The Future of Cohesion Policy in England : Local Government Responses to Brexit and the Future of Regional Funding

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF GEOINFORMATICS AND GEO-COLLABORATION IN LINKING MITIGATION AND DISASTER RECOVERY IN THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN

The recurring failure of communities at risk to build mitigation into disaster recovery activities to reduce risks against future disaster events remains unresolved. In fact, some communities seem to learn so little from the disastrous experience of other communities; they either commit the same calamitous mistakes or do nothing to improve their circumstances before disaster actually strikes them. Policies exist, yet resilience building systems are lacking from the pragmatic stages of disaster recovery. Beyond sustained preparedness and relief operations, communities must also concentrate on effective rehabilitation and efficient disaster recovery if they are to become resilient against future hazards. The Eastern Caribbean islands, like many other developing countries, typify this failure of integrating mitigation into disaster recovery despite numerous incidents of hurricanes and tropical storms over the past decades. It is a socio-technical issue that needs to engage reliable information exchange mechanisms and efficient social networks to initiate and create solutions.The overall objective of this study is to explore how countries can improve mitigation through disaster recovery activities. It documents the results of an analysis of experiences in disaster recovery and mitigation in the Eastern Caribbean following Hurricane Lenny in November 1999 and Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. Through nested case design, the study constructs a framework for integrating mitigation into disaster recovery and comprehensive disaster management. It highlights relationships and interactions among households, builders, building designers, post-disaster rehabilitation agencies and disaster management organizations that can facilitate mitigation. It identifies factors that facilitate geospatial support in disaster management in the Eastern Caribbean and how geocollaboration enhances performance and effectiveness in comprehensive disaster management. Finally, the study modifies existing mechanisms for disaster mitigation and develops a scalable DHaRMS synchronization tool for mitigation implementation at multiple levels of society.This study is deemed important from an empirical perspective because it could yield valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of mitigation implementation as well as provide policy recommendations for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of mitigation and comprehensive disaster management. From a theoretical perspective, this research is oriented toward contributing to the theories of comprehensive disaster management and complexity

Optimising visual solutions for complex strategic scenarios : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Attempts to pre-emptively improve post-disaster outcomes need to reflect an improved understanding of cognitive adaptations made by collaborating researchers and practitioners. This research explored the use of visual logic models to enhance the quality of decisions being made by these professionals. The research looked at the way visual representations serve to enhance these decisions, as part of cognitive adaptations to considering the complexity of relevant pre-disaster conditions constituting community resilience. It was proposed that a visual logic model display, using boxes and arrows to display linkages between activities and downstream objectives, could support effective, efficient and responsive approaches to relevant community resilience interventions being carried out in a pre-disaster context. The first of three phases comprising this thesis used Q-methodology to identify patterns of opinions concerning building a shared framework of pre-disaster, community resilience indicators for this purpose. Three patterns identified helped to assess the needs for applied research undertaken in phase two. The second phase of this thesis entailed building an action-focused logic model to enhance associated collaborations between emergency management practitioners and researchers. An analysis of participant interviews determined that the process used to build this logic model served as a catalyst for research which could help improve community resilience interventions. The third phase used an experimental approach to different display formats produced during phase two to test whether a visual logic model display stimulated a higher quality of decisions, compared with a more conventional, text-based chart of key performance indicators. Results supported the use of similar methods for much larger scale research to assess how information displays support emergency management decisions with wide-ranging, longer-term implications. Overall, results from these three phases indicate that certain logic model formats can help foster collaborative efforts to improve characteristics of community resilience against disasters. This appears to occur when a logic model forms an integrated component of efficient cognitive dynamics across a network of decision making agents. This understanding of logic model function highlights clear opportunities for further research. It also represents a novel contribution to knowledge about using logic models to support emergency management decisions with complex, long term implications

Integration and commercialisation of tube measuring devices : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at Massey University,Manawatu, New Zealand

Failure of plant equipment in the hydrocarbon processing industry can lead to significant financial, environmental, and health and safety consequences. Therefore, the equipment is subject to ongoing routine inspections, which often involve significant labour and financial resources. Methanex is a methanol producing company operating plants at six sites globally, including in New Zealand. The production of methanol involves the use of steam-methane reformers, which house hundreds of process-carrying vertically hung reformer tubes in a large gas fired furnace box. The heat and pressure of the process places the metal used for the tubes under high stresses, which results in the creep strain phenomenon exhibited as diametric growth in the tube. As the growth increases, the tube becomes weaker, and eventually fails. Methanex has developed a device for inspecting the reformer tubes and detecting this growth, called the Economole, thus helping to predict remaining tube life. However, the Economole device is not capable of inspecting the other part of the reformer, also at risk of creep strain, the pigtail collection pipes. These pipes are used to collect the gas at the bottom of the reformer tubes, and are smaller in diameter. Normal practice is to manually externally inspect these pipes, costing in excess of 100 000 NZD for Methanex New Zealand’s three reformers. The research performed during this thesis was initiated to address the gap in internal, automated, reformer inspection at Methanex, by integrating the field proven Economole tube measuring device, with a laboratory tested prototype, the Minimole. Commercialisation of the Minimole concept was carried out, to provide a fit for purpose device, and integration of mechanical, electrical, communication and control systems was subsequently completed. The final outcome of the project was the MXmole device. It consists of an improved Economole system, integrated with the Minimole system.. The MXmole is able to measure the full reformer tube, as well the top section of the reformer pigtail, during one inspection. Real time feedback is provided on the condition of the pigtail, with instantaneous critical warnings, indicating near end of life of the pigtail. This feedback can initiate immediate necessary replacement. Inspection coverage for Methanex’s reformer equipment has increased as a result of this research. This increase has provided them with additional data necessary to assess the life expectancy of their reformer equipment, including pigtails, without the need for costly and laborious manual external inspection. The outcome of this research may be adapted to other plants and processes in industry, allowing further economical inspection of equipment vulnerable to creep strain, and the overall safer and more reliable operation of high pressure and temperature plant equipment in industry