Emergency Coordination Research Articles

Cultural differences in speed adaptation in human-robot interaction tasks

Abstract In social interactions, human movement is a rich source of information for all those who take part in the collaboration. In fact, a variety of intuitive messages are communicated through motion and continuously inform the partners about the future unfolding of the actions. A similar exchange of implicit information could support movement coordination in the context of Human-Robot Interaction. In this work, we investigate how implicit signaling in an interaction with a humanoid robot can lead to emergent coordination in the form of automatic speed adaptation. In particular, we assess whether different cultures – specifically Japanese and Italian – have a different impact on motor resonance and synchronization in HRI. Japanese people show a higher general acceptance toward robots when compared with Western cultures. Since acceptance, or better affiliation, is tightly connected to imitation and mimicry, we hypothesize a higher degree of speed imitation for Japanese participants when compared to Italians. In the experimental studies undertaken both in Japan and Italy, we observe that cultural differences do not impact on the natural predisposition of subjects to adapt to the robot.

Developing a data analytics platform to support decision making in emergency and security management

The Emergency and Security Coordinating Centre is the public service responsible for managing all the incidents registered in the Canary Islands. More than 7 million records have been collected in the last decade with more than twenty observed variables for each incident, which comprise more than 140 million data. All these data emanate from different islands and municipalities but with very marked differences. The study in this paper presents complete and novel research about geographical and temporal incident distribution, which may be of interest to emergency services managers and people responsible for designing public policies concerning security and health matters. We have developed an analytical web platform that features several dashboards with statistically significant results, by island, municipality, etc., and incorporating certain external data sources regarding social and economic issues which allow us to study the relationship between these factors and incident distribution at different geographical levels. Certain specific results are presented and illustrated in order to show all dimensions of data analytics that not only significantly improve companies’ and organizations’ processes, but also demonstrate how data analytics competency relates to decision making performance. Several statistical models that forecast and classify the incidents are proposed to illustrate the potential of statistical modelling in the study. The application has become into a crucial strategic tool for the organization because it helps in decision making processes. The information provided is highly modular and allows for the future inclusion of new features in order to provide larger and improved data analyses.

Examining the Intergovernmental and Interorganizational Network of Responding to Major Accidents for Improving the Emergency Management System in China

Since the SARS crisis in 2003, institutionalized emergency management systems have been established in each government level for improving inter-organizational collaboration in China. Major accidents require participation of public organizations affiliated with multiple government levels, and the lack of collaboration and coordination among the involved organizations within the critical time constraints during the response process is an existing problem. In this research, a case study of examining the intergovernmental and cross-sectoral collaboration for responding to a well-known oil pipeline explosion accident in China by a complex network method is conducted. The aim is to obtain managerial insights in improving the existing emergency management system in a centralized political-administrative context, such as China. A mixed method of data collection is applied to identify the participating organizations and to determine the interaction spanning organizational boundaries in both hierarchical and horizontal dimensions. An emergency response network is built and visualized for representing intergovernmental and interorganizational collaboration during the response process of the major accident by social network analysis (SNA) tools. The SNA indicators are used to measure quantitatively the network structure at the levels of the whole network, subnetwork, and node. The obstacles of achieving intergovernmental collaboration are found, and managerial suggestions for improving the existing emergency management system are provided. This research indicates that the Chinese government should pay attention to establishing and sustaining partnerships with private and nonprofit organizations and conduct a blend of hierarchical, market, and network principles in fostering collaboration for addressing major accidents. The public organizations in the local government level are shown to be more active than other participators in coordinating their response operations, and their capability should be emphasized for improvement. Additionally, the interactive relationships among specific emergency function groups and between the affected communities and organizations performing emergency command and coordination function should be strengthened.

