Hierarchic Approach to Mine Action in Croatia

The Republic of Croatia is one of the 10 most mine-contaminated countries in the world. There are almost 750,000 mines on 1,630 sq km of mine-suspected areas. About 170 sq km are actual minefields, while the rest of the area is contaminated with individual explosive ordnance. Mine-affected areas that have not been used for years, pose a huge economic problem and obstruct infrastructure development, reconstruction, and return of displaced persons to their normal lives. They also pose a significant safety problem. In particular, any activities carried out in mine-contaminated areas significantly threaten human lives and material assets. It is estimated that removing all the mines in the Republic of Croatia would cost approximately $1.473 billion (U.S.) and would require 10 years of intensive work

Project management in mine actions using Multi-Criteria-Analysis-based decision support system

In this paper, a Web-based Decision Support System (Web DSS), that supports humanitarian demining operations and restoration of mine-contaminated areas, is presented. The financial shortage usually triggers a need for priority setting in Project Management in Mine actions. As part of the FP7 Project TIRAMISU, a specialized Web DSS has been developed to achieve a fully transparent priority setting process. It allows stakeholders and donors to actively join the decision making process using a user-friendly and intuitive Web application. The main advantage of this Web DSS is its unique way of managing a mine action project using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), namely the PROMETHEE method, in order to select priorities for demining actions. The developed Web DSS allows decision makers to use several predefined scenarios (different criteria weights) or to develop their own, so it allows project managers to compare different demining possibilities with ease

A Web-Based Tourist Decision Support System for Agra City

In the last decade the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have boomed in many sectors, such as business, education, commerce and have profound implications for the tourism industry. They are being used extensively in a great variety of functions and count innumerable applications. Among these, Decision Support System (DSS) plays a fundamental role for their capacity to give tourist managing their tours and to base all the decisions concerning to queries on the climate, road conditions, cultural aspects, lodging, health facilities, banking, etc. of the location to be visited on sound and rational bases. In the present paper, a Web-Based Tourist Decision Support System (WTDSS) for Agra City has been developed that allows the traveling community to find their route in city and ask for information about sights, accommodations and other places of interest which are near by to him to improve the convenience, safety and efficiency of travel

Sri Lanka National Mine Action Strategy 2016-2020

This national mine action strategy was developed with the active participation of all relevant stakeholders in Sri Lanka’s mine action programme, including: • representatives from the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL); • Sri Lankan Army Humanitarian Demining Units (SLA HDUs); • national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs); and • civil society organisations. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) assisted with facilitating a four-day strategy and prioritisation workshop in Colombo in June 2015, bringing all key stakeholders together. The strategy is based on information gathered during that workshop as well as on follow-on meetings and discussions on specific topics. The GICHD further conducted a follow-on mission to Sri Lanka in October 2015, to meet with stakeholders, gather additional information and finalise certain sections of the strategy. The participant list, workshop programme and a list of meetings during the October mission are available in Annexes I, II and III. As part of the June 2015 strategic planning exercise, workshop participants carried out a; ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’ (SWOT) analysis. The results from this exercise are available in Annex IV

The Journal of ERW and Mine Action Issue 14.3 (2010)

Focus: Looking Beyond Mine Action | Feature: Development and Funding | Special Report: Update on National Programs | Notes from the Field | Research & Developmen

APPLICATION OF GIS AND MATHEMATICAL MODELING IN MARITIME CRISIS SITUATIONS

This paper aims to propose a decision support system for maritime crisis situation, due to fact that Croatia has decided to implement Directive 2002/59/EC to define places of refuge for ships in need of assistance off their coasts, or to develop techniques for providing assistance to such ships. In order to fulfill this Directive it is necessary to build an effective Decision Support System (DSS) based on GIS and mathematical modeling. The basic module of the proposed system is GIS, for all levels of DSS, that comprise information subsystems about spatial and other data and serves the other modules with data and information. Starting points for analysis are shipping corridors, and 380 potential locations for places of refuge designated in the official navigational pilot book. Multicriteria analysis, with GIS-generated input data, has been used to establish "worthiness" of a place of refuge for each ship category, taking into account kinds of accident. Proposed mathematical models facilitate optimal usage of "available intervention resources"

Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen Activity Report 2002.

