Search

Utilizing reliable and accurate positioning and navigation systems is crucial for saving the lives of rescue personnel and accelerating rescue operations. However, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), such as GPS, may not provide stable signals in dense forests. Therefore, integrating multiple sensors like GPS and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) becomes essential to enhance the availability and accuracy of positioning systems. To accurately estimate rescuers' positions, this paper employs the Adaptive Unscented Kalman Filter (AUKF) algorithm with measurement noise variance matrix adaptation, integrating IMU and GPS data alongside barometric altitude measurements for precise three-dimensional positioning in complex environments. The AUKF enhances estimation robustness through the adaptive adjustment of the measurement noise variance matrix, particularly excelling when GPS signals are interrupted. This study conducted tests on two-dimensional and three-dimensional road scenarios in forest environments, confirming that the AUKF-algorithm-based integrated navigation system outperforms the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), and Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (AEKF) in emergency rescue applications. The tests further evaluated the system's navigation performance on rugged roads and during GPS signal interruptions. The results demonstrate that the system achieves higher positioning accuracy on rugged forest roads, notably reducing errors by 18.32% in the north direction, 8.51% in the up direction, and 3.85% in the east direction compared to the EKF. Furthermore, the system exhibits good adaptability during GPS signal interruptions, ensuring continuous and accurate personnel positioning during rescue operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the problem of ignoring unpaved roads when planning off-road emergency rescue paths, an improved A* algorithm that incorporates road factors is developed to create an off-road emergency rescue path planning model in this study. To reduce the number of search nodes and improve the efficiency of path searches, the current node is classified according to the angle between the line connecting the node and the target point and the due east direction. Additionally, the search direction is determined in real time through an optimization method to improve the path search efficiency. To identify the path with the shortest travel time suitable for emergency rescue in wilderness scenarios, a heuristic function based on the fusion of road factors and a path planning model for off-road emergency rescue is developed, and the characteristics of existing roads are weighted in the process of path searching to bias the selection process toward unpaved roads with high accessibility. The experiments show that the improved A* algorithm significantly reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles and that path selection is enhanced compared to that with the traditional A* algorithm; moreover, the improved A* algorithm reduces the number of nodes by 16.784% and improves the search efficiency by 27.18% compared with the traditional 16-direction search method. The simulation results indicate that the improved algorithm reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles by 21.298% and improves the search efficiency by 93.901% compared to the traditional A* algorithm, thus greatly enhancing off-road path planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (1006-2467) is the property of Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Expressway networks are continuously developing and emergency rescue demand is increasing proportionately. The location of expressway emergency rescue nodes needs refinement to meet changing requirements. In this study, the expressway was modeled as an expressway network. The differences in the origin destination (OD) distribution matrices for working days and major holidays were used as the bases for determining the need for temporary emergency rescue nodes. Overlapping and non-overlapping community detection algorithms were used to extract the distribution characteristics of OD during both day categories. These distributions were used to determine permanent and temporary emergency rescue sites. In this study, we considered the differences in traffic volume, distance, and impact of four vehicle types on traffic accidents to select the location of emergency rescue nodes, and allocate emergency resources. An emergency rescue node selection model for an expressway network was established based on spatio-temporal characteristics. The results based on a regional example determined that 22 permanent and 25 temporary emergency rescue nodes were appropriate. The average rescue time for traffic accidents during working days and major holidays compared to the P-center location model, was reduced by approximately 27.08% and 6.70%, respectively. The coefficient of variation of emergency rescue time was reduced by approximately 28.22% and 21.41%, respectively. The results indicated that the model satisfied the expressway emergency rescue demand requirements, and improved the rationality of the rescue center node layout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High and steep sandstone slopes along highway line are at high risk of disasters such as landslides, cracking of support structures, and so on. The monitoring, early warning, and emergency response of such slope disaster face enormous challenges, especially during the rainy season. In this paper, intelligent monitoring, early warning and forecasting system were carried out for the high steep sandstone slope with a transmission line tower at the slope crest along the highway under construction in Guangxi, China. The automatic monitoring data, emergency rescue program and rescue effect were analyzed, and emergency rescue measures for high steep slope protection were taken. The research results show that timely access to disaster warning information can effectively support the analysis of disaster causes and the evaluation of disposal programs. Deep-hole monitoring of deformation characteristics can determine the stable state of slopes, and the tangent angle warning criterion can be used for early warning and prediction of high steep slope landslides. By analyzing the location of the sliding surface and taking timely emergency disposal measures such as layered counterpressure method and micropipes, the landslide activities can be effectively controlled to prevent further acceleration of slope collapse. This study can provide an important reference for the monitoring, early warning, forecasting and emergency rescue of sandstone slopes along highways under construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of electric vehicles (EVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provides new ways for personnel search and material distribution during emergency periods. This paper proposes an EV-UAV joint rescue system, in which the UAVs use the EVs as charging and maintenance base stations to provide various services for the objects to be rescued, and the EVs can use distributed generations to obtain diversified electricity supply, which improves the adaptability and endurance level of the system in emergencies. The coordinated scheduling model of the EV-UAV system is established in the mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation, which considers factors including electricity consumption, electricity replenishment, loading capacity, distribution route, and distribution time window of the EVs and the UAVs. Case studies verify the validity of the model proposed, compare the EV-UAV and ground vehicle (GV)-UAV rescue systems, and illustrate the technical characteristics and application potential of the EV-UAV system in emergency assistance.

