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Construction materials are, by the very nature of building something, an investment in the future. Every project highlights the possibilities of the building or structure, but when a catastrophic event renders it useless, the landfills grow, and the resources’ potential is lost. The end of a building does not need to mean the end of those materials in it. As part of the growing momentum behind sustainability metrics sought out by investment and construction firms alike, the potential for returns on investment already exists. The United States has the National Response Framework and international commitments like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction that signify the appetite to embrace the latest innovations in response techniques and technologies. This literature review will focus on how the construction and demolition industry can lead as the primary ameliorators and enablers of remedying this shortfall in innovative adoption uptake by engaging and applying the growing practice of the circular economy to their own debris management regimens.

This paper looks at current active shooter mitigation techniques employed by schools throughout the country in an attempt to mitigate casualties during an active shooter event. The researchers modified an existing Columbine High School agent-based model created by Jae Lee, MS, to examine if the introduction of a school resource officer (SRO), concealed carry weapon (CCW) holder, or both would change the outcome of the previous research. RUN.HIDE.FIGHT® scenarios were modeled with the same parameters of the previous work, but now included armed first responders during the incident to assess whether their presence decreased casualties through a reduction in response time. The researchers determined that the addition of either an SRO, CCW holder, or both significantly reduced casualty rates during an active shooter scenario.

Gun violence in places of worship (POW) has long been an issue and has been addressed repeatedly in the literature. Contextually, most of the research has been pertinent to relatively large POW, situated in an urban setting. However, rural churches have not been addressed, and they appear to have a far less defensive posture, mainly because of their remote location and the extended time required for first responders to arrive, which in turn requires a higher level of independent operation in terms of defense and medical response. Having retained an off-duty officer is a strong deterrent and provides the ability to handle any issues that may arise, including lower violence level events. If retaining an officer is not an option, having a well-trained volunteer armed team and a clear plan of action is vital to surviving such an event. Furthermore, due to the extended response and transport time, it is critical to have proper medical training, such as Stop the Bleed® and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. This article’s focus is not only on response but preparedness, which reinforces the response, as well as prevention and deterrence. An exhaustive best practices review has informed the solutions offered, supplemented by experience and recommendations of a highly experienced physical security expert and a police officer member of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

Modern organizations need effective ways to assess cybersecurity risk. Successful cyber attacks can result in data breaches, which may inflict significant loss of money, time, and public trust. Small businesses and non-profit organizations have limited resources to invest in cybersecurity controls and often do not have the in-house expertise to assess their risk. Cyber threat actors also vary in sophistication, motivation, and effectiveness. This paper builds on the previous work of Lerums et al., who presented an AnyLogic model for simulating aspects of a cyber attack and the efficacy of controls in a generic enterprise network. This paper argues that their model is an effective quantitative means of measuring the probability of success of a threat actor and implements two primary changes to increase the model's accuracy. First, the authors modified the model's inputs, allowing users to select threat actors based on the organization's specific threat model. Threat actor effectiveness is evaluated based on publicly available breach data (in addition to security control efficacy), resulting in further refined attack success probabilities. Second, all three elements - threat effectiveness, control efficacy, and model variance - are computed and evaluated at each node to increase the estimation fidelity in place of pooled variance calculations. Visualization graphs, multiple simulation runs (up to 1 million), attack path customization, and code efficiency changes are also implemented. The result is a simulation tool that provides valuable insight to decision-makers and practitioners about where to most efficiently invest resources in their computing environment to increase cybersecurity posture. AttackSimulation and its source code are freely available on GitHub.

