CHAPTER 2

Review of Literature and Studies

2.1 Introduction

This chapter will come to grips about the related literature and studies that give

ideas to the researchers to pursue this study. After a thorough and in-depth search with the

related literature, researchers presented topics about emergency response like roles,

communication, and mental state of a person in distress. Also, they presented about the

concept of Internet of Things. In related studies they presented foreign works.

2.2 Related Literature

2.2.1 Roles in Emergency Response

Response systems for both small and large crises are typically divided into first

responders (medical personnel, fire-fighters and police) and different command

structures. - Staffan Bram Sara Vestergren

2.2.2 Emergency dispatch

Another important component, even though not physically present at the incident

site, is the emergency dispatch center, where the actual professional emergency response

starts. According to Danielsson, Johansson and Eliasson (2010) the emergency dispatch

center has to establish; 1) where the incident has occurred, 2) what type of help is needed,

and 3) transfer the information to the responding rescue organizations and directing them

to the location of the incident. - Staffan Bram Sara Vestergren

2.2.3 Systems and Cognition

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 Response systems involve dynamic configurations of people and technology. This

means that if we want to understand how to construct efficient response systems, we must

first have a sound understanding of how humans think and interact. - Staffan Bram Sara

Vestergren

2.2.4 Information and Communication

Successful coordination depends very much on effective communication, because

of its role in creating shared understandings (Comfort, 2007). Issues in communication,

such as unclear communication paths, have been identified as major problems in several

large-scale emergency operations (Lundberg & Asplund, 2011). - Staffan Bram Sara

Vestergren

2.2.5 Ease of Use

It goes without saying that during times of stress, peoples cognitive abilities can

become impaired. When considering an Emergency Notification System, it should be

taken into consideration whether the average person will be able to use the system with

little or no training, or if the system requires some type of specialized skills. The system

should be intuitive and simple as evaluated by the people who will be expected to use it

during an emergency. - Breaking Down Barriers to Effective Emergency Notifications,

White Paper

2.2.6 Concept of Internet of Things

Internet of Things is a new revolution of the Internet. Objects make themselves

recognizable and they obtain intelligence by making or enabling context related decisions

thanks to the fact that they can communicate information about themselves. They can

access information that has been aggregated by other things, or they can be components

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of complex services. This transformation is concomitant with the emergence of cloud

computing capabilities and the transition of the Internet towards IPv6 with an almost

unlimited addressing capacity. New types of applications can involve the electric vehicle

and the smart house, in which appliances and services that provide notifications, security,

energy-saving, automation, telecommunication, computers and entertainment are

integrated into a single ecosystem with a shared user interface. - Ovidiu Vermesan et al.

2.2.7 Mental State in a Crisis

During a disaster, people may experience a wide range of emotions. Psychological

barriers can interfere with cooperation and response from the public. - Crisis Emergency

Risk Communication, 2014 Edition, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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2.3 Related Studies

2.3.1 Personal Emergency Notification Application for Mobile Devices

A personal safety app or SOS app is a mobile application which can be used to aid

personal safety. Personal emergency notification system is an important tool for personal

security and safety. Recently, there are two kinds of common emergency notification

systems. One is designed to allow the user wearing a designed button with a connection

to the device host at home. Another is specially designed single-function phone (the

phone for elders) whose back has an SOS button. When unexpected something happen,

users just need to push the button to secure, systems could send a message to some

specific institutions or people setting in advance. However, these two kinds systems

mostly do not embed GPS functions and information may not clear enough in an

emergency, which motivates this project. In this paper, an emergency notification

application for mobile devices will be designed. In the application, the position function

of GPS and an easy user interface capable for sending emergency notification messages

or phone calls are included. Users can quickly push the designed buttons for help via

sending (short) messages and instant messages, both of which automatically include

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position information, to default emergency corresponding people or institutions. -

Akansha Raj, et. al., 2015

2.3.2 CAP ONES: An Emergency Notification System for All

In this paper we present an ontology-based system for managing emergency alert

notifications. Our purpose is to generate emergency alerts that are accessible to different

kinds of people, paying special attention to more vulnerable collectives like impaired

people. By adapting alerts to different devices and users, we can allow Emergency

Management Systems (EMS) to communicate with collectives like blind or deaf people

whom otherwise will be unreachable by usual channels. Moreover, if we consider

constrains imposed by the nature of the emergency situations, we can also improve the

information transmission to cope with situational disabilities (e.g. smoke during a fire can

cause low vision problems). We centered our system architecture on two characteristics:

the first one is an ontology that codifies knowledge about accessibility, devices,

disabilities, emergencies and media so the alert notification can be tailored according to

different parameters; the second one is the use of an open standard like the CAP

(Common Alerting Protocol) that enables our system to interoperate with other existing

systems. - Malizia, et. al., 2009

2.3.3 WIPER: The Integrated Wireless Phone Based Emergency Response System

We describe a prototype emergency response system. This dynamic data driven

application system (DDDAS) uses wireless call data, including call volume, who calls

whom, call duration, services in use, and cell phone location information. Since all cell

phones (that are powered on) maintain contact with one or more local cell towers,

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location data about each phone is updated periodically and available throughout the

cellular phone network. This permits the cell phones of a city to serve as an ad hoc

mobile sensor net, measuring the movement and calling patterns of the population. Social

network theory and statistical analysis on normal call activity and call locations establish

a baseline. A detection and alert system monitors streaming summary cell phone call data.

Abnormal call patterns or population movements trigger a simulation and prediction

system. Hypotheses about the anomaly are generated by a rule-based system, each

initiating an agent-based simulation. Automated dynamic validation of the simulations

against incoming streaming data is used to test each hypothesis. A validated simulation is

used to predict the evolution of the anomaly and made available to an emergency

response decision support system. - Madey, et. al.