Abstract Expressway networks are continuously developing and emergency rescue demand is increasing proportionately. The location of expressway emergency rescue nodes needs refinement to meet changing requirements. In this study, the expressway was modeled as an expressway network. The differences in the origin destination (OD) distribution matrices for working days and major holidays were used as the bases for determining the need for temporary emergency rescue nodes. Overlapping and non-overlapping community detection algorithms were used to extract the distribution characteristics of OD during both day categories. These distributions were used to determine permanent and temporary emergency rescue sites. In this study, we considered the differences in traffic volume, distance, and impact of four vehicle types on traffic accidents to select the location of emergency rescue nodes, and allocate emergency resources. An emergency rescue node selection model for an expressway network was established based on spatio-temporal characteristics. The results based on a regional example determined that 22 permanent and 25 temporary emergency rescue nodes were appropriate. The average rescue time for traffic accidents during working days and major holidays compared to the P-center location model, was reduced by approximately 27.08% and 6.70%, respectively. The coefficient of variation of emergency rescue time was reduced by approximately 28.22% and 21.41%, respectively. The results indicated that the model satisfied the expressway emergency rescue demand requirements, and improved the rationality of the rescue center node layout.

To gain a profound understanding of the current status and future trends in the comprehensive prevention and control of coal spontaneous combustion, this paper comprehensively reviews stages and research progress in the aspects of “monitoring and early warning, prevention technology, and emergency rescue”. The following future research aspects are proposed: utilizing advanced technologies such as comprehensive multivariate statistical analysis, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy of coal spontaneous combustion prediction and forecasting. This involves constructing an intelligent, proactive warning, and situational judgment mechanism to achieve intelligent prediction, forecasting, and proactive warning systems. Through the comprehensive application of interdisciplinary research methods, gaining in-depth insights into the spontaneous combustion mechanism, innovative fire-resistant materials, and the development of new microbial technologies, theses make the technology of spontaneous combustion prevention and control of coal present a trend of in-depth research and multiple innovation. Under the framework of an efficient, collaborative, and intelligent rescue mechanism, the emergency rescue for coal spontaneous combustion is advancing towards a more intelligent and information-oriented direction. The goal is to promote the intelligent advancement of the coal spontaneous combustion prevention and control level.

The research on cable-stayed reinforcement technology is based on the rescue and reinforcement project of the trestle in the Dafeng Port area of Yancheng Port, the pile foundation of the original trestle was fractured after being collided by ships, resulting in the instability of the upper beam, varying degrees of cracking and beam end settlement, which seriously affects the safety of the equipment on the beam. The project is located in an open sea area without cover, and the beam of the pier has no supporting components except for the rear approach bridge. A cable-stayed reinforcement technology was used to reinforce the beam of the trestle without dismantling the original beam and hollow slab, thereby quickly relieving the existing dangerous state and providing a construction platform for the later repair of pile foundations and beams. The application of this technology helps to reduce construction costs, accelerate construction progress, and improve construction safety factor, providing reference for similar engineering construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Wildland Fire Science is the property of Journal of Wildland Fire Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

High and steep sandstone slopes along highway line are at high risk of disasters such as landslides, cracking of support structures, and so on. The monitoring, early warning, and emergency response of such slope disaster face enormous challenges, especially during the rainy season. In this paper, intelligent monitoring, early warning and forecasting system were carried out for the high steep sandstone slope with a transmission line tower at the slope crest along the highway under construction in Guangxi, China. The automatic monitoring data, emergency rescue program and rescue effect were analyzed, and emergency rescue measures for high steep slope protection were taken. The research results show that timely access to disaster warning information can effectively support the analysis of disaster causes and the evaluation of disposal programs. Deep-hole monitoring of deformation characteristics can determine the stable state of slopes, and the tangent angle warning criterion can be used for early warning and prediction of high steep slope landslides. By analyzing the location of the sliding surface and taking timely emergency disposal measures such as layered counterpressure method and micropipes, the landslide activities can be effectively controlled to prevent further acceleration of slope collapse. This study can provide an important reference for the monitoring, early warning, forecasting and emergency rescue of sandstone slopes along highways under construction.

Mine borehole vertical rescue technology is a fast and efficient means of emergency rescue in mines, which plays a key role in previous mine accident rescue. The principle of mine borehole vertical rescue technology is explained, and the advantages of this technology, such as long distance, high efficiency and non-contact, are analyzed. The main rescue process and main success factors of Wangjialing Coal Mine water inrush accident, Pingyi gypsum mine accident and Qixia Hushan gold mine accident are summarized and analyzed. Some thoughts on the limitations of existing rapid hole-forming methods and personnel positioning detection technologies are presented, and the development prospects of borehole vertical rescue technology are prospected. It is pointed out that the main research directions of mine borehole rescue technology in China in the future include: building a long-distance, high-precision and high-efficiency positioning system for trapped personnel in disaster-stricken mines, studying the rapid and accurate safe hole-forming technology and wall-penetrating detection technology for mine borehole rescue, improving the mine borehole rescue plan, and popularizing the knowledge of rescue and survival.