Software libraries have been used for decades to produce code in a quick and cost-effective manner. The use of well-designed libraries permits software developers and other professionals to create applications due in part to code reusability. Also, good libraries grant lesser skilled developers the opportunity to make high-quality applications they otherwise could not produce. In the field of active shooting incident (ASI) research, various tools have been used for years that give researchers the ability to conduct exploratory research. However, as good as these tools might be, there has been little thought about reusability of these models and associated code. This has hindered the proper advancement of the research field given that researchers must often start from nothing when building a new model. Constant repetition of the same basic tasks has not enabled researchers to expand model fidelity and has limited time to dedicate toward the problem set. This paper proposes the creation of a new agent-based ASI library, made for the AnyLogic® system. The library assists researchers in quickly creating models using a well-defined application programming interface. It also abstracts away implementation details so that the library user does not get waylaid in development. The authors also recreated parts of a large and powerful AnyLogic model to observe the resultant library employment. It was determined that a significant amount of time can be saved building new models, even with the initial version of the library implementation.

Each year theme parks can see up to 20 million patrons, but often little effort is put into planning for an emergency evacuation. In this study, we built a multiagent simulation model using AnyLogic® 8.5.1. The model was based on a preliminary design of a theme park provided by AOA Builds, Orlando.This research had two goals: the first was to compare evacuation time when the park is full (1) using only the main guest gate and (2) using all seven available exits. The second goal was to model first responder response time between various start and end locations within the park.Using only the main gate, evacuation took an average of 14 minutes and 51 seconds. Using all seven gates results in an average evacuation time of 11 minutes and 58 seconds. This was due to a gate being overwhelmed causing a delay in overall evacuation time. If that gate is not included in the calculation, the average evacuation time drops to 6 minutes and 44 seconds.For the purpose of measuring response times, four starting locations were chosen with the guidance of a subject matter expert. These locations included response teams positioned at the front gate, at a police station, at the service area behind a main attraction, and mobile patrol walking around the park. Based on our testing, walking around the park was the best option in terms of response time, using the main gate was 53.7 percent faster than other options and, using all seven gates, was 60.7 percent faster during an evacuation using all seven exits.

Points of distribution, also known as points of dispensing (POD), are a means for public and private organizations to assist their communities in times of crisis. There are two principal categories of PODs, open and closed, but all PODs differ in design, properties, and application. This study investigates two POD variations: drive-through and supervisor, which have their own unique requirements for being stood up, run, and shut down, as well as differing requirements for planning, staffing, and logistics. There are also similarities in the requirements that each POD category share which lead to certain efficiencies in planning for POD standup, execution, and shutdown. The primary findings of this paper are that planners cannot rely on one POD design and its properties to accommodate every situation, and each POD design has its own strengths and weaknesses. These are related to staffing, security, space requirements, and material logistics needs. Flexibility should be exercised when choosing the correct design, and implementing the proper strategy is key to standing up and executing a POD that will best serve a community. Every situation is different and factors such as population, available infrastructure, resource requirements, and individual skill of the POD staff all influence the design of a POD. Planners should consider resources such as available volunteers, trained personnel (medical and security), and buildings or outdoor space available to run a POD. With proper planning, a POD is an excellent tool to effectively and efficiently serve the public.

Objective: Propose standardized communication formats and procedures at the point of distribution (POD) sites to facilitate the effective management and alleviate friction points that may occur while responding to a widespread medical incident within the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Design: Through observation of POD operations and interviews with key personnel in Indiana and county emergency management agencies (EMA), identify current communication practices and propose a structured command and control (C2) framework that would streamline management requirements during a widespread activation.Setting: The State of Indiana, various counties throughout Indiana.Conclusions: Current C2 practices are adequate for small-scale events. However, a standardized approach to the C2 and reporting framework may provide more responsive situational awareness and incident management of larger-scale medical incidents within Indiana.

This paper analyzes and reports the vulnerabilities and threats of an experimental electric vehicle. The proposed approach employs an electric vehicle (EV) and communication instrumentation for collecting CAN bus messages. Data was collected through the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and the battery management system (BMS) interface. Our focus is on decoding the CAN messages and injecting false messages to exploit EV cyber-physical performance by observing the electrical and mechanical data. We found out that the electric car powertrain can be degraded severely without the fault systems' activation. Due to different communication between the engine and the ECU, the overall efficiency and electrical power performance were compromised.

