An individual cognitive evacuation behaviour model for agent-based simulation: a case study of a large outdoor event

Route selection is a complex issue in simulating the pedestrian’s walking behaviour during the evacuation. In many current studies, the agent-based model has been widely used to simulate the individualized behaviour, and growing concern is given to the cognitive aspects in route selection. However, the influence of incomplete spatial knowledge and the preferences for different routing strategies has not been fully considered. To represent more reliable route choice by different pedestrians, this study presents an individual cognitive evacuation behaviour model which is mainly focusing on the individual differences in routing strategy and spatial knowledge. The model consists of two major components, namely the multiple routing strategies and personalized spatial cognitive road network. Based on a review of the previous studies, the potential factors that may affect the evacuation behaviour were discussed. The quantitative relationships between these potential factors and the pedestrian’s routing preference, as well as the possibilities of recognizing different roads, were explored using the regression method. As a case study, the proposed model was implemented using the data collected from a field survey of a real outdoor event. When applied in an agent-based simulation, the implemented model will support more reliable simulation of route choices corresponding to the pedestrians’ behaviour in the real event.     

On a general class of constant-Q solids

Summary The so called 'constant- Q ' models of Becker and Lomnitz are shown to be two special cases of a 'constant- Q ' hypergeometric model. The Becker and Lomnitz cases appear to be the extreme cases of our more general model, and these special cases yield essentially the same mechanical behaviour over all frequencies. However, the interpretation in terms of a spring dashpot structure yields a markedly different behaviour in the values of the internal viscosity elements. This suggests that many different microstructure theories which are currently being investigated towards accounting for this constant- Q behaviour may all adequately explain the observations.     

'After-the-fact causality': a different direction for cultural geography

Cultural geography might benefit from consideration of radical behaviourism and from interpretation and application of the concepts of behaviour analysis. The basic concept is that of operant conditioning, referring to the environment reinforcing behaviours that are most adaptive and effective in achieving reinforcers and avoiding aversive stimuli. The concept of rule-governed behaviour facilitates incorporation of cognition into behaviour analyses, accommodating the fact that many consequences are delayed. These concepts are applied in an analysis of nineteenth-century Mormon settlement in the American West. This argument for an objectivist approach is laden with social scientific baggage not favoured in contemporary cultural geography.     

Cutoffs galore!: occurrence and causes of multiple cutoffs on a meandering river

The creation of cutoffs and of oxbow lakes is a well-known phenomenon of meandering rivers, but views on the extent to which they are inherent in meander behaviour have varied. Assumptions of meander behaviour have shifted from those of stability and equilibrium to recognition of gradual evolution and increased complexity of form. Alternative explanations of cutoff occurrence are discussed here in relation to a remarkable set of cutoffs that occurred in one reach of the River Bollin, UK, for which long-term historical evidence of meander evolution existed and which has been monitored for change and processes over the last 20 years. The cutoffs occurred during the high floods of winter 2000–2001. A series of hypotheses is examined, including the occurrence of floods and effects of hydrological changes. Although the flood events actually caused the cutoffs, the long-term pattern accords with ideas of chaotic behaviour and sinuosity of a river reaching a critical state at which clustering of meander cutoffs takes place. It is suggested that the occurrence of the cutoffs can be explained as inherent in meander behaviour.     

High voltage transmission lines and their effect on reindeer: a research programme in progress

We review literature on high voltage transmission lines and their effect on wild reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) migration patterns and area use. We conclude that reliable knowledge is lacking on the effects of transmission lines on reindeer ecology. This condition relates to the lack of long-term monitoring of reindeer migration patterns in relation to existing lines. It is also related to the fact that nothing is known about hearing in reindeer (or any other deer species in Norway) in relation to transmission line noise, which is considered an obstacle for migrating reindeer.
We then outline a research programme that includes a laboratory study to determine the audiogram in reindeer and two field studies to examine the proximate effects of transmission lines - independently as well as combined with ambient environmental variables - on reindeer behaviour. The audiogram in two yearling male reindeer has been determined; this part of the study will be completed this year with the determination of a corresponding audiogram in two female yearlings. The behaviour study of domestic reindeer under high voltage transmission lines was completed in September 1999. The behaviour study of wild reindeer in the area crossed by a 420 kV power line will continue this year and its completion is anticipated in 2001.     

