Classification of Mediterranean Shrub Species from UAV Point Clouds

Modelling fire behaviour in forest fires is based on meteorological, topographical, and vegetation data, including species’ type. To accurately parameterise these models, an inventory of the area of analysis with the maximum spatial and temporal resolution is required. This study investigated the use of UAV-based digital aerial photogrammetry (UAV-DAP) point clouds to classify tree and shrub species in Mediterranean forests, and this information is key for the correct generation of wildfire models. In July 2020, two test sites located in the Natural Park of Sierra Calderona (eastern Spain) were analysed, registering 1036 vegetation individuals as reference data, corresponding to 11 shrub and one tree species. Meanwhile, photogrammetric flights were carried out over the test sites, using a UAV DJI Inspire 2 equipped with a Micasense RedEdge multispectral camera. Geometrical, spectral, and neighbour-based features were obtained from the resulting point cloud generated. Using these features, points belonging to tree and shrub species were classified using several machine learning methods, i.e., Decision Trees, Extra Trees, Gradient Boosting, Random Forest, and MultiLayer Perceptron. The best results were obtained using Gradient Boosting, with a mean cross-validation accuracy of 81.7% and 91.5% for test sites 1 and 2, respectively. Once the best classifier was selected, classified points were clustered based on their geometry and tested with evaluation data, and overall accuracies of 81.9% and 96.4% were obtained for test sites 1 and 2, respectively. Results showed that the use of UAV-DAP allows the classification of Mediterranean tree and shrub species. This technique opens a wide range of possibilities, including the identification of species as a first step for further extraction of structure and fuel variables as input for wildfire behaviour models.

Human Behaviour in Organizations

It is crucial to grasp individual behaviour in organizations. This can shed light on evaluation of organizational outcomes. The evaluation can assist in deciding changes required. This chapter investigates organizational behaviour models. The investigation aims to develop a better comprehension of human behaviour. The chapter examines the most reviewed organizational behaviour models. These models are the human relation, the system perspective, productivity perspective, the human resource approach, the contingency approach, and finally, the situation approach. These models are argued to be elementalistic. The elementalism leads to perceive humans and their behaviour in a partial manner. The Aristotelian structure of language underpinning Indo-European languages upholds such elementalism. The structure is built on three laws. These are “is” of identity, two value orientation, and excluding middle stance. The chapter presents some principles of Islam to transform organizational behaviour models. The model enriched by Islam is argued to be in flux.

Professional Mobility as a Model for Overcoming Maladaptive Forms of a Person’s Psychological Defence in Conditions of Professional Development Crises

The article deals with the results of the analysis of the person’s professional mobility as a comprehensive tool for overcoming the professional crises. It also determines the existence of many unascertained psychological problems in its structure. One of these problems is the problem of overcoming maladaptive forms of a person’s psychological defence based on his professional mobility in stressful conditions of the professional development crises. Stressful uncertainty in the professional crisis and the high ambivalent tension, which the person is experiencing, characterize the specialist’s maladaptive development according to the “catastrophic” scenario. In the conditions of the professional development crisis a specialist cannot leave it adaptively and flexibly due to a limited number of rigidly patterned professional barriers and behaviour models. Such maladaptive patterned movement of a specialist towards the disintegrational destruction of the whole system of his professional development can be overcome constructively on the basis of his professional mobility model, selection and realization of the further professional movement vector. We consider the interactive strategy of a specialist’s behaviour for constructive overcoming professional crises in the system of his professional development, based on the development of the ability of directed transitions to new professional movement trajectories in the points of the system bifurcation, as the professional mobility.