Remote sensing technology and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) have great potential for spill coverage applications. However, there is still a lack of research on adequate path planners for USVs based on remote sensing images. In this study, we propose an image processing and model-based path planner that can generate an efficient path for a USV to cover a spill according to aerial images from remote sensing. We mathematically formulate a spill processing model of the conceptual USV, which can remove the spill by suction mechanism, to determine its speed limit and operation range. To perform coverage with high completeness to the spill in the workspace, we first develop an image segmentation strategy and partition the area with geometric tessellation. We then formulate the coverage problem with tessellation as a traveling salesman problem (TSP) and utilize the self-organizing map (SOM) approach for effective path planning. Finally, with real aerial images containing spills, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed path planning method.

Water pollution has caused increased incidence of algal growth around the globe. Harmful algae blooms result in massive economic losses. In this paper, a multi-robot based task planner is designed to remove excessive algae from water bodies and to identify algae build-up so that prompt action can be taken against its accumulation. Computer vision is incorporated to enable algae detection and area estimation based on training, comparing, and evaluating various advanced deep learning models using our custom algae dataset. We further propose a novel algorithm for robot resource allocation between bounding boxes of detected algae based on multivariable optimization. This systematic solution is evaluated in a simulated environment, demonstrating how the robots are optimally assigned to the detected algae patches for algae removal.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are being used in a variety of applications due to their desirable energy storage characteristics required for modern electronic devices. However, LIBs are prone to thermal runaway due to the flammable liquid electrolyte, decomposition of solid electrolyte interphase from anode surfaces, and melting of polypropylene (PP) separators. The separator provides a pathway for Li+ transfer and divides electrodes from electrical contact, avoiding a short circuit, a potentially catastrophic event. A separator that can endure higher temperatures may restrict a cell from causing thermal runaway. This paper demonstrates that vermiculite, a mineral stable over 1000 °C, could act as a separator lining in LIBs with a lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) cathode and lithium anode. Though the standard PP separator shrinks or melts above 130 °C, the vermiculite and binder will continue to provide electronic isolation, allowing the battery to delay a thermal runaway scenario. The battery containing the vermiculite modified separator released 1.675 kJ g−1 less exothermic energy during the thermal runaway, as well as demonstrating a 3.38 °C higher separator melting temperature, indicating enhanced safety in examined LIBs.

Active shooter incidents are a growing concern within the United States. When means of mitigating the risk associated with threats and vulnerabilities are no longer viable, one must look to mitigate the consequences of an active shooter. This paper explored the means of mitigating the risk of a single active shooter incident within a large event venue increasing the number of armed off duty law enforcement officers available to respond to the incident. By running a computer simulation model of a stadium with 4,000 fans, the research group increased the number of armed off duty law enforcement officers and ran the simulation with a single active shooter. The research group then counted the number of fans shoot and graphed the results. The results showed a negative logarithmic relationship between the number of fans shot and the number of off duty law enforcement officers available. The logarithmic graph reached its base of 3 casualties at 38 law enforcement officers, or 0.7% of the total fan population. In a stadium with a seating capacity of 18,000, security would require 120-180 armed off-duty law enforcement officers to adequately mitigate the consequences of a single active shooter.

This paper studies some of the economic concepts constraining the acceleration of the necessary cybersecurity improvements for critical infrastructure industrial control systems. Industrial control systems are used in several critical infrastructure sectors to include energy, transportation, manufacturing, and water utilities. Critical infrastructures support public health and life safety, economic vitality, national defense, and overarching societal well-being. Significant damage or disruptions to a critical infrastructure could result in potentially catastrophic and cascading consequences.Outcomes of this study are the identification of the economic constraints on improving cybersecurity for a state’s critical infrastructure control systems. This paper recommends that accelerating cyber-security improvements will require addressing economic constraints that will require policy/regulatory and bid specification changes as well as initiating cyber cooperative efforts between the state’s smaller critical infrastructure companies.

