Forest fires cause a significant amount of damage and destruction each year. Optimally dispatching resources reduces the amount of damage a forest fire can cause. Models predict the fire spread to provide the data required to optimally dispatch resources. However, the models are only as accurate as the data used to build them. Satellites are one valuable tool in the collection of data for the forest fire models. Satellites provide data on the types of vegetation, the wind speed and direction, the soil moisture content, etc. The current operating paradigm is to passively collect data when possible. However, images from directly overhead provide better resolution and are easier to process. Maneuvering a constellation of satellites to fly directly over the forest fire provides higher quality data than is achieved with the current operating paradigm. Before launch, the location of the forest fire is unknown. Therefore, it is impossible to optimize the initial orbits for the satellites. Instead, the expected cost of maneuvering to observe the forest fire determines the optimal initial orbits. A two-stage stochastic programming approach is well suited for this class of problem where initial decisions are made with an uncertain future and then subsequent decisions are made once a scenario is realized. A repeat ground track orbit provides a non-maneuvering, natural solution providing a daily flyover of the forest fire. However, additional maneuvers provide a second daily flyover of the forest fire. The additional maneuvering comes at a significant cost in terms of additional fuel, but provides more data collection opportunities. After data are collected, ground stations receive the data for processing. Optimally selecting the ground station locations reduce the number of built ground stations and reduces the data fusion issues. However, the location of the forest fire alters the optimal ground station sites. A two-stage stochastic programming approach optimizes the selection of ground stations to maximize the expected amount of data downloaded from a satellite. The approaches of selecting initial orbits and ground station locations including uncertainty will provide a robust system to reduce the amount of damage caused by forest fires.

Increasingly, we hear that the humanitarian system has exhausted its potential and is over the abyss. The volume of funds, the number of humanitarian organizations and the number of rescued people are growing year after year. Nevertheless, the gap between needs and real humanitarian assistance is steadily increasing. Traditional humanitarian actors have been unsuccessfully looking for ways to repair the system that once worked well. Attempts at financial and institutional reform fail, and the debate on humanitarian principles annoys the main actors. This work shows that the traditional humanitarian system is only a part of the larger ecosystem of humanitarian assistance, and analyzes the external influences it fails to cope with in the last decade, and why minor repairs and corrections are not enough and a new system architecture is needed. The author identifies new humanitarian actors with whom the traditional system does not count and points to spontaneous volunteers as a group with dynamic potential and ability to create a parallel system to professional disaster and emergency managers. Since it is an undervalued and overlooked actor, the author refines the definition of spontaneous volunteering. Using the case studies of the Cajun Navy in Louisiana (U.S.) and the confessions of medical rescuers...

Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the government's capacity to provide adequate long-term housing to disaster victims. In response, Congress created a pilot program to test the efficacy of permanent disaster housing prototypes known as "Katrina Cottages." However, implementation was hindered by a lack of planning and local opposition. In Mississippi, residents feared adverse impacts to property values, citing poor design quality resembling manufactured mobile homes as a primary concern. Using standardized local tax appraisals, this study finds that Katrina Cottages are valued significantly higher than manufactured homes. It further reveals no significant difference between Katrina Cottages and single-family homes. It also suggests a strong relationship between value and smart growth design metrics, including density, walkability, and urban context. However, it shows that Mississippi Katrina Cottages are valued lower than those in Alabama and Louisiana. Furthermore, analysis of community demographics suggests Katrina Cottages may be less valuable in wealthy communities.

