This study investigated how small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in a country perceive major global risks. The aim was to explore how country attributes and circumstances affect SME assessments of the likelihood,impacts...This study investigated how small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in a country perceive major global risks. The aim was to explore how country attributes and circumstances affect SME assessments of the likelihood,impacts, and rankings of global risks, and to find out if SME risk assessment and rankings differ from the global rankings. Data were gathered using an online survey of manufacturing SMEs in Turkey. The results show that global economic risks and geopolitical risks are of major concern for SMEs, and environmental risks are at the bottom of their ranking. Among the economic risks, fiscal crises in key economies and high structural unemployment or underemployment were found to be the highest risks for the SMEs. Failure of regional or global governance, failure of national governance, and interstate conflict with regional consequences were found to be among the top geopolitical risks for the SMEs. The SMEs considered the risk of largescale cyber-attacks and massive incident of data fraud/theft to be relatively higher than other global technological risks.Profound social instability and failure of urban planning were among the top societal risks for the SMEs. Although the global environmental and disaster risks were ranked lowest on the list, man-made environmental damage and disasters and major natural hazard-induced disasters were ranked the highest among this group of risks. Overall, the results show that SMEs at a country level, for example Turkey, perceive global risks differently than the major global players.展开更多
An intelligent security systems engineering approach is used to analyze fire and explosive critical incidents, a growing concern in urban communities. A feed-forward back-propagation neural network models the damages ...An intelligent security systems engineering approach is used to analyze fire and explosive critical incidents, a growing concern in urban communities. A feed-forward back-propagation neural network models the damages arising from these critical incidents. The overall goal is to promote fire safety and sustainable security. The intelligent security systems engineering prediction model uses a fully connected multilayer neural network, and considers a number of factors related to the fire or explosive incident including the type of property affected, the time of day, and the ignition source. The network was trained on a large number of critical incident records reported in Toronto, Canada between 2000 and 2006. Our intelligent security systems engineering approach can help emergency responders by improving cr^tical incident analysis, sustainable security, and fire risk management.展开更多
Resettlement and relocation are among the most difficult policies to put into practice, but they may be the best ways to minimize future risks to settlements exposed to natural hazards both before and after disaster e...Resettlement and relocation are among the most difficult policies to put into practice, but they may be the best ways to minimize future risks to settlements exposed to natural hazards both before and after disaster events. As climate-related disasters and forced migration become increasingly common worldwide, governments, humanitarian or development actors,and policymakers must now prioritize the implementation of a dignified and effective resettlement program as part of their planning and management responsibilities. Much of this effectiveness depends on the stakeholders and beneficiaries' understanding and knowledge of the different resettlement phases, culture and customs of affected populations, activities, and the associated implementation challenges, costs, and benefits. Serious games are used in a variety of contexts to increase awareness, train and build capacity in stakeholders and beneficiaries. This article presents a serious game developed to educate practitioners, local agencies, students, and the public to understand the complexities and challenges involved in a successful resettlement. The game is based on a real proposed resettlement project initiated in the Chiradzulu District in southern Malawi after Cyclone Freddy in March 2023, which caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing some villages to relocate permanently. The progression in the Road to Resettlement Game consists of six primary levels: land and site preparation, housing and livelihood, water, sanitation, and hygiene, health, education, and protection. These levels are meant to be completed in a sequence that adheres to the principles of resettlement. By engaging in the serious table-top board game, players gain an understanding of the resettlement activities, their sequence, and the associated practical(technical and social) and financial challenges.展开更多
The Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected various aspects of life,and its compounding and cascading impacts have been observed in most industries and firms.The oil and gas(O&G)industry was among the first to exp...The Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected various aspects of life,and its compounding and cascading impacts have been observed in most industries and firms.The oil and gas(O&G)industry was among the first to experience the impacts as the pandemic began due to the global economic recession and a sharp decline in demand for oil.The pandemic revealed major risk management and business continuity challenges and uncovered some of the vulnerabilities of the O&G industry and its major companies during a prolonged global disaster.Examining and understanding how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the O&G sector in different countries,considering their unique circumstances,can provide important lessons for managing the current and future similar events.This study investigated various impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the O&G industry using Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company(POGC)as a case study.Data were collected through indepth interviews with key managers of the company.Qualitative methods,specifically thematic analysis,were used to analyze the data.Findings of this study provide further insights into how the pandemic impacted the operations,risks,and business continuity of the POCG.The results show that the pandemic caused significant operational,financial,and legal impacts by disrupting routine maintenance,reducing the availability of human resources under the public health measures and mobility restrictions,increasing processing and delivery times,increasing costs and decreasing revenues,and delaying contractual obligations.展开更多
基金partially supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through the 2221-Fellowship Program for Visiting Scientists and Scientists on Sabbatical Leavesupported in part by York University’s Advanced Disaster, Emergency, and Rapid response Simulation (ADERSIM) funded by Ontario Research Fund.