In order to realize the underground portable real-time monitoring of the vital signs of personnel and timely arrange rescue, a mine intrinsically safe watch was designed. Take NRF52840 low energy bluetooth chip as the control core, using GH3020 health monitoring IC + MPU6050 acceleration sensor + NST112x temperature sensor as the acquisition unit, combined with the power circuit design, to achieve vital signs data acquisition, BLE/Wi-Fi combined with high-precision RSSI technology to realize the rapid detection of device location signals. The Cortex-M4F core is used to provide efficient data calculation, compression, storage and remote transmission of data. The watch has the characteristics of high integration, good stability, high precision and low power consumption, and supports TCP/IP, ANT, Thread wireless communication and other protocols. After testing, the data acquisition accuracy, power consumption, sustainable working time and other indicators of the equipment have reached the productization standard, and are displayed on the PC in real time, to provide important protection for the life and health of miners.

Aiming at the problem that the underground communication link of the mine is interrupted and the information of rescuers cannot be exchanged after the disaster, a mine intrinsically safe AD hoc network base station is designed. Based on the SDR platform, the equipment adopts the scheme of FPGA + ADI AD9361+ intrinsic safety circuit, and uses wireless multi-hop, self-organization and strong self-healing ability of wireless mesh network technology to quickly and conveniently form a wireless communication network in the environment of underground power supply and communication system being destroyed, and at the same time, provides wireless coverage for terminal equipment such as handheld terminals, mine control balls, mine information recorders, etc., to realize information exchange between the accident scene and the forward command. The test results show that the base station has the advantages of self-provided power supply, high safety factor, small size, light weight, small power consumption, etc., 2.4 GHz and 1.4 GHz dual-band wireless networking, multi-hop capability of 6-8 hops of video, single-hop transmission distance greater than 200 meters, single-hop transmission delay of less than 7 ms, power consumption of less than 15 W, and continuous work for 4.5 h, which can solve the communication problems encountered in the emergency rescue process of various accidents and disasters in mines.