“Events and failures are our only means for making policy changes”: learning in disaster and emergency management policies in Manitoba, Canada

The Canadian Province of Manitoba has experienced many severe floods and other natural disasters, and in response municipal, provincial, and federal governments have developed various disaster and emergency management (DEM) policies and programs over the years to protect and preserve lives and resources. In this context, the present study examined how various disaster management institutions and policies in Manitoba have changed over the years, drawing insights from the existing literature. Framing devices employed included Birkland’s policy change and learning framework, Peter May’s categorization of policy learning, and other social learning literature. A total of 21 key informant interviews (KIIs), comprising 3 senior provincial political leaders, 10 senior bureaucrats, and 8 municipal emergency coordinators, were conducted to collect primary data. Our findings reveal that significant policy changes were made in response to events such as the droughts of the 1930s; the floods of 1950, 1966, 1997, and 2011; and the wildfires of 1989. However, these were largely “reactive” initiatives driven by “top-down” decision-making processes. While natural as well as technological disasters [such as the 1979 Mississauga (Ontario) train derailment and 1984 Bhopal (India) chemical plant disaster] led to the successful implementation of institutional learning provisions within Manitoba DEM policy, the achievement of similar provisions for responding to climate change and other emerging threats has been impeded by numerous barriers such as a lack of political will and/or financial constraints.

Timely assessment of disaster and emergency response networks in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to elaborate pros and cons of two coding methods: the rapid network assessment (RNA) and the manual content analysis (MCA). In particular, it focuses on the applicability of a new rapid data extraction and utilization method, which can contribute to the timely coordination of disaster and emergency response operations.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the data set of textual information on the Superstorm Sandy response in 2012, retrieved from the LexisNexis Academic news archive, the two coding methods, MCA and RNA, are subjected to social network analysis.FindingsThe analysis results indicate a significant level of similarity between the data collected using these two methods. The findings indicate that the RNA method could be effectively used to extract megabytes of electronic data, characterize the emerging disaster response network and suggest timely policy implications for managers and practitioners during actual emergency response operations and coordination processes.Originality/valueConsidering the growing needs for the timely assessment of real-time disaster response systems and the emerging doubts regarding the effectiveness of the RNA method, this study contributes to uncovering the potential of the RNA method to extract relevant data from the megabytes of digitally available information. Also this research illustrates the applicability of MCA for assessing real-time disaster response networks by comparing network analysis results from data sets built by both the RNA and the MCA.

Study on Control Strategy of Hydropower Asynchronous Integration Coupling with DC Emergency Power Support

The hydropower group is a kind of weak AC system while hydropower asynchronous interconnected with main network through VSC-HVDC (Voltage Source Converter based High Voltage Direct Current). Thus, VSC-HVDC should be taken part into the system voltage and frequency control, which can enhance the transient stability of power grid while reduce the conventional control costs at the same time. The transfer function of turbine governor is introduced to expound the principle of hydraulic turbine unit participating in DC power support. Different kinds of DC power modulation have been compared which show the difference of power angle recovery after fault between VSC-HVDC and LCC-HVDC (Line Commutated Converter based High Voltage Direct Current) power support, thus the modulation priority of different kinds of DC in the emergency control should be taken into consideration. The DC power support quantity calculation method after fault is proposed in this paper. The emergency coordination control strategy can be formulated by considering with both priority and DC power support quantity under different fault.

Emergent coordination with a brain-machine interface: implications for the neural basis of motor learning.

How patterns of covariance in motor output and neural activity emerge over the course of learning is a topic of ongoing investigation. Vaidya et al. (Vaidya M, Balasubramanian K, Southerland J, Badreldin I, Eleryan A, Shattuck K, Gururangan S, Slutzky M, Osborne L, Fagg A, Oweiss K, Hatsopoulos NG. J Neurophysiol 119: 1291-1304, 2018) investigate the emergence of patterns of covariance in the motor output and neural activity in chronically amputated macaques learning reach-to-grasp movements with a brain-machine interface. The authors' findings have implications for uncovering general principles of how neural coordination unfolds while learning a different motor behavior.

