Volcanic eruptions produce a range of hazards which can impact society. The most widespread of these hazards is volcanic ash fall which can impact a range of critical infrastructure. Power systems are particularly vulnerable to ash fall hazards and the resulting impacts may lead to power supply disruption. This can lead to cascading disruption of dependent systems, such as hospitals, water and wastewater treatment plants, telecommunications and emergency services. Typically, large emergency power generator sets are used to provide emergency power supply for essential services during electrical power outages. There has been little study of what impact ash fall exposure will have on generator performance. International experience suggests large generators can experience rapid performance reduction when exposed to high concentrations of suspended or falling ash due to obstruction of air filters and radiators, causing overheating of the engine and shut down of the generator system. However, it is not clear at what ash fall thresholds generators are likely to be disrupted. This research uses custom designed empirical laboratory experiments to investigate the performance of large generators subjected to a range of volcanic ash fall types and intensities, simulating both proximal and distal ash fall exposure from a range of eruptive styles. It also investigates the application of temporary external filters to minimise the ingestion of volcanic ash into generator housings. The results are used to inform recommendations on the likely impacts of ash to generators and the most effective type of mitigation, which maximises filtration whilst maintaining generator performance. Control tests recorded high particle concentrations (~0.006 mg/m3) which indicate substantial ash contamination is possible. Multiple factors were considered to determine the best mitigation measure including the lowest particle concentration, highest air speed and the ease with which the measure could be fitted. The study found material filtration to be the most effective measure; however as the quality of filtration increased, the air speed was reduced and thus so was the volume of air available to the generator engine. Therefore, the type of filtration required is dependent the ash fall intensity. The study also found that a deflection hood is an effective mitigation measure; maintaining airspeed while reducing particle concentrations within the generator. This research informs risk management strategies for critical infrastructure organisations to reduce the risk of generator disruption during volcanic ash falls.

In this thesis a Proactive Risk-Aware Robotic Sensor Network (RSN) is proposed for the application of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). Each robotic member of the RSN is granted a perception of risk by means of a Risk Management Framework (RMF). A fuzzy-risk model is used to extract distress-based risk features and potential intrusion-based risk features for CIP. Detected high-risk events invoke a fuzzy-auction Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA) algorithm to create a response group for each detected risk. Through Evolutionary Multi-Objective (EMO) optimization, a Pareto set of optimal robot configurations for a response group will be generated using the Non-Dominating Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The optimization objectives are to maximize sensor coverage of essential spatial regions and minimize the amount of energy exerted by the response group. A set of non-dominated solutions are produced from EMO optimization for a decision maker to select a single response. The RSN response group will re-organize based on the specifications of the selected response.

This is a multidisciplinary work that encompasses considerations of politics, regulation and technology. It considers the impact of technology on the way in which, politically, we are able to regulate technology and how we devise policy to guide that regulation. The added complication is that Internet technology knows no jurisdiction. The rulemaking established in recent years is globally applicable and is carried out without the direct involvement of national governments in the key decision making processes, particularly in the environment under examination here which focuses on the management of the technical resources of the Internet. In formulating the hypothesis that grounds this work, I have focused on two things. Firstly, that technical regulation has political, and therefore, policy implications. Secondly, that where there are policy implications with direct commercial impact, we can expect to see the vigorous involvement of corporations as they manage the environment in which they do business. These two critical conditions have driven the formulation of policies and procedures for making decisions about Internet governance. They have also driven the actual decisions which have been implemented, to a greater or lesser degree of success. This research contributes to the scholarship in four significant ways. The first is that the Internet Domain Name System (IDNS) and its governance present a new perspective on the discussion of the globalisation of business regulation. The data used to support the analysis has not been collated or examined previously and is presented here to illustrate the extension of the literature and to frame the hypothesis. The second is that I have found that national governments have, despite ongoing control within their national jurisdiction, little effective influence over the management and governance of the Domain Name System (DNS) at an international level. Thirdly, I have found that corporations have significant power to determine the way in which policies for the management of the technical resources of the Internet are discussed, developed to consensus policy positions, implemented and reviewed. Finally, the research has opened up new lines of inquiry into the rise of a new class of bureaucrats, the cosmocrats and their cosmocracy, on which further research continues.

