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In the face of diverse national and international threats, the purpose of this paper is to explore the transformational leadership challenges in emergency services systems in Canada. These adaptive complex systems respond to critical mass emergencies, disasters and catastrophes.

This qualitative research study uses grounded theory to examine the phenomenology of emergency services leadership from systems perspective. Using the theoretical Wu-Shi-Ren (WSR)-Li systems paradigm, this key informant study of 103 emergency leaders from 81 organizations focusses on the systemic challenges that transformational leaders face in emergency services systems. The response rate was 83.5 percent using a semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire.

This key informant study underscores the competencies for transformational leadership and identifies 12 key leadership challenges in the context of the future evolution of emergency services systems. From the use of a grounded theory methodology, the new theory of transcendental transformational emergency leadership is posited.

Qualitative studies such as this key informant study underscores the relevance of the WSR-Li systems paradigm and grounded theory approach in discerning leadership challenges that are specific if not unique to emergency services systems.

This study underscores the theoretical and pragmatic implications of the transformational leadership challenges for leadership paradigms, innovation and inter-sectorial collaborative networks and possible future emergency services research.

This study stresses the importance of addressing leadership challenges of emergency services systems as instrumental in ultimately saving lives, minimizing injuries and assuring complete health and social recovery from the scourges of emergency events nationally and internationally.

Qualitative studies of the perspectives of strategic emergency leadership of systemic emergency services systems has not hitherto been done in Canada nor internationally. This key informant study underscores the relevance of the WSR-Li systems paradigm and grounded theory approach in discerning transformational leadership challenges that are specific if not unique to emergency services systems. Moreover, from the use of a grounded theory approach, a new theory of transcendental transformational emergency leadership emerged.

Subway systems are highly susceptible to external disturbances from emergencies, triggering a series of consequences such as the paralysis of the internal network transportation functions, causing significant economic and safety losses to cities. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the factors affecting the resilience of the subway system to reduce the impact of disaster incidents.

Using the interval type-2 fuzzy linguistic term set and the K-medoids clustering algorithm, this paper improves the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to construct a subway resilience factor analysis model for emergencies. Through comparative analysis, this study confirms the superior performance of the proposed approach in enhancing the precision of the DEMATEL method.

The results indicate that the operation and management level of emergency command organizations is the key resilience factors of subway operations in China. Furthermore, based on real case analyses, the corresponding suggestions and measures are put forward to improve the overall operation resilience level of the subway.

This paper identifies four emergency scenarios and 15 resilience factors affecting subway operations through literature review and expert consultation. The improved fuzzy DEMATEL method is applied to explore the levels of influence and causal mechanisms among the resilience factors of the subway system under the four emergency scenarios.

While the need for information systems is regularly highlighted in the humanitarian logistics literature, a detailed model of what such system would look like is missing. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need and advantages of enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology in humanitarian emergency logistics. The paper also proposes a model for the configuration, maintenance, operation, and improvement of the system.

This conceptual paper uses existing logistics and information systems literature to build the logical case for an integrated enterprise system for humanitarian emergencies, and to propose conceptual content and process models.

The problem of lack of coordination is reviewed, and a holistic solution is proposed through a structure and model of ERP systems technology to meet the specific requirements of humanitarian emergencies.

As in any conceptual paper, a limitation of this paper is the lack of empirical validation of the proposed system. It also might be difficult to obtain the cooperation of multiple organizations. This research focuses on emergency humanitarian logistics, where effectiveness and speed have priority over simplicity or cost.

The model proposed in this paper links current efforts in humanitarian emergency coordination with existing supply chain information technologies, and is practically feasible both from the technological and organizational perspectives.

Because of the critical, life or death nature of the problem, social and ethical implications of this research are broad, including the divergence of coordination in humanitarian vs commercial and military logistics, as well as inter-agency politics.