On the emergent dynamics and synchronization of β-cells networks in response to space-time varying glucose stimuli

Recent findings based on calcium fluorescence imaging of pancreatic islets, also combined with optogenetic techniques, showed that β-cells synchronization underlie a small-world and scale-free functional organization, where specified hubs are responsible of the emergent coordination in electrical activity. Despite these features were suggested to be linked to an efficient spreading of information and calcium waves, it is still unclear from what they emerge, if they can still be observed when different dynamical variables are used to build functional networks, and how they vary upon changes in control parameters. In this work we investigate this aspect with a novel hybrid discrete-continuum mathematical model, coupling the stochastic electrical dynamics of β-cell clusters to nonlinear reaction–diffusion of glucose. By analyzing cells activity with the use of dynamical functional networks computed on the correlations between cells membrane voltage signals, we recover functional features in accordance to experimental observations. We further show that such properties are observed during specific phases of the complex electrical bursting oscillation, and are affected by glucose diffusion. These results suggest that functional properties derived from experimental calcium signals, on a time scale on the order of tens of seconds, are also recovered at a much faster time scale, i.e., on the order of hundreds of milliseconds. We finally describe how such functional features are strongly linked to synchronization patterns, in which coordinated sub-clusters of cells naturally emerge from the underlying dynamics.

Swarm coordination of mini-UAVs for target search using imperfect sensors

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have a great potential to support search tasks in unstructured environments. Small, lightweight, low speed and agile UAVs, such as multi-rotors platforms can incorporate many kinds of sensors that are suitable for detecting object of interests in cluttered outdoor areas. However, due to their limited endurance, moderate computing power, and imperfect sensing, mini-UAVs should be into groups using swarm coordination algorithms to perform tasks in a scalable, reliable and robust manner. In this paper a biologically-inspired mechanisms is adopted to coordinate drones performing target search with imperfect sensors. In essence, coordination can be achieved by combining stigmergic and flocking behaviors. Stigmergy occurs when a drone releases digital pheromone upon sensing of a potential target. Such pheromones can be aggregated and diffused between flocking drones, creating a spatiotemporal attractive potential field. Flocking occurs, as an emergent effect of alignment, separation and cohesion, where drones self organise with similar heading and dynamic arrangement as a group. The emergent coordination of drones relies on the alignment of stigmergy and flocking strategies. This paper reports on the design of the novel swarming algorithm, reviewing different strategies and measuring their performance on a number of synthetic and real-world scenarios.

Exploring the Relation between the Sense of Other and the Sense of Us: Core Agency Cognition, Emergent Coordination, and the Sense of Agency

Journal of Social PhilosophyVolume 49, Issue 1 p. 38-60 Original Article Exploring the Relation between the Sense of Other and the Sense of Us: Core Agency Cognition, Emergent Coordination, and the Sense of Agency Judith Martens, Judith MartensSearch for more papers by this author Judith Martens, Judith MartensSearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 April 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12223Citations: 3Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume49, Issue1Special Issue: Collective Self-AwarenessSpring 2018Pages 38-60 RelatedInformation

Emergent coordination underlying learning to reach to grasp with a brain-machine interface.

The development of coordinated reach-to-grasp movement has been well studied in infants and children. However, the role of motor cortex during this development is unclear because it is difficult to study in humans. We took the approach of using a brain-machine interface (BMI) paradigm in rhesus macaques with prior therapeutic amputations to examine the emergence of novel, coordinated reach to grasp. Previous research has shown that after amputation, the cortical area previously involved in the control of the lost limb undergoes reorganization, but prior BMI work has largely relied on finding neurons that already encode specific movement-related information. In this study, we taught macaques to cortically control a robotic arm and hand through operant conditioning, using neurons that were not explicitly reach or grasp related. Over the course of training, stereotypical patterns emerged and stabilized in the cross-covariance between the reaching and grasping velocity profiles, between pairs of neurons involved in controlling reach and grasp, and to a comparable, but lesser, extent between other stable neurons in the network. In fact, we found evidence of this structured coordination between pairs composed of all combinations of neurons decoding reach or grasp and other stable neurons in the network. The degree of and participation in coordination was highly correlated across all pair types. Our approach provides a unique model for studying the development of novel, coordinated reach-to-grasp movement at the behavioral and cortical levels. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Given that motor cortex undergoes reorganization after amputation, our work focuses on training nonhuman primates with chronic amputations to use neurons that are not reach or grasp related to control a robotic arm to reach to grasp through the use of operant conditioning, mimicking early development. We studied the development of a novel, coordinated behavior at the behavioral and cortical level, and the neural plasticity in M1 associated with learning to use a brain-machine interface.

