Improving resilience in Critical Infrastructures through learning from past events

Modern societies are increasingly dependent on the proper functioning of Critical Infrastructures (CIs). CIs produce and distribute essential goods or services, as for power transmission systems, water treatment and distribution infrastructures, transportation systems, communication networks, nuclear power plants, and information technologies. Being resilient, where resilience denotes the capacity of a system to recover from challenges or disruptive events, becomes a key property for CIs, which are constantly exposed to threats that can undermine safety, security, and business continuity. Nowadays, a variety of approaches exists in the context of CIs’ resilience research. This dissertation starts with a systematic review based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) on the approaches that have a complete qualitative dimension, or that can be used as entry points for semi-quantitative analyses. The review identifies four principal dimensions of resilience referred to CIs (i.e., techno-centric, organizational, community, and urban) and discusses the related qualitative or semi-quantitative methods. The scope of the thesis emphasizes the organizational dimension, as a socio-technical construct. Accordingly, the following research question has been posed: how can learning improve resilience in an organization? Firstly, the benefits of learning in a particular CI, i.e. the supply chain in reverse logistics related to the small arms utilized by Italian Armed Forces, have been studied. Following the theory of Learning From Incidents, the theoretical model helped to elaborate a centralized information management system for the Supply Chain Management of small arms within a Business Intelligence (BI) framework, which can be the basis for an effective decision-making process, capable of increasing the systemic resilience of the supply chain itself. Secondly, the research question has been extended to another extremely topical context, i.e. the Emergency Management (EM), exploring the crisis induced learning where single-loop and double-loop learning cycles can be established regarding the behavioral perspective. Specifically, the former refers to the correction of practices within organizational plans without changing core beliefs and fundamental rules of the organization, while the latter aims at resolving incompatible organizational behavior by restructuring the norms themselves together with the associated practices or assumptions. Consequently, with the aim of ensuring high EM systems resilience, and effective single-loop and double-loop crisis induced learning at organizational level, the study examined learning opportunities that emerge through the exploration of adaptive practices necessary to face the complexity of a socio-technical work domain as the EM of Covid-19 outbreaks on Oil & Gas platforms. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been adopted to analyze the resilience of this specific socio-technical system. On this consciousness, with the intention to explore systems theoretic possibilities to model the EM system, the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) has been proposed as a qualitative method for developing a systematic understanding of adaptive practices, modelling planning and resilient behaviors and ultimately supporting crisis induced learning. After the FRAM analysis, the same EM system has also been studied adopting a Bayesian Network (BN) to quantify resilience potentials of an EM procedure resulting from the adaptive practices and lessons learned by an EM organization. While the study of CIs is still an open and challenging topic, this dissertation provides methodologies and running examples on how systemic approaches may support data-driven learning to ultimately improve organizational resilience. These results, possibly extended with future research drivers, are expected to support decision-makers in their tactical and operational endeavors

Paths to Innovation in Supply Chains: The Landscape of Future Research

This chapter presents a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for supply chain and it is the result of an intensive work jointly performed involving a wide network of stakeholders from discrete manufacturing, process industry and logistics sector to put forward a vision to strengthen European Supply Chains for the next decade. The work is based on matching visions from literature and from experts with several iterations between desk research and workshops, focus groups and interviews. The result is a detailed analysis of the supply chain strategies identified as most relevant for the next years and definition of the related research and innovation topics as future developments and steps for the full implementation of the strategies, thus proposing innovative and cutting-edge actions to be implemented based on technological development and organisational change

Flood Disaster Relief Operation: A Systematic Literature Review

A flood is natural disaster that often occurs in many regions. Flood has a significant impact on the nature conditions, local communities, and regional economic losses. The flood can happen due to a damaged environmental system; therefore, it needs deeper study and extra effort to prevent it. Thus, an appropriate and right Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) is needed in responding to flood disaster. In this research, 50 articles categorized in "flood disaster relief operation" published in the range 2012 to 2022 have been reviewed. This review is conducted by using the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method. This study aims to explore and analyze flood DRO. The findings reveal that the flood DRO still has several weaknesses in the current system that should be improved: the lack of an integrated information system, not enough collaboration of the stakeholders, the lateness of information exchange, and unplanned relief operations through the preparation. For further research, it is recommended to implement the proposed system in the relief operations execution

