Quality Driven Requirements Engineering for Development of Crisis Management Systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Hallberg ◽  
Sofie Pilemalm ◽  
Toomas Timpka
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Requirements Engineering ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Terror Attacks ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities

Terror attacks and natural disasters of the past decades have dramatically made governments, public health authorities, and communities aware of insufficiencies in crisis management practices. Information technology has the potential to advance these practices, but systems that support handling these courses of events still have low success rates. The authors set out to define a requirements engineering method suitable for the development of crisis management systems (CMS). The resulting method was formatively evaluated in a project aimed at defining functions for systems supporting international engagements in crisis situations. Each step in the method was documented by its objective, output, implementation, and the experiences gained from the case study. The most important features of the method are the Voice of the Customer Table for identification of user needs, Use Cases for determination of requirements from the needs, and scenarios and prototypes for validating the requirements with user representatives.

scholarly journals Managing COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: The Case of Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-412
Author(s):  
Neofytos Aspriadis
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Of Greece

This qualitative study analyzes the Greek government’s crisis management practice and public communication efforts during two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Integrating both crisis management theories and the World Health Organization’s pandemic control plans, discourse analysis and case study approaches were taken to analyze how Greek’s key government and public health authorities communicated with the public using different frames and crisis response strategies. Evaluations were conducted to assess the Greek government’s crisis communication procedures and the effectiveness of different rhetorical strategies used as evidenced in public briefings and public speeches.

Indigenous rangeland resource management in the mountainous areas of northern Nepal: a case study from the Rasuwa District

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Dong ◽  
J. P. Lassoie ◽  
Z. L. Yan ◽  
E. Sharma ◽  
K. K. Shrestha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Resource Degradation ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Modern Technologies

Rangelands perform numerous functions that have significant ecological and livelihood values for mountain societies in Nepal. There are no other systems more suitable than indigenous management systems, which have evolved over long periods of time and offer approaches to land use that are suitable to the varying climatic, biophysical conditions and ethnic diversity that characterise Nepal. However, traditional resource management practices have been ignored in the past, which has resulted in conflicts and resource degradation. In this context, a survey was conducted in the Rasuwa District of northern Nepal to identify existing indigenous rangeland management systems, examine the challenges facing the development of sustainable practices and suggest possible strategies for promoting their development. It was concluded from this study that local herders in the Rasuwa District of northern Nepal have developed effective indigenous rangeland management systems that include good grazing and conservation practices. Well organised local institutional arrangements and efficient traditional right and tenure systems have evolved that result in the sustainable use of rangeland resources. However, both internal and external factors are now challenging these traditional systems. Results indicated that to remain sustainable rangeland management systems in northern Nepal will require a clear recognition of indigenous knowledge of rangeland management as well as the integration of indigenous practices and strategies with modern technologies. More attention should be paid to the facilitation of rangeland legislation covering traditional rights and customary tenure, institutional cooperation and collaboration between government and civil society. Co-management and participatory research and development should be initiated on rangeland resources and the improvement of infrastructure and public service systems.

scholarly journals Utilizing GIS in the development of detailed distribution urban drainage models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakia R. Alam
Keyword(s):  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Urban Drainage ◽  
Stormwater Management Practices

Stormwater management practices can mitigate the undesirable impacts of urbanization. Urban drainage models can play a significant role in comprehensive evaluation of stormwater management systems. This thesis presents a methodology for the development of a detailed distributed urban drainage model using Geographic Information System (GIS) databases. The approach incorporates delineation of spatial variables (subcatchment outlets, width, slope etc.) and other model inputs from digital data and assigns them to the GIS database by executing developed Python 2.7 scripts. The proposed methodology is applied on a case study area in Mississauga, Ontario. Observed rainfall data are used as model input and simulation is performed using PCSWMM 5.1.1279. The model performance is evaluated by comparing the uncalibrated simulated discharge with the observed one. The simulated hydrographs are of good fit with the observed hydrographs. The evaluation criteria justify the use of extracted and assumed parameters and the reliability of the developed methodology.

scholarly journals Use of Health Belief Model–Based Deep Learning Classifiers for COVID-19 Social Media Content to Examine Public Perceptions of Physical Distancing: Model Development and Case Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar ◽  
Soon Guan Tan ◽  
Hwee Lin Wee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Classification Models ◽  
Perceived Severity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities

BACKGROUND Public health authorities have been recommending interventions such as physical distancing and face masks, to curtail the transmission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) within the community. Public perceptions toward such interventions should be identified to enable public health authorities to effectively address valid concerns. The Health Belief Model (HBM) has been used to characterize user-generated content from social media during previous outbreaks, with the aim of understanding the health behaviors of the public. OBJECTIVE This study is aimed at developing and evaluating deep learning–based text classification models for classifying social media content posted during the COVID-19 outbreak, using the four key constructs of the HBM. We will specifically focus on content related to the physical distancing interventions put forth by public health authorities. We intend to test the model with a real-world case study. METHODS The data set for this study was prepared by analyzing Facebook comments that were posted by the public in response to the COVID-19–related posts of three public health authorities: the Ministry of Health of Singapore (MOH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health England. The comments made in the context of physical distancing were manually classified with a Yes/No flag for each of the four HBM constructs: perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, and perceived benefits. Using a curated data set of 16,752 comments, gated recurrent unit–based recurrent neural network models were trained and validated for text classification. Accuracy and binary cross-entropy loss were used to evaluate the model. Specificity, sensitivity, and balanced accuracy were used to evaluate the classification results in the MOH case study. RESULTS The HBM text classification models achieved mean accuracy rates of 0.92, 0.95, 0.91, and 0.94 for the constructs of perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, respectively. In the case study with MOH Facebook comments, specificity was above 96% for all HBM constructs. Sensitivity was 94.3% and 90.9% for perceived severity and perceived benefits, respectively. In addition, sensitivity was 79.6% and 81.5% for perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers, respectively. The classification models were able to accurately predict trends in the prevalence of the constructs for the time period examined in the case study. CONCLUSIONS The deep learning–based text classifiers developed in this study help to determine public perceptions toward physical distancing, using the four key constructs of HBM. Health officials can make use of the classification model to characterize the health behaviors of the public through the lens of social media. In future studies, we intend to extend the model to study public perceptions of other important interventions by public health authorities.

