Multi agent systems approach for emergency response process management

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistemas, Florianópolis, 2016.Esta dissertação aborda o problema de melhorar o processo de resposta a uma emergência em um sistema de trânsito urbano. A abordagem de Sistemas Multi Agentes, dotado de uma técnica de cooperação, é adotada para implementar uma estratégia que controla os semáforos e conduz os veículos de emergências de modo a melhorar seus tempos de deslocamento, além de minimizar o impacto das prioridades atribuídas a tais veículos no fluxo do tráfego. A proposta é avaliada definindo como métricas: o tempo total necessário para resolver a emergência, como também, a velocidade média, o tempo médio e a densidade média de todos os veículos no trânsito. Os resultados mostram que nossa proposta consegue reduzir o tempo de deslocamento dos veículos de emergência, além de minimizar o impacto das prioridades atribuídas a tais veículos no fluxo do tráfego.Abstract : This dissertation approaches the problem of improving an emergency response process on an urban traffic system. The use of Multi Agent Systems approach, endowed with an explicit cooperation technique is proposed to implement a strategy that controls the traffic signals and route emergency vehicles in order to improve their travel time and minimize the impact of priorities given to these emergency vehicles on the traffic flow. The time needed to perform all the emergency response process, as well as, the average speed, travel time and density are defined as metrics for the assessment. The assessment results show that our proposal is able to reduce the travel time of emergency vehicles as well as to minimize the impact of priorities given to emergency vehicles on the traffic flow

A Framework for Analyzing and Optimizing Regional Bio-Emergency Response Plans

The presence of naturally occurring and man-made public health threats necessitate the design and implementation of mitigation strategies, such that adequate response is provided in a timely manner. Since multiple variables, such as geographic properties, resource constraints, and government mandated time-frames must be accounted for, computational methods provide the necessary tools to develop contingency response plans while respecting underlying data and assumptions. A typical response scenario involves the placement of points of dispensing (PODs) in the affected geographic region to supply vaccines or medications to the general public. Computational tools aid in the analysis of such response plans, as well as in the strategic placement of PODs, such that feasible response scenarios can be developed. Due to the sensitivity of bio-emergency response plans, geographic information, such as POD locations, must be kept confidential. The generation of synthetic geographic regions allows for the development of emergency response plans on non-sensitive data, as well as for the study of the effects of single geographic parameters. Further, synthetic representations of geographic regions allow for results to be published and evaluated by the scientific community. This dissertation presents methodology for the analysis of bio-emergency response plans, methods for plan optimization, as well as methodology for the generation of synthetic geographic regions

Facility location modeling : decentralization of Saskatoon homecare agency

Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) is encountering a facility location problem for its centralized homecare agency which currently is located in Idylwyld Center close to the city’s downtown. Through their homecare program, they provide various home/nursing services to the elderly and patients discharged from acute care. Reducing time wasted on the road and travel expenditures, increasing hands-on-time and covering the increasing demand for homecare services are a few of SHR’s motivations to assess the project of decentralization of their home base. They have determined a set of potential sites for their new offices which are scattered all over the city. The purpose of this research is to model their facility location problem using a quantitative method, with the objective of determining the optimal set of sites that leads to minimizing overall cost. In addition to identifying the best locations, the size of each facility in terms of required staff is also determined

Operational Impact of Shadow Evacuation on Regional Road Networks During Short-Notice Emergency Evacuations