The role of information management in the standardization of humanitarian logistics, what impact it has in the emergency structure, a case study analysis of man-made crises in Maiduguri.

openLe crescenti crisi provocate dall'uomo hanno causato la perdita di vite umane, proprietà e risorse. La prontezza e la capacità di risposta delle organizzazioni non governative hanno lo scopo di ridurre al minimo queste perdite. INTERSOS è un importante operatore di emergenza che opera in contesti multi e intersettoriali per raggiungere i gruppi sociali più vulnerabili. Tenendo conto di ciò, l'obiettivo è quello di esplorare in che misura la loro gestione delle conoscenze abbia portato a miglioramenti significativi nella gestione della crisi umanitaria nel nostro caso di studio: Maiduguri (Stato di Borno, Nigeria) e si fonde con quella di altre organizzazioni, al fine di proporre un modello che potrebbe ottimizzare la loro maturità di gestione della conoscenza attraverso le risorse sociali incorporate nella loro struttura e sottolinea il ruolo cruciale della logistica e della gestione della catena di approvvigionamento nel contesto umanitario. Nello specifico, il documento confronterà la risposta sul campo, attraverso l'analisi dei report degli ultimi anni di INTERSOS, nella risposta alle emergenze causate dall'uomo; ciò avverrà attraverso lo studio approfondito dei casi, attraverso le informazioni fornite periodicamente dagli operatori dell'organizzazione sulla base degli indici parametrici MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning). L'efficienza della risposta in queste dinamiche non è esclusivamente circostanziale, ma dipende in larga misura dalle iniziative e dai complementi di molteplici agenzie che regolano le procedure in campo umanitario, ad esempio: HNPW, HLN, SPHERE e altre. Lo studio prenderà in considerazione la forma di aiuto dipendente dal contesto (Nfi, kit per la dignità, assistenza in denaro), ma anche la difficoltà di approccio in queste situazioni, dovuta in primo luogo al controllo delle politiche internazionali e a pratiche spesso troppo vincolanti per gli operatori umanitari, nonché alla difficoltà di mantenere una storia di dati uniforme e funzionale.The ever-increasing man-made crysis have been causing the loss of lives, properties and resources. The preparedness and response ability of non-governmental organizations is aimed to minimize these losses. INTERSOS is an important emergency actor that operates in ecosystems of multi and cross-sector stakeholders in order to reach the most vulnerable social groups. Having this in mind, the goal is to explore to what extent their knowledge management led to significant improvements in the management of the humanitarian crisis in our case study: Maiduguri (Borno State, Nigeria) and merges with that of other organizations in order to propose a model that could optimize their knowledge management maturity through social resources embedded into their structure and underlines the crucial role of logistics and supply chain management in the humanitarian context. Specifically, the paper will compare the field response, through the analysis of INTERSOS last years reports in emergency response to human caused crises; this will be accomplished through the in-depth, case study through the information that is provided periodically by the organization operators based on MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning) parametric indices. Response efficiency in these dynamics is not exclusively circumstantial but depends greatly on the initiatives and complements of multiple agencies that regulate procedures in the humanitarian field for example: HNPW, HLN, SPHERE and others. The study will consider the context-dependent form of aid (nfi, dignity kits, cash assistance) but also the difficulty of approach in these situations due first to international policy control and practices that are often too constraining for humanitarian workers, as well as the difficulty of maintaining a uniform and functional data history

Toward a Resilient Holistic Supply Chain Network System: Concept, Review and Future Direction

