GIS in the World Trade Center attack—trial by fire

GIS technology proved its value in emergency operations in response to the World Trade Center attack on 11 September 2001. This unprecedented emergency subjected the use of GIS and spatial data technologies to perhaps their most severe test ever. GIS and related spatial technologies were widely used to support the response, rescue, and recovery efforts and, under the dire conditions of that emergency, they proved to be extremely valuable. This paper will describe the establishment of the Emergency Mapping and Data Center (EMDC) and its operations over several months. It will also provide information on the experiences and lessons learned from that experience. The City Office of Emergency Management recently conducted a post-emergency critique of all aspects of the EMDC and the GIS Utility. The findings of that critique reveal many valuable lessons based both on the successes and problems experienced during the World Trade Center response.     

构建数据及系统灾备中心的几点考量

概述数据灾备中心的建设规范,从核心基础设施及网络传输架构的设计等方面着手,整合和充分利用灾备中心、生产中心的资源,并以广东惠州社保异地灾备中心的建设为例。阐述构建数据及系统灾备中心需要考量的几个方面。     

A high-quality high-fidelity visualization of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center

In this application paper, we describe the efforts of a multidisciplinary team towards producing a visualization of the September 11 Attack on the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center. The visualization was designed to meet two requirements. First, the visualization had to depict the impact with high fidelity, by closely following the laws of physics. Second, the visualization had to be eloquent to a nonexpert user. This was achieved by first designing and computing a finite-element analysis (FEA) simulation of the impact between the aircraft and the top 20 stories of the building, and then by visualizing the FEA results with a state-of-the-art commercial animation system. The visualization was enabled by an automatic translator that converts the simulation data into an animation system 3D scene. We built upon a previously developed translator. The translator was substantially extended to enable and control visualization of fire and of disintegrating elements, to better scale with the number of nodes and number of states, to handle beam elements with complex profiles, and to handle smoothed particle hydrodynamics liquid representation. The resulting translator is a powerful automatic and scalable tool for high-quality visualization of FEA results.     

Human-robot interactions during the robot-assisted urban search and rescue response at the World Trade Center

The World Trade Center (WTC) rescue response provided an unfortunate opportunity to study the human-robot interactions (HRI) during a real unstaged rescue for the first time. A post-hoc analysis was performed on the data collected during the response, which resulted in 17 findings on the impact of the environment and conditions on the HRI: the skills displayed and needed by robots and humans, the details of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) task, the social informatics in the USAR domain, and what information is communicated at what time. The results of this work impact the field of robotics by providing a case study for HRI in USAR drawn from an unstaged USAR effort. Eleven recommendations are made based on the findings that impact the robotics, computer science, engineering, psychology, and rescue fields. These recommendations call for group organization and user confidence studies, more research into perceptual and assistive interfaces, and formal models of the state of the robot, state of the world, and information as to what has been observed.     

New Yorkers Respond to the World Trade Center Attack: An Anatomy of an Emergent Volunteer Organization

In the aftermath of the New York World Trade Center attack, an emergent group of citizen volunteers organized to provide needed supplies to the workers at Ground Zero. The emergent‐group phenomenon has been documented after many disasters. This paper examines the organization of this emergent group through the organizational characteristics of structure, legitimacy, communications, leadership and organizational change. Finally, it argues that through a better understanding of the organizational characteristics, emergency‐management personnel will be better prepared to manage and coordinate the activities of disaster‐related emergent groups.     

Recovery of Financial Services Firms in the World Trade Center,Post 9/11/01

Abstract

Following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC), terrorism and security experts agreed that the U.S. financial services industry was a prime target for future terrorist attacks. Experts warned that the industry's disaster recovery plans were out-of-date, designed primarily to withstand natural disasters, and no match for the destructive power of an intentional terrorist attack. While the tragic events of September 11, 2001 confirmed experts' foreboding predictions of future attacks on the U.S. financial system, was the financial services industry inadequately prepared to recover from such an attack?     