This paper is a bold but realistic attempt to take a holistic view of humanitarian logistics and design a system that would be effective, and calls humanitarian organizations worldwide to collaborate in its implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to describe research, the objective of which was the development of models, methodologies, and tools for the realization of the multimedia platform for emergency management in technological systems.

This objective was achieved through the operationalization of the following major tasks: the theoretical research on the specific characteristics of emergency management system structure and processes; definition of educational structures, processes, and subjects for emergency management; development of models and software tools for the analysis of emergency development; development of information (web) services to support the collaborative decision making.

A model of multimedia platform for emergency management in technological systems has been developed, which defines emergency services with appropriate information infrastructure, the structure and characteristics of the interoperability system and their mutual communication.

Further research should result in: the concrete structure and processes of virtual organisation for emergency management in technological systems; software for the support of collaborative decision making; models for emergency management education and training based on multimedia technologies. The limitations are primarily related to model implementation, since there are no suitable emergency databases.

The platform can be used by: industrial companies, companies that provide building maintenance, public services, insurance companies, educational institutions, local authorities (by an adequate upgrade of models and software).

This paper presents the information flow identified in emergency management and the structure of a multimedia platform which, by creating favourable environment for collaborative decision making, enables effective and efficient emergency management in technological systems, as well as emergency management education and training.

The purpose of this paper is to study the managing of emergencies pertinent to public health which is critical to the well‐being of a society; as such, the management mechanisms employed should be of great interest and significance for research.

This paper first relies on extensive literature to describe the mechanism used in the USA from three aspects – organizational structure, management system, and logistics network. For the purpose of comparison, the Chinese version of the mechanism is presented from the same three aspects. The two management systems are then compared both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Deficient areas in Chinese public‐health management mechanism as well as challenging issues associated with supply chain design and coordination for emergency supplies in the context of large‐scale public health emergencies with low frequency but catastrophic impacts are found. Specifically, the following three important research problems are revealed from the comparative study: how to establish an efficient organizational structure that incorporates all the relevant entities in public‐health emergency management? How to establish an information system for emergency management that integrates disease surveillance, control, and prevention? How to design an efficient and cost‐effective logistics network to ensure prompt and sufficient delivery of emergency supplies?

To date, this research has been the first of its kind that compares two countries' emergency management systems in the context of public health management.

The purpose of this study is to introduce the top-level design ideas and the overall architecture of earthquake early-warning system for high speed railways in China, which is based on P-wave earthquake early-warning and multiple ways of rapid treatment.

The paper describes the key technologies that are involved in the development of the system, such as P-wave identification and earthquake early-warning, multi-source seismic information fusion and earthquake emergency treatment technologies. The paper also presents the test results of the system, which show that it has complete functions and its major performance indicators meet the design requirements.

The study demonstrates that the high speed railways earthquake early-warning system serves as an important technical tool for high speed railways to cope with the threat of earthquake to the operation safety. The key technical indicators of the system have excellent performance: The first report time of the P-wave is less than three seconds. From the first arrival of P-wave to the beginning of train braking, the total delay of onboard emergency treatment is 3.63 seconds under 95% probability. The average total delay for power failures triggered by substations is 3.3 seconds.

The paper provides a valuable reference for the research and development of earthquake early-warning system for high speed railways in other countries and regions. It also contributes to the earthquake prevention and disaster reduction efforts.

After the occurrence of a disaster, emergency supplies should arrive at disaster area in the shortest possible time. Therefore, it is of pivotal importance to speed up the preparation and scheduling process. In other words, only when the preparation process and scheduling process coordinate well, could the emergency supplies arrive at disaster area in time. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore a method that can strengthen the coordination in various kinds of situations.

The paper first elaborates the preparation and scheduling process of emergency supplies in disasters. Then, it establishes a workflow simulation system of the emergency supplies preparation and scheduling based on Petri Net. Afterward, the paper proposes a simplified simulation system of emergency supplies preparation and scheduling which can be employed in actual emergency response. Finally, the paper takes China Lushan Earthquake for a case study.