Sufficient quantity of good quality of drinking water is essential for human society. The existence of life, including life of man is conditioned by water. Water has a large impact on quality of life that we lead. In our conditions it is commonplace that we have unlimited access to drinking water which is provided through the public water supply system. Quality of drinking water in the Czech Republic is strictly monitored and the water from public water supply system has required quality and wholesomeness. The role of society is to ensure that this state will continue in the future. For this reason, water management became a part of critical infrastructure. The main purpose of this thesis is to map the impacts of drinking water supply system interruptions to the population of South Bohemia. This thesis was based on quantitative research and applied the method of secondary analysis of document.

Health - without a doubt - is one of the most precious gifts and it is one of the most important values for each of us. The human body fascinates humanity throughout its existence. Since the beginning of the first medicinal extracts to modern robotic surgery, people strive for the same - to prevent diseases, full recovery of health or to bring closer this state. The whole developed society is interested in our good health. It is necessary to ensure the functional part of the infrastructure, so called critical infrastructure. Unplanned power blackout can have disastrous consequences not only for the patients. Plenty of electrical energy is required for the functioning of hospital. The electrical network in the hospital is very fragile. It is necessary to have alternative sources of electricity in hospital. For each hospital is a priority ability to reliably protect the power grid to avoid damaging consequences of its lack. This thesis entitled "Power blackout in Jihlava hospital" focuses on the question of emergency unscheduled power blackout Hospital Jihlava, also explains the basic concepts related to this topic and describes the functioning of the hospital equipment. The theoretical part consists of several chapters which provide basic information about electricity, the electricity grid, power plants, transmission and distribution systems, principles and functioning of the hospital. There is clear description of the Maslow's pyramid of human needs, in this part is also explanation of the term "blackout" and the incidence of several serious blackouts of electricity in the Czech Republic and worldwide, experience with them and their impact on human society. The practical part is the basic characteristic of Hospital Jihlava, location of alternative sources - diesel power generators, a description of the various sources of electric power, their function and principle of functioning of Hospital Jihlava. The whole research theoretically examined the readiness Hospital Jihlava to power blackout. The basic method of investigation was to collect data that was obtained through a guided interview with the responsible employees, their answers were transcribed into text and then were analyzed risks identified by the method KARS, in order to investigate the size of the impact of the crisis situation on patients. It is assumed that it is sufficiently adequate protection against failure of the power system, that could at power interruptions, endanger patients, staff, expensive diagnostic and surgical instruments actually overall functioning of this important institution. Based on the investigation was identified the need to inform the public, staff, patients and top management. Technicians may well ensure the functioning of important machinery and equipment. Equally important is understanding of this issue by medical staff to be well versed in an emergency situation quickly. The behavior and conduct of staff could help manage the situation without major problems and reduce imminent risk of impact on patiens and expensive instrumentation to a minimum. Also for this purpose could serve the results of this work. The aim of the thesis was to investigate the effects of a power blackout at the Hospital Jihlava on patients and suggest possible measures. The results of the survey show that a sudden power outage Hospital Jihlava presents a serious threat to its functionality, for this reason, in the final part of my thesis are presented the final recommendations, which can not only reduce the risk of impact on patients.

abstract: The resilience of infrastructure essential to public health, safety, and well-being remains a priority among Federal agencies and institutions. National policies and guidelines enacted by these entities call for a holistic approach to resilience and effectively acknowledge the complex, multi-organizational, and socio-technical integration of critical infrastructure. However, the concept of holism is seldom discussed in literature. As a result, resilience knowledge among disciplines resides in near isolation, inhibiting opportunities for collaboration and offering partial solutions to complex problems. Furthermore, there is limited knowledge about how human resilience and the capacity to develop and comprehend increasing levels of complexity can influence, or be influenced by, the resilience of complex systems like infrastructure. The above gaps are addressed in this thesis by 1) applying an Integral map as a holistic framework for organizing resilience knowledge across disciplines and applications, 2) examining the relationships between human and technical system resilience capacities via four socio-technical processes: sensing, anticipating, adapting, and learning (SAAL), and 3) identifying an ontological framework for anticipating human resilience and adaptive capacity by applying a developmental perspective to the dynamic relationships between humans interacting with infrastructure. The results of applying an Integral heuristic suggest the importance of factors representing the social interior like organizational values and group intentionality may be under appreciated in the resilience literature from a holistic perspective. The analysis indicates that many of the human and technical resilience capacities reviewed are interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent in relation to the SAAL socio-technical processes. This work contributes a socio-technical perspective that incorporates the affective dimension of human resilience. This work presents an ontological approach to critical infrastructure resilience that draws upon the human resilience, human psychological development, and resilience engineering literatures with an integrated model to guide future research. Human mean-making offers a dimensional perspective of resilient socio-technical systems by identifying how and why the SAAL processes change across stages of development. This research suggest that knowledge of resilient human development can improve technical system resilience by aligning roles and responsibilities with the developmental capacities of individuals and groups responsible for the design, operation and management of critical infrastructures. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2017