The recent financial crisis and other major crises have suggested that there are some strong interactions and interdependence between several supply chains and their external environments in various ways. A set of supply chains that are interdependent is called a holistic supply chain network (H-SCN) in this paper. There is a need to focus on building the resilience (in short, the ability of a system to recover from damage or disruption) of an entire H-SCN as it is believed that such a network system is strongly relevant to the recent economic recession that is triggered by financial crises. The objectives of this paper are to provide a classification of different SCNs in literature, leading to the identification of a new type of SCN system, i.e., an H-SCN, and to discuss the state of knowledge on the resilience of SCNs, particularly of an H-SCN. A systematic review approach is applied in this paper. Another contribution of this paper is the provision of a more comprehensive definition and description of resilient systems, including SCN systems. A final contribution of this paper is the proposal of the future directions of research on resilient SCN systems, particularly resilient H-SCN systems.postprin

Making decisions for effective humanitarian actions: a conceptual framework for relief distribution

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Impact of COVID-19 on iot adoption in healthcare, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, transportation and industrial IoT

COVID-19 has disrupted normal life and has enforced a substantial change in the policies, priorities and activities of individuals, organisations and governments. These changes are proving to be a catalyst for technology and innovation. In this paper, we discuss the pandemic's potential impact on the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in various broad sectors namely healthcare, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, transportation and industrial IoT. Our perspective and forecast of this impact on IoT adoption is based on a thorough research literature review, a careful examination of reports from leading consulting firms and interactions with several industry experts. For each of these sectors, we also provide the details of notable IoT initiatives taken in wake of COVID-19. We also highlight the challenges that need to be addressed and important research directions that will facilitate accelerated IoT adoption.Comment: This is the version accepted at Sensors 202

Assessment of Socio-Economic Sustainability and Resilience after COVID-19

The pandemic period has caused severe socio-economic damage, but it is accompanied by environmental deterioration that can also affect economic opportunities and social equity. In the face of this double risk, future generations are ready to be resilient and make their contribution not only on the consumption side, but also through their inclusion in all companies by bringing green and circular principles with them. Policy makers can also favor this choice

Toward cognitive digital twins using a BIM-GIS asset management system for a diffused university

The integrated use of building information modeling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) is promising for the development of asset management systems (AMSs) for operation and maintenance (O & M) in smart university campuses. The combination of BIM-GIS with cognitive digital twins (CDTs) can further facilitate the management of complex systems such as university building stock. CDTs enable buildings to behave as autonomous entities, dynamically reacting to environmental changes. Timely decisions based on the actual conditions of buildings and surroundings can be provided, both in emergency scenarios or when optimized and adaptive performances are required. The research aims to develop a BIM-GIS-based AMS for improving user experience and enabling the optimal use of resources in the O & M phase of an Italian university. Campuses are complex assets, mainly diffused with buildings spread across the territory, managed with still document-based and fragmented databases handled by several subjects. This results in incomplete and asymmetrical information, often leading to ineffective and untimely decisions. The paper presents a methodology for the development of a BIM-GIS web-based platform (i.e., AMS-app) providing the real-time visualization of the asset in an interactive 3D map connected to analytical dashboards for management support. Two buildings of the University of Turin are adopted as demonstrators, illustrating the development of an easily accessible, centralized database by integrating spatial and functional data, useful also to develop future CDTs. As a first attempt to show the AMS app potential, crowd simulations have been conducted to understand the buildings' actual level of safety in case of fire emergency and demonstrate how CDTs could improve it. The identification of data needed, also gathered through the future implementation of suitable sensors and Internet of Things networks, is the core issue together with the definition of effective asset visualization and monitoring methods. Future developments will explore the integration of artificial intelligence and immersive technologies to enable space use optimization and real-time wayfinding during evacuation, exploiting digital tools to alert and drive users or authorities for safety improvement. The ability to easily optimize the paths with respect to the actual occupancy and conditions of both the asset and surroundings will be enabled