In emergency management, the transportation scheduling of emergency supplies and relief personnel can be regarded as the multi-objective shortest path problem with mixed time window (MOSPPMTW), which has high requirements for timeliness and effectiveness, but the current solution algorithms cannot simultaneously take into account the solution accuracy and computational speed, which is very unfavorable for emergency path decision-making. In this paper, we establish MOSPPMTW matching emergency rescue scenarios, which simultaneously enables the supplies and rescuers to arrive at the emergency scene as soon as possible in the shortest time and at the smallest cost. To solve the complete Pareto optimal surface, we present a ripple spreading algorithm (RSA), which determines the complete Pareto frontier by performing a ripple relay race to obtain the set of Pareto optimal path solutions. The proposed RSA algorithm does not require an initial solution and iterative iterations and only needs to be run once to obtain the solution set. Furthermore, we prove the optimality and time complexity of RSA and conduct multiple sets of example simulation experiments. Compared with other algorithms, RSA performs better in terms of computational speed and solution quality. The advantage is especially more obvious in the computation of large-scale problems. It is applicable to various emergency disaster relief scenarios and can meet the requirements of fast response and timeliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal is the property of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the frequent occurrence of disasters and accidents, as well as the rapid development of virtual reality technology, the immersive experience brought by virtual reality technology provides innovative solutions for the rescue field. This article reviews the development history and research status of virtual reality in the field of rescue, introduces the application of virtual reality technology in simulating disaster scenarios, training rescue personnel, and improving decision‐making efficiency in earthquake, fire, and mine rescue, and emphasizes the advantages of virtual reality technology in the rescue field. Finally, the prospects of virtual reality technology in the field of rescue were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a mine-fire accident occurs, a large number of emergency resources need to be allocated to rescue those involved in the mine-fire accident. The allocation of emergency resources for mine-fire accidents has the characteristic of being a complex system with strong uncertainty. To investigate the impact of various variables on the allocation of emergency resources in mine-fire situations, this paper analyzes the relevant factors that influence the process of allocating emergency resources during mine fires. It defines the variables of the mine-fire emergency resource-allocation system based on relevant assumptions. Causal loop and stock flow diagrams are drawn to illustrate the relationships between the variables and the system dynamics equation. Finally, a system dynamics model for mine-fire emergency resource allocation is established. The Vensim software was used to simulate the model of a mine-fire emergency rescue. The simulation produced curves for the evolution rate of the fire, the arrival rate, the demand for emergency resources, in-transit resources, arrival, and the usage of resources during the emergency. The results indicate a positive correlation between the quantity of emergency resources in-transit and the arrival rate of emergency resources: they are positively correlated with the amount of emergency-management investment. Additionally, the duration of the maximum quantity of emergency resources in-transit is positively correlated with the length of the emergency resource-allocation route. On the other hand, the evolution rate of the mine fire and the arrival rate of its emergency resources are negatively correlated with the level of emergency management. The evolution rate of the mine fire becomes larger and the damage caused by the mine-fire accident is greater when the decision-making ability of commanders is at a low level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standards are a valuable tool for information transmission and knowledge carrier, providing necessary technical support for the sustained development of the social economy. Currently, there are relatively sufficient standard resources in the field of urban gas pipeline networks, but unsystematic gas standard specifications are difficult to meet the requirements of quick and accurate query and matching for accident emergency response. The emergency standard literature of urban gas pipeline network was focused on. The knowledge graph construction technology was used to logically analyze and sort out the standard literature in the field of urban gas. The knowledge graph of emergency disposal and rescue of urban gas pipeline network was constructed. Through case mining, it shows the decision support value of the knowledge graph in the emergency disposal of gas pipeline network accidents and the value of error correction tools in the self-improvement of the relevant standardization systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of urbanization and the impact of climate change, the frequent occurrence of urban waterlogging not only leads to road closures and traffic congestion but also severely affects the timeliness of urban emergency rescue. To accurately assess and enhance the response capability of urban emergency rescue under storm-induced waterlogging scenarios, a hydrodynamic model of urban waterlogging was developed to simulate waterlogging conditions under various design rainfall scenarios. By identifying road waterlogging risks and blocked roads, as well as combining the Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method, the accessibility of emergency rescue services for points of interest (POIs) with different vulnerabilities was evaluated. The Liwan District of Guangzhou City was selected as a case study for accessibility impact assessment and improvement simulation. The results indicate that with the increase in the return period of rainfall, both the area and depth of waterlogged regions increased and the number of roads affected by waterlogging rose, leading to an increase in the length of blocked roads from 11 km to 49 km, an increase of over 300%. Additionally, the number of POIs inaccessible to emergency rescue increased, while the number of accessible POIs decreased, resulting in a significant downward trend in overall accessibility. By deploying mobile pumping vehicles, the depth and area of waterlogging under different rainfall return periods were reduced by over 10%, the number of blocked roads decreased by more than 10%, and the number of accessible POIs increased by more than 12%. The findings highlight that storm-induced waterlogging not only hinders traffic flow but also reduces the response capability of emergency rescue services. Through the strategic deployment of mobile pumping vehicles, the accessibility of urban emergency rescue services under waterlogging conditions can be effectively improved, mitigating the impact of waterlogging on urban functions and public safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] Water penetration accidents in underground mines are common and often lead to severe consequences. Once an accident happens, considerable amounts of water gushes into the underground and is difficult to discharge quickly. In addition, the complexity of the shaft system leads to unclear rescue routes and difficulty in accurately locating trapped personnel. Currently, the positioning of underground personnel in coal mines involves radio frequency identification technology; however, the wireless signal attenuation in the water becomes apparent, with an extremely short propagation distance. This study proposes to apply active acoustic source localization technology in emergency rescue of mine water penetration accidents, aiming to solve the problem of signal failure of the existing radio system after the accident, making it difficult to accurately locate the trapped personnel. [Methods] By optimizing the design of the main and internal structures of the positioning lamp, the self-developed acoustic generator is built into the lamp. Through the innovative design of circuit connection, the acoustic wave generator and the mining lamp are integrated, power supply is shared, and resource allocation is optimized to realize the organic integration of the acoustic wave generator and the traditional mining lamp. The mass of the beacon is only 30 g, which does not increase the burden of miners. Under normal circumstances, the acoustic beacon circuit in the miner's lamp is disconnected and does not consume electricity. During water penetration, the acoustic beacon uses water as a medium to conduct the circuit and emit an acoustic signal. Search and rescue personnel or robots can accomplish localization by capturing the acoustic signals emitted by the underwater localization acoustic beacon. [Results] The active sound source locating lamp performed excellently in the test experiments. First, the lamp self-activates in the event of water penetration, ensuring that it can be used quickly during the incident. Second, the acoustic generator of the locator lamp has a frequency of 3.15 kHz, and the acoustic signal was received over 72 m, allowing for the accurate positioning of trapped people. [Conclusions] The design and development of an active sound source locating lamp is highly innovative, and the active acoustic source-based localization technology has been applied for the first time to the emergency rescue of mine water penetration. By combining the self-developed acoustic generator with the traditional mining lamp, the design and development of the mining lamp can realize the accurate positioning of the trapped people underground in mine water penetration accidents. It fixes the issue of nonworking radio signals in mine water penetration accidents, making it difficult to accurately locate the trapped people, which is of great significance to improve emergency rescue following water penetration accidents in mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transportation system plays a crucial role in the context of socioeconomic development, whereas the highway infrastructure acts as a base for the transportation system. In recent years, a rich impetus has been given to the development of road infrastructure by Indian governance. There is a need to introspect how well the prevailing highway infrastructure is equipped with emergency rescue management during road accidents. Lack of ambulance service and trauma facilities along the highways results in a steady loss of lives and injuries and increases people's exposure to risks. Objective: This study aims to determine the response time of ambulance reachability to the accident spot on Indian national highways associated with heavy commercial transportation. Also, determining the time to transport the injured to the nearest trauma facility is another factor included as an objective in this investigation. Methods: The study adopted survey-based research, whereby the variables in the questionnaire were designed to record and assess the time for an ambulance to reach the accident spot and, from there, to transport the injured to the trauma management facility on Indian highways. Two hundred twenty-five participants who were either victims/relatives of victims or those involved in the rescue of the injured have participated in the survey. The dates of the accident events were 2017 and 2022. Results: The survey resulted in the identification of two categories of highway accidents. The first category of accidents happened on the highways near city limits/dense settlements, and the second category occurred on the core highways. The percentage of accidents caused on the highways either adjacent to or passing through the city limits/dense settlements was reported to be higher than the accidents on the core highways. Ninety percent of the participants reported successful contact with the ambulance call/service centre, but only ~75% success rate exists for ambulances to reach the accident scene. On the core highways, the time taken for the ambulance to arrive at the accident scene is 25–35 minutes. The results from the survey ascertained that the patients were prioritised for treatment in the nearest hospitals (irrespective of having a trauma facility) at a distance of ~12–20 km, for which the time taken is ~15–25 minutes. Importantly, from the interviews, it is understood that in many cases, these hospitals have further referred to specialty hospitals located in nearby cities or trauma centres with greater facilities. Occasions exist where the injured were taken directly to hospitals 30–40 km from the accident spot, for which the time was more than 40 minutes. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that in either of the accident cases on the highways that are adjacent to/passing through the city limits or on the core highways, the total time for emergency care accessibility is nearly 60 minutes or greater; this implies that in the majority of cases, there is very meagre time left to provide emergency medical care to the needy and injured on the Indian highways to abide by the concept of golden hour. Plausible reforms backed by technology for enabling highways into 'emergency rescuable highways' are highly needed to guarantee a safer and more sustainable transportation system in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Mine Automation is the property of Industry & Mine Automation Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal is the property of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In catastrophic occurrences, the automatic, accurate, and fast object detection of images taken by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can significantly reduce the time required for manual search and rescue. Victim detection methods, however, are not sufficiently robust for identifying partially obscured and multiscale objects against diverse backgrounds. To overcome this problem, we propose a hybrid-domain attention mechanism algorithm based on YOLOv5 with multiscale feature reuse (YOLO-MSFR). First, to solve the issue of the victim target being easily masked by a complex background, which complicates target attribute representation, a channel-space domain attention method was built, to improve target feature expression ability. Second, to address the problem of easily missed multiscale characteristics of victim targets, a multiscale feature reuse MSFR module was designed to ensure that large-scale target features are effectively expressed while enhancing small-target feature expression ability. The MSFR module was designed based on dilated convolution to solve the problem of small-target feature information loss during downsampling in the backbone network. The features were reused by cascade residuals to reduce the model training parameters and avoid the disappearance of the network deepening gradient. Finally, the efficient intersection over union (EIOU) loss function was adopted to accelerate network convergence and improve the detection performance of the network to accurately locate victims. The proposed algorithm was compared with five classical target detection algorithms on data from multiple disaster environments to verify its advantages. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately detect multiscale victim targets in complex natural disasters, with mAP reaching 91.0%. The image detection speed at 640 × 640 resolution was 42 fps, indicating good real-time performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveTo explore the composition and influencing factors of professionals’ capacity in public health emergency rescues.MethodsA descriptive qualitative design was used in this study. Medical workers, managers, and members of an emergency rescue team in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, were recruited for participation through a purposive sampling method. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a conventional content analysis method.FindingsA total of 2 themes and 13 sub-themes emerged from the analysis: ability composition (knowledge reserve, early warning assessment, information reporting, emergency response, self-protection, personal ability, coordination and cooperation, health education) and influencing factors (educational background, region, experience, hospital level, human resources, and financial investment).ConclusionThese findings offer a basis for the construction of a related indicator system and provide a reference for relevant departments to further optimize their emergency education and training, strengthen their emergency drills, and improve their emergency rescue abilities. The findings indicate that it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of an emergency rescue team, adjust the ratio of personnel, improve their remuneration, and promote work enthusiasm to improve the emergency rescue ability of an organization.

