A review of the internet of floods : near real-time detection of a flood event and its impact

Worldwide, flood events frequently have a dramatic impact on urban societies. Time is key during a flood event in order to evacuate vulnerable people at risk, minimize the socio-economic, ecologic and cultural impact of the event and restore a society from this hazard as quickly as possible. Therefore, detecting a flood in near real-time and assessing the risks relating to these flood events on the fly is of great importance. Therefore, there is a need to search for the optimal way to collect data in order to detect floods in real time. Internet of Things (IoT) is the ideal method to bring together data of sensing equipment or identifying tools with networking and processing capabilities, allow them to communicate with one another and with other devices and services over the Internet to accomplish the detection of floods in near real-time. The main objective of this paper is to report on the current state of research on the IoT in the domain of flood detection. Current trends in IoT are identified, and academic literature is examined. The integration of IoT would greatly enhance disaster management and, therefore, will be of greater importance into the future

The “Wireless Sensor Networks for City-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” Project

This paper gives a detailed technical overview of some of the activities carried out in the context of the “Wireless Sensor networks for city-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” project, funded by the Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Foundation, Italy. The main aim of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale wireless sensor network deployments, whereby tiny objects integrating one or more environmental sensors (humidity, temperature, light intensity), a microcontroller and a wireless transceiver are deployed over a large area, which in this case involves the buildings of the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Padova. We will describe how the network is organized to provide full-scale automated functions, and which services and applications it is configured to provide. These applications include long-term environmental monitoring, alarm event detection and propagation, single-sensor interrogation, localization and tracking of objects, assisted navigation, as well as fast data dissemination services to be used, e.g., to rapidly re-program all sensors over-the-air. The organization of such a large testbed requires notable efforts in terms of communication protocols and strategies, whose design must pursue scalability, energy efficiency (while sensors are connected through USB cables for logging and debugging purposes, most of them will be battery-operated), as well as the capability to support applications with diverse requirements. These efforts, the description of a subset of the results obtained so far, and of the final objectives to be met are the scope of the present paper

An evaluation of nuclear emergency preparedness in South Carolina

The Legislative Audit Council was requested conduct a comprehensive review of the State's capabilities to respond effectively to nuclear emergencies. The Audit Council's review revealed a number of deficiencies in the overall state of emergency preparedness for a nuclear accident or incident in South Carolina

Annual report (Arizona. Department of Public Safety)

The Arizona Department of Public Safety became operational by the executive order of Governor Jack Williams on July 1, 1969. Governor Williams’ mandate consolidated the functions and responsibilities of the Arizona Highway Patrol, the Enforcement Division of the State Department of Liquor Licenses and Control and the Narcotics Division of the State Department of Law

Review of Funding and Management Structures of Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) and International Search and Rescue (ISAR) Teams

When disasters exceed the capacity of the affected country to cope within its own resources, assistance from external source teams is required and typically requested (Bartolucci et al., 2019). Assistance can be Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs - also known as Disaster Medical Teams [DMTs] or Disaster Medical Assistance Teams [DMATs]) and/or International Search and Rescue (ISAR) teams. However, as the structures of these teams differ greatly, their management is paramount to success. Also, the cost of international relief, and the belief that such deployment is cost-effective, has been questioned by the international community. Although overall management and centrally pooled funding is available for EMTs and ISAR teams, this rapid review focuses on organisation and funding at the country and/or regional level. As requested, EMT examples are taken from Australia, China, India, Israel, Malaysia, and the Caribbean. Data on ISAR teams is from Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Scandinavia, and the United States (USA). The assessed ‘grey’ literature included: (i) external evaluations commissioned by funding agencies and/ or humanitarian EMT providers; (ii) institutional reviews of lessons learned; (iii) after-action reports, and (iv) formal reviews commissioned by the authorities of some of the sudden onset disaster (SOD) affected countries. Findings from response to natural disasters (de Ville de Goyet et al., 2003), and conclusions of five Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) thematic evaluations (de Ville de Goyet, 2007) were used extensively. However, since these publications, there still are few detailed data and evaluations available on EMTs and ISAR teams (Gerdin et al., 2013; Bartolucci et al., 2019). Experts consulted for this rapid review also confirmed this