<p>REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS FOR A CONTEXT-AWARE MULTI-AGENCY EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM</p> / <p>Society faces many natural and man-made disasters which can have a large impact in terms of deaths, injuries, monetary losses, psychological distress, and economic effects. Society needs to find ways to prevent or reduce the negative impact of these disasters as much as possible. Information systems have been used to assist emergency response to a certain degree in some cases. However, there is still a lack of understanding on how to build an effective emergence response system. To identify the basic requirements of such systems, a grounded theory research method is used for data collection and analysis. Data from firsthand interviews and observations was combined with literature and analyzed to discover several emergent issues and concepts regarding disaster response. The issues and concepts were organized into four categories: i) context-awareness; ii) multi-party relationships; iii) task-based coordination; and iv) information technology support, which together identified the needs of disaster response coordination. Using evidence from the data, these factors were related to one another to develop a framework for context-aware multi-party coordination systems (CAMPCS). This study contributes to the field of emergency management as the framework represents a comprehensive theory for disaster response coordination that can guide future research on emergency management coordination.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Les progrès récents des technologies de communication et la prolifération de l'informatique sans fil et des dispositifs de communication, ont induit 'a une surcharge dans l'utilisation du spectre radio. Cependant, les expériences de la Commission Fédérale de Communication (FCC) ont révélé que l'utilisation du spectre varie entre 15% et 85%. Par conséquent, les réseaux radios cognitifs (Cognitive Radio Networks ou CRNs) sont proposés afin d'utiliser le spectre radio d'une manière opportuniste. Dans ce type de réseaux radios cognitifs, où les fréquences de transmission sont sélectionnées d'une manière opportuniste - également sont appelés réseaux Ad-Hoc à radios cognitives -, la fiabilité de la dissémination des données est difficile 'a réaliser. D'abord, en plus des défis déjà connus dans les environnements sans fils, la diversité dans le nombre de fréquences qu'un noeud à radio cognitif a droit d'utiliser ajoute un autre défi, en limitant l'accessibilité à ses noeuds voisins. Deuxièmement, les noeuds à radio cognitif (CR) doivent conquérir les ressources de fréquences résiduelles avec les noeuds à radio primaire (PR), tout en essayent de les exploiter d'une manière opportuniste. En outre, les noeuds CR ne devraient pas perturber la qualité de réception des noeuds PR durant leur communication, et ce en limitant les interférences entre les deux de noeuds. Par conséquent, une nouvelle méthode de sélection de fréquences est requise afin de réduire le nombre d'interférences nuisibles aux noeuds PR, et maximiser les chances de délivrance des messages aux voisins récepteurs des noeuds CR, et augmenter ainsi la fiabilité des données disséminées. Dans cette thèse nous proposons SURF, une nouvelle méthode distribuée de sélection de fréquences pour la dissémination fiable de données dans un réseau radio cognitif multi-sauts. SURF classifie les fréquences radio disponibles en fonction de l'occupation des fréquences des noeuds à radio primaire et le nombre de noeuds 'a radio cognitive utilisant ces fréquences. Les résultats de simulation obtenus par NS-2 confirment que SURF est une stratégie efficace dans la sélection des meilleures fréquences de diffusion de données, comparée aux autres approches liées. Nous avons aussi constaté que les stratégies de sélection de fréquences sont considérablement influencées par l'activité des noeuds 'a radio primaire. Dans la suite ce cette thèse, nous étudierons et analyserons l'impact des modèles d'activités des noeuds PR sur les différentes stratégies de sélection de fréquences à travers des simulations basées NS-2. Nous avons remarqué que l'activité intermittente de PR est le cas où les solutions intelligentes doivent opérées. C'est dans ce cas où SURF donne les meilleures résultats et la région ciblée se serve des opportunités de communication. Enfin, dans cette thèse, nous allons encore plus loin en vérifiant l'applicabilité et la faisabilité de SURF. Dans cette perspective, d'abord, nous proposons une architecture d'accès à internet basse sur la radio cognitive pour les réseaux partiellement endommagés. Nous discutons les détails architecturaux et le principe de fonctionnement de l'architecture proposée. Nous avons également passé en revue les enjeux et les défis de déploiement de cette nouvelle architecture. Deuxièmement, nous discutons l'applicabilité de SURF dans le contexte de l'agrégation de fréquences et à cet égard, nous discutons une stratégie d'interférence basée sur l'agrégation de fréquences pour les réseaux radios cognitifs.