A model for enterprise resource planning in emergency humanitarian logistics

PurposeWhile the need for information systems is regularly highlighted in the humanitarian logistics literature, a detailed model of what such system would look like is missing. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need and advantages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology in humanitarian emergency logistics. The paper also proposes a model for the configuration, maintenance, operation, and improvement of the system.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper uses existing logistics and information systems literature to build the logical case for an integrated enterprise system for humanitarian emergencies, and to propose conceptual content and process models.FindingsThe problem of lack of coordination is reviewed, and a holistic solution is proposed through a structure and model of ERP systems technology to meet the specific requirements of humanitarian emergencies.Research limitations/implicationsAs in any conceptual paper, a limitation of this paper is the lack of empirical validation of the proposed system. It also might be difficult to obtain the cooperation of multiple organizations. This research focuses on emergency humanitarian logistics, where effectiveness and speed have priority over simplicity or cost.Practical implicationsThe model proposed in this paper links current efforts in humanitarian emergency coordination with existing supply chain information technologies, and is practically feasible both from the technological and organizational perspectives.Social implicationsBecause of the critical, life or death nature of the problem, social and ethical implications of this research are broad, including the divergence of coordination in humanitarian vs commercial and military logistics, as well as inter-agency politics.Originality/valueThis paper is a bold but realistic attempt to take a holistic view of humanitarian logistics and design a system that would be effective, and calls humanitarian organizations worldwide to collaborate in its implementation.

Multiscale coordination between athletes: Complexity matching in ergometer rowing

Complex systems applications in human movement sciences have increased our understanding of emergent coordination patterns between athletes. In the current study, we take a novel step and propose that movement coordination between athletes is a multiscale phenomenon. Specifically, we investigated so-called “complexity matching” of performance measured in the context of rowing. Sixteen rowers participated in two sessions on rowing ergometers: One individual session of 550 strokes and one dyadic session of 550 strokes side-by-side with a team member. We used evenly-spaced detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to calculate the complexity indices (DFA exponents) of the force-peak interval series for each rower in each session. The DFA exponents between team members were uncorrelated in the individual sessions (r = 0.06), but were strongly and significantly correlated when team members rowed together (r = 0.87). Furthermore, we found that complexity matching could not be attributed to the rowers mimicking or locally adapting to each other. These findings contribute to the current theoretical understanding of coordination dynamics in sports.

Hip fracture surgery within 48 hours – a reachable recommendation?

Introduction The usual treatment for all types of hip fracture is surgical. Conservative treatment is rarely indicated in developed countries. It is recognized that treatment decreases morbidity and mortality, controls pain and promotes early mobilization. The complexity of most fragility fracture patients is compound by comorbidities and polypharmacy, and requires a multidisciplinary approach. There exists a vast number of available guidelines that vary in relevance and quality. However, evidence supports that hip fracture surgery within 48 hours of admission is associated with better outcomes. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed the cases operated for proximal femoral fracture in 2014, at our institution. We intend to evaluate: age, sex, fracture classification, comorbidities, length of hospital stay and average waiting time for surgery. Results We evaluated 474 patients (average 1.298 per day), with an average age of 71 (23–98). Seventy-seven percent are female and 63% of the fractures are extracapsular. The mean time of hospitalization are 18 days and the mean time of waiting for surgery is greater than 5 days. Only 26% of surgeries were done within 48 hours of admission. Discussion The number of these types of fractures has increased. Timing of surgery is one of the biggest challenges of the health system. It involves the pre-hospital emergency coordination, trauma services, geriatrics, anesthesia and surgical equipment capacity. Conclusion Hip fracture is a real worldwide health issue, which increases with age and occurs principally in women. Ideally, it should perform surgery on the day, or the day after, admission. It is essential to identify and treat correctable comorbidities immediately so that surgery is not delayed. For this reason, their approach should be multidisciplinary, including orthogeriatric and trauma teams.

