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Integrating construction and site layout planning in mechanized tunnel infrastructure projects is essential due to the mutual impacts of construction planning and site layout decisions. Simulation can incorporate site layout planning and construction planning of tunneling projects in a unified environment. However, simulation adoption by industry practitioners has remained relatively limited due to the special skills required for building and using simulation models. Therefore, this paper aims to create a simple-to-use simulation tool that supports site layout and construction operation planning of tunneling projects. This tool intends to promote the simulation application in site layout planning.

The current paper proposes simulation as a decision support tool (DST) to provide an integrated environment for modeling tunnel construction operations, site layout and capturing the mutual impacts. A special purpose simulation (SPS) tool was customized and developed for typical mechanized tunneling projects, by tunnel boring machines, to facilitate building the model and allow access to users with limited simulation knowledge.

The results show that the developed SPS tool is of great assistance to construction industry practitioners to analyze a variety of site layout and construction plan scenarios and make informed decisions based on its comprehensive and intuitive outputs.

The main contribution of this research is to promote simulation application in site layout planning of tunneling projects through the development of a simple-to-use tool, which has sufficient details for site layout planning and constraints. The developed DST enables planners to make decisions simultaneously on the site layout, other construction planning variables and identify the most efficient plan.

IT support for marketing planning can aid in the use of marketing tools, facilitate group planning, and support moves towards continuous planning based on a live marketing model of the business. But, amongst other factors, achieving these benefits depends on the style of support provided by the system. After a review of relevant decision support system (DSS) literature, describes here the findings relating to support style from a qualitative evaluation of a system named EXMAR. The findings support Little’s classic rules of “decision calculus”, such as the importance of ensuring that managers understand and can control the system, rather than the objective influenced by management science of prescribing an optimal recommendation. Also emphasises the role of systems in enhancing mutual understanding in a cross‐functional planning team, and hence in building commitment to the resulting plan.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate on specific risk mitigation approach which is known as “scenario approach”. Description of stepwise process of their elaboration, which is worth considering for managers, offers feasible tool not only for company risk management improvement but also for significant enhancement of the quality of company strategic planning. Authors also draw attention to advantages and disadvantages of investment and strategic scenario planning. Theoretical implications of using scenario approaches are exemplified both by the set of investment projects and company strategic planning process where method in question was applied.

As for methods applied which fulfilled research strategies, it is worth mentioning following items: analysis which explores particular parts of methodology of scenario elaboration and application, the way of obtaining information, impact on strategy, working with risks and organizational support of outcomes in company environment; synthesis observing context and natural relation of problems solved which supports research hypotheses formulation; induction generalizing facts acquired from results in companies; deduction to be grounds on which conclusion of this paper was drawn up; abstraction used upon evaluation of case studies; comparison assessing consistency and inconsistency of phenomena and objects; description inevitable for characterization of companies and environment in which they operate; interview collecting information inevitable for the evaluation of the way of working with scenarios and company knowledge standards; modelling was used upon consideration about possible future development of factors observed.

The paper arrived at conclusion, that scenario approach, when used appropriately, may significantly mitigate risk exposure of the company. Conclusions which have been made on selected industrial companies can be extended to other industrial branches. Practical application of scenario planning method confirmed that this approach was superior to deterministic single scenario model. Scenario technique thus compensates for deficiencies and omissions which are inherent in simplistic deterministic model. In cases where an investment scenario planning process proved to be insufficient, the paper refers to more advanced techniques like simulation methods or real options.

Over past ten years practical test of proposed stepwise process of scenarios elaboration was repeatedly tested on approx ten industrial companies during the tenure of Mr Soucek and Mr Špaček in top managerial positions.

This paper offers flexible and feasible toll for scenario elaboration and their further development. Such an approach contributes significantly to the enhancement of company risk management process. Proceedures described were successfully tested in managerial practice by two of authors while holding CEO positions in oil prcessing and pharma business.

This paper does not have direct social implication. But scenario approach as a powerful tool of risk management process may significantly contribute to company survival and thus impact social status all stakeholders concerned. Therefore social implications should be identified rather on the background of the problem.

Notwithstanding some general notion about scenario concept, there is still little evidence that scenario approach is applied in larger extent. It is prevalently due to lack of expertise of respective managers who are obviously puzzled with numerous outcomes to be obtained by this approach. Clearly define procedure of scenarios formation may be conducive to larger exploitation of this approach. Design of the elaboration and application of scenario approach which was proven to be functioning in the practice brings new benefits to risk management exploration.

Currently, the European air transport system is experiencing an annual growth of 7%. With an increasing number of flights, airports are reaching their capacity limits and are becoming a bottleneck in the system. Mantea is a European Commission funded project dealing with this issue. This paper focuses on planning decision support tools for airport traffic controllers.

The objective of our planning tools is to achieve a better use of the available airport infrastructure (taxiways and runways). To generate a safe plan, many rules must be taken into account that restrict the usage of airport tarmac: international regulations, airport operational procedures, aircraft performance, weather conditions and sometimes even controller “usual practices”. To generate a realistic plan, extensive monitoring of the traffic situation as well as suitable timing must be achieved. In the life cycle of a flight, 11 out of 15 possible causes of delay occur in an interval of 10-20 minutes, between aircraft start-up request and push-back. This means that precise planning before the end of this period is highly improbable. On the other hand, planning after this period implies the need for fast responses from the system.