Review of the low-temperature magnetic properties of magnetite from a rock magnetic perspective

The low-temperature magnetic properties of magnetite are reviewed, and implications for rock magnetism considered. The behaviour of fundamental properties of magnetite at low temperatures near the Verwey transition ( T _v ) are documented, and attention is given to various Verwey transition theories. The low-temperature behaviour of the magnetic energies that control domain structure is reviewed in detail. For the first time in rock magnetic literature, the low-temperature anomaly in spontaneous magnetization ( M _s ) is documented and the differences between the saturation magnetization and M _s near the Verwey transition are discussed. It is argued that the low-temperature behaviour of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, and in particular the anomaly at T _v , is most likely to affect multidomain remanence during low-temperature cycling. For multidomain crystals it is calculated that the large increase in magnetocrystalline anisotropy intensity and reduction in symmetry on cooling through T _v is likely to reduce the stability of closure domains.     

Transient electromagnetic fields about an infinitesimally long grounded horizontal electric dipole on the surface of a uniform half-space

Summary. Laplace and Bessel Transforms are used to solve for the transient behaviour of the electromagnetic fields after switching off a steady current in a grounded infinitesimal horizontal dipole on the surface of a uniformly conducting half-space. Simple analytic expressions, which are valid for times sufficiently long after the switch that displacement terms can be ignored, are obtained on the surface of the half-space for the electric field and the time derivative of the magnetic field. At the instant of switching an infinitesimally long image becomes established directly under the source dipole. It is the diffusion of this image which gives the vertical magnetic field and horizontal electric fields their transient behaviour. During the transient, there is also a decaying charge distribution on the surface.     

Opportunistic natural experiments using digital telemetry: a transit disruption case study

ABSTRACT

In the past decade society has entered a technological period characterized by handheld computing that supports input and processing from numerous sensors. Today’s mobile phones offer the ability to integrate input from sensors monitoring various external and internal sources (e.g., accelerometer, magnetometer, microphone, GPS, wireless Internet, and Bluetooth). Furthermore, these raw inputs can be integrated and processed in ways that can offer novel representations of human behaviour. As a result, new opportunities to examine and better understand human spatial behaviour are available; one such application is the constant monitoring of a group of people over an extended period of time. Such a research setting lends itself to natural experiments that emerge as a result of regular and on-going observations. We report here on the observation of a natural experiment that took place in the context of a month-long monitoring study of 28 participants using mobile phone-based ubiquitous sensor monitoring. The implications for public health and transportation planning are discussed.     

A new zoogeography of domestication and agricultural planning in Southern Ghana

Animal behaviour is vital for livestock choices, but is less researched in West Africa than economic considerations. An animal geography framework is applied to the socio-economic context of livestock behaviour in coastal Ghana, assessing the shared 'actant' behaviour of people and animals, and the contribution of such a study to animal geography and agricultural knowledge. Data were gathered on cattle, sheep and goat behaviour and the impact of these on human livelihoods, perceptions and the socio-environmental context. Animal behaviour was more important in the choice of livestock species, but economic considerations were more important in the decision to acquire animals. Goats had more incidents with people in village centres than sheep and cattle. Cattle had more incidents in farmland and grassland than goats and sheep. Women and young people were more affected by livestock behaviour. These findings increase the understanding of livestock zoogeography and livelihood decisionmaking, and contribute to animal geography by documenting the relevance of individualised gender- and age-based human behaviour, as well as intra- and inter-species animal behaviour to a shared actancy perspective, and a more dynamic zoogeography.     

Asymptotic overtone structure in eigenfrequencies of torsional normal modes of the Earth: a model study

Summary. The study of the asymptotic behaviour of eigenfrequencies of torsional modes of the Earth is of interest in the problem of the existence of discontinuities in the Earth's interior and the determination of their depth and scale, since the solotone effect, which is a persistent oscillatory cohponent in the asymptotic overtone structure, is very sensitive to the presence of discontinuities. The asymptotic behaviour of torsional eigenfrequencies of the second order differential equation for the Earth's free oscillations can be compared with that obtained from eigenfrequencies evaluated from synthetic SH-wave seismograms by Brune's phase correlation method, using various earth models. The solotone effect that appears in the former for discontinuous models can be explained in terms of multiple reflections fram the discontinuities, and can be reconstructed from synthetic SH -wave pulses arising from these reflections. Its properties vary systematically with the depth and the scale of discontinuities and can be superposed for several discontinuities.     

