OJS (University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica)
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Artificial intelligence or human decision-making: A case study on crisis response following an earthquake
No full textDecision-making in crisis situations, such as earthquakes, requires rapid information gathering and analysis, as well as the optimal allocation of resources. Traditionally, humans have been responsible for making key decisions in such scenarios. However, with advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the question arises as to whether AI can surpass human decision-making capabilities in crisis situations. This case study examines the advantages and limitations of decision-making by both AI and humans in crisis management following devastating earthquakes.
AI systems leverage vast real-time data, including demographic and spatial information, planning documents such as risk assessments and emergency response plans, as well as analyses of past disasters, to generate rapid decision-making recommendations for mitigating consequences of earthquakes. In contrast, crisis managers rely on experience, intuition, and ethical judgment, which are often indispensable in highly unpredictable scenarios. Empirical research indicates that the integration of AI-driven analytics with human expertise yields the most effective outcomes—AI facilitates the rapid identification of patterns and recommends response measures, while human decision-makers provide the final assessment, ensuring the incorporation of critical social and ethical considerations.
This study concludes that artificial intelligence can significantly enhance decision-making in crisis situations following earthquakes; however, human expertise remains essential for contextual adaptation to the specific characteristics of each crisis. It is recommended that AI-driven decision support systems be further developed in close collaboration with crisis management experts to ensure their effective and ethical implementation
Climate and global change – Open space fires
No full textWe are experiencing sudden weather changes, disasters that are increasingly occurring outside the usual natural cycles. Long dry periods during the winter months in which we record a significant increase in the number of open space fires, rainy periods during the summer accompanied by torrential floods and stormy winds, freezing rains, leeches that occur in areas where they have not been recorded so far... These are all phenomena that leave behind enormous material damage and represent a challenge for the organization of firefighting, fire protection, and the civil protection system in general. Comparing the data on firefighting interventions in the last 40 years, a huge difference was observed in the structure and intensity of firefighting interventions that can be associated with weather conditions.Climate change has highlighted the need for more firefighters, vehicles and equipment. Today's fire brigades are equipped in accordance with the needs of the last few decades, but as the climate changes, the needs for firefighters will also change. We need to think about upgrading the existing firefighting system and strengthening the preventive measures of the population and raising the readiness of firefighting, which is the foundation of the civil protection system, for threats arising from climate change
Artificial Intelligence in crisis management
No full textArtificial Intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role in crisis management by enhancing response capabilities, decision-making processes, and resource allocation during emergencies. AI technologies like machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics are utilized to analyse vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and provide valuable insights to emergency responders and decision-makers. AI-powered systems can help in early detection of crises, real-time monitoring of situations, optimizing resource deployment, and even predicting future crisis scenarios based on historical data. By leveraging AI in crisis management, organizations and governments can improve response times, enhance situational awareness, and ultimately save lives and minimize the impact of disasters on communities. In crisis management, AI is used for various purposes:Early Warning Systems: AI can analyse data from various sources like social media, sensors, and satellite imagery to detect early signs of potential crises such as natural disasters or disease outbreaks.Resource Optimization: AI algorithms can optimize the allocation of resources like personnel, equipment, and supplies based on real-time data and predictive models to ensure efficient response to crises.Decision Support: AI systems provide decision-makers with data-driven insights and scenario analysis to make informed decisions quickly during emergencies.Communication and Information Management: AI-powered chatbots and natural language processing tools can streamline communication with the public, provide real-time updates, and gather information from affected populations.Predictive Analytics: AI can forecast the impact of crises, model different scenarios, and help in developing proactive strategies to mitigate risks and reduce the severity of disasters.However, the key challenges of implementing AI in crisis management include data