Multi-objective performance optimization of a probabilistic similarity/dissimilarity-based broadcasting scheme for mobile ad hoc networks in disaster response scenarios

Communications among crewmembers in rescue teams and among victims are crucial to relief the consequences and damages of a disaster situation. A common communication system for establishing real time communications between the elements (victims, crewmem-bers, people living in the vicinity of the disaster scenario, among others) involved in a disaster scenario is required. Ad hoc networks have been envisioned for years as a possible solution. They allow users to establish decentralized communications quickly and using common devices like mobile phones. Broadcasting is the main mechanism used to dissemi-nate information in all-to-all fashion in ad hoc networks. The objective of this paper is to optimize a broadcasting scheme based on similari-ty/dissimilarity coefficient designed for disaster response scenarios through a multi-objective optimization problem in which several per-formance metrics such as reachability, number of retransmissions and delay are optimized simultaneously

User Interface Design And Forensic Analysis For DIORAMA, Decision Support System For Mass Casualty Incidents

In this thesis we introduces the user interface design and forensic analysis tool for DIORAMA system. With an Android device, DIORAMA provides emergency personnel the ability to collect information in real time, track the resources and manage them. It allows the responders and commanders to mange multiple incidents simultaneously. This thesis also describes the implementations of commander app and responder app, as well as two different communication strategies used in DIORAMA. Several trials and simulated mass casualty incidents were conducted to test the functionalities and performance of DIORAMA system. All responders that participated in all trials were very satisfied with it. As a result, DIORAMA system significantly reduced the evacuation time by up to 43% when compared to paper based triage systems

学校施設の防災機能の向上のために 「避難所となる学校施設の防災機能に関する調査研究」報告書【英訳版】

Chapter 1 Condition of school facilities designated as emergency evacuation site.. ……………1　1. Necessity to enhance disaster prevention capability at school facilities……………1　2. Evacuation sites from a legal standpoint……………………………………………………………3Chapter 2 Current disaster prevention capabilities and conditions of the school facilities designated asevacuation sites………………………………4　1. Past issues regarding disaster prevention capabilities at school facilities during major disasters……………4　(1) Concerns with the safety of the facilities　(2) Concerns about necessary capabilities for evacuation facilities　(3) Concerns about how to operate the evacuation site　(4) Concerns about the prompt restart of educational activities in the schools2. Understanding the current condition of disaster prevention capability of school facilities and equipment ………………11　(1) Summary of the Inquiry survey　(2) Result of the survey on disaster prevention capability at school facilities　(3) Result of the survey on projecting and designing school facilities to support the community by serving as evacuation sitesChapter 3 Measures to enhance the disaster prevention capability at school facilities utilized as evacuation facilities ……………………………17　1. Basic concept ..……………17　2. Specific measures for the enhancement of disaster prevention capabilities at school facilities …18　(1) Ensuring of seismic resisting facilities　(2) Necessary functions and capabilities for an evacuation facility　(3) Establishing operational measures for evacuation facility　(4) Prompt restart of educational activities in the school　3. Promoting measures to enhance disaster prevention capability for school facilities ..………26　(1) Exploitation of various fiscal support systems　(2) Improvement of disaster prevention capabilities simultaneously with either the initial or expanding construction or large-scale rehabilitation　(3) Providing information of exemplary advanced project　(4) Understanding the condition of disaster prevention capabilitiesChapter 4 Example of a project that enhances disaster prevention capability that can also be used as an educational activity………………29　1. Example of a project for enhancing disaster prevention capabilities (Facility) ……………30　2. Example of a project for enhancing disaster prevention capabilities (Operation) …………38References　Part 1　 I School facilities utilized as evacuation sites for the Noto Peninsula Earthquake………43　II School facilities utilized as evacuation sites for the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake ………………55Part 2 Reference materia

Integrated ZigBee RFID sensor networks for resource tracking and monitoring in logistics management