Interacting With Robots to Investigate the Bases of Social Interaction.

Humans show a great natural ability at interacting with each other. Such efficiency in joint actions depends on a synergy between planned collaboration and emergent coordination, a subconscious mechanism based on a tight link between action execution and perception. This link supports phenomena as mutual adaptation, synchronization, and anticipation, which cut drastically the delays in the interaction and the need of complex verbal instructions and result in the establishment of joint intentions, the backbone of social interaction. From a neurophysiological perspective, this is possible, because the same neural system supporting action execution is responsible of the understanding and the anticipation of the observed action of others. Defining which human motion features allow for such emergent coordination with another agent would be crucial to establish more natural and efficient interaction paradigms with artificial devices, ranging from assistive and rehabilitative technology to companion robots. However, investigating the behavioral and neural mechanisms supporting natural interaction poses substantial problems. In particular, the unconscious processes at the basis of emergent coordination (e.g., unintentional movements or gazing) are very difficult-if not impossible-to restrain or control in a quantitative way for a human agent. Moreover, during an interaction, participants influence each other continuously in a complex way, resulting in behaviors that go beyond experimental control. In this paper, we propose robotics technology as a potential solution to this methodological problem. Robots indeed can establish an interaction with a human partner, contingently reacting to his actions without losing the controllability of the experiment or the naturalness of the interactive scenario. A robot could represent an "interactive probe" to assess the sensory and motor mechanisms underlying human-human interaction. We discuss this proposal with examples from our research with the humanoid robot iCub, showing how an interactive humanoid robot could be a key tool to serve the investigation of the psychological and neuroscientific bases of social interaction.

Latitude or Latent Control? How Occupational Embeddedness and Control Shape Emergent Coordination

We examine how different occupational communities that are embedded in organizations exercise control processes to achieve emergent coordination as they create complex products together. We compare two types of organizations, equipment manufacturing and film production, and find that although occupational control was important for emergent coordination in both settings, this relationship varied according to two aspects of occupational embeddedness: organizational acknowledgment of occupational control and occupational interdependence. In the equipment manufacturing setting, occupational control was latent: the communities visibly conformed to organizational control processes while exercising occupational control behind the scenes to coordinate emergently. In the film setting, the organization granted the occupational community significant latitude over its tasks, which enabled members to coordinate emergently to solve problems the majority of the time. We propose that these two aspects of occupational embeddedness must be analyzed together with occupational control processes to explain how integration unfolds in knowledge-based settings in ways that organizational control processes are ill-equipped to manage.

A comparative approach to cooperative transport in ants: individual persistence correlates with group coordination

When groups of ants work together to carry large objects—called cooperative transport—they must form consensus on a travel direction. In many species, groups are unsuccessful at this decision, and deadlock. In other collective decisions, including nest-site selection in honeybees, individuals’ enthusiasm or recruitment intensity for a given option affects the selection process. A similar mechanism may be important during cooperative transport in ants and may account for coordination differences among species. Results from theoretical models suggest that individuals’ persistence—their reluctance to give up or change their preferred direction—may promote coordination. More persistent individuals formed more successful groups in a theoretical context. As an empirical test of this hypothesis, I examined cooperative transport in four ant species that differ substantially in their group-level coordination, from exceedingly coordinated to rarely successful. I focused on the beginning of transport, evaluating groups’ transitions from uncoordinated to successful. I measured two types of persistence at the individual level—total engagement effort and local engagement time—and I measured group coordination for each species. In one species, I also manipulated persistence by adding a force equivalent to infinitely persistent ants to the existing transport groups. Species with more persistent individuals succeeded more often and formed more coordinated transport groups, with more direct paths. Furthermore, adding two infinitely persistent ants to the existing groups seemed to moderately increase their path directness. These results support the hypothesis that high individual persistence promotes group coordination during cooperative transport, and this study informs the mechanisms of emergent coordination.