availability and quality, ethical considerations, limited resources and collaboration, complexity of crisis scenarios, organizational and cultural barriers, and the need for robust regulatory and governance frameworks.Data Availability and Quality: The effectiveness of AI-based crisis management solutions depends on the availability and quality of data. Challenges include obtaining comprehensive, real-time data from diverse sources and ensuring data reliability and accuracy.Ethical Considerations: The use of AI in crisis management raises ethical concerns around privacy, bias, and accountability. Careful consideration is needed to address these issues and ensure the responsible deployment of AI technologies.Limited Resources and Collaboration: Implementing AI-based crisis management systems may be hindered by limited resources, both financial and technological. Effective collaboration between intelligence agencies, emergency responders, and technology providers is crucial to overcome these challenges.Complexity of Crisis Scenarios: Crisis situations can be highly complex, with rapidly evolving dynamics and unpredictable factors. Developing AI models that can accurately predict and respond to such complex scenarios remains a significant challenge.Organizational and Cultural Barriers: Integrating AI into existing crisis management workflows and overcoming organizational resistance to new technologies can be challenging. Effective change management and training are necessary to facilitate the adoption of AI-powered solutions.Regulatory and Governance Frameworks: The governance and regulatory landscape surrounding the use of AI in crisis management is still evolving. Establishing clear guidelines and policies is essential to ensure the responsible and effective deployment of these technologies.It is essential to consider the challenges in using AI for crisis management because addressing these challenges is crucial for the successful implementation and effectiveness of AI technologies in managing crises. By understanding and overcoming these challenges, organizations and governments can maximize the benefits of AI in crisis management.MethodologyI these papers the Model - Driven Engineering approach methodology is used for researching the challenges in using AI for crisis management. This methodology involves utilizing Model - Driven Engineering tools, such as metamodels and model transformations, to complement traditional AI approaches and address missing features in AI systems. By applying Model - Driven Engineering, it is possible to extend understanding of unknown situations, particularly in the context of risk and crisis management. This approach allows for a structured analysis of challenges and opportunities in integrating AI technologies into crisis management strategies, providing a comprehensive framework for studying the complexities and limitations of AI in crisis scenarios.ResultsThe results of this research include a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in using AI for crisis management. The studies reviewed provide insights into the roles AI can play in crisis management, including enhancing decision-making, optimizing resource allocation, and improving communication during emergencies. Additionally, the research highlights the potential for AI to contribute to crisis management policies, such as finding better treatment routes and supporting policymakers with fast and accurate data.The papers also discuss the challenges and limitations of integrating AI into crisis management strategies, including data availability and quality, ethical considerations, and the need for effective governance frameworks. Furthermore, the research explores the potential for AI to support business operations during crises, such as automating key functions and improving efficiency.Overall, the result of this research provides a detailed analysis of the current state of AI in crisis management, highlighting both the benefits and challenges of its application. This information could be used to inform the development of more effective AI-based crisis management strategies and to address the limitations and challenges associated with AI in this context
Cultural and communication differences in the context of illegal migration in Southeastern Europe
No full textThe first major migration crisis faced by much of southern and eastern Europe, including Croatia and its neighboring countries, occurred in the second half of 2015. Migrants, mostly from the Middle East, often found their way via the so-called Mediterranean migration routes through Italy, Spain, and Greece, and by land from Turkey across the Balkans toward the wealthier Western Europe.
Various sources offered different information about refugee routes, their behavior, and their lives and survival in refugee camps. People’s knowledge about the refugees from the east, however, is mostly based on their own prejudices. It is on such prejudices that opinions and attitudes about the migrants, who arrive by routes on the edge of possibility, are formed. Driven by wars or the impossibility of securing their own livelihoods, which are often on the constant brink of poverty, migrants have left and are still leaving their homes. Many have lost their lives in the waters of the Mediterranean, all in the hope of reaching a promised land somewhere in the embrace of Western or Northern Europe.
