Decision Support Systems for Safety and Security

ABSTRACT

The necessity of ensuring safety and security has emerged as a critical challenge across various domains, ranging from critical infrastructure protection to emergency response planning. The course offers a comprehensive exploration of how decision support systems (DSS) based on wireless information and communication technology (ICT) are leveraged to make informed choices in complex safety and security scenarios. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the principles and applications of decision support systems tailored to safety and security contexts in the framework of civil engineering. Participants will delve into the integration of data-driven approaches, risk assessment methodologies, and real-time information management to enhance decision-making in high-stakes situations. To complete the didactic offer, various numerical exercises (exploiting SW programs) will follow the theoretical lessons.  

COURSE FORMAT

The Course is taught in 🇬🇧️ ENGLISH and offered

• On-site
• On-line (synchronous and asynchronous)

with video recordings, hand-outs, etc. of the lectures available off-line (*).  

COURSE CONTENT

Part 1: INTRODUCTION AND FUNDAMENTALS

• Introduction to information systems: from data to situational awareness
• Fundamentals of decision support systems and their role in safety and security

 

Part 2:: DATA ACQUISITION TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESSING METHODS

• Introduction to data structures, data management, and data storage systems
• ICT technology for distributed and pervasive monitoring: Wireless Sensor Networks, Internet of Things, and Satellites
• Key Performance Indicators for aggregating and highlighting information
• Approaches and techniques for processing, prioritizing, and reducing false-positive threats
• EXERCISES: Creating a decision support system by using plug-and-play tools

 

Part 3: MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES

• Solving multi-criteria decision problems through optimization
• Strategies for analyzing and presenting the results
• EXERCISES: Using optimization algorithms to solve multi-criteria problems

 

Part 4: DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN ACTION

• Resource optimization
• Construction site management
• Management of large civil infrastructures and smart buildings
• Prognostic and failure detection for Industry 4.0

     

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

• Theoretical Lessons
• e-Xam Self Assessment (each teaching class or periodically)
• MATLAB Hands-On
• e-Xam Final Assessment

 

FURTHER READINGS

1. V. L. Sauter, Decision Support Systems for Business Intelligence, John Wiley & Son, 2010.
2. F. Burstein, C. W. Holsapple, Handbook on Decision Support Systems, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2008.
3. G. Rejda, M. McNamara, Principles of Risk Management and Insurance, Pearson, 2021.
4. S. Martorell, C. Guedes Soares, J. Barnett, Safety, Reliability and Risk Analysis: Theory, Methods and Applications, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009.

For further references please contact the Teacher(s).

(*) Each registered participant acknowledges that the material distributed in the frame of the course, available for the duration of one academic year, is protected by copyright and delivered for educational purposes and personal use only. The participant agrees and undertakes not to forward, publish, disclose, distribute, disseminate - in any form or manner - such a material without written consent of the author(s) of the material. Unless otherwise explicitly allowed by the speaker in written form, no recordings of the online lectures can be made.