With the large-scale mining of coal resources, there are more and more potential hazards of coal mine geological disasters. Coal mine disaster accidents often have the characteristics of suddenness, contingency and complex. Information technology can quickly integrate and process multi-source information, which is an important support for effective rescue. The article is based on the actual situation of coal mine safety production, combined with the business characteristics of geological exploration units, based on the analysis of system requirements, this paper designs the system functions, puts forward the key technologies and implementation methods of system construction, and develops and constructs an information system that meets the actual needs of coal mine geological emergency rescue. Taking a coal mine in Ningnan Coalfield as an example, the rationality of the system function is verified.

Background: The transportation system plays a crucial role in the context of socioeconomic development, whereas the highway infrastructure acts as a base for the transportation system. In recent years, a rich impetus has been given to the development of road infrastructure by Indian governance. There is a need to introspect how well the prevailing highway infrastructure is equipped with emergency rescue management during road accidents. Lack of ambulance service and trauma facilities along the highways results in a steady loss of lives and injuries and increases people's exposure to risks. Objective: This study aims to determine the response time of ambulance reachability to the accident spot on Indian national highways associated with heavy commercial transportation. Also, determining the time to transport the injured to the nearest trauma facility is another factor included as an objective in this investigation. Methods: The study adopted survey-based research, whereby the variables in the questionnaire were designed to record and assess the time for an ambulance to reach the accident spot and, from there, to transport the injured to the trauma management facility on Indian highways. Two hundred twenty-five participants who were either victims/relatives of victims or those involved in the rescue of the injured have participated in the survey. The dates of the accident events were 2017 and 2022. Results: The survey resulted in the identification of two categories of highway accidents. The first category of accidents happened on the highways near city limits/dense settlements, and the second category occurred on the core highways. The percentage of accidents caused on the highways either adjacent to or passing through the city limits/dense settlements was reported to be higher than the accidents on the core highways. Ninety percent of the participants reported successful contact with the ambulance call/service centre, but only ~75% success rate exists for ambulances to reach the accident scene. On the core highways, the time taken for the ambulance to arrive at the accident scene is 25–35 minutes. The results from the survey ascertained that the patients were prioritised for treatment in the nearest hospitals (irrespective of having a trauma facility) at a distance of ~12–20 km, for which the time taken is ~15–25 minutes. Importantly, from the interviews, it is understood that in many cases, these hospitals have further referred to specialty hospitals located in nearby cities or trauma centres with greater facilities. Occasions exist where the injured were taken directly to hospitals 30–40 km from the accident spot, for which the time was more than 40 minutes. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that in either of the accident cases on the highways that are adjacent to/passing through the city limits or on the core highways, the total time for emergency care accessibility is nearly 60 minutes or greater; this implies that in the majority of cases, there is very meagre time left to provide emergency medical care to the needy and injured on the Indian highways to abide by the concept of golden hour. Plausible reforms backed by technology for enabling highways into 'emergency rescuable highways' are highly needed to guarantee a safer and more sustainable transportation system in India.