This paper will attempt to address how cultural and communication differences have reflected on their adaptation to the people and countries they arrived in, and how significant the cultural, and indeed any other difference, is between, conditionally speaking, them and us
Cycling tourism in Turopolje: A path towards sustainable development
No full text"Cycling Tourism in Turopolje: A Path Towards Sustainable Development" explores theincreasing popularity of cycling tourism as a form of sustainable tourism in Turopolje, a picturesquearea not far from Zagreb. This abstract analyzes the key elements of cycling tourism in Turopolje,highlighting the benefits for the local community and environment, but also the challenges that needto be overcome.Turopolje offers diverse routes and paths suitable for cyclists, passing through forest areas, fields,rare riverbanks, and picturesque villages. Cycling tourists have the opportunity to explore the richcultural and natural heritage of this area, visiting historical landmarks, traditional crafts, andenjoying local cuisine and hospitality.In addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle and recreation, cycling tourism in Turopolje contributes tosustainable development by encouraging the local economy, preserving natural resources, andsupporting local entrepreneurs. Through employing the local population, promoting traditional craftsand cultural events, and encouraging the preservation of natural habitats, cycling tourism becomes anintegral part of the local community.However, challenges such as the lack of infrastructure for cyclists, the need for education andpromotion, and balancing tourist needs with environmental preservation require a comprehensiveapproach and collaboration of all stakeholders. Implementing sustainable destination managementpractices, investing in cycling infrastructure, and promoting environmentally conscious travel are keysteps towards achieving the goals of sustainable cycling tourism in Turopolje.Overall, cycling tourism in Turopolje represents an attractive option for tourists seeking an authenticexperience in nature and culture while simultaneously supporting the sustainable development of thelocal community. Through investment in infrastructure, education, and promotion, Turopolje canbecome an example of a sustainable tourist destination that preserves and promotes its natural andcultural resources, while at the same time providing unforgettable experiences to visitors
Information technology in crisis situations and civil protection – CROalertNet
No full textThe paper presents the developmental idea of the application and platform CROalertNet, which is aimed at improving the safety and awareness of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia through an innovative system for timely warning of various types of crises. Through the analysis of functionality, technological infrastructure, and user experience, it is shown how this platform can serve as a tool in the national protection and rescue system, providing key information in moments of crisis and promoting a culture of readiness and prevention among the population. By implementing the latest technological solutions and a community-based approach, CROalertNet contributes to society's resilience in responding to crises, making information accessible, understandable, and action-oriented for all users. A strong and scalable platform that uses cloud technology to ensure high availability and reliability of services is the foundation of the project. The platform uses advanced solutions for real-time data processing and analysis, ensuring the speed and accuracy of information. One of the important aspects of the application is also its focus on offline operation, and thanks to its modular design, the platform is ready for future expansions and integrations with other systems and technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to improve threat detection and personalize the user experience
Importance of the 2020 Croatia Earthquakes GIS-based Building Usability Database: Building Damage
No full textThere are still many existing gaps regarding earthquakes and each new earthquake brings out new findings and therefore presents a new opportunity to fill those gaps. Even though earthquakes are geographically limited hazards, the findings are usually globally applicable, as was the case with 2020 Croatia Earthquakes. One of the key findings after 2020 Croatia Earthquakes was the role and importance of GIS-based databases in response and recovery after disasters, especially earthquakes. This area is not the focus and is generally not sufficiently studied and emphasized in the field of earthquake engineering and emergency management. They have a supporting role to the Building Damage and Usability Assessments, but their potential is much greater, and this has already been proven in past emergencies and studies.Therefore, it is important to study and report on real-world experiences that confirm the importance of GIS-based databases. The experiences after the 2020 Croatia Earthquakes have been studied and reported in several studies. Most notably in one from City of Zagreb experts (Jerković and Škreblin, 2021), but also several others from the group of authors from Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb and Croatian Centre for Earthquake Engineering (Atalić et al. 2021; Atalić et al. 2022; Šavor Novak et al.; Uroš et al., 2020)This study serves as an extension focusing on the follow-up activities after their studies and using these activities and database as a case study for other similar databases globally, mainly by using synthesis and generalization. The study is mainly qualitative with several quantitative elements, such as numeric statistics of the implemented activities.The 2020 Croatia Earthquakes