Space, place and pollbooks: incorporating a neglected electoral geography

Summary This paper calls for the incorporation of pre-1872 (and especially early Victorian) elections into the electoral geography research agenda. It argues that early Victorian elections provide a rare opportunity to examine actual voting behaviour at the individual level and also constitute a valid focus of enquiry in their own right. The paper concludes by discussing some of the principal methodological implications of an historical electoral geography.     

Shear-induced pressure changes and seepage phenomena in a deforming porous layer-III

We report the results of an analytical investigation into the deformation behaviour of rate-dependent granular material as a refinement of previous studies on seepage phenomena during shear. The rheology has two components—a compliant part of the constitutive law associated with grain contacts as deformation takes place (dilatancy), and a rate-dependent viscous force transmitted by the melt phase. This formulation allows intermediate, time-dependent behaviour to be assessed for the dilatant porous medium. A key result is that during shear, the magnitude of the excess pore pressure first decreases then increases back to its initial value. Two characteristic timescales are identified that control the rate-dependent dilatancy of the mixture, τ₁, the time constant that rules the increase of the magnitude of the excess pore pressure, and τ₀ that controls its decline. We consider the dilatant effect to be an internal constraint in deforming magmas in the lithosphere and other porous (partially molten) regions in the solid earth. When such regions are exposed to external loading, secular pressure changes should drive fluid flow independent of local buoyancy forces, for the duration of the governing rate-dependent timescales. The accumulated heave of the process is also estimated.     

Effects of soil surface components on soil hydrological behaviour in a dry Mediterranean environment (Southern Spain)

Various researchers have studied the spatial pattern of soil surface components such as vegetation, rock fragments, bare soil, litter and surface crusts, as a key factor of hydrological behaviour in Mediterranean settings with heterogeneous patches of vegetation cover and strong human impact. The studies indicate that there is a mosaic of patches that generate run-off or infiltrate overland flow, distributed in various ways along hillslopes. Few of these studies, however, have looked at areas underlain by metamorphic rocks such as phyllites or schists. This study analysed the temporal and spatial variability of the effects of soil surface components on hydrological processes in a small dry Mediterranean catchment underlain by metamorphic rocks. A systematic sampling of multiple sites throughout a hydrological year was carried out.We related the hydrological behaviour of soil surface components to 1) their position along the hillslope, 2) the distance of existing vegetation tussocks from the line of run-off, 3) rainfall intensity and 4) the main physical/chemical soil properties affecting infiltration processes. Statistical analysis was used to check the validity of the relationships. The results show that soil surface components have highly variable effects, in both space and time, on soil hydrological behaviour. These effects particularly depend on the location along the line of maximum slope and the intensity of preceding rainfall, whose interaction defines soil hydrological status. These results are similar to those for other Mediterranean settings with different lithology, in that the succession of contributing patches are hydrologically interconnected along a hillslope. The variables used and the grouping of explanatory variables through principal component analyses were found to be suitable for discussing the spatial distribution of soil surface components in the hydrologically dynamic environment of the study area.     

Geodetic singularities in the gravity field of a non-homogeneous planet

Summary. An inverse geodetic singularity problem is considered for a non-homogeneous spherical planet. The singularity condition is expressed in terms of the density distribution and of the geometrical parameters of the configuration; the condition for the density distribution is deduced which gives rise to singularities of parabolic type in the external gravity field of the planet. The structure of the gravity field in the neighbourhood of the singularities is investigated in detail together with the behaviour of the gradients of the disturbances in the geodetic coordinates.     