In the Mantea project, an architecture is proposed in which a co-operative approach is taken towards planning aircraft movements at the airport. Controllers will be supported by planning tools that help assigning routes and departure times to controlled vehicles, in planning runway allocation (departure sequence) and occupancies, and in monitoring plan progress during flight phases. The planning horizon relates to medium term operations, i.e. 2-20 minutes ahead. The Mantea planning tools implement the following functions: runway departure planning, routing, and plan conformance monitoring. The tools will reduce the controller's workload, increase the level of safety for airport surface movements, and reduce the number of delays and operating costs for the airliners.

In this paper, we will focus on the constraint satisfaction programming techniques used in Mantea for (1) runway departure planning, (2) itinerary search and taxi planning functions. The airport tarmac and runway vicinity air routes have been modelled as a graph. Real time constraints have brought us to develop an algorithm linear in complexity for the itinerary search problem. Operational pressure has led us to develop fast search strategies for scheduling (i.e. use of heuristics, hill climbing…).

Modelling has been a mainstay of conventional planning support tools (PSTs) since the 1960s and is instrumental in transport and land use planning decision-making. Numerous studies have been conducted to model the potential impacts of emerging vehicle automation and sharing technologies. A systematic review of recent modelling studies of autonomous and shared vehicles in the research literature examines the extent of their contribution to ‘smart’ mobility knowledge. The findings suggest a limited knowledge base from which to support future planning. PSTs that can offer more pluralistic, discursive, and transparent methods in order to understand and proactively shape a transition to a planned urban future are also needed.

Properly planned module installation on an industrial site is a critical factor in delivering a project safely, on time and within budget. Different sizes of heavy-duty mobile cranes are used to pick, swing and place the modules. Crane selection depends on module size and weight, as well as crane availability, location and configuration. Weeks can be spent in trial and error to prepare and improve module installation plans due to the large number of ways to install the modules on site, high crane operating costs and other crane-module constraints. A tool to automatically generate module installation plans is essential.

This paper presents a novel heuristic-based methodology for planning and sequencing module installation on industrial construction sites that takes into account proposed technological constraints.

Case studies are presented to demonstrate the ease and effectiveness of the developed methodology in planning module installations.

On a complex project, the tool can save time in preparing the installation plan, while also reducing the amount of crane supporting tasks (foundation preparation and crane movement).

Providers and service users associated with supported housing are increasingly using tools to measure outcomes against targets with indicators that equate change with progress. This article reports and reflects on a small research project undertaken by London South Bank University for Carr Gomm, using the World Health Organisation's Quality of Life Application Model to assess outcomes of support in relation to person‐centred planning, the chosen principled support approach adopted by Carr Gomm. The evaluation is based on a small number of case studies which serve to prompt providers and commissioners of supported housing to ask what constitutes quality of life from the client's perspective, and how in turn this challenges the priorities inherent in the supported housing service.

This article aims to describe how information and communications technology (ICT) has introduced a new approach in the handling of spatial data and related services and how Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, one of the Italian local governments, has been involved in an interesting growth that adopts ICT to provide spatial data and related services to itself and to its territory.

This article considers three aspects data and services interoperability and the implications of spatial data delivered through a multi-channel environment; the use of social web as a platform for volunteered geographical information in the public administration environment; and the application of mobile technologies.

The article represents the summary of recent activities in the Sardinia region and may constitute a paradigmatic example for other realities.

The research and activities conducted represent a point of view advanced and innovative in the field of territorial sciences and spatial planning on a regional scale.

Presents five case studies of industrial software projects specifically involving prototyping. Designates projects ranging from 240 person‐years to two person‐years involving large industrial corporations to small/medium software manufacturers. Analyses the benefits and limitations of prototyping. Concludes that prototyping is conducive to the quality of the product and the development process, particularly when used in conjunction with an evolutionary development strategy and when all parties are aware of the benefits and limitations.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new index of social vulnerability (SV), based on local level data [statistical blocks (SBs)]. This same methodology was applied before at the municipal level, which is a level of analysis that under-evaluates local spots of high SV, by one side, and generalizes the coverage of support capacity equipment and infrastructure. The geographical level of detail of the input data allows to overcome those limitations and better inform infra-municipal risk practitioners and planners.

The assessment of SV in this paper adopts an inductive approach. The research context of this conceptual and methodological proposal derived from the need to operationalize the concept of SV as a planning tool. This approach required to distinguish between the components of criticality and support capability, as their assessment provides knowledge with distinct applications in risk management. The statistical procedure is based on principal components analysis, using the SB as the unit of analysis.

Support capability acts as a counter-weight of criticality. This understanding is well illustrated in the mapping of each component and the final score of SV. The methodological approach allowed to identify the drivers of criticality and support capability in each SB, aiding decision-makers and risk practitioners in finding the vulnerability forcers that require more attention (public or private social equipment, housing policies, emergency anticipatory measures, etc.).

An original approach to SV assessments is the consideration of the components of criticality and support capability. The results allow for the definition of adapted and specific strategies of risk mitigation and civil protection measures to distinct types of risk groups and by different stakeholders and risk practitioners. By predicting the impact and the recovery capacity of communities, the results have applicability in several fields of risk governance as, for example, risk communication and involvement, social intervention (health, education and housing), emergency response, contingency planning, early warning and spatial planning.