Optimizing occupant-centric building controls given stochastic occupant behaviour

Occupant-centric control (OCC) strategies represent a novel approach for indoor climate control in which occupancy patterns and occupant preferences are embedded within control sequences. They aim to improve both occupant comfort and energy efficiency by learning and predicting occupant behaviour, then optimizing building operations accordingly. Previous studies estimate that OCC can increase energy savings by up to 60% while improving occupant comfort. However, their performance is subjected to several factors, including uncertainty due to occupant behaviour, OCC configurational settings, as well as building design parameters. To this end, testing OCCs and adjusting their configurational settings are critical to ensure optimal performance. Furthermore, identifying building design alternatives that can optimize such performance given different occupant preferences is an important step that cannot be investigated during field implementations of OCC due to logistical constraints. This paper presents a framework to optimize OCC performance in a simulation environment, which entails coupling synthetic occupant behaviour models with OCCs that learn their preferences. The genetic algorithm for optimization is then used to identify the configurational settings and design parameters that minimize energy consumption under three different occupant scenarios. To demonstrate the proposed framework, three OCCs were implemented in the building simulation program, EnergyPlus, and executed through a Python package, EPPY to optimize OCC configurational settings and design parameters. Results revealed significant improvement of OCC performance under the identified optimal configurational settings and design parameters for each of the investigated occupant scenarios. This approach would improve OCC performance in actual buildings and avoid discomfort issues that arise during the initial implementation phases.

A system of values and economic behaviour models of young entrepreneurs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of values with individual economic behaviour, identifies the correlation between personality values that are conditioned upon the culture, and evaluations of economic behaviour situations on the example of Russian culture. Design/methodology/approach This study involved 222 people of Russian nationality, young entrepreneurs employed in the commercial field, developing their own business. The following methods were used in the study: the methodology for measuring the values of an individual and cultural level; Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, a scenario methodology for economic behaviour, which is a short behavioural scenario (model of behaviour), taken from real life. The statistical processing of experimental data was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21 software package. Findings The values with correlated progressive and regressive economic forms of behaviour were identified for modern Russian society. The correlation of factors with progressive and regressive economic behaviour was also identified. Practical implications The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying the results obtained not only in the system of economic education but also in programs to support the business activity of young entrepreneurs. Originality/value The value of this study is determined by the fact that it can be placed in a broader context of research into the relationship between the levels of human consciousness and his behaviour.

624Integrating human behaviour models with epidemiology to frame complex health problems

Focus of Presentation Health problems are complex due to multiple interactions whose outcomes are not easily predicted with traditional epidemiology methods. The problems themselves require careful evaluation. Predictive models of human behaviour are potentially powerful tools to frame health problems, especially if the models can link the attributes and behaviour of individuals with the dynamics of the social and environmental systems within which they operate. We explore this potential by proposing a framework combining two modelling approaches — social network analysis (SNA) and agent-based modelling (ABM) - with epidemiological methods. We then apply this framework to understand why measles vaccination rates are decreasing across the world. Findings These techniques allowed us to understand the etiologic implications of heterogeneity within the population, social interaction, and environmental influences simultaneously, and to explore mechanistic interactions, feedback loops, and reciprocity between exposures and outcomes. This approach allowed us to frame complex social factors of health and disease in a holistic manner. Conclusions/Implications The proposed framework allows investigators to analyse complex health problems in a holistic manner. However, both SNA and ABM, and other modelling tools, are still too compartmentalised in application, despite the strong methodological and conceptual parallels between their uses in different disciplines. Key messages A fully integrated approach is needed to understanding complex health problems, which combines modelling approaches and the disciplinary insights of epidemiology and public health.

Defining the psycho-social determinants of public transport use: An integrated theoretical approach

Car use is engrained in our culture. Changing behaviour towards using more sustainable travel modes such as public transport is notoriously difficult, despite the increasing awareness of environmental problems caused by car use. Many models have attempted to explain what psychological constructs activate pro-environmental behaviour. Models often adopt either an altruistic approach to pro-environmental behaviour such as Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, or a pro-social approach using Schwartz’s norm-activation model, or Stern et al.’s value-belief-norm theory. This research tests the psychological constructs determining decisions to use public transport using an integrated environmental behaviour model recently proposed by Bamberg and Möser. The results support the integrated modelling approach. Intentions to use public transport are indirectly affected by awareness of environmental problems caused by car use mediated through social norms, guilt, perceived behavioural control and attitude. Intention to use public transport explains 56% of the variance in self-reported public transport behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.