As part of evacuation planning, development of effective tactical and operational strategies are essential to safely and efficiently mobilize the public away from the threat. Evacuations are classified by the time between notification and the anticipated arrival of the threat which can be categorized as short, or no-notice emergencies. Emergencies involve the computation of the time required to evacuate the area of risk, which is the time to clear a radius of up to about 10-miles around the nuclear power plant, known as the emergency planning zone (EPZ). These evacuation time estimates (ETE) also account for the evacuation of the public outside the defined area of risk. Typically, this area extends five miles outside the EPZ boundary and it is commonly referred to as the shadow evacuation region. Although shadow evacuation could create significant traffic congestion that affects the EPZ clearance process, there is limited research quantifying this effect. The objective of this research was to study the impacts of shadow evacuation to the overall EPZ clearance process. To accomplish this, the research used microscopic traffic simulation to assess the effect of different shadow participation rates for three hypothetical nuclear power plants with distinct population sizes surrounding the plant (small, medium, and large) and roadway characteristics. The guidance in NUREG/CR-7002 for ETE studies recommends a 20 percent participation rate that was based on previous studies, research related to ETE demographics, public response, and other contributing factors. However, the 20 percent recommendation may be conservative. The results suggested that small population sites are not impacted significantly by varying the shadow participation rates. However, medium and large population sites showed a noticeable effect, particularly in those corridors with less capacity. If the shadow evacuation participation rate is increased to 40 percent, the ETE to evacuate 90 percent of the population is increased by up to 10 percent in medium-sized areas, and up to 19 percent in large areas. Under the same conditions, the ETE to evacuate 100 percent of the population increases by less than 5 percent for medium-sized areas and less than 3 percent for large areas

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue Disasters, Emergencies, and Residence Hall Communications GWU\u27s Safety Systems Built Around Telecommunications ln the Face of Disaster Advertorial: Contact 101 : Strategies for Emergency Notification University Approaches to Emergencies and Emergency Communication A Reasoned Response to Crisis Digital Forensics: What ls lt and Why Should I Care? Exploits, Guidelines, and Vulnerabilities: Protecting Digital Resources Classifying Events, lncidents and Disasters President\u27s Message From the Executive Director Here\u27s My Advic

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue Disasters, Emergencies, and Residence Hall Communications GWU\u27s Safety Systems Built Around Telecommunications ln the Face of Disaster Advertorial: Contact 101 : Strategies for Emergency Notification University Approaches to Emergencies and Emergency Communication A Reasoned Response to Crisis Digital Forensics: What ls lt and Why Should I Care? Exploits, Guidelines, and Vulnerabilities: Protecting Digital Resources Classifying Events, lncidents and Disasters President\u27s Message From the Executive Director Here\u27s My Advic

Coronal thick CT reconstruction: an alternative for initial chest radiography in trauma patients

It has been proposed that the imaging workup of trauma patients be accelerated by omitting the initial chest radiography (CR) and directly performing a computed tomography (CT); however, the baseline CR is then lacking. The purpose of this study was to assess if coronal thick reconstructions generated from chest CT could present an adequate alternative for CR. Sixty trauma patients underwent bedside CR and multidetector row chest CT in the emergency room. The image quality of thoracic anatomical structures, the diagnostic accuracy for chest pathology, and the depiction of indwelling devices were assessed on both modalities. Main pulmonary arteries and perihilar bronchi were equally visualized with both modalities. Central bronchi, retrocardial lung parenchyma, diaphragm, descending aorta, and vertebral pedicles were better visualized on thick CT reconstructions, whereas peripheral lung vessels were better depicted on CR (p<0.05). The accuracy to delineate various pathological findings did not differ between both modalities, except for a higher sensitivity to diagnose bronchial cuffing on CR (p<0.05). The location of indwelling devices was similarly and correctly depicted with both modalities. Coronal thick CT reconstructions provide a similar image quality and diagnostic accuracy compared with CR. These reconstructions may serve as an equivalent baseline image in trauma patients in whom emergency radiological evaluation has to be accelerate

Riigiasutuse soorituse hindamine ebakindla nõudluse tingimustes Eesti, Soome ja Rootsi päästeteenuste näitel