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which includes passive and active systems and is the hottest Auto-ID technology nowadays, and the wireless sensor network (WSN), which is one of the focusing topics on monitoring and control, are two fast-growing technologies that have shown great potential in future logistics management applications. However, an information system for logistics applications is always expected to answer four questions: Who, What, When and Where (4Ws), and neither of the two technologies is able to provide complete information for all of them. WSN aims to provide environment monitoring and control regarded as When and What , while RFID focuses on automatic identification of various objects and provides Who (ID). Most people usually think RFID can provide Where at all the time. But what normal passive RFID does is to tell us where an object was the last time it went through a reader, and normal active RFID only tells whether an object is presenting on site. This could sometimes be insufficient for certain applications that require more accurate location awareness, for which a system with real-time localization (RTLS), which is an extended concept of RFID, will be necessary to answer Where constantly. As WSN and various RFID technologies provide information for different but complementary parts of the 4Ws, a hybrid system that gives a complete answer by combining all of them could be promising in future logistics management applications. Unfortunately, in the last decade those technologies have been emerging and developing independently, with little research been done in how they could be integrated. This thesis aims to develop a framework for the network level architecture design of such hybrid system for on-site resource management applications in logistics centres. The various architectures proposed in this thesis are designed to address different levels of requirements in the hierarchy of needs, from single integration to hybrid system with real-time localization. The contribution of this thesis consists of six parts. Firstly, two new concepts, Reader as a sensor and Tag as a sensor , which lead to RAS and TAS architectures respectively, for single integrations of RFID and WSN in various scenarios with existing systems; Secondly, a integrated ZigBee RFID Sensor Network Architecture for hybrid integration; Thirdly, a connectionless inventory tracking architecture (CITA) and its battery consumption model adding location awareness for inventory tracking in Hybrid ZigBee RFID Sensor Networks; Fourthly, a connectionless stochastic reference beacon architecture (COSBA) adding location awareness for high mobility target tracking in Hybrid ZigBee RFID Sensor Networks; Fifthly, improving connectionless stochastic beacon transmission performance with two proposed beacon transmission models, the Fully Stochastic Reference Beacon (FSRB) model and the Time Slot Based Stochastic Reference Beacon (TSSRB) model; Sixthly, case study of the proposed frameworks in Humanitarian Logistics Centres (HLCs). The research in this thesis is based on ZigBee/IEEE802.15.4, which is currently the most widely used WSN technology. The proposed architectures are demonstrated through hardware implementation and lab tests, as well as mathematic derivation and Matlab simulations for their corresponding performance models. All the tests and simulations of my designs have verified feasibility and features of our designs compared with the traditional systems

A model of amateur radio community behavioural intention to use amateur radio communication technology in emergency situations

Amateur Radio Community (ARC) is a small community that passionately uses amateur radio communication technology (ARCT) to support relief agencies during emergency situation. Understanding their behavioural intention (BI) would help us recognize salient factors that can empower the public to participate actively and support the government relief agencies in emergency situation. As ARC exhibits responsible, trustworthy, and willing behaviour to use the ARCT, especially in emergency situation, it is interesting to explore these unique behaviours so that government can empower them to actively continue using ARCT. However, the lack of demographics information as well as salient factors that drive their intentions in using ARCT has limited the government's efforts in engaging them to support relief agencies. Thus, this study develops a model to unravel these problems.This study employs a quantitative research method via an online survey. The survey instrument is constructed by reviewing relevant factors, which the ARCT experts then confirm. A pilot study involving 30 experienced ARC was conducted to check instrument reliability. Academic experts verified the research instrument before and after the pilot study. For the main study, 400 respondents were selected from the ARC throughout Malaysia. This study presented the ARC demographics, such as age, gender, race, education level, occupation, income, practice and skill in using ARCT. The findings revealed that the most significant factors were compatibility because using ARCT is their usual practice in daily life. Hedonic motivation, which is referred to as ARC excitement and willingness to use ARCT to achieve satisfaction, was also a significant factor. Other significant factor includes habit, peer trustworthiness, social influence, performance expectancy, price value, effort expectancy and facilitating condition. While, experience, age and gender were significant in moderating the relationship between each factor. The moderating effect shows the variance in the strength of the relationship of each factor. In conclusion, this study's outcomes are meant to be included as guidelines for the stakeholders in dealing with emergency situation. In addition, the established model can be further explored by researchers in their future studies on this subject. The salient factors identified from the study showed the ARC readiness to be at the forefront in supporting relief agencies before, during or after a disaster struck

A Context-aware Healthcare Architecture For The Elderly

In order to provide dependable healthcare services for the elderly, it is necessary to have a patient-centric healthcare architecture in which context-aware healthcare services can be provided at any time and anywhere. Such a service automation has the virtues to overcome the disadvantages arising from the disabilities that are inherent in the elderly population, physically challenged, and those who live in remote areas. In order that patients trust the healthcare services provided by the system, the creation of healthcare services must be founded on accurate personalized health model of patients, and must be delivered by experts through dependable medical devices and secure channels. Motivated by this goal, this thesis proposes a layered health model that can be personalized to meet the privacy requirements of a patient, and constructs a context-aware healthcare architecture in which healthcare services for each patient is specialized based on personalized health models, health contexts, and emerging health situations. A prototype implementation of the architecture is validated for Hypertension and Dementia case studies

