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Ana-Gabriela Núñez, Mª Carmen Penadés, & José H. Canós. (2016). QuEP: Building a Continuous Improvement of Emergency Plans Management. 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: While different governments worldwide have published sets of recommendations-or even laws-for increasing preparedness, a reference framework to assess the level of compliance of organizations is still to come. For instance, emergency plans often remain stored in closets where they stay until some emergency or major legal change occurs. Consequently, achieving actual preparedness is difficult to assess. QuEP is a framework for the assessment and improvement of the management of emergency plans within organizations. It is inspired by the Total Quality Management strategy, and provides a hierarchy of emergency plan management maturity levels. The aim of QuEP is to guide organizations to assess and improve their emergency preparedness by following a set of principles, practices and techniques at the technical, human and strategic levels. In this paper, we show the model underlying the framework, and give details of the current framework evaluation processes.
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Ana-Gabriela Núñez, Mª Carmen Penadés, José H. Canós-Cerdá, & Marcos R. S. Borges. (2015). Towards a Total Quality Framework for the Evaluation and Improvement of Emergency Plans Management. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: The evaluation of the quality of emergency plans is an unresolved issue. While most research efforts have focused on the definition and improvement of planning methods and the associated tools, a reference framework allowing the assessment of emergency plans is still missing. In this paper, we report our initial work towards the definition of a quality framework for emergency plan management. To create it, we are borrowing results from more than one century of research on quality methods, with special emphasis in the newest Total Quality Management approaches that pay attention to technical, human and strategic concerns during the plan development process. The QuEP framework defines a number of planning principles and practices to define a maturity-driven layered model for the evaluation of organizations. We list the principles and practices, and describe its potential to be integrated with other emergency plan management frameworks.
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Angel Ruiz-Zafra, Ana-Gabriela Núñez, Carmen Penadés, José H. Canós-Cerdá, & Marcos R. S. Borges. (2014). SUCRE: Supporting users, controllers and responders in emergencies. 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. 255–259). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: We use the term “Personal Safety Assistants” (PSAs) to refer to a family of mobile information systems that intend to reduce the risks of both citizens and responders in emergency responses. Using their mobile devices, they can access to personalized views of the emergency plans including context-aware evacuation instructions or real time guidance to specific locations for rescue operations, among others. Additionally, both responders and citizens act as context sources sending fresh information (e.g. pictures of damaged areas) to the command and control center, increasing situational awareness. In this paper, we show how the SUCRE infrastructure collects and processes contextual information to improve the information infrastructure during responses. We describe the current status of the system and outline the incoming enhancements.
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Carmen Penadés, Marcos R. S. Borges, José H. Canós-Cerdá, & Adriana S. Vivacqua. (2011). A product line approach to the development of advanced emergency plans. 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 plans play a central role in emergency management processes. However, the technical problems associated to emergency plan development have received very little attention. As a matter of fact, most emergency plans are printed documents prepared with the sole support of a word processing system. As a consequence, new media are the exception in current plans. Moreover, the plans are developed without any methodological support that guides planners through the plan development process. In this paper we introduce DPL(EP), a method for the development of emergency plans. Based on the Document Product Lines process for the development of variable content document families, its main goal is to provide methodological guidance and tool support for the development of emergency plans. The distinguishing characteristics of the method are: first, the use of feature models to describe variability in emergency plan content and in the representation of the plan components; second, the “one organization-one plan” philosophy of the development process that produces customized plan editors; and third, its product line nature that enforces reuse of information elements, making plan development more convenient.
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Ignacio Aedo, Paloma Díaz, Victor A. Bañuls, José H. Canós-Cerdá, & Starr Roxanne Hiltz. (2011). Information technologies for emergency planning and training. 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: Crucial to improving the management of emergency situations is the definition of suitable Emergency Plans and training of participants in the application of such plans. In order to design a good Emergency Plan, experts from different areas need to work collaboratively to identify all the events and the relationships among such events. The main purpose of this project is to study different information technology techniques that can be used in the elaboration of and training for Emergency Plans, based on the use of scenarios. The use of such techniques will support collaborative development of Emergency Plans, the use of rich formats that provide different perspectives on a plan, the exportation and sharing of plans in order to increase their evolution and improvement, the instruction of participants, as well as better interaction, participation and exchange of knowledge. Key aspects of the plans for this recently begun project are described in this paper.