GIS-based Building Usability Database can serve as an example of numerous good practices, but also of numerous problems that have occurred and from which the global community can gain new insights or confirm the existing ones.The 2020 Croatia Earthquakes and the associated GIS-based Building Usability Database can serve as a great example for similar national emergency management systems that have a very low level of earthquake risk mitigation and preparedness. The overall response and recovery after the event illustrate the lack, but also the importance of risk reduction and preparedness, which can greatly facilitate and simplify post-disaster emergency management.On the other hand, the complex and difficult situation after the 2020 Croatia Earthquakes was mitigated by high-quality “ad hoc” solutions, which included the GIS-based Building Usability Database. The database was essentially created essentially overnight during the first hours after the earthquake and updated again overnight after the 2020 Petrinja Earthquake and its catastrophic consequences. But the database was not only sufficient to fulfil its main purpose, but it could also serve many other purposes, some of which were not even imagined when it was created.Not only the primary database could not initially support other activities, but also numerous acts and decisions that were passed from the first days after the earthquake and were based on it (alternative accommodation, donations/humanitarian aid prioritization, reconstruction process rights, utility bill exemptions, bank loans approvals and many others), and all of them involved a lot of pressure and responsibility (Kadić, 2023).However, a bigger problem was the fact that additional capabilities were needed within the database and the reason for this is new activities that are part of the reconstruction process. During the reconstruction process, all buildings underwent a detailed assessment, in which their usability was changed according to the results of the assessments.The decision was made to form the Croatia Earthquakes' GIS-based Building Usability Database. During the formation, the accumulated knowledge from two existing databases (Zagreb and Petrinja Earthquake) was used and, more importantly, both databases served as a starting point for the new comprehensive Building Usability Database. In addition to the layers of the existing databases, a new layer had to be created to enable the input of the new data connected to usability changes in the reconstruction process.For that purpose, some completely new attributes (type of reconstruction, document type) as well as new values in existing attributes (demolished and reconstructed in usability categories) were added to the database. This even proactively ensured that all future reconstruction and database requirements were covered.Over time, there was a growing number of entries in the new reconstruction layer in the Building Usability Database. Multiple inputs for the same building were also no exception as the buildings went through different stages of reconstruction. This and the initial inputs from Buildings Damage and Usability Assessments required an expert understanding of the gradation of input types to accurately interpret the building usability category in real time.There were many other issues whose resolution had to wait for the database to be stored on the official state server, including the use of the online application form for the reconstruction process, the overlapping of existing databases/layers, quality control and improvement, the possibility of using license bundles (for numerous users) for which the government provided the funding. CCEE was granted access to the official state server in January 2023. The official state server is certainly going to allow the database to reach its full potential and solve all the forementioned problems, but also to save considerable additional resources that had to be invested.This database must become a basis for all future activities of the CCEE, but also for all activities related to buildings in the Republic of Croatia, much wider than just earthquake response and recovery. To ensure this, a proactive and comprehensive approach is also needed. In addition to the activities in the response and recovery phase, the CCEE also has numerous activities in the prevention and preparedness phases. All these activities must be included in the comprehensive building database.This is also important Republic of Croatia, not only CCEE. It has to use its sources and support CCEE in suing all their experience and further improving the existing database to reach its full potential and long-term use
Challenges of electric vehicles urban transport application
No full textAs environmental protection becomes a general social narrative, many unverified claims may appear in various popular periodicals, instead of an engineering approach to technical issues and an assessment of practice. One of such assessments and claims is that electric vehicles do not pollute the environment and have no impact on climate change. This paper aims to show how electric vehicle technology also has an impact on the environment and lists several challenges that need to be successfully resolved, so that electric vehicles are accepted and truly represent vehicles with an alternative drive
Our daily bread and climate change – students’ awareness of the climate change and their contribution to mitigation through dietary habits