数据中心灾备技术实现浅析

伴随着信息技术的高速发展,数据和信息逐渐成为各行各业的业务基础和命脉。许多大中型企业,为科学化管理,都成立了相应的数据中心,带来了各企业管理手段的提升和业务技术的更新,当然,同时也将面临着数据中心数据丢失的危险,这给企业的正常生产运行,带来极大的隐患。为解决这一问题,衍生出了数据灾备技术,合理地运用该技术,能够解决企业运行中的后顾之忧,保障企业各种业务数据的安全性,从而更好地为企业正常运行服务。     

案例驱动教学模式在《数据库原理》实践教学中的运用

数据库原理实践教学过程中不同程度地存在一些问题,主要是对课程实践教学环节认识不足,出现重理论教学,轻实践教学现象,课程实验、实习缺乏开放性和自主性,满足不了实践教学的需要。针对数据库原理实践教学过程中的问题,本文提出运用案例驱动的教学模式,提高学生的实践能力;引导学生自我学习、主动学习;提高教师自身的综合素质和业务水平     

遥感技术在减灾救灾中的应用

遥感技术已经广泛应用于地震、洪涝、台风等自然灾害的减灾救灾工作中,并在灾前预警准备、灾中监测救援和灾后评估恢复阶段发挥了重要的作用。首先介绍了灾害信息获取中常用的可见光、热红外和雷达数据及其特点,然后分析了遥感技术在减灾救灾中的应用优势,并对其在灾害不同阶段的作用进行了讨论。最后结合遥感的特点和数据处理方法,介绍了遥感在不同种类灾害中的应用情况,并对我国遥感技术在减灾救灾应用中的发展方向进行了展望。     

支持多生产中心的远程容灾系统的设计与实现

该文设计并实现了一种支持多生产中心的远程容灾系统。系统在本地服务器端的设备驱动层实时监控写操作,通过Internet将数据传送到远程备份中心,并存入数据库中实现备份。该系统无需企业自建灾备中心,并且利用Internet这一廉价资源,可以最大限度地降低企业容灾预算。此外,该系统还提供了基于B/S架构的配置管理方式。     

Emergent Groups in Established Frameworks: Ottawa Carleton's Response to the 1998 Ice Disaster

In his book, Organized Behavior in Disaster, Russell Dynes classifies organizations that respond to emergencies four ways – regular, expanding, extending and emergency. He bases this on an analysis of research done mainly in the United States. This article examines whether these typologies fit a 1998 ice storm that left about one-fifth of Canadians without power. The conclusion is that the typologies do fit. However, in the case of the ice storm the ‘emergent’ groups were formed from within rather than outside the established response structure. As a result, there was none of the expected conflict between existing and emergent organizations. The lesson for planners is that if they adapt rapidly to changing circumstances and are ready to sponsor or include emergent groups in their existing structure they can reduce or eliminate conflict.     

Reasoning About the Mark of the Cognitive: A Response to Adams and Garrison

I critically examine Adams and Garrison’s proposed necessary condition for the mark of the cognitive (Adams and Garrison in Minds Mach 23(3):339–352, 2013). After a brief presentation of their position, I argue not only that their proposal is in need of additional support, but also that it is too restrictive.     

安全应急响应中心平台的设计与实现

随着网络技术的迅速发展和普及,网络安全已经成为企业必不可少的环节。本文通对现有企业网络安全的调查和分析,结合企业网络安全的要求与平台功能需求,采用B/S结构模块化设计的基本思路,设计实现了一个基于PHP的网络安全应急响应中心,为企业实现漏洞收集和披露计划。因此,建立适合中小企业的网络安全应急响应中心平台具有十分重要的现实意义。     

容灾技术在军事航天指控中心设计中的应用

容灾系统能够在灾难中最大限度地保障计算机信息系统提供正常服务,保证数据的安全性和可靠性.为此,把在IT系统发展成熟的容灾技术应用到正在发展的航天测控领域,从理论上设计了一种适用于军事航天指控中心的数据容灾系统,以保证军事航天指控中心在自然灾害和战争条件下的高可用性.     

Social Aftermath and Organizational Response to a Major Disaster: The Case of the 1995 Sakhalin Earthquake in Russia

This paper explores the social consequences, and the main characteristics, of organizational response to one of the worst earthquake disasters in world history that struck Sakhalin Island, in the Far East of Russia, in Spring 1995, completely destroying one of its communities. The paper explores and uses the generic response model as an analytical framework. This model is applied to a concrete case study and the specific social environment of Russia.     

医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设的探索与实践

信息系统运行安全是现阶段的主要研究问题之一,对此,有必要开展双活数据中心容灾模式建设。笔者分析了医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设现状,研究了医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设存在的问题,探索了医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设方案,提出了医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设创新方式,旨在为现阶段医院双活数据中心容灾模式建设的探索与实践提供参考意见。