Abstract: The goal of this industrial PhD is to investigate how to include resilience into a cyber-security strategy to safeguard vital infrastructure. Critical infrastructure is increasingly susceptible since businesses are using technology more often. These infrastructures are also components of a vast, integrated, and increasing digital supply chain that transcends national boundaries, adding to the difficulties. A bigger attack surface where an attacker might use vulnerabilities contained in suppliers' and sub suppliers' chains could come from this extension of the digital supply chain. The study will add to our understanding of how to manage intricate supply chains in critical infrastructure with stringent dependability requirements. The digitalization processes in the supply chain include changes to the organizational structure, necessitating a robust strategy for continual improvement. The research question for this project is as follows: How can a resilience framework contribute to managing the complex digital supply chain for stakeholders in the power industry? The system dynamic (SD) approach will be used to generate a simulation based on the findings from each of the methods. Previous supply chain research has demonstrated that SD modelling is an effective strategy for building resilience in supply networks. To comprehend and examine the behavior of dynamic and complex systems, the notion of SD was established. The theory of system dynamics is based on the idea that actions done in systems will change the system, which will then lead to new actions. To collect primary data the qualitative method chosen as most suitable the semi-structured interview. To understand a social phenomenon, one needs to listen to people who reflect on their own experiences, knowledge, and motivation. Through interviews, it is possible to go into depth on the phenomenon and gather complex and rich data that is not available through literature review only. Contributions from this Ph.D. study are grouped into two categories: academia and organization. Further understanding regarding supply chain vulnerability and the implementation of potential techniques and ideas in novel contexts are academic contributions. The development of the resilience framework, which aims to address the difficult problem of managing stakeholders in the digital supply chain, is a contribution made by the organizations. The goal for CIs is to have resilient DSCs that can withstand and improve from high-pressure situations. Improving DSC resilience requires an understanding of the supply chain network that includes suppliers’ and their sub-suppliers’ incentives, all the way to its downstream customers’ incentives. By understanding the structure of the system, the ability to ascertain the behavior of the system increases, providing opportunities to better manage the system. If we can harness the positive incentives for collaboration and social connection the road to a more resilient CI that is available when the society require it becomes easier.

Abstract: The design of Emergency Management Systems is an activity that requires knowledge from various related domains for providing a more complete and usable solution. In this context, design patterns including knowledge from previous experiences can be a useful source of information to support the development of this type of applications. In this paper, we introduce a catalog of design patterns for Web-based Emergency Management Systems collected from design principles, design patterns and existing implementations from involved areas, taking into account requirements particular to this domain.

Abstract: One of the main design challenges of any Emergency Management System (EMS) is the diversity of users and responsibilities that must be considered. Modelling the access capabilities of different communities of users is a relevant concern for which the RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) paradigm provides flexible and powerful constructs. In this paper we describe how we used an RBAC meta-model to specify at different levels of abstraction the access policy of a specific EMS called ARCE (Aplicación en Red para Casos de Emergencia). This approach has made it possible to face access modelling at earlier development stages, so that stakeholders got involved in analytical and empirical evaluations to test the correctness and effectiveness of the access policy. Moreover, since the RBAC meta-model is embedded into a web engineering method, we put into practice a holistic process which addresses different design perspectives (structure, navigation, presentation, interaction and access) in an integrated way.

Abstract: Innovative technologies such as monitoring the quality of surface water aquifers with satellite images, applying UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and drone technology for a variety of operations, water quality measurements with improved techniques along with IoT (Internet of Things) and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), can provide sufficient data for enhancing water safety in urban water utilities. Specifically, these data could be an effective tool for improving risk assessment process and management of water supply systems. Nevertheless, till now, there is a relative lack of published works that validate the efficiency of combing these technologies on water safety processes by incorporating most of them with a systematic way and during real working conditions in water utilities. This work aims to present the preliminary design concept of a platform that embraces innovating water safety technologies planned to be applied to Thessaloniki's Water Supply and Sewerage Co. S.A Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

Abstract: This paper examines the potential relationships of Auditing and Emergency Preparedness with respect to the domain of the design of Emergency Response Information Systems. It proposes normative objectives for the integration of all these areas in the design of future organizational systems. It also proposes a series of steps to evolve in this direction and create a new interdisciplinary professional community to guide research and development for this field of endeavor. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.