No full textIntroductionClimate change is one of the most serious risks today’s society is facing. According to the European Commission and European Parliament (2008), climate change is the second serious problem in the world. Research conducted by European Commission and European Parliament showed that in 2008, one-third of Europeans were aware that climate change is serious problem, while in 2021, 93% of people considered climate change a serious problem. Since one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is agriculture and food system as a whole, a change in food consumption patterns could positively affect climate change mitigation. The results of previous researchers have shown that animal-based products – meat and dairy, as well as ultra-processed food are associated with highest GHG emissions (Lochman, 2023, da Cruz, et al., 2024), while plant-based food has lower GHG intensity (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). The importance of effect of food consumption was recognised by Jürkenbeck, et al. (2021), who analysed the awareness of climate change of young population in Germany and showed that half of the young generation is highly aware of climate change, while minority think that climate change does not exist. The results of the research also showed that young people aware of the climate change choose more climate sustainable nutrition. The main goal of this research was to analyse the awareness of students in Croatia on the importance of climate change and awareness of their possibility to contribute to climate change mitigation through change of their consumption habits.MethodologyThe research was conducted in the form of questionnaire and it included 20 students. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. First part of the questionnaire analysed personal attitudes towards climate change. In the second and third part, students have been asked to choose the most climate and environmentally sustainable foods and practices. One of the choices was also the answer “I do not know”, to exclude the possibility of guessing the correct answer. ResultsThe results of the research showed that students are aware of the importance of climate change and the role of European countries, including Croatia, in climate change. Also, students are aware that people are not familiar with climate change and they believe that there is a need to educate children in school about climate change. On the other hand, although students are aware that climate change is a serious problem, they are not aware of how it occurs and that the food that is produced, stored, transported, prepared and finally consumed affects climate change. The results showed that most of the students cannot recognize the most sustainable practices in food production, distribution, packaging and consumption. Moreover, the students’ knowledge about impact of food on the environment is weak and there is a need for further education about individual contribution to climate change mitigation
Our daily bread and climate change – students’ awareness of the climate change and their contribution to mitigation through dietary habits
Get PDFIntroductionClimate change is one of the most serious risks today’s society is facing. According to the European Commission and European Parliament (2008), climate change is the second serious problem in the world. Research conducted by European Commission and European Parliament showed that in 2008, one-third of Europeans were aware that climate change is serious problem, while in 2021, 93% of people considered climate change a serious problem. Since one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is agriculture and food system as a whole, a change in food consumption patterns could positively affect climate change mitigation. The results of previous researchers have shown that animal-based products – meat and dairy, as well as ultra-processed food are associated with highest GHG emissions (Lochman, 2023, da Cruz, et al., 2024), while plant-based food has lower GHG intensity (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). The importance of effect of food consumption was recognised by Jürkenbeck, et al. (2021), who analysed the awareness of climate change of young population in Germany and showed that half of the young generation is highly aware of climate change, while minority think that climate change does not exist. The results of the research also showed that young people aware of the climate change choose more climate sustainable nutrition. The main goal of this research was to analyse the awareness of students in Croatia on the importance of climate change and awareness of their possibility to contribute to climate change mitigation through change of their consumption habits.MethodologyThe research was conducted in the form of questionnaire and it included 20 students. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. First part of the questionnaire analysed personal attitudes towards climate change. In the second and third part, students have been asked to choose the most climate and environmentally sustainable foods and practices. One of the choices was also the answer “I do not know”, to exclude the possibility of guessing the correct answer. ResultsThe results of the research showed that students are aware of the importance of climate change and the role of European countries, including Croatia, in climate change. Also, students are aware that people are not familiar with climate change and they believe that there is a need to educate children in school about climate change. On the other hand, although students are aware that climate change is a serious problem, they are not aware of how it occurs and that the food that is produced, stored, transported, prepared and finally consumed affects climate change. The results showed that most of the students cannot recognize the most sustainable practices in food production, distribution, packaging and consumption. Moreover, the students’ knowledge about impact of food on the environment is weak and there is a need for further education about individual contribution to climate change mitigation