Making GPS more accurate and/or reliable by combining it with other sensors and applying sophisticated data processing techniques has been attempted many times. Our approach to enhancing the performance of GPS is much simpler than most. We combine multiple (up to eight) consumer-grade GPS receivers into a system that averages their data in real time, requiring no other sensors, augmentation technologies, or powerful processors. The results show significant improvement in both accuracy and reliability of the data over that of a single receiver, and the distribution of error more closely resembles the normal distribution (as compared to a single receiver). Our multi-GPS system shows potential to be an inexpensive way to achieve better GPS performance with only “off-the-shelf” equipment.

Purpose Transportation project evaluation and prioritization use traditional performance measures including travel time, safety, user costs, economic efficiency and environmental quality. The project impacts in terms of enhancing the infrastructure resilience or mitigating the consequences of infrastructure damage in the event of disaster occurrence are rarely considered in project evaluation. This paper aims to present a methodology to address this issue so that in prioritizing investments, infrastructure with low security can receive the attention they deserve. Second, the methodology can be used for prioritizing candidate investments from a budget that is dedicated specifically to security enhancement. Design/methodology/approach In defining security as the absence of risk of damage from threats due to inherent structural or functional resilience, this paper uses security-related considerations in investment prioritization, thus introducing robustness in such evaluation. As this leads to an increase in the number of performance criteria in the evaluation, the paper adopts a multi-criteria analysis approach. The paper’s methodology quantifies the overall security level for an infrastructure in terms of the threats it faces, its resilience to damage and the consequences in the event of the infrastructure damage. Findings The paper demonstrates that it is feasible to develop a security-related measure that can be used as a performance criterion in the evaluation of general transportation projects or projects dedicated specifically toward security improvement. Through a case study, the paper applies the methodology by measuring the risk (and hence, security) of each for multiple infrastructure assets. On the basis of the multiple types of impacts including risk impacts (i.e. increase in security) because of each candidate investment, the paper shows how to prioritize security investments across the multiple infrastructure assets using multi-criteria analysis. Originality/value The overall framework consists of the traditional steps in risk management, and the paper’s specific contribution is in the part of the framework that measures the risk. The paper shows how infrastructure security can be quantified and incorporated in the project evaluation process.

Objectives: To ascertain whether analyses of social media trends for various Twitter responses following a major disaster produce implications for improving the focus on public health resources and messaging to disaster victims.Methods: Radian6 and trend analyses were used to analyze 12-hour counts of Twitter data before, during, and after the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Radian6 was used to organize tweets into categories of preparedness, emergency response, and public health.Results: Radian6 revealed that 49 percent of tweets were either positive or somewhat positive in sentiment about preparedness and only 7 percent were negative or somewhat negative. Trend analyses revealed a rapid onset of tweet activity associated with all keywords followed by mostly fast exponential decline. Analyses indicate that opportunities for improving public health awareness by leveraging social media communications exist for as much as 5 days after a disaster.Conclusions: Analyses suggest key times for public health social media communication to promote emergency response.

In this paper, we present the modeling of a multirobot energy saving system (MRESS) to increase operating time of a firefighting robot. MRESS is intended to enable a firefighting robot with sub-robots and a fire hose to effectively reach desired destinations while saving battery. To increase operating time by improving the traction efficiency of the firefighting robot, we designed a sub-robot and added it to the firefighting robot. The main goal of the sub-robot is drawing a fire hose in order to save energy consumption of the firefighting robot. For the efficient cooperation, MRESS operates robots with a fire hose by combining a vision-based fire hose tracking method, an endrunning navigation and a limit-cycle navigation applied to the edge of obstacles. The fusion of a limit-cycle navigation and a fire hose tracking method has remarkable advantages such as smooth path planning and fast computational data processing. Further, the endrunning navigation method can decrease the chance of a collision that would possibly twist the fire hoses. As a result, MRESS enables the robots and a fire hose to effectively navigate a smooth planned path with fast processing and to successfully reach the desired destination without twisting the fire hose and wasting energy.

