1,720,956 research outputs found
Modelling Driver Interdependent Behaviour in Agent-Based Traffic Simulations for Disaster Management
No full textAccurate modelling of driver behaviour in evacuations is vitally important in creating realistic training environments for disaster management. However, few current models have satisfactorily incorporated the variety of factors that affect driver behaviour. In particular, the interdependence of driver behaviours is often seen in real-world evacuations, but is not represented in current state-of-the art traffic simulators. To address this shortcoming, we present an agent-based behaviour model based on the social forces model of crowds. Our model uses utility-based path trees to represent the forces which affect a driver's decisions. We demonstrate, by using a metric of route similarity, that our model is able to reproduce the real-life evacuation behaviour whereby drivers follow the routes taken by others. The model is compared to the two most commonly used route choice algorithms, that of quickest route and real-time re-routing, on three road networks: an artificial "ladder" network, and those of Lousiana, USA and Southampton, UK. When our route choice forces model is used our measure of route similarity increases by 21%-93%. Furthermore, a qualitative comparison demonstrates that the model can reproduce patterns of behaviour observed in the 2005 evacuation of the New Orleans area during Hurricane Katrina
Agent-based Traffic Operator Training Environments for Evacuation Scenarios
No full textRealistic simulation environments play a vital role in the effective training of traffic controllers to respond to large-scale events such as natural disasters or terrorist threats. BAE SYSTEMS is developing a training environment that comprises of: a physical traffic control centre environment, a 3D visualisation and a traffic behaviour model. In this paper, we describe how an agent-based approach has been essential in the development of the traffic operator training environment, especially for constructing the required behavioural models. The simulator has been applied to an evacuation scenario, for which an agent-based model has been developed which models a variety of relevant driver evacuation behaviours. These unusual behaviours have been observed occurring in real-life evacuations but to date have not been incorporated in traffic simulators. In addition, our agent-based approach includes flexibility within the simulator to respond to the variety of decisions traffic controllers can make, as well as achieving a strong degree of control for the scenario manager
Student to lecturer link
No full textInteractivity and feedback are key contributors to providing an effective learning environment for students. Lectures provide the main resource for university students to discover what is expected of them and to identify the key learning goals related to a course, from a lecturer. This paper focuses on resolving the problems and anxieties faced by first year Computer Science students at the University of Southampton, through various user-centred design methodologies. Lecturers are also considered to look into providing a design idea or recommendation that will motivate students to be more forthcoming with their problems, as well as support the current practices of lecturers. To facilitate interaction with lecturers, it is important that students can acknowledge that the lecturer will deal with their problems and that the participation from the lecturer is not excessive. Results from the interviews, questionnaire and diary study highlighted anonymity and feedback as focal areas to consider in an online-based system. This would encourage students to voice their concerns about lectures or topics that they find difficult
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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