Abstract: KETALE is a database and web application intended to improve the collaborative decision support of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) and of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). It integrates distributed modeling (weather forecasts and dispersion predictions by FMI, source term and dose assessments by STUK) and facilitates collaboration and sharing of information. It does so by providing functionalities for data acquisition, data management, data visualization, and data analysis. The report outlines the software development from requirement analysis to system design and implementation. Operational aspects and user experiences are presented in a separate report.

Abstract: This paper presents the learning experiences from the development of a mobile-based communication platform, called OrdningsVaktsCentralen (OVC). OVC can be translated to Security Guard Central. OVC is designed to enable the Swedish Police Force (SPF) to comply with new legal requirements and enhance their collaboration with Appointed Security Guards (ASG). The focus of this paper is on the early phases of development; in particular on the specific technical issues such as interoperability and standards used in the development of mobile based systems. The learning experiences are as follows: firstly, when developing mobile based systems we suggest and recommend that the analysis phase should be enhanced and it should address the interoperability between mobile phones on one hand and operators on the other hand. Secondly, global and national standards, such as the MMS7 for sending multi-media messages, are not always standardized. It seems that operators and mobile phone manufacturers make minor alterations and interpretations of the standard and thereby some of the benefits found in standards disappear. Thirdly, mobile based communication platforms have a large potential for contributing to the field of emergency management information systems since they can be based on open and nationally accepted standards.

Abstract: Crisis response is, as any other collaborative networked organization, challenged by changes and vulnerabilities. Moreover, as a complex system with distributed activities and numerous interdependencies, considering the risk of such an organization at a systemic level, including time and space dimensions, is necessary. Systemic risk management is a topic traditionally studied in the finance area. Even if a few researches now focus on the supply chain management area (a more relatable domain regarding crisis response), there is even fewer literature regarding systemic risk management for the crisis response. Thus, this paper proposes first to define systemic risk related to the case of the crisis response. Then, a framework for context-aware systemic risk management is presented, to support the design as well as the follow-up of the crisis response, meeting one of the challenges of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Abstract: The application of Information and Communication Technologies in emergency management environments is a challenging research topic; particularly, the applicability of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) systems specifically designed for these environments. A key aspect in emergency management is the training of operatives at all levels, from intervention to operational, including tactical command and control. Virtual reality is widely used for training and learning purposes, but the interaction of real and virtual worlds with new standards (i.e. MPEG-V), going a step further from the traditional approach to create virtual environments based in expensive simulation dedicated equipment and allowing data streaming between both worlds, has not yet been exploited in training for emergency management. This paper proposes an architecture for a C4ISR training system providing interoperability between real and virtual worlds using the MPEG-V standard and allowing simultaneous and real time training of both real and virtual units.

Abstract: This paper introduces two concepts-dialogical emergency management and strategic awareness-as means to use and understand the content of social media for the purpose of emergency communication. Dialogical emergency management denotes that the emergency management organizations follow what people publish in various social media on emergencies and ongoing emergency response, and then adjust their information strategies in a way that matches the expectations and needs for emergency information of the public. The concept of strategic awareness suggests that it is essential to have an understanding of the receiver (public) of emergency information but also to have an understanding of the receivers' idea about the emergency and emergency response. Hence, the notion of strategic awareness incorporates structured awareness of how people interpret, value, and reacts on communication based on what they think about the sender's (emergency management organization's) actual intentions and motives.

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.

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.

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.