The December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami wrecked thousands of lives, homes, and livelihoods - losses that could have been avoided with timely and better information. A resource such as information is needed at a fundamental level much like water, food, medicine, or shelter. This dissertation examines the development of the Thai information society, in terms of the share of information workforce and the level of diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT), as well as, the role of the Thai information society in response to the tsunami disaster. The study combined the historical and political economy analyses in explaining factors influencing the growth of information workforce and the development of ICT in Thailand. Interviews conducted in 2007-08 revealed the Thai information society responded to the 2004 Tsunami - the first global internet-mediated natural disaster - in two areas: on-site assistance in collecting and recording identification information of tsunami disaster victims and on-line dissemination of disaster relief information. The effectiveness of ICT institutions in providing the tsunami disaster relief efforts and increasing the development of the information society were assessed using statistical procedures analyzing the perceptions of the Internet-based survey respondents. The disaster effects on survey respondents were also assessed. The study's findings include: (1) the Thai information sector development pattern confirmed a key difference between development patterns of information sectors in developed and developing countries, (2) the increasing number of Thai information workers was due more to the expansion of government than the expansion in the manufacturing and service sectors during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, (3) Thailand's expansion of ICT infrastructure was influenced not only on the basis of economic profitability but also by political desirability, and (4) volunteers were crucial in humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-04-12T13:33:58Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Final JOSUÉ-PROPAD-2015.pdf: 2774754 bytes, checksum: e765c185831d7508d1b93a9c699551d7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-12T13:33:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Final JOSUÉ-PROPAD-2015.pdf: 2774754 bytes, checksum: e765c185831d7508d1b93a9c699551d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-12 / CAPEs / Esta pesquisa analisou como os desastres naturais despertam ou desencadeiam a resiliência através do discurso dos envolvidos na reconstrução de uma cidade atingida por eventos extremos. Palmares foi escolhida por ser uma das cidades mais destruídas pelas enchentes que assolaram Pernambuco em 2010. A pesquisa revelou que cenários de instabilidades e crises são necessários para o despertar das mudanças, e é dentro deste contexto que a resiliência se evidencia, e que apesar de ser uma cidade historicamente atingida por enchentes, Palmares não era resiliente, mas os eventos extremos acontecidos em 2010 na cidade, contribuíram para uma revolução na estrutura de enfrentamento aos desastres. E embora sua resiliência tenha sido construída pelo Governo do Estado, os resultados apontaram que os instrumentos de Governança, através da resposta, Conhecimento, através da Capacidade de Aprender e Compreender os riscos, resultaram naquilo que a pesquisa chamou de resiliência adquirida, que foi a passagem de foco da Resposta para a Adaptação, ou seja, a cidade estabeleceu sua atuação na antecipação e prevenção aos desastres. O estudo também abordou como o Plano Nacional de Gestão de Risco e Resposta a Desastre Naturais foi significado pelo governo na mídia, mostrando que o Plano foi um marco histórico na questão de enfrentamento aos desastres no Brasil, mas que diante da crise dos últimos desastres ocorridos no país estabeleceu sua significação nos investimentos e na eficiência do Estado para responder aos anceios da população e não como um instrumento de inovação e resiliência como principal foco de atuação. / This research examined how natural disasters awaken or trigger resilience through the speech of those involved in the reconstruction of a city hit by extreme events. Palmares was chosen as one of the cities destroyed by the floods that ravaged Pernambuco in 2010. The survey revealed that instability and crisis scenarios are needed for the awakening of the changes, and it is within this context that resilience is evident, and that despite be a city historically hit by floods, Palmares was not resilient, but extreme events that happened in 2010 in the city, contributed to a revolution in the disaster coping structure. And although their resilience has been built by the State Government, the results indicated that the governance instruments, by replying, Knowledge, Learning through capacity and understand the risks, resulted in what the survey called acquired resilience, which was the focus Pass Answer for adaptation, that is, the city established its operations in anticipation and prevention of disasters. The study also addressed as the National Plan for Risk Management and Response to Natural Disaster was meant by the government in the media, showing that the Plan was a landmark in the matter of coping with disasters in Brazil, but before the crisis of the last disasters in the country established its significance in investments and state efficiency to respond to anceios of the population and not as an instrument of innovation and resilience as the main focus.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The problem question of this study is how the City of Cape Town, as a metro municipality went about implementing Disaster Risk Assessments. While the National Disaster Management Centre acknowledges that municipalities are battling to perform Disaster Risk Assessments. Understanding what was done, by whom and when will aid in the understanding of implementing Disaster Risk Assessments. Uncovering the prospects and challenges they faced and will help shed light on the guidance that is required by other municipalities, although this study’s inference is limited by the methodology. The relatively new Disaster Management Act requires a shift from old civil defence legislation to a proactive disaster risk reduction mode, with new institutional arrangements. The shift to a proactive disaster risk reduction approach required by the new legislation cannot be achieved without firstly implementing these new institutional and policy arrangements and secondly, implementing this first and vital step in the disaster risk reduction process namely, Disaster Risk Assessments. The study also seeks to understand in the community was involved. This is a qualitative study, i.e. it contains descriptive statistics and narratives. It used questionnaires to provide numerical and descriptive data to measure compliance to the Disaster Management Act in terms of the institutional arrangements implemented by the City of Cape Town. Secondly, qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews to provide data to understand the challenges and prospects encountered in performing Disaster Risk Assessments. A literature review was also undertaken to highlight the current debates in Disaster Risk Reduction. The stratified sample was from the officials employed at the City’s Disaster Management Centre, Area Managers, NGOs, Ward Councillors and Consultants. The data was collated and the analysed. The objective is to primarily understand what was done, by whom, when and secondly to understand the prospects and challenges faced. The findings, recommendations and areas of future study are captured in this research report.

No description available.

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) usually participate in disaster response in rural African communities. Disasters in African communities are often characterized by huge fatalities, which are associated with a slow pace of response. The use of information and communication technology in disaster response is recognized as an effective conduit for enhancing response. Previous research indicates the efficacy of the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in advance countries. However, there remains a critical gap in the available literature on the experiences of EMTs with the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in rural African communities. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experiences of EMTs with the use of mobile telephones in disaster response in rural African communities. The innovation diffusion theory served as the theoretical framework of the study. Data were collected through face to face, semi-structured interviews with 10 EMTs from 2 institutions in Sierra Leone. Data were analyzed with the use of Nvivo. The findings of this research include (a) The key areas in emergency response where mobile telephones are most useful; (b) The benefits of the use of mobile telephones in disaster response, including the enhancement of communication and search and rescue efforts; (c) Challenges to the use of mobile telephones; and (d) Ways to improve the use of mobile telephones. The results of this study may enhance positive social change through contribution to the reduction of fatalities usually associated with slow disaster response. It is recommended that future research be conducted on the experiences of other categories of first responders, and to explore alternative funding sources for disaster response in rural African communities.