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José H. Canós-Cerdá, Carmen Penadés, Abel Gómez, & Marcos R. S. Borges. (2012). SAGA: An integrated architecture for the management of advanced emergency plans. 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: Despite the significant advances that software and hardware technologies have brought to the emergency management field, some islands remain where innovation has had little impact. Among them, emergency plan management is of particular relevance due to their key role in the direction of teams during responses. Aspects like coordination, collaboration, and others are spread in plain text sentences, impeding automatic tool support to improve team per-formance. Moreover, administrative management of plans becomes a mere document management activity. In this paper, we present SAGA, an architecture that supports the full lifecycle of advanced emergency plan management. By advanced we mean plans that include new types of interaction such as hypermedia and advanced process definition languages to provide precise specification of response procedures. SAGA provides all the actors involved in plan management a number of tools supporting all the stages of the plan lifecycle, from its creation to its use in training drills or actual responses. It is intended to be instantiated in systems promoted by civil defense agencies, providing administrative support to plan management; additionally, editing tools for plan designers and tools for analysis and improvement of such plans by organizations are provided. Plan enactment facilities in emergency response are also integrated. To our knowledge, it is the very first proposal that covers all the aspects of plan man-agement. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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José H. Canós-Cerdá, Carmen Penadés, Carlos Solís, Marcos R. S. Borges, & Manuel Llavador. (2010). Using spatial hypertext to visualize composite knowledge in emergency responses. 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: Having the right information at the right time is crucial to make decisions during emergency responses. To fulfill this requirement, emergency management systems must provide emergency managers with knowledge management and visualization tools. The goal is twofold: on one hand, to organize knowledge coming from different sources, mainly the emergency response plans (the formal knowledge) and the information extracted from the emergency development (the contextual knowledge); on the other hand, to enable effective access to information. Formal and contextual knowledge sets are mostly disjoint; however, there are cases in which a formal knowledge piece may be updated with some contextual information, constituting what we call the composite knowledge. In this paper, we extend a knowledge framework with the notion of composite knowledge, and use spatial hypertext to visualize this type of knowledge. We illustrate our proposal with a case study on accessing to information during an emergency response in an underground transportation system.
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José H. Canós-Cerdá, Juan Sánchez-Díaz, Vicent Orts, Carmen Penadés, Abel Gómez, & Marcos R. S. Borges. (2014). Turning emergency plans into executable artifacts. 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. 498–502). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: On the way to the improvement of Emergency Plans, we show how a structured specification of the response procedures allows transforming static plans into dynamic, executable entities that can drive the way different actors participate in crisis responses. Additionally, the execution of plans requires the definition of information access mechanisms allowing execution engines to provide an actor with all the information resources he or she needs to accomplish a response task. We describe work in progress to improve the SAGA's Plan definition Module and Plan Execution Engine to support information-rich plan execution.
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José H. Canós, & Diego Piedrahita. (2017). Emergency Plans are Software, too. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 374–379). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: In one of the most influential papers in the history of Software Engineering, L.Osterweil analyzed the nature of both software and software development processes to conclude that the latter shared many characteristics with the former and, as a consequence, software development principles and techniques could be applied in the definition and exploitation of processes. Here, we do an imitation exercise to claim that emergency plans are advanced software artifacts and, hence, modern software development principles, methods, techniques and tools can be used in their development and enactment. We advocate for a change of paradigm in which the idea of emergency plans as text-based documents is replaced by that of active, complex digital objects with state and behavior that drive emergency response processes, and also several preparedness activities such as drills and training exercises. These new plans are the result of a systematic process we call Emergency Plan Engineering.
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José J. González, José H. Canós-Cerdá, Tony Norris, & Reem Abbas. (2018). Towards Disaster e-Health Support Systems. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 438–443). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: Disaster management and the health sector ought to be natural allies, but their different origins, culture, and priorities of the various agencies tasked with disaster response mean that communication and coordination between them is often lacking, leading to delayed, sub-standard, or inappropriate care for disaster victims. The potential of the new e-health technologies, such as the electronic health record, telehealth and mobile health, that are revolutionizing non-disaster healthcare, is also not being realised. These circumstances have led to an international project to develop a disaster e-health framework for the objectives of intelligent adaption to changing scenarios, presentation and management of information, and communication and collaboration. In this paper, we describe characteristics of disaster e-health support systems to achieve such set of objectives.
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Manuel Llavador, Patricio Letelier, Carmen Penadés, José H. Canós-Cerdá, Marcos R. S. Borges, & Carlos Solís. (2006). Precise yet flexible specification of emergency resolution procedures. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 110–120). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Emergency Managers face a number of critical problems related to the compilation, validation, and use of Emergency Procedures. Traditional approaches do not provide enough expressiveness to accurately specify emergency procedures covering each possible scenario. As a result of this situation, Emergency Procedures are not as useful as they should be, neither in prevention nor during resolution of an emergency. In this work, we present an approach that merges two techniques to provide the broad expressiveness required when specifying Emergency Procedures. To represent sequences on actions performed by different participants we use workflow techniques. On the other hand, we use rules to represent available or mandatory actions according to the state of the system during the emergency. These rules are expressed in dynamic logic as the underlying formalism. Our approach provides more expressiveness and precision for the specification of Emergency Procedures, offering better conditions for their verification and validation. As a case study we have used part of a city subway Emergency Procedure.
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Zeno Franco, José J. González, & José H. Canós. (2019). Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós, Eds.). Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: The theme of ISCRAM 2019 is Towards individual-centric emergency management
systems. This edition wishes to highlight the particular needs of the individual
stakeholder in Crisis and Emergency Management and to stimulate discussions that
enable the design of individual-centric crisis and emergency management systems.
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