Research on the System Safety Management in Urban Railway

Nowadays, rail transport has become one of the most widely utilised forms of transport thanks to its high safety level, large capacity, and cost-effectiveness. With the railway network's continuous development, including urban rail transit, one of the major areas of increasing attention and demand is ensuring safety or risk management in operation long-term remains for the whole life cycle by scientific tools, management of railway operation (Martani 2017), specifically in developed and developing countries like Vietnam. The situation in Vietnam demonstrates that the national mainline railway network has been built and operated entirely in a single narrow gauge (1000mm) since the previous century, with very few updates of manual operating technology. This significantly highlights that up to now, the conventional technique for managing the safety operation in general, and collision in particular, of the current Vietnamese railway system, including its subsystems, is only accident statistics which is not a scientific-based tool as the others like risk identify and analyse methods, risk mitigation…, that are already available in many countries. Accident management of Vietnam Railways is limited and responsible for accident statistics analysis to avoid and minimise the harm caused by phenomena that occur only after an accident. Statistical analysis of train accident case studies in Vietnam railway demonstrates that, because hazards and failures that could result in serious system occurrences (accidents and incidents) have not been identified, recorded, and evaluated to conduct safety-driven risk analysis using a well-suited assessment methodology, risk prevention and control cannot be achieved. Not only is it hard to forecast and avoid events, but it may also raise the chance and amount of danger, as well as the severity of the later effects. As a result, Vietnam's railway system has a high number of accidents and failure rates. For example, Vietnam Rail-ways' mainline network accounted for approximately 200 railway accidents in 2018, a 3% increase over the previous year, including 163 collisions between trains and road vehicles/persons, resulting in more than 100 fatalities and more than 150 casualties; 16 accidents, including almost derailments, the signal passed at danger… without fatality or casual-ty, but significant damage to rolling stock and track infrastructure (VR 2021). Focusing and developing a new standardised framework for safety management and availability of railway operation in Vietnam is required in view of the rapid development of rail urban transport in the country in recent years (VmoT 2016; VmoT 2018). UMRT Line HN2A in southwest Hanoi is the country's first elevated light rail transit line, which was completed and officially put into revenue service in November 2021. This greatly highlights that up to the current date, the UMRT Line HN2A is the first and only railway line in Vietnam with operational safety assessment launched for the first time and long-term remains for the whole life cycle. The fact that the UMRT Hanoi has a large capacity, more complicated rolling stock and infrastructure equipment, as well as a modern communica-tion-based train control (CBTC) signalling system and automatic train driving without the need for operator intervention (Lindqvist 2006), are all advantages. Developing a compatible and integrated safety management system (SMS) for adaption to the safety operating requirements of this UMRT is an important major point of concern, and this should be proven. In actuality, the system acceptance and safety certification phase for Metro Line HN2A prolonged up to 2.5 years owing to the identification of difficulties with noncompliance to safety requirements resulting from inadequate SMS documents and risk assessment. These faults and hazards have developed during the manufacturing and execution of the project; it is impossible to go back in time to correct them, and it is also impossible to ignore the project without assuming responsibility for its management. At the time of completion, the HN2A metro line will have required an expenditure of up to $868 million, thus it is vital to create measures to prevent system failure and assure passenger safety. This dissertation has reviewed the methods to solve the aforementioned challenges and presented a solution blueprint to attain the European standard level of system safety in three-phase as in the following: • Phase 1: applicable for lines that are currently in operation, such as Metro Line HN2A. Focused on operational and maintenance procedures, as well as a training plan for railway personnel, in order to enhance human performance. Complete and update the risk assessment framework for Metro Line HN2A. The dissertation's findings are described in these applications. • Phase 2: applicable for lines that are currently in construction and manufacturing, such as Metro Line HN3, Line HN2, HCMC Line 1 and Line 2. Continue refining and enhancing engineering management methods introduced during Phase 1. On the basis of the risk assessment by manufacturers (Line HN3, HCMC Line 2 with European manufacturers) and the risk assessment framework described in Chapter 4, a risk management plan for each line will be developed. Building Accident database for risk assessment research and development. • Phase 3: applicable for lines that are currently in planning. Enhance safety requirements and life-cycle management. Building a proactive Safety Culture step by step for the railway industry. This material is implemented gradually throughout all three phases, beginning with the creation of the concept and concluding with an improvement in the attitude of railway personnel on the HN2A line. In addition to this overview, Chapters 4 through Chapter 9 of the dissertation include particular solutions for Risk assessment, Vehicle and Infrastructure Maintenance methods, Inci-dent Management procedures, and Safety Culture installation. This document focuses on constructing a system safety concept for railway personnel, providing stringent and scientific management practises to assure proper engineering conditions, to manage effectively the metro line system, and ensuring passenger safety in Hanoi's metro operatio

How to Improve Assessment of Tetanus Immunity in the Emergency Room: A Prospective Cost-Effectiveness, Double Blind Study

peer reviewe

Satellite Communications

This study is motivated by the need to give the reader a broad view of the developments, key concepts, and technologies related to information society evolution, with a focus on the wireless communications and geoinformation technologies and their role in the environment. Giving perspective, it aims at assisting people active in the industry, the public sector, and Earth science fields as well, by providing a base for their continued work and thinking