Active shooting violence poses a serious threat to public safety. The outcome is tragic due to the large number of casualties and injuries that can occur as well as the lasting emotional devastation it causes. This study examines the impact of active shooters in gun-free zones. Gun-free zones include all areas where the general public is forbidden to carry firearms. The goal of an active shooter is to shoot, at random, as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. This makes gun-free zones a likely target since no one inside is permitted to carry a gun. The study uses a computer simulation program, called AnyLogic®, to create a lifelike gun-free zone workplace. Using the agent-based simulation model, different policy decisions are tested against one another. Those policy decisions include a default scenario in which no safety protocol is in place other than law enforcement response, a security guard scenario in which an armed security guard is present, a concealed carry scenario in which employees are allowed to carry concealed weapons, and a locked door scenario in which all interior doors are locked. The study demonstrates how response time has the largest impact of any variable in ensuring the least amount of casualties in an active shooting situation. Response time and number of casualties can be decreased depending upon the policy chosen. The purpose of this study is to allow policy makers to compare the costs and benefits of policies for their respective gun-free zones in order to make more informed decisions which could save lives.

A statistical modeling of fire spread is intended to enable to firelighters to make the best plan by expecting the fire spread and to effectively extinguish a fire in buildings. In this Fpaper, Anylogic simulation modeling of a statistical fire spread is introduced for fire accident correspondence in buildings. For the modeling, we apply statistical modeling methods, such as Bayesian network and decision tree, to predict the fire spread. In addition, several conditions, including the fire growth parameter, barrier failure probability, the fire ignition location and an exceptional condition such as backdraft, are apply to the modeling methods. The modeling result allows firefighters to realize where the fire is located and how the fire is growing. Especially if the modeling can be applied to easily viewable modeling software such as AnyLogic, the firefighters can recognize the fire spread and growth in a map quickly, exactly and economically. Thanks to the modeling, firefighters can extinguish the fire easier and mortality rate and property damages, as well as the flrefighting time, can be decreased.

Threats from natural disasters and terrorist attacks are real and are occurring ever closer to home. The State Homeland Security Program authorizes annual grants to supplement state and local response capabilities. Although county-level emergency management agencies have received grants to enhance response capabilities, analysis tools to strategically manage these new capabilities are still not in place. Through a combination of research, qualitative, and quantitative analysis, this study provides a broad view of the resource-based relationships between a typical Midwest county emergency management agency and its neighboring district counties, as well as other counties and districts within the state. A capabilities assessment and a life cycle cost analysis are also presented to demonstrate ways of valuing response equipment and the future costs associated with replacement, maintenance, and training.

There has been an accelerated increase in the number of college students experiencing psychological distresses. The variance of the distresses are causing college campuses across the United States to realize the need for organized campus-wide collaborative mental health plans as part of their emergency management operations plan. In this article, the authors outline a method for developing a mental health resource plan (MHRP). Our plan is designed to aid in decreasing emergent and nonemergent mental healthrelated incidents and serve as a guide for addressing distressed students, faculty, and staff. Addressing mental health issues in college campuses across the nation is gaining widespread attention due to recent tragic mental health-related incidents. In an effort to support the initiatives that address mental health on college campuses, in 2008 and 2009, the US Department of Education granted a total of 19 million to us and 42 other higher education institutions to develop, review, or improve campus-based all-hazards emergency management plans, which includes addressing and assessing the mental health needs of students who are at risk of causing harm to themselves or others. As a partial result of this research effort, the authors present a generalized methodology for developing a college campus MHRP that can be used to prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from mental health-related emergency events.

In 2008, 68 counties in the State of Indiana participated in functional exercises funded by the Indiana State Department of Health to evaluate local pandemic preparation and response. As a part of the exercise tasks, counties were asked to develop an Incident Command (IC) structure for the county as well as qualified personnel who would fill each position. By examining the individual structures, it was discovered that at the local level, no clear type of personnel was being used. This study will display the results of the findings by uniquely categorizing the local level IC personnel structure used in these exercises into three study-defined types: normal command, specialized command, and unified command. By looking at the various effectiveness aspects of each type of personnel structure, this study will provide consideration, with possible strengths and weaknesses, for effective IC use based upon selection of IC personnel. The results will allow localities to better modify their command to adjust to a pandemic emergency.