Modelling the drainage evolution of a river–shelf system forced by Quaternary glacio-eustasy

The Quaternary glaciations had a profound impact on the geomorphology and stratigraphy of passive continental margins. The challenge is to resolve the contributions of the main forcing controls relative sea‐level change and sediment flux. The key to answer this question is to understand the interaction between the marine and terrestrial environments, where river dynamics play an essential role. A comprehensible three‐dimensional numerical model is presented in order to investigate quantitatively the behaviour of river–shelf sedimentary systems under glacio‐eustatic conditions. Distinctive features observed in the model results include river avulsion, delta‐lobe switching, incision and knickpoint migration. An important event in the development of the modelled river–shelf system is the establishment of a direct and inextricable link between the drainage basin and the depocentre on the shelf edge, thereby bypassing the exposed shelf. This is termed as ‘drainage connection’. In the model, the timing of drainage connection occurs over a broad interval when the model run is repeated many times with small differences in the initial topography, reflecting the sensitivity of the system to its initial state. It demonstrates the inherent variability in the evolution of a sedimentary system as a consequence of non‐linear behaviour. A statistical approach to modelling is suggested in order to deal with this problem.     

The use of a priori data to resolve non-uniqueness in linear inversion

Summary . The recent, but by now classical method for dealing with non-uniqueness in geophysical inverse problems is to construct linear averages of the unknown function whose values are uniquely defined by empirical data (Backus & Gilbert). However, the usefulness of such linear averages for making geophysical inferences depends on the good behaviour of the unknown function in the region in which it is averaged. The assumption of good behaviour, which is implicit in the acceptance of a given average property, is equivalent to the use of a priori information about the unknown function. There are many cases in which such a priori information may be expressed quantitatively and incorporated in the analysis from the very beginning. In these cases, the classical least-squares method may be used both to estimate the unknown function and to provide meaningful error estimates. In this paper I develop methods for exploring the resolving power in such cases. For those problems in which a continuous unknown function is represented by a finite number of'layer averages', the ultimately achievable resolving width is simply the layer thickness, and perfectly rectangular resolving kernels of greater width are achievable. The method is applied to synthetic data for the inverse'gravitational edge effect'problem where y_i are data, f (z) is an unknown function, and e_i are random errors. Results are compared with those of Parker, who studied the same problem using the Backus—Gilbert approach.     

Effect of compaction on the acquisition of a detrital remanent magnetization in fine-grained sediments

Summary. Measurements of the detrital remanent magnetization (DRM) of redeposited deep-sea sediment of the silty clay grade are described. Variations in the magnitude of an observed remanence inclination error are related to conditions of sediment accumulation, contrasted here as grain-by-grain settling from a dilute dispersion or by settling from a concentrated slurry. For these artificial redepositions post-depositional compaction is shown to be a major factor in shallowing the observed inclination from the ambient field inclination. The term compactive DRM is tentatively assigned to describe such behaviour.     

The Mekong from satellite imagery: A quick look at a large river

Physical datasets on rivers, thousands of kilometres long, can be efficiently and rapidly acquired through satellite imagery. As large rivers commonly cross several tectonic and climatic zones, their channels are composed of a number of units, each with characteristic morphology and behaviour. Separating a large river into such units provides a framework for understanding the geomorphology of the river concerned, allowing acquisition of information for environmental impact analysis and river management.About 2500 km of the Mekong River, from the China border to the sea, has been examined with SPOT satellite images with a selection of MODIS and IKONOS scenes in support. Hydrological data of the Mekong River Commission, hydrographic maps of the Commission, and field observations have been used to verify and extend the findings from the satellite imagery. The technique provides a rapid and holistic conceptualisation of forms and functions along the derived eight-unit classification of the Mekong River. Such a framework is valuable for (1) determining selected aspects of the geomorphological behaviour of a large river system, (2) rapidly analysing project-related environmental impacts, and (3) examining the geological evolution of the river. Investigating large rivers is difficult and resource consuming, but satellite imagery provides an easy and rapid tool. The cost of the images, however, may be high as a number of them are required for this type of analysis.     

Ethnic structure of Calcutta: a study of minority communities

"The main objective of this study is to understand the distribution, socio-economic status, behaviour and life-style of some minority communities of Calcutta.... This study will concentrate only on three overseas minority communities, i.e. Chinese Jews and Parsees and one community with mixed origin e.g., Anglo-Indian."     

Changing home, changing school: towards a research agenda on child migration

Summary The purpose of this contribution is to draw attention to a particular sub-group of the population whose migration behaviour has been largely neglected by population geographers but whose activities are of sufficient extent and consequence to require closer investigation. The paper outlines some evidence of the magnitude and geography of internal and international child migration in Britain in the 1990s and argues that research might usefully focus on the relationship between child migration and the school system, and the implications of this interdependence for public policy.