It is critical to estimate the location using only Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Wi-Fi information gathered by the user's smartphone and deployable for emergency rescue, regardless of whether the Global Positioning System is received. In this research, we used a vehicle to gather LTE and Wi-Fi wireless signals over a large area for an extended period of time. After that, we used the learning technique to create a positioning database that included both collection and noncollection points. We presented a two-step positioning algorithm that utilizes coarse localization to discover a rough location in a wide area rapidly and fine localization to estimate a particular location based on the coarse position. We confirmed our technology utilizing different sorts of devices in four regional types that are generally encountered: dense urban, urban, suburban, and rural. Results presented that our algorithm can satisfactorily achieve the target accuracy necessary in emergency rescue circumstances.

Abstract Rapid building damage assessment following an earthquake is important for humanitarian relief and disaster emergency responses. In February 2023, two magnitude-7.8 earthquakes struck Turkey in quick succession, impacting over 30 major cities across nearly 300 km. A quick and comprehensive understanding of the distribution of building damage is essential for efficiently deploying rescue forces during critical rescue periods. This article presents the training of a two-stage convolutional neural network called BDANet that integrated image features captured before and after the disaster to evaluate the extent of building damage in Islahiye. Based on high-resolution remote sensing data from WorldView2, BDANet used pre-disaster imagery to extract building outlines; the image features before and after the disaster were then combined to conduct building damage assessment. We optimized these results to improve the accuracy of building edges and analyzed the damage to each building, and used population distribution information to estimate the population count and urgency of rescue at different disaster levels. The results indicate that the building area in the Islahiye region was 156.92 ha, with an affected area of 26.60 ha. Severely damaged buildings accounted for 15.67% of the total building area in the affected areas. WorldPop population distribution data indicated approximately 253, 297, and 1,246 people in the collapsed, severely damaged, and lightly damaged areas, respectively. Accuracy verification showed that the BDANet model exhibited good performance in handling high-resolution images and can be used to directly assess building damage and provide rapid information for rescue operations in future disasters using model weights.

This paper develops a social media-disaster resilience analysis framework by categorizing types of social media use and their challenges to better understand and assess its role in disaster resilience research and management. The framework is derived primarily from several case studies of Twitter use in three hurricane events in the United States – Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, and Harvey. The paper first outlines four major contributions of social media data for disaster resilience research and management, which include serving as an effective communication platform, providing ground truth information for emergency response and rescue operations, providing information on people’s sentiments, and allowing predictive modeling. However, there are four key challenges to its uses, which include easy spreading of false information, social and geographical disparities of Twitter use, technical issues on processing and analyzing big and noisy data, especially on improving the locational accuracy of the tweets, and algorithm bias in AI and other types of modeling. Then, the paper proposes twenty strategies that the four sectors of the social media community – organizations, individuals, social media companies, and researchers – could take to improve social media use to increase disaster resilience.

Abstract In emergency management, the transportation scheduling of emergency supplies and relief personnel can be regarded as the multi-objective shortest path problem with mixed time window (MOSPPMTW), which has high requirements for timeliness and effectiveness, but the current solution algorithms cannot simultaneously take into account the solution accuracy and computational speed, which is very unfavorable for emergency path decision-making. In this paper, we establish MOSPPMTW matching emergency rescue scenarios, which simultaneously enables the supplies and rescuers to arrive at the emergency scene as soon as possible in the shortest time and at the smallest cost. To solve the complete Pareto optimal surface, we present a ripple spreading algorithm (RSA), which determines the complete Pareto frontier by performing a ripple relay race to obtain the set of Pareto optimal path solutions. The proposed RSA algorithm does not require an initial solution and iterative iterations and only needs to be run once to obtain the solution set. Furthermore, we prove the optimality and time complexity of RSA and conduct multiple sets of example simulation experiments. Compared with other algorithms, RSA performs better in terms of computational speed and solution quality. The advantage is especially more obvious in the computation of large-scale problems. It is applicable to various emergency disaster relief scenarios and can meet the requirements of fast response and timeliness.