Active shooting violence at confined settings, such as educational institutions, poses serious security concerns to public safety. In studying the effects of active shooter scenarios, the common denominator associated with all events, regardless of reason/intent for shooter motives, or type of weapons used, was the location chosen and time expended between the beginning of the event and its culmination. This in turn directly correlates to number of casualties incurred in any given event. The longer the event protracts, the more casualties are incurred until law enforcement or another barrier can react and culminate the situation. OBJECTIVE: Using AnyLogic technology, devise modeling scenarios to test multiple hypotheses against free-agent modeling simulation to determine the best method to reduce casualties associated with active shooter scenarios. DESIGN, SETTING, SUBJECTS: Test four possible scenarios of responding to active shooter in a public school setting using agent-based computer modeling techniques-scenario 1: basic scenario where no access control or any type of security is used within the school; scenario 2, scenario assumes that concealed carry individual(s) (5-10 percent of the work force) are present in the school; scenario 3, scenario assumes that the school has assigned resource officer; scenario 4, scenario assumes that the school has assigned resource officer and concealed carry individual(s) (5-10 percent) present in the school. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURED: Statistical data from modeling scenarios indicating which tested hypothesis resulted in fewer casualties and quicker culmination of event. RESULTS: The use of AnyLogic proved the initial hypothesis that a decrease on response time to an active shooter scenario directly reduced victim casualties. CONCLUSIONS: Modeling tests show statistically significant fewer casualties in scenarios where on scene armed responders such as resource officers and concealed carry personnel were present. Language: en

When developing response plans in the aftermath of a catastrophic incident, jurisdictions often fail to conduct the necessary interdisciplinary planning needed to fully address the needs across jurisdictional borders. The Purdue Homeland Security Institute (PHSI) was selected by the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) in 2010 to lead an effort to address planning across jurisdictional borders during mass evacuations following a catastrophic incident. Specifically, PHSI was chosen to lead the effort in developing a planning and implementation guide for standing up a conceptual Regional Hub Reception Center (RHRC). A major component within the mass evacuation and sheltering continuum, the RHRC is designed to provide evacuees with quick-response mass care and emergency assistance while their other needs are assessed and appropriate shelter locations are identified. The RHRC also provides a central location to leverage governmental, nongovernmental, and private sector resources and is the first point in the evacuation, mass care, and sheltering concept of operations where more comprehensive support (food, shelter, medical, psychological, household pet sheltering, reunification, etc) can be expected. PHSI undertook this lead role working within the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin (IL-IN-WI) Combined Statistical Area (CSA) as part of the US Department of Homeland Security Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant Program. Coordinating closely with the City of Chicago OEMC and IL-IN-WI CSA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team, PHSI lead the research effort using resource and capability data compiled from all 17 jurisdictions within the IL-IN-WI CSA and validated the RHRC concept using three tabletop exercises. Upon completion, the PHSI team published the RHRC planning guide complete with procedures and processes that define the roles and responsibilities of government, nongovernment organizations, and private sector for providing RHRC mass care functions and RHRC capability and capacity assessments. This article further examines the potential for using simulation modeling as a cost-effective means to rapidly evaluate any facility for potential use as a RHRC and to measure and maximize RHRC operational efficiency. Using AnyLogic simulation software, PHSI developed a first-ever model of a theoretical RHRC capable of simulating, measuring, and manipulating RHRC operations under specified conditions/ scenarios determined by the emergency management planner. Future simulation modeling research promises to promote the Whole Community Approach to response and recovery by reinforcing interdisciplinary planning, enhancing regional situational awareness, and improving overall jurisdictional coordination and synchronization.