Abstract not availableJRC.G-Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen (Ispra

Development of Simulation Based Approaches for Cost Estimation and Effect Analysis in Industrial and Humanitarian projects, Including System Dynamic Model and Monte Carlo Simulation

Cost management has become an integral part of management fields these days and has acquired great weight in the sector of project management as well. For most beneficiaries in the industry and humanitarian field, the management of projects is synonymous with the management of cost that affects directly the funds they need to mobilize to deliver their scheme. This thesis deals with the development and validation of simulation-based methods in the industry and the humanitarian field. In addition, several novel methods of cost management have been proposed considering the complexity of different factors. In the industry field, construction projects are characterized by great uncertainty. Appropriate risk analysis techniques are required to estimate the adequate coverage level against the occurrence of extra costs to increase the progress of the project in the tenders. The project margin increases when an excessive provision leads to more comprehensive coverage of the risks. Also, an accurate estimation of the contingency reserve is a crucial subject in construction projects to reduce the risk of overruns\u2019 costs to an acceptable level and ensure the competitiveness of the company\u2019s bid. To achieve this goal, a Company\u2019s traditional approach has been applied to a real railway project and then a stochastic Risk Mode and Effect Analysis (RMEA) methodology base on Monte Carlo Simulation compared with the outcome of the company\u2019s traditional approach applied to the same project. Most of the contingency estimation methods are included problems of subjectivity, complex mathematical models, and inaccurate estimation. This research proposes a combination of the Risk Mode and Effect Analysis (RMEA) with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to determine the amount of allocated contingency fund that overcomes other methods\u2019 limitations. The output of the analysis is a cumulative distribution function that demonstrates a coverage level related to the contingency amount to control extra cost and reduce the amount of contingency in projects. The developed method is validated by applying a real construction project and the obtained results are compared with the outcomes\u2019 of the company\u2019s traditional approach, clearly demonstrate the potential and the benefits of the proposed methodology. The result of the proposed method allows the decision-makers to operate with a lower contingency amount and control extra expenses of projects. In addition, a Decision Support System (DSS) approach using Failure Mode Effect Analysis and Monte Carlo Simulation has been discussed in this chapter. Besides, in the humanitarian field, A System Dynamic (SD) model has been applied to a humanitarian project to study the impact of different levels of financial aid paid to beneficiaries for different impact factors and estimate financial aid variation. Natural and man-made disasters seem unpredictable every year, increasing a wide range of universal sufferers. Several people are affected by the direct outcomes of these disasters, and their life depends on disaster relief aid administered by humanitarian organizations. Recently, there has been renewed interest in cash distribution in the humanitarian sector during disaster relief to increase access of vulnerable people to supporting services such as health or education and develop their life\u2019s condition while rising the efficiency of humanitarian organizations committed to the program. The research proposes a casual-loop and system dynamic model to assess multi aspects of related impact factors to provide optimal support of beneficiaries. The model provides a decision-making framework with a high-level overview of the interactions between the education and health aspects of the recipient\u2019s life, provides a system dynamics analysis including interactions that could have led to improving the vulnerable people's condition life. This system dynamics approach can be used to study the significant factors on education and health aspects of refugee crises such as the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Reviewing the humanitarian management literature, a causal loop is developed to better understand the health and education variables and their interactions. Then a system dynamic model is proposed and validated by historical data of Syrian refugees in Turkey. The result of financial aid sensitivity shows that more financial aid from humanitarian organizations are significantly improved the general health of refugees and also it is caused higher attendance for children in schools. In addition, enhanced financial aid supports can lead to improving access to water and hygiene facilities and also building more schools for their children

United Nations Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Standards

These IEDD Standards have been designed for the safe, effective and efficient disposal of IEDs. They aim at ensuring uniformity and technical specificity related to the generation of an IED disposal capability. They establish the minimum competencies required for IEDD operators and frame the methodology for the clearance of IEDs. The Standards provide guidance on how to carry out IED disposal planning, the competencies and associated training and equipment required to conduct IED disposal operations, as well as the appropriate approaches to IED clearance in rural and urban areas, IED information management and IED risk education. The United Nations IEDD Standards are of a technical nature; they are for use by IED disposal operators and for the organizations and units that employ them under the auspices of the United Nations. For Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Units deployed in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, the IEDD Standards outline the competencies required by individuals to meet the collective unit requirements set forth in the United Nations EOD Unit Manual. For commercial and non-governmental organizations contracted by the United Nations, these Standards provide the basis for evaluation of the contractors Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for IED disposal operations where the context or mandate objective is not humanitarian