Secure & Prepared, January 24, 2006, Vol.2, no.2

Secure & Prepared is a bi-weekly publication of the Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Division for those involved in the homeland security system in the state of Iowa

Firefighting as a game

The Firefighter Problem was proposed in 1995 [16] as a deterministic discrete-time model for the spread (and containment) of a fire. Its applications reach from real fires to the spreading of diseases and the containment of floods. Furthermore, it can be used to model the spread of computer viruses or viral marketing in communication networks. In this work, we study the problem from a game-theoretical perspective. Such a context seems very appropriate when applied to large networks, where entities may act and make decisions based on their own interests, without global coordination. We model the Firefighter Problem as a strategic game where there is one player for each time step who decides where to place the firefighters. We show that the Price of Anarchy is linear in the general case, but at most 2 for trees. We prove that the quality of the equilibria improves when allowing coalitional cooperation among players. In general, we have that the Price of Anarchy is in T(n/k) where k is the coalition size. Furthermore, we show that there are topologies which have a constant Price of Anarchy even when constant sized coalitions are considered.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Estimating Private Incentives for Wildfire Risk Mitigation: Determinants of Demands for Different Fire-Safe Actions

In this article we develop a general conceptual model of a property-owner’s decision to implement actions to protect his property against wildfire threat. Assuming a prospective-utility maximizing decision maker, we derive a system of demand functions for fire-safe actions that characterizes factors affecting individual decision making. We then empirically estimate the demands for various fire-safe actions functions using survey data of property owners facing a wildfire threat in Nevada. We find that the probability of individuals implementing some fire-safe action increases with value of the residence, previous experience with wildfire, the property being used as the primary residence, positive attitude towards wildfire management methods on public lands, and connectedness of community members. A lower probability of implementing fire-safe actions is found for those who value pristine nature and privacy that nature provides.Risk and Uncertainty,

A Military Engima: The Canadian Air Service Company, 1948-1949

The Canadian Special Air Service (SAS) Company is truly a military enigma. Very few people are aware of its short-lived existence. Those who are normally have a misunderstanding of its origins and role, a misconception largely reinforced by the sparse and largely inaccurate material that has been written on the subject. For example, most believe that it was raised specifically to provide a commando capability within the Canadian Army immediately after the Second World War. The story of the Canadian SAS Company is actually surreptitious. The army originally packaged the sub-unit as a very benevolent organization, centred on aid to the civil authority and assistance to the general public. Once established, however, a fundamental and contentious shift in its orientation became evident—one that was never fully resolved prior to the sub-unit’s demise. With time, myths, often enough repeated, took on the essence of fact

Coordinating a team of agents in the forest firefighting domain

Documento confidencial. Não pode ser disponibilizado para consultaTese de mestrado. Inteligência Artificial e Sistemas Inteligentes. 2006. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Port