MODELLING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT FOR ADVANCED NAVAL SIMULATION

This thesis proposes a new virtual simulation environment designed as element of an interoperable federation of simulator to support the investigation of complex scenarios over the Extended Maritime Framework (EMF). Extended Maritime Framework is six spaces environment (Underwater, Water surface, Ground, Air, Space, and Cyberspace) where parties involved in Joint Naval Operations act. The amount of unmanned vehicles involved in the simulation arise the importance of the Communication modelling, thus the relevance of Cyberspace. The research is applied to complex cases (one applied to deep waters and one to coast and littoral protection) as examples to validate this approach; these cases involve different kind of traditional assets (e.g. satellites, helicopters, ships, submarines, underwater sensor infrastructure, etc.) interact dynamically and collaborate with new autonomous systems (i.e. AUV, Gliders, USV and UAV). The use of virtual simulation is devoted to support validation of new concepts and investigation of collaborative engineering solutions by providing a virtual representation of the current situation; this approach support the creation of dynamic interoperable immersive framework that could support training for Man in the Loop, education and tactical decision introducing the Man on the Loop concepts. The research and development of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles requires continuous testing so a time effective approach can result a very useful tool. In this context the simulation can be useful to better understand the behaviour of Unmanned Vehicles and to avoid useless experimentations and their costs finding problems before doing them. This research project proposes the creation of a virtual environment with the aim to see and understand a Joint Naval Scenario. The study will be focusing especially on the integration of Autonomous Systems with traditional assets; the proposed simulation deals especially with collaborative operation involving different types of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The author develops an interoperable virtual simulation devoted to present the overall situation for supervision considering also the sensor capabilities, communications and mission effectiveness that results dependent of the different asset interaction over a complex heterogeneous network. The aim of this research is to develop a flexible virtual simulation solution as crucial element of an HLA federation able to address the complexity of Extended Maritime Framework (EMF). Indeed this new generation of marine interoperable simulation is a strategic advantage for investigating the problems related to the operational use of autonomous systems and to finding new ways to use them respect to different scenarios. The research deal with the creation of two scenarios, one related to military operations and another one on coastal and littoral protection where the virtual simulation propose the overall situation and allows to navigate into the virtual world considering the complex physics affecting movement, perception, interaction and communication. By this approach, it becomes evident the capability to identify, by experimental analysis within the virtual world, the new solutions in terms of engineering and technological configuration of the different systems and vehicles as well as new operational models and tactics to address the specific mission environment. The case of study is a maritime scenario with a representation of heterogeneous network frameworks that involves multiple vehicles both naval and aerial including AUVs, USVs, gliders, helicopter, ships, submarines, satellite, buoys and sensors. For the sake of clarity aerial communications will be represented divided from underwater ones. A connection point for the latter will be set on the keel line of surface vessels representing communication happening via acoustic modem. To represent limits in underwater communications, underwater signals have been considerably slowed down in order to have a more realistic comparison with aerial ones. A maximum communication distance is set, beyond which no communication can take place. To ensure interoperability the HLA Standard (IEEE 1516 evolved) is adopted to federate other simulators so to allow its extensibility for other case studies. Two different scenarios are modelled in 3D visualization: Open Water and Port Protection. The first one aims to simulate interactions between traditional assets in Extended Maritime Framework (EMF) such as satellite, navy ships, submarines, NATO Research Vessels (NRVs), helicopters, with new generation unmanned assets as AUV, Gliders, UAV, USV and the mutual advantage the subjects involved in the scenario can have; in other word, the increase in persistence, interoperability and efficacy. The second scenario models the behaviour of unmanned assets, an AUV and an USV, patrolling a harbour to find possible threats. This aims to develop an algorithm to lead patrolling path toward an optimum, guaranteeing a high probability of success in the safest way reducing human involvement in the scenario. End users of the simulation face a graphical 3D representation of the scenario where assets would be represented. He can moves in the scenario through a Free Camera in Graphic User Interface (GUI) configured to entitle users to move around the scene and observe the 3D sea scenario. In this way, players are able to move freely in the synthetic environment in order to choose the best perspective of the scene. The work is intended to provide a valid tool to evaluate the defencelessness of on-shore and offshore critical infrastructures that could includes the use of new technologies to take care of security best and preserve themselves against disasters both on economical and environmental ones

Homeland Security and Terrorism in Selected European States

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the responses to terrorism increased throughout the world. The face of Homeland Security is now heavily focused on the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of terrorist attacks not only in the United States, but also amongst some of America\u27s oldest allies. This thesis studies the level of change in homeland security strategy of European NATO members after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The analysis of strategic components within each NATO member\u27s homeland security strategy (history, laws, counterterrorism agencies and budget support) shows significant change. The international community\u27s perspective and role in terrorism and homeland security strategy can be an important component toward the safety and security in the United States. Terrorism\u27s influence on homeland security programs abroad is evidence that its successful mitigation and defeat will be contingent upon international cooperation and strategy

The BG News October 22, 1985

The BGSU campus student newspaper October 22, 1985. Volume 68 - Issue 33https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/5438/thumbnail.jp

Occupational exposure to benzoyl peroxide

"Recommendations for a benzoyl-peroxide (94360) standard relate to the environmental, medical, labeling and posting, personal protection, communication, work practice, sanitation, monitoring, and recordkeeping aspects of safety. The major concerns in occupational exposure to benzoyl-peroxide are the hazards arising from its inflammability and explosive properties. More information is required on the conditions in which benzoyl-peroxide and its formulations can be handled without risk of an explosion. Though neither tumorigenesis nor serious effects on reproduction are considered likely from benzoyl-peroxide, the need for further research in these areas is indicated. Sections deal with the biologic effects of exposure, environmental data, work practices, development of standards, and research needs. Appendices include analytical and sampling methods for determination of benzoyl- peroxide." - NIOSHTIC-2CurrentPrevention and ControlEnvironmental Healt