Haiti is a country with a relatively backward economy for a long time. The severe poverty situation has led to the vulnerability of the society to cope with disasters. On the one hand, the government cannot provide a large amount of funds to build shockproof and anti-seismic houses. On the other hand, it has not formulated building standards effectively, and there are no mandatory construction laws and regulations, which results in the lack of planning for building construction, the general lack of fortification of buildings, poor seismic performance and heavy losses after the earthquake. In 2010 and 2021, earthquakes of magnitude 7.3 occurred in Haiti respectively, and caused a large number of casualties. This paper analyzes and summarizes the emergency response and rescue capacity of the two earthquakes from three aspects: casualties caused by the two earthquakes, Haiti government emergency response and disaster relief effect, and assistance from international rescue organizations. The results showed that the international rescue forces have participated in the two earthquake disaster rescue, and the earthquake rescue in 2010 was a state of anarchy. The rescue activities were mainly carried out by international forces, supplemented by the Haitian government. The emergency response speed of the government has improved significantly in 2021, and the government played absolutely an leading role in disaster relief. The analysis and study of international rescue cases and international rescue forces can provide effective decision-making suggestions for the dispatch of China’s international rescue teams and foreign aid.

Utilizing reliable and accurate positioning and navigation systems is crucial for saving the lives of rescue personnel and accelerating rescue operations. However, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), such as GPS, may not provide stable signals in dense forests. Therefore, integrating multiple sensors like GPS and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) becomes essential to enhance the availability and accuracy of positioning systems. To accurately estimate rescuers’ positions, this paper employs the Adaptive Unscented Kalman Filter (AUKF) algorithm with measurement noise variance matrix adaptation, integrating IMU and GPS data alongside barometric altitude measurements for precise three-dimensional positioning in complex environments. The AUKF enhances estimation robustness through the adaptive adjustment of the measurement noise variance matrix, particularly excelling when GPS signals are interrupted. This study conducted tests on two-dimensional and three-dimensional road scenarios in forest environments, confirming that the AUKF-algorithm-based integrated navigation system outperforms the traditional Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF), and Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (AEKF) in emergency rescue applications. The tests further evaluated the system’s navigation performance on rugged roads and during GPS signal interruptions. The results demonstrate that the system achieves higher positioning accuracy on rugged forest roads, notably reducing errors by 18.32% in the north direction, 8.51% in the up direction, and 3.85% in the east direction compared to the EKF. Furthermore, the system exhibits good adaptability during GPS signal interruptions, ensuring continuous and accurate personnel positioning during rescue operations.

To address the problem of ignoring unpaved roads when planning off-road emergency rescue paths, an improved A* algorithm that incorporates road factors is developed to create an off-road emergency rescue path planning model in this study. To reduce the number of search nodes and improve the efficiency of path searches, the current node is classified according to the angle between the line connecting the node and the target point and the due east direction. Additionally, the search direction is determined in real time through an optimization method to improve the path search efficiency. To identify the path with the shortest travel time suitable for emergency rescue in wilderness scenarios, a heuristic function based on the fusion of road factors and a path planning model for off-road emergency rescue is developed, and the characteristics of existing roads are weighted in the process of path searching to bias the selection process toward unpaved roads with high accessibility. The experiments show that the improved A* algorithm significantly reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles and that path selection is enhanced compared to that with the traditional A* algorithm; moreover, the improved A* algorithm reduces the number of nodes by 16.784% and improves the search efficiency by 27.18% compared with the traditional 16-direction search method. The simulation results indicate that the improved algorithm reduces the travel time of off-road vehicles by 21.298% and improves the search efficiency by 93.901% compared to the traditional A* algorithm, thus greatly enhancing off-road path planning.

