongshen Zheng, Shunjiang Ni, Shifei Shen, Yan Wang, & Yang Tai. (2016). Numerical Study of Radioactive Pollutants Dispersion in Radioactive ?Dirty Bomb? Events. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: The simulation of radioactive pollutants dispersion is critical for emergency response of the nuclear terrorism. The radioactive ?dirty bomb?, also called radiological dispersion device (RDD), produced and used by the terrorist to make fearful and radioactive pollution in general, has a great risk on humans. Numerical investigation of the impact of different configurations on radioactive pollution release and dispersion in urban buildings is made in this paper. The numerical simulations used the OpenFOAM, a free and open source software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the simulations can be implanted to the information system of the nuclear terrorism emergency decision support system(EDSS) as the consequence assessment subsystem conveniently. The study showed that the configurations of building canyon and the position relationship of the source item and the buildings both affect the concentration distributions around the buildings.
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Remko Van Der Togt, Euro Beinat, & Henk J. Scholten. (2004). Location-based emergency medicine: Medical Location Services for emergency management: Information and coordination of rescue resources. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 45–50). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Crisis and disaster management in the Netherlands has made huge leaps forward in recent years with regard to different organisations trying to manage one or more aspects of the safety chain. This research focuses on the information structure of health care during disasters with an aim to improve disaster management and tries to answer the following question: How can location based services improve information services within health care during disasters? Through the use of literature and interviews this thesis describes how disaster management can be improved through the use of Location Based Services (LBS). The scope of this research is aimed at better understanding the organisational processes during somatic health care. By defining a case and on the basis of literature and interviews in the Province of Utrecht, it was possible to develop a three layer graph model (3LGM). This model shows an overview of information processes performed by the health care organisation during the first hour after an accident. In this context, the 3LGM model is used to obtain an overview of the quality of information processing in such a problem area. The organisational structure, which deals with disaster management, consists of a strong co-operation between the police, fire departments, the local government and the 'Medical Aid during Accidents and Disasters' (GHOR). The size of the organisation depends largely upon the scale of the disaster, however the current information structure is not suitable for storing and processing the information in an efficient and effective manner. The same applies when displaying information related to casualties and safety within an area. With the help of location based services consisting of, geographical information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS) and second or third generation telecommunication technologies, the existing information structure can be optimised. Expected advantages are higher accessibility to health care, a safer environment for rescuers, more time for managing the healthcare processes and an improved interdisciplinary co-operation between the police, fire departments, the local government and the GHOR. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Ulrich Walder, Thomas Bernoulli, & Thomas Wießflecker. (2009). An indoor positioning system for improved action force command and disaster management. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Managing emergency situations in large buildings and underground structures could be simplified if at any time the positions of on-site emergency crews were available. In this paper a system is proposed which combines inertial measurements of moving persons with building floor plans tagged with information on semantics to achieve a novel level of robust indoor positioning. A speech driven user interface tailored for visualization on head mounted displays makes information easily available for action forces. The system is complemented with a self-configurating communication network based on novel approaches combining mobile ad hoc networks, sensor networks, and professional mobile radio systems to make the locally determined positions available to anybody on-site.
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Min-Hao Matt Wu, Annie Hsin-Wen Liu, & K. Mani Chandy. (2008). Virtual environments for developing strategies for interdicting terrorists carrying dirty bombs. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 83–87). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Strategies for detecting terrorists carrying radioactive material can be evaluated in virtual environments more easily than they can be in the real world. Real scenarios expose personnel to radiation and concomitant dangers. The execution of multiple real-world scenarios – such as catching terrorists in factories, houses and open spaces – is expensive. This paper describes virtual environments for interdicting terrorists carrying radioactive material. The virtual environments are constructed by incorporating the physics of radiation into virtual-world platforms. We explore the relative advantages of a gaming engine (Half-Life 2), a 3D online virtual world (Second Life) and a robot simulator platform (Stage/Player) for developing strategies for interdicting dirty bombers. Preliminary results on implementations of these virtual environments are presented.
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Yasir Javed. (2016). Sensors-based Crisis Response and Management for Mass Gatherings: A Case of Hajj. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: Many people die or are lost every year during mass gatherings around the world hence making it very difficult for the local authorities to track them and identify them in case of accidents. This paper proposes a system for tracing of lost, injured and dead using network of Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFID) tags and mobile phones. With such a system, time, effort, and cost can be significantly minimized hence eliminating the psychological torture through which relatives of the lost passes though. The proposed system can also be used for crowd management in a real time. For outdoor tracking, where placing RFID readers is not practical, the paper proposes mobile-based peer to peer network for tracking pilgrims who don?t have access to the internet or don?t have GPS facility in their mobile phones. The paper also proposed a plan of testing the prototype in simulation.
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Hans Zimmermann. (2006). Availability of technologies versus capabilities of users. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 66–71). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: The regulatory environment is no longer the primary hindrance to the full application of telecommunications technology in the service of emergency response, disaster prevention and relief, and crisis management. Nowadays the restricting factor is the lack of knowledge about the capabilities, but also the limitations, of the multitude of specialized and of public communication systems. This paper will analyze the situation with the help of some practical examples and will recommend an interdisciplinary multi-stakeholder based approach to an educational concept for emergency and disaster telecommunications.
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