By employing the simulation system proposed by this paper, decision makers can simulate the whole emergency supplies preparation and scheduling process, which can help them find a method that can optimize the current process. Specifically, by analyzing the simulation results, the government can obtain conclusions as follows. First, whether the preparation and scheduling process of emergency supplies can speed up or not. Second, which part of the process should be improved to realize the acceleration. Third, the workload of the staffs and experts. Fourth, whether it is necessary to add staffs or experts to work in parallel.

This paper proposes a system that can coordinate the preparation process and scheduling process of emergency supplies in disaster. Then, it employs the Petri Net based workflow model to do simulation. The simulation results show that the system designed is reasonable and can be used in practical decision making on the preparation and scheduling of emergency supplies.

Under uncertain circumstances, digital technologies are taken as digital transformation enablers and driving forces to integrate with medical, healthcare and emergency management research for effective epidemic prevention and control. This study aims to adapt complex systems in emergency management. Thus, a digital transformation-driven and systematic circulation framework is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance.

Aiming at adapting complex systems in emergency management, a systematic circulation framework based on the interpretive research is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. The framework consists of four phases: (1) analysis of emergency management stages, (2) risk identification in the emergency management stages, (3) digital-enabled response model design for emergency management, and (4) strategy generation for digital emergency governance. A case study in China was illustrated in this study.

This paper examines the role those digital technologies can play in responding to pandemics and outlines a framework based on four phases of digital technologies for pandemic responses. After the phase-by-phase analysis, a digital technology-enabled emergency management framework, titled “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM framework)” was adapted and proposed. Moreover, the social risks of emergency management phases are identified. Then, three strategies for emergency governance and digital governance from the three perspectives, namely “Strengthening weaknesses for emergency response,” “Enhancing integration for collaborative governance,” and “Engaging foundations for emergency management” that the government can adopt them in the future, fight for public health emergency events.

The novel digital transformation-driven systematic circulation framework for public health risk response and governance was proposed. Meanwhile, an “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM model)” was also proposed to achieve a more effective empirical response for public health risk response and governance and contribute to studies about the government facing the COVID-19 pandemic effectively.

Effective Emergency Response Management (ERM) system evaluation is vital to the process of continual improvement within emergency response organizations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if an entire ERM system can be captured and encoded within a standardized framework.

Employing an exploratory approach the authors apply a mixed methods case study design and inductive reasoning to analyse documentary evidence provided during the inquest into the London Bombings 2005. The authors use content analysis to investigate the nature of ERM system data availability and apply principals of Network Theory to iteratively develop a framework within which data can be encoded.

The authors find that complex ERM system data can be captured and stored within a standardized framework. The authors present a conceptual framework and multi-stage mixed methods process, the Standardized Emergency Response Incident Evaluation System (SERIES) model, to support data collection, storage and interpretation. The findings demonstrate that ERM system evaluation can benefit from the adoption of a standardized mixed-methods approach employing data transformation and triangulation. The authors also demonstrate the potential of the proposed standardized model, by integrating qualitative and quantitative data, to support interpretation and reporting through the use of appropriate data visualization.

The SERIES model provides a practical tool and procedural guidelines to capture and share vital ERM system data and information across all emergency services. It also presents an opportunity to develop a large comprehensive multi-incident dataset to support academic inquiry and partnership between academics and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to present an intelligent mobile based emergency response system (MERS) framework, a text information extraction and aggregation algorithm to integrate information from multiple sources in the MERS system, and an ontology‐supported case‐based reasoning system for the MERS system.

The paper explains the components of information extraction and aggregation process, and a CBR‐Ontology approach for the MERS system.

The result of this study will offer a new opportunity to the interaction between government, citizens, responders, and other non‐government agencies in emergency situations, and therefore improve the services of the government in an emergency situation.

The paper indicates the need for usage of mobile technologies to assist the government to get information and make decisions in responding to disasters anytime and anywhere.