abstract: Resilience is emerging as the preferred way to improve the protection of infrastructure systems beyond established risk management practices. Massive damages experienced during tragedies like Hurricane Katrina showed that risk analysis is incapable to prevent unforeseen infrastructure failures and shifted expert focus towards resilience to absorb and recover from adverse events. Recent, exponential growth in research is now producing consensus on how to think about infrastructure resilience centered on definitions and models from influential organizations like the US National Academy of Sciences. Despite widespread efforts, massive infrastructure failures in 2017 demonstrate that resilience is still not working, raising the question: Are the ways people think about resilience producing resilient infrastructure systems? This dissertation argues that established thinking harbors misconceptions about infrastructure systems that diminish attempts to improve their resilience. Widespread efforts based on the current canon focus on improving data analytics, establishing resilience goals, reducing failure probabilities, and measuring cascading losses. Unfortunately, none of these pursuits change the resilience of an infrastructure system, because none of them result in knowledge about how data is used, goals are set, or failures occur. Through the examination of each misconception, this dissertation results in practical, new approaches for infrastructure systems to respond to unforeseen failures via sensing, adapting, and anticipating processes. Specifically, infrastructure resilience is improved by sensing when data analytics include the modeler-in-the-loop, adapting to stress contexts by switching between multiple resilience strategies, and anticipating crisis coordination activities prior to experiencing a failure. Overall, results demonstrate that current resilience thinking needs to change because it does not differentiate resilience from risk. The majority of research thinks resilience is a property that a system has, like a noun, when resilience is really an action a system does, like a verb. Treating resilience as a noun only strengthens commitment to risk-based practices that do not protect infrastructure from unknown events. Instead, switching to thinking about resilience as a verb overcomes prevalent misconceptions about data, goals, systems, and failures, and may bring a necessary, radical change to the way infrastructure is protected in the future. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

Critical infrastructures include sectors such as energy resources, finance, food and water distribution, health, manufacturing and government services. In recent years, critical infrastructures have become increasingly dependent on ICT; more interconnected and are often, as a result, linked to the Internet. Consequently, this makes these systems more vulnerable and increases the threat of cyber-attack. In addition, the growing use of wireless networks means that infrastructures can be more susceptible to a direct digital attack than ever before. Traditionally, protecting against environmental threats was the main focus of critical infrastructure preservation. Now, however, with the emergence of cyber-attacks, the focus has changed and infrastructures are facing a different danger with potentially debilitating consequences. Current security techniques are struggling to keep up to date with the sheer volume of innovative and emerging attacks; therefore, considering fresh and adaptive solutions to existing computer security approaches is crucial. The research presented in this thesis, details the use of behavioural observation for critical infrastructure security support. Our observer system monitors an infrastructure’s behaviour and detects abnormalities, which are the result of a cyber-attack taking place. By observing subtle changes in system behaviours, an additional level of support for critical infrastructure security is provided through a plug-in device, which operates autonomously and has no negative impact on data flow. Behaviour is evaluated using mathematical classifications to assess the data and detect changes. The subsequent results achieved during the data classification process were high and successful. Our observer approach was able to accurately classify 98.138 % of the normal and abnormal system behaviours produced by a simulation of a critical infrastructure, using nine data classifiers.