scholarly journals Development of a qualitative real-time RT-PCR assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2: a guide and case study in setting up an emergency-use, laboratory-developed molecular microbiological assay

2021 ◽  
pp. jclinpath-2020-207128
Author(s):  
Melis N Anahtar ◽  
Bennett M Shaw ◽  
Damien Slater ◽  
Elizabeth H Byrne ◽  
Yolanda Botti-Lodovico ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Diagnostic Assays ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Crisis Conditions ◽  
Do So

Developing and deploying new diagnostic tests are difficult, but the need to do so in response to a rapidly emerging pandemic such as COVID-19 is crucially important. During a pandemic, laboratories play a key role in helping healthcare providers and public health authorities detect active infection, a task most commonly achieved using nucleic acid-based assays. While the landscape of diagnostics is rapidly evolving, PCR remains the gold-standard of nucleic acid-based diagnostic assays, in part due to its reliability, flexibility and wide deployment. To address a critical local shortage of testing capacity persisting during the COVID-19 outbreak, our hospital set up a molecular-based laboratory developed test (LDT) to accurately and safely diagnose SARS-CoV-2. We describe here the process of developing an emergency-use LDT, in the hope that our experience will be useful to other laboratories in future outbreaks and will help to lower barriers to establishing fast and accurate diagnostic testing in crisis conditions.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LARGE MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN KENYA (A CASE STUDY OF BATA SHOE KENYA PLC)

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-328
Author(s):  
Michael Antony Mudimba ◽  
Jacinta Muthee Nyawira
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Inventory Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Economic Order Quantity ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Order Quantity ◽  
Inventory Planning ◽  
Cycle Model

The study was purposed to determine the effect of Inventory management practices and financial performance in large manufacturing firms in Kenya. The research was conducted with the following four aims: To examine the degree at which inventory management systems influence financial performance; to establish the degree at which inventory planning influences financial performance in large manufacturing firms and to assess the degree at which inventory modeling influences financial performance in large manufacturing firms. Also, the research was directed by Economic Order Quantity, Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Model, Deming Cycle Model, transaction of cost economics (TCE). The findings of the study show that all firms need to adopt inventory management practices so as to enjoy the advantages. Thus, the existence of inventory management practices is one of the ways for attaining improvements in their financial performance.

The utilization of ISO 9004: case study of the maintenance area of a public transportation company

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosângela Maria Vanalle ◽  
Wagner Cezar Lucato ◽  
Roberto Torres Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Management System ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The Self ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Maturity Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Evaluation

Purpose – The continuous improvement in the performance and satisfaction of all stakeholders is a permanent management objective and part of an organisation’s strategy. To achieve this goal, organisations invest in technological upgrades, process improvements and management models that assure efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to verify the possibility of measuring the management maturity level of an organisation that is dedicated to passenger public transportation; this organisation is used as a reference framework for the self-evaluation maturity-level measurement tool provided by the ISO 9004:2009 standard. Design/methodology/approach – The objective of this paper was accomplished through a case study in which the selected measurement instrument was applied to the management system of the maintenance area of one of the largest subway companies in Brazil. Findings – The results of the study showed that the referential method was capable of precisely and adequately measuring the maturity level of the appraised management system. The method also enabled the researchers to identify best practices for the study organisation, which can be employed by the administration to develop action plans to improve their management system. Research limitations/implications – As a limitation, the results obtained by this paper cannot be generalised, because they were based on only one company. As a result, the conclusions established cannot be extended to other types of companies since their competitive priorities and management practices may be different and generate characteristics of maturity that were not considered in this work. However, these limitations can be minimised if additional researches ponder other types of organisations. Practical implications – On the practical side, this paper motivates companies to improve their operations management by using the self-evaluation tool to identify gaps in their management systems and consequently plan actions to achieve the related improvements. Originality/value – The ISO 9004:2009 standard provides a self-evaluation instrument that can support companies on measuring their respective management system maturity level. However, this paper was able to demonstrate that the aforesaid tool can be used in a broader way as it allows management to define action plans to boost their management systems towards a full utilisation of best management practices.

scholarly journals Utilizing GIS in the development of detailed distribution urban drainage models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakia R. Alam
Keyword(s):  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Urban Drainage ◽  
Stormwater Management Practices

Stormwater management practices can mitigate the undesirable impacts of urbanization. Urban drainage models can play a significant role in comprehensive evaluation of stormwater management systems. This thesis presents a methodology for the development of a detailed distributed urban drainage model using Geographic Information System (GIS) databases. The approach incorporates delineation of spatial variables (subcatchment outlets, width, slope etc.) and other model inputs from digital data and assigns them to the GIS database by executing developed Python 2.7 scripts. The proposed methodology is applied on a case study area in Mississauga, Ontario. Observed rainfall data are used as model input and simulation is performed using PCSWMM 5.1.1279. The model performance is evaluated by comparing the uncalibrated simulated discharge with the observed one. The simulated hydrographs are of good fit with the observed hydrographs. The evaluation criteria justify the use of extracted and assumed parameters and the reliability of the developed methodology.

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