Uuringuprobleem. Kui riigiasutus jaotab oma ressursse, on nõudlus nende teenuste järele tihti kindlalt teadmata. Omamata täielikku teavet nõudlusest, kindlustab otsustaja ennast nõudlusšokkide vastu täiendavate ressurssidega (suurendab valmisolekut). Kulu- ja tõhususanalüüsid eeldavad üldjuhul, et nõudlust iseloomustavad parameetrid on teada (või ei pöörata sellele tähelepanu), mis on aga ebarealistlik ega arvesta teenuse osutamise keerukusega riigiasutuses. Enamasti toob see kaasa soorituse tõhususe liiga madala hinnangu. Üleliigset ressursivarustatust (valmisolekut) teenuste osutamiseks võib osaliselt selgitada otsustajate riskikartliku käitumisega, mistõttu peaks riskihinnang olema osa soorituse hinnangust, vältimaks sellise ressursivarustatuse käsitlemist ebatõhususena. Ex ante, võttes arvesse oodatud nõudlust, võib ressursside jaotus olla optimaalne, kuid mitte ex post, kui on teada reaalne nõudluse tase. Doktoritöö eesmärgiks oli välja töötada teoreetiline kontseptsioon ja rakendus, kuidas hinnata sooritust riigiasutuses, mis toimib ebakindla nõudluse tingimustes. Et hinnata mitme üksusega ja mitmel tasandil toimivat teenuseid osutavat riigiasutust ebakindla nõudluse tingimustes, loodi süsteem, milles hinnati (a) keskse riigiasutuse kulutõhusust, (b) allüksuste alavarustatust ja (c) allüksuste väljundtõhusust. Soorituse hindamiseks kasutati piirianalüüsi meetodeid (DEA, FDH, DFA) ning kontseptsiooni rakendati Eesti, Soome ja Rootsi päästevaldkonna näitel. Tulemused ja tähtsus. Päästeteenuseid pakutakse mitmete allüksuste poolt erinevates piirkondades. Teenuste osutaja otsustab esialgselt, kuidas ressursid (päästjad, masinad) erinevates piirkondades jaotada, teadmata seejuures, kui palju päästesündmusi seal tegelikult aset leiab. Allüksused hoiavad teatud valmisoleku taset, et vajaduse korral päästesündmusele reageerida. Valmisoleku tagamine on aga kõige kulukam komponent eelarves, mistõttu on oluline, et ressursid oleks jaotatud nii, et ei tekiks liigseid kulusid, st minimeeritakse valmisoleku taset optimaalse mahu ja kvaliteediga päästeteenuse pakkumiseks. Saadud tulemused näitavad veenvalt, et mudelid, mis arvestavad nõudluse ebakindlusega, hindavad kulutõhususe kõrgemaks kui standardsed mudelid, olenemata hindamismeetodist või hinnatud riigist.Description of the Problem. When planning the allocation of resources in public agencies, the demand for services is often unknown and prone to uncertainty. Without having the full information of the possible demand, the decision maker will insure oneself with additional standby capacity against upsurges in demand. Cost and efficiency studies predominantly assume known demand, which is unrealistic and hinders understanding the essence of service provision in public agencies. In many cases, it has probably resulted in underestimation of efficiency. The observed excess capacity can partly be explained by risk averse behaviour and should be incorporated to the analysis to avoid unjustly labelling such input usage as inefficiency. Ex ante, given expected demand, the resource allocation is optimal, but not ex post, given realised levels of demand. The challenge is to distinguish the necessary standby capacity from excessive mismanagement. This thesis develops the theoretical concept and application to measure the performance of public agencies in the case of demand uncertainty. To evaluate the efficiency of a multi-unit and multilevel service providing public agency in the presence of demand uncertainty, one is interested in: (a) the cost-efficiency of the central agency, (b) any under-resourcing of subunits, and (c) the output-oriented technical efficiency of each subunit in jurisdictions. The suggested models would be the basis for planning resource allocation improvement in public agencies. The models are implemented using the example of the Estonian, Finnish and Swedish fire and rescue services. For estimation, different frontier analysis methods (DEA, FDH, DFA) are proposed. Result and Benefit. Typically, the rescue authority decides beforehand to allocate resources (rescuers, vehicles, etc.) between different subunits in jurisdictions without knowing how many emergencies will occur. The subunits must maintain a certain level of standby capacity to be able to respond to emergencies. Sustaining the readiness, however, is the most expensive component in the running costs. The results show convincingly that the models taking the demand uncertainty in the form of minimum service level into account, estimate a higher cost-efficiency irrespective of the estimation method or country (with different level of centralisation for management) analysed