ANALISIS KEBUTUHAN KOMUNITAS UNTUK KESIAPSIAGAAN MASYARAKAT PADA ASPEK KESEHATAN MENGHADAPI BENCANA BANJIR BANDANG DI AFDELING GUNUNG PASANG, DESA SUCI, KECAMATAN PANTI, KABUPATEN JEMBER

Preparedness is an important steps in efforts to disaster risk reduction on vulnerable communities. Afdeling Gunung Pasang classified as disaster-prone areas in flashflood, so that the community requires preparedness. To develop the necessary preparedness in community it needs analysis. The analysis includes assessing felt needs and fulfillment of normative needs, especially in the aspect of health for disaster risk reduction. In Indonesia, there are several criteria for fulfilling the health needs of disaster include the provision of clean water and sanitation, foods and clothing, health services, psychosocial services andshelters.Purpose: The main objective of this study for knowing about the community needs to develop a community preparedness in health by felt needs and fulfillment normative needs to prevent flashflood disaster in Afdeling Gunung Pasang, Suci Village, Panti Sub-Regency, Distric of Jember Method: This was a qualitative study with phenomenological approach. The main informan were community of Afdelling Gunung Pasang as well as, supporting informan were leaders of community, head of village office, stakeholder of community (Perusahaan Daerah Perkebunan) and stakeholder of disaster management (intitution of local government) in District of Jember. The main informan for focus group discussion were determined with purposive technique. Data collecting by focus group discussion, in depth interview, and observation. To validate the data was bytriangulation method and source. Findings: Many kind of felt needs finding in community to develop a community preparedness in health. Study by social representation of community experience in disaster, community needs stimulus such as training emergency response, fulfillment tools, disaster information and coordination with stakeholder. The needs aims to health prevention and observing dangerous zone in Afdeling Gunung Pasang.

Incidence, recurrence and cost of hyperglycaemic crises requiring emergency treatment in Andalusia, Spain.

Hyperglycaemic crises (diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state) are medical emergencies in people with diabetes. We aimed to determine their incidence, recurrence and economic impact. An observational study of hyperglycaemic crises cases using the database maintained by the out-of-hospital emergency service, the Healthcare Emergency Public Service (EPES) during 2012. The EPES provides emergency medical services to the total population of Andalusia, Spain (8.5million inhabitants) and records data on the incidence, resource utilization and cost of out-of-hospital medical care. Direct costs were estimated using public prices for health services updated to 2012. Among 1137738 emergency calls requesting medical assistance, 3157 were diagnosed with hyperglycaemic crises by an emergency coordinator, representing 2.9 cases per 1000 persons with diabetes [95% confidence intervals (CI) 2.8 to 3.0]. The incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis was 2.5 cases per 1000 persons with diabetes (95% CI 2.4 to 2.6) and the incidence of hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state was 0.4 cases per 1000 persons with diabetes (95% CI 0.4 to 0.5). In total, 17.7% (n=440) of people had one or more hyperglycaemic crisis. The estimated total direct cost was €4662151, with a mean direct cost per episode of €1476.8±217.8. Hyperglycaemic crises require high resource utilization of emergency medical services and have a significant economic impact on the health system.

Strengthening Adaptation in Cyber-Physical Systems via Meta-Adaptation Strategies

The dynamic nature of complex Cyber-Physical Systems puts extra requirements on their functionalities: they not only need to be dependable, but also able to adapt to changing situations in their environment. When developing such systems, however, it is often impossible to explicitly design for all potential situations up front and provide corresponding strategies. Situations that come out of this “envelope of adaptability” can lead to problems that end up by applying an emergency fail-safe strategy to avoid complete system failure. The existing approaches to self-adaptation cannot typically cope with such situations better—while they are adaptive (and can apply learning) in choosing a strategy, they still rely on a pre-defined set of strategies not flexible enough to deal with those situations adequately. To alleviate this problem, we propose the concept of meta-adaptation strategies, which extends the limits of adaptability of a system by constructing new strategies at runtime to reflect the changes in the environment. Though the approach is generally applicable to most approaches to self-adaptation, we demonstrate our approach on IRM-SA—a design method and associated runtime model for self-adaptive distributed systems based on component ensembles. We exemplify the meta-adaptation strategies concept by providing three concrete meta-adaptation strategies and show its feasibility on an emergency coordination case study.