Sans cesse croissante complexité et l'interdépendance des infrastructures critiques modernes, avec des environs de risque plus en plus complexes, posent des défis uniques pour leur exploitation sûre, fiable et efficace. L'objectif de la présente thèse est sur la modélisation, la simulation et l'optimisation des infrastructures critiques (par exemple, les réseaux de transmission de puissance) à l'égard de leur vulnérabilité et la résilience aux défaillances en cascade. Cette étude aborde le problème en modélisant infrastructures critiques à un niveau fondamental, en se concentrant sur la topologie du réseau et des modèles de flux physiques dans les infrastructures critiques. Un cadre de modélisation hiérarchique est introduit pour la gestion de la complexité du système. Au sein de ces cadres de modélisation, les techniques d'optimisation avancées (par exemple, non-dominée de tri binaire évolution différentielle (NSBDE) algorithme) sont utilisés pour maximiser à la fois la robustesse et la résilience (capacité de récupération) des infrastructures critiques contre les défaillances en cascade. Plus précisément, le premier problème est pris à partir d'un point de vue de la conception du système holistique, c'est-à-dire certaines propriétés du système, tels que ses capacités de topologie et de liaison, sont redessiné de manière optimale afin d'améliorer la capacité de résister à des défaillances systémiques de système. Les deux modèles de défaillance en cascade topologiques et physiques sont appliquées et leurs résultats correspondants sont comparés. En ce qui concerne le deuxième problème, un nouveau cadre est proposé pour la sélection optimale des mesures appropriées de récupération afin de maximiser la capacité du réseau d’infrastructure critique de récupération à partir d'un événement perturbateur. Un algorithme d'optimisation de calcul pas cher heuristique est proposé pour la solution du problème, en intégrant des concepts fondamentaux de flux de réseau et le calendrier du projet. Exemples d'analyse sont effectués en se référant à plusieurs systèmes de CI réalistes. / Continuously increasing complexity and interconnectedness of modern critical infrastructures, together with increasingly complex risk environments, pose unique challenges for their secure, reliable, and efficient operation. The focus of the present dissertation is on the modelling, simulation and optimization of critical infrastructures (CIs) (e.g., power transmission networks) with respect to their vulnerability and resilience to cascading failures. This study approaches the problem by firstly modelling CIs at a fundamental level, by focusing on network topology and physical flow patterns within the CIs. A hierarchical network modelling technique is introduced for the management of system complexity. Within these modelling frameworks, advanced optimization techniques (e.g., non-dominated sorting binary differential evolution (NSBDE) algorithm) are utilized to maximize both the robustness and resilience (recovery capacity) of CIs against cascading failures. Specifically, the first problem is taken from a holistic system design perspective, i.e. some system properties, such as its topology and link capacities, are redesigned in an optimal way in order to enhance system’s capacity of resisting to systemic failures. Both topological and physical cascading failure models are applied and their corresponding results are compared. With respect to the second problem, a novel framework is proposed for optimally selecting proper recovery actions in order to maximize the capacity of the CI network of recovery from a disruptive event. A heuristic, computationally cheap optimization algorithm is proposed for the solution of the problem, by integrating foundemental concepts from network flows and project scheduling. Examples of analysis are carried out by referring to several realistic CI systems.

Sea levels have risen approximately 20 cm since the beginning of the 20th century and more than 3 cm in the past 20 years, suggesting that global sea level rise is accelerating. As sea levels continue to rise and storms become more intense, coastal property and populations become more susceptible to damage. Florida is especially vulnerable to hurricane-induced storm surge (HSS) and the onset of accelerated sea-level rise (ASLR) due to its extensive coastline and high population density along the coast. The main purpose of this research is to assess the potential economic impacts of ASLR and HSS for two of western Pasco County’s municipalities, Port Richey and New Port Richey. A Geographic Information System is used to determine the spatial extent at a high-resolution of coastal inundation, the economic loss based on property value and road expenditure due to this inundation, and its impact on critical infrastructure. The results from this study showed coastal flooding generated by 0.5m SLR amounted to 48.8% land loss and $217,108,692 of property loss. Monetary losses from inundated properties shifted dramatically from 1.0m to 1.5m SLR, from $295 million to $417 million, suggesting that the tipping point could only be a half-meter SLR. Based on the 2.0m SLR results, most of major highway US-19 was completely flooded, property tax losses amounted to approximately $7.1 million, and road expenditure was approximately $158 million. Data provided in this study can be useful for coastal management and planning in Port Richey and New Port Richey.