Wireless communication has been widely used in emergency rescue, including from command vehicles to command vehicles, command vehicles to rescue teams, command vehicles to wireless sensors, and rescue teams to intelligent platforms such as unmanned vehicles. Compared to those used in cities and suburbs, when the same communication equipment is used in forests, its communication performance, such as transmission distance, is entirely different. The main reason for this phenomenon is the extraordinary complexity of wireless signal propagation in forest scenarios. Therefore, in order to accurately and quantitatively describe the wireless channel characteristics in forest scenarios, a frequency channel measurement activity is conducted in a forest and analysis is performed to acquire the channel characteristics in forest scenarios. The measurements are carried out at 380 MHz, 640 MHz, and 1420 MHz in virgin forest. Based on the measurement data, the average power delay profile (APDP) is obtained, and multipath components (MPCs) are extracted. Root mean square (RMS) delay spread and path loss (PL) are analyzed according to MPCs. Furthermore, a new path loss model is proposed. Finally, a new path loss model and relative analysis are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal is the property of Chinese Medical Equipment Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the face of major emergency rescue in extreme disaster environments, complex terrain conditions and multiple disasters, it is highly critical to consider amphibious emergency rescue equipment with cross-country wading, multi-role rescue and amphibious rescue capabilities. As an amphibious emergency rescue device, the amphibious delivery platform is a special vehicle with both land and ship performance. It can drive and operate in both land and underwater environments, and can adapt to composite disaster environments with various types of “water-land”, and is widely used in emergency disaster relief. The shape and structure of the amphibious delivery platform body are complex, and complex hydrodynamic properties can be exhibited. Therefore, it is extremely essential to realize the safe and stable underwater navigation of amphibious delivery platform and to study the hydrodynamic properties of amphibious vehicles for the design and optimization of its comprehensive combat capability. The underwater dynamic characteristics and simulation technology of amphibious delivery platform were studied, including navigation resistance, navigation stability, underwater maneuverability, interaction between propeller and vehicle body were introduced. The methods and achievements of different scholars were analyzed and summarized. The methods and achievements of different scholars were analyzed and summarized, which can predict the trend of hydrodynamics research in amphibious vehicles and some references can be provided for follow-up researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is critical to estimate the location using only Long‐Term Evolution (LTE) and Wi‐Fi information gathered by the user's smartphone and deployable for emergency rescue, regardless of whether the Global Positioning System is received. In this research, we used a vehicle to gather LTE and Wi‐Fi wireless signals over a large area for an extended period of time. After that, we used the learning technique to create a positioning database that included both collection and noncollection points. We presented a two‐step positioning algorithm that utilizes coarse localization to discover a rough location in a wide area rapidly and fine localization to estimate a particular location based on the coarse position. We confirmed our technology utilizing different sorts of devices in four regional types that are generally encountered: dense urban, urban, suburban, and rural. Results presented that our algorithm can satisfactorily achieve the target accuracy necessary in emergency rescue circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid building damage assessment following an earthquake is important for humanitarian relief and disaster emergency responses. In February 2023, two magnitude-7.8 earthquakes struck Turkey in quick succession, impacting over 30 major cities across nearly 300 km. A quick and comprehensive understanding of the distribution of building damage is essential for efficiently deploying rescue forces during critical rescue periods. This article presents the training of a two-stage convolutional neural network called BDANet that integrated image features captured before and after the disaster to evaluate the extent of building damage in Islahiye. Based on high-resolution remote sensing data from WorldView2, BDANet used pre-disaster imagery to extract building outlines; the image features before and after the disaster were then combined to conduct building damage assessment. We optimized these results to improve the accuracy of building edges and analyzed the damage to each building, and used population distribution information to estimate the population count and urgency of rescue at different disaster levels. The results indicate that the building area in the Islahiye region was 156.92 ha, with an affected area of 26.60 ha. Severely damaged buildings accounted for 15.67% of the total building area in the affected areas. WorldPop population distribution data indicated approximately 253, 297, and 1,246 people in the collapsed, severely damaged, and lightly damaged areas, respectively. Accuracy verification showed that the BDANet model exhibited good performance in handling high-resolution images and can be used to directly assess building damage and provide rapid information for rescue operations in future disasters using model weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Wildland Fire Science is the property of Journal of Wildland Fire Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Computer Engineering & Applications is the property of Beijing Journal of Computer Engineering & Applications Journal Co Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Progress in Earthquake Sciences is the property of China Earthquake Administration, Institute of Geophysics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the coal mine emergency rescue auxiliary decision system, there are problems such as insufficient application of emergency plans, low application efficiency, and poor execution of rescue plans generated by the system. In order to solve the above problems, a design method for a coal mine emergency rescue auxiliary decision system based on emergency plans is proposed. This method uses information extraction technology based on large language models to extract key task elements from emergency plans, such as task names, triggering conditions, executing departments, and task content. This method forms meta tasks, and constructs a meta task library that classifies and stores meta tasks based on accident types and levels. When a coal mine safety accident occurs, this method uses semantic matching technology based on the SBERT model to classify and grade the accident based on the information collected on site. The method selects the meta task set that matches the current emergency needs from the meta task library. To improve the feasibility of tasks, this method combines meta tasks with real-time collected on-site data, constructs specific action instructions through instruction templates. The method uses task planning techniques to optimize and adjust the priority of instructions, and generate practical and feasible on-site rescue plans. The coal mine emergency rescue auxiliary decision system based on emergency plans fully utilizes the standardized content of emergency plans, forming a rescue plan closely integrated with on-site information and resource optimization. The system further improves the accuracy, scientificity, and intelligence level of rescue decision-making.

At present, 3D mine scene construction mainly adopts the method of creating basic models and then integrating the scene by using 3ds MAX, MAYA and other software, which is inefficient and difficult. In order to achieve simple and efficient 3D scene construction, based on Unity3D engine platform, a 3D mine digitizing editing system with real-time rendering, 3D roadway modeling, environment modeling, gas solving, scene roaming and other functions has been developed by embedding the basic model library with external interfaces, and embedding the algorithms of roadway construction, ventilation solution and gas spread. The practice shows that the scene constructed by the system has good effect and is widely used in mine cognition, self rescue and escape, emergency rescue, auxiliary decision-making and other simulation training exercises. It has strong practicability.

Copyright of Experimental Technology & Management is the property of Experimental Technology & Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To address the route optimization problem in the dispatching of different aircraft types for forest fire rescue in general aviation, a multi-aircraft adaptive three-dimensional improved A ∗ route optimization algorithm was proposed. The traditional A ∗ algorithm was known for its drawbacks such as high search node count, slow computation speed, and restricted two-dimensional space. To overcome these challenges, the performance limitations of different rescue aircraft was comprehensively considered during actual flight and improves search nodes in three-dimensional space. Additionally, a cost function that accounts for rescue cost was proposed, and an adaptive method was utilized to dynamically adjust weight. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce route planning time and route length, accelerate the generation speed of rescue plans, and improve the efficiency of fleet dispatching for rescue operations. This algorithm is more consistent with the actual flight for forest fire rescue in general aviation. The research findings can provide a theoretical basis for improving the efficiency of forest fire rescue in general aviation and have some reference value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]