Influence of committed volunteers on helping behavior in emergency evacuations

We study how the presence of committed volunteers influences the collective helping behavior in emergency evacuation scenarios. In this study, committed volunteers do not change their decision to help injured persons, implying that other evacuees may adapt their helping behavior through strategic interactions. An evolutionary game theoretic model is developed which is then coupled to a pedestrian movement model to examine the collective helping behavior in evacuations. By systematically controlling the number of committed volunteers and payoff parameters, we have characterized and summarized various collective helping behaviors in phase diagrams. From our numerical simulations, we observe that the existence of committed volunteers can promote cooperation but adding additional committed volunteers is effective only above a minimum number of committed volunteers. This study also highlights that the evolution of collective helping behavior is strongly affected by the evacuation process.

Emergency Planning for UAV-Controlled Crowd Evacuations

One of the most challenging problems during disasters involving crowds is pedestrian evacuation. It is very important in such situations to improve survival rates by getting all or most of the people out in the shortest possible time. Technological intervention through augmenting the evacuation process using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) exhibits great potential in improving survival rates, but the exploration of this method is still in its infancy. Therefore, this study explores the potential of utilizing UAVs for crowd management during emergency evacuations. We conducted a rigorous study, using a simulation model featuring four UAVs and differing numbers of pedestrians, with use of two UAV guidance approaches: partial guidance and full guidance. The experimental results suggest that exploiting UAVs in crowd evacuation and following the partial guidance approach can lead to a more efficient evacuation process.

ORGANIZATION OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO PERSONNEL OF REMOTE INDUSTRIAL SITES

Introduction. The organization of medical care for employees of remote industrial enterprises (remote healthcare) is an extremely important task and an urgent problem in the healthcare system as a whole. The correct organization and evidence-based approaches in the remote healthcare system will save the labor force, which forms the basis of the economic development of any country. Purpose: to evaluate the system of organizing medical care for employees of remote industrial facilities based on the analysis of the results of periodic medical examinations and medical evacuations. Research methods. The analysis of the results of periodic medical examination of a large mining enterprise in the period 2018-2021 was carried out. , and also analyzed the results of medical evacuations from industrial facilities in the period 2018-2020. (154 objects from 14 regions of the country). Taking into account the fact that the bulk of workers in remote industrial facilities are men employed in the main profile of the enterprise, women were excluded from the analysis. Results. According to the results of medical examinations, 18.6% were recognized as completely healthy in 2018, 6.6% in 2019, and 12.6% of workers in remote industrial facilities in 2021. The rest had one or another pathology. The structure of workers' diseases revealed during medical examinations was analyzed in accordance with ICD-10. In the structure of the morbidity of workers at remote industrial facilities, the first three places in descending order of rank are occupied by diseases of the digestive system, diseases of the eyes and adnexa, diseases of the nervous system (in 2018 -38.2%, 35.3%, 22%; in 2019 - 53.1%, 45.3%, 19.5%; in 2021 - 44%, 34.1% 15.8%, respectively). In addition, in 2021, the prevalence of risk factors in men and women was analyzed, the contribution of each of the factors was revealed (physical - 26.5%, smoking - 26%, alcohol - 11.1%). The number of medical evacuations was: 2,390 planned (61.5%) and 1,493 emergency (38.4%). In the structure of all evacuations of personnel of remote industrial facilities, BSK was in the lead, followed by injuries and poisoning, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the respiratory system. The main reason for emergency evacuations was injuries and poisoning, 2nd and 3rd places were taken by BSK and diseases of the digestive system, respectively. In the group of workers under 39 years of age, the first three positions were occupied by injuries and poisoning, diseases of the digestive system and BSC, and in the group of older age intervals, BSC significantly prevailed, the second place was taken by injuries and poisoning, and the third - diseases of the digestive system. Conclusion. The results of the study and data analysis made it possible to identify the key components (human, informational, financial, educational, material resources) of remote health care and confirmed the importance and necessity of developing a unified concept of maintaining the health of personnel at industrial facilities located in hard-to-reach areas.

Optimal Installation Location of Escape Route Signs at T-Type Intersections

This study analyzed the decision-making times (DMTs) of participants at T-type indoor intersections according to the horizontal/vertical installation locations and the arrow directions of escape route signs. A total of 120 university students participated in the study. We analyzed the DMTs and following rates (FRs) required for the participants to observe the visual stimuli of the signs installed in front of the T-type indoor intersections and then properly select a path according to the arrow direction of the signs. The results are as follows: (1) the participants exhibited shorter DMTs for the right arrow direction of the signs, (2) the Simon effect occurred when the horizontal installation location of the signs was more than 60 cm away from the center of the T-type indoor intersection on both sides, (3) the DMTs of participants increased when the vertical installation location of the signs was low. Finally, we proposed an optimal installation location of the signs to support the shortest DMTs at T-type indoor intersections. It is expected that the results of this study will provide a database of DMTs, based on the locations of the signs during emergency evacuations, and will be utilized to improve the installation guidelines and regulations of signs.

An Evaluation Model for Analyzing Robustness and Spatial Closeness of 3D Indoor Evacuation Networks

Indoor evacuation efficiency heavily relies on the connectivity status of navigation networks. During disastrous situations, the spreading of hazards (e.g., fires, plumes) significantly influences indoor navigation networks’ status. Nevertheless, current research concentrates on utilizing classical statistical methods to analyze this status and lacks the flexibility to evaluate the increasingly disastrous scope’s influence. We propose an evaluation method combining 3D spatial geometric distance and topology for emergency evacuations to address this issue. Within this method, we offer a set of indices to describe the nodes’ status and the entire network under emergencies. These indices can help emergency responders quickly identify vulnerable nodes and areas in the network, facilitating the generation of evacuation plans and improving evacuation efficiency. We apply this method to analyze the fire evacuation efficiency and resilience of two experiment buildings’ indoor networks. Experimental results show a strong influence on the network’s spatial connectivity on the evacuation efficiency under disaster situations.

Towards a Semi-Quantitative Approach for Assessing Evacuation Scenarios in the Context of Popocatépetl Volcano, México—The Case of San Pedro Tlalmimilulpan

Volcanic exposure implies multiple hazards for human settlements. The identification of the potential hazards that volcanic activity can entail is a challenge requiring assessing the specific situations that a determined place would face. Popocatépetl, a volcano in the centre of México, represents a significant hazard source, and it is located within a densely populated region with more than 20 million people. Despite the existence of a colour-based volcano alert level system for the current activity of the volcano, it is relevant to assess which local scenarios are more likely depending on numerous variables, namely, related to the distance from the volcano. A semi-quantitative analysis was carried out based on existing hazard maps and considering the probability of occurrence of volcanic explosivity, taking the settlement of San Pedro Tlalmimilulpan as a case study. This analysis led to a hierarchised rank of hazards, providing a basis for analysing multiple scenarios through failure mode and event analysis, failure tree analysis and event tree analysis. This process facilitates the contextualisation of the multiple challenges and potential chains of events that emergency actions, namely, emergency evacuations, would face. The analysis of the critical paths can help to identify critical aspects that could hinder the post-event response.