文摘This study investigated how small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in a country perceive major global risks. The aim was to explore how country attributes and circumstances affect SME assessments of the likelihood,impacts, and rankings of global risks, and to find out if SME risk assessment and rankings differ from the global rankings. Data were gathered using an online survey of manufacturing SMEs in Turkey. The results show that global economic risks and geopolitical risks are of major concern for SMEs, and environmental risks are at the bottom of their ranking. Among the economic risks, fiscal crises in key economies and high structural unemployment or underemployment were found to be the highest risks for the SMEs. Failure of regional or global governance, failure of national governance, and interstate conflict with regional consequences were found to be among the top geopolitical risks for the SMEs. The SMEs considered the risk of largescale cyber-attacks and massive incident of data fraud/theft to be relatively higher than other global technological risks.Profound social instability and failure of urban planning were among the top societal risks for the SMEs. Although the global environmental and disaster risks were ranked lowest on the list, man-made environmental damage and disasters and major natural hazard-induced disasters were ranked the highest among this group of risks. Overall, the results show that SMEs at a country level, for example Turkey, perceive global risks differently than the major global players.
文摘An intelligent security systems engineering approach is used to analyze fire and explosive critical incidents, a growing concern in urban communities. A feed-forward back-propagation neural network models the damages arising from these critical incidents. The overall goal is to promote fire safety and sustainable security. The intelligent security systems engineering prediction model uses a fully connected multilayer neural network, and considers a number of factors related to the fire or explosive incident including the type of property affected, the time of day, and the ignition source. The network was trained on a large number of critical incident records reported in Toronto, Canada between 2000 and 2006. Our intelligent security systems engineering approach can help emergency responders by improving cr^tical incident analysis, sustainable security, and fire risk management.
文摘Resettlement and relocation are among the most difficult policies to put into practice, but they may be the best ways to minimize future risks to settlements exposed to natural hazards both before and after disaster events. As climate-related disasters and forced migration become increasingly common worldwide, governments, humanitarian or development actors,and policymakers must now prioritize the implementation of a dignified and effective resettlement program as part of their planning and management responsibilities. Much of this effectiveness depends on the stakeholders and beneficiaries' understanding and knowledge of the different resettlement phases, culture and customs of affected populations, activities, and the associated implementation challenges, costs, and benefits. Serious games are used in a variety of contexts to increase awareness, train and build capacity in stakeholders and beneficiaries. This article presents a serious game developed to educate practitioners, local agencies, students, and the public to understand the complexities and challenges involved in a successful resettlement. The game is based on a real proposed resettlement project initiated in the Chiradzulu District in southern Malawi after Cyclone Freddy in March 2023, which caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing some villages to relocate permanently. The progression in the Road to Resettlement Game consists of six primary levels: land and site preparation, housing and livelihood, water, sanitation, and hygiene, health, education, and protection. These levels are meant to be completed in a sequence that adheres to the principles of resettlement. By engaging in the serious table-top board game, players gain an understanding of the resettlement activities, their sequence, and the associated practical(technical and social) and financial challenges.
文摘The Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected various aspects of life,and its compounding and cascading impacts have been observed in most industries and firms.The oil and gas(O&G)industry was among the first to experience the impacts as the pandemic began due to the global economic recession and a sharp decline in demand for oil.The pandemic revealed major risk management and business continuity challenges and uncovered some of the vulnerabilities of the O&G industry and its major companies during a prolonged global disaster.Examining and understanding how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the O&G sector in different countries,considering their unique circumstances,can provide important lessons for managing the current and future similar events.This study investigated various impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the O&G industry using Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company(POGC)as a case study.Data were collected through indepth interviews with key managers of the company.Qualitative methods,specifically thematic analysis,were used to analyze the data.Findings of this study provide further insights into how the pandemic impacted the operations,risks,and business continuity of the POCG.The results show that the pandemic caused significant operational,financial,and legal impacts by disrupting routine maintenance,reducing the availability of human resources under the public health measures and mobility restrictions,increasing processing and delivery times,increasing costs and decreasing revenues,and delaying contractual obligations.
