Keith M. Christensen

A comparative study of evacuation strategies for people with disabilities in high-rise building evacuation

This paper presents new evacuation strategies for a heterogeneous population in high-rise building environments and compares them with traditional simultaneous evacuation strategy. To do so, we first define the maximum comfortable structural capacity of the building as the number of people that can be evacuated without heavy congestion, and estimate it based on flow rate and move frequency ratio. Then we present several evacuation strategies to efficiently evacuate heterogeneous residents at the maximum comfortable structural capacity. The simulation results for a 24-story building suggest several implications for emergency planners. First, we find that a vertically phased evacuation strategy that varies delay times by physical location, is not useful for the simulated building. Second, a phased evacuation strategy that applies a fixed evacuation delay to residents with wheelchairs reduces the aggregated evacuation times, but delaying evacuations of a specific group of individuals may not be ethical or accepted. Finally, evacuation strategies that allows residents with wheelchairs to use elevators are effective, suggesting that emergency administrators should assess whether elevators in their buildings are appropriate for evacuation purposes with appropriate electric controls, electric power, and fire and smoke protection.

The Built Environment, Evacuations, and Individuals With Disabilities A Guiding Framework for Disaster Policy and Preparation

Policy and planning for the evacuation of individuals with disabilities would benefit from a more informed and accepted understanding of the complexity of evacuation issues. This article proposes a framework perspective on 4 forms of emergency evacuation according to the timing and duration of the evacuation (protective, preventive, rescue, and reconstructive), as well as 3 overlying factors that affect all emergency evacuations: the behavior of the individual, the planned systems active in the event, and the environment in which the event occurs. The Americans with Disabilities Act Design Requirements for Accessible Egress is discussed to demonstrate the value of evaluating policy and planning according to the proposed framework. Recent catastrophic events have demonstrated a disproportionate effect of emergency evacuations on individuals with disabilities. These events have raised questions concerning the appropriateness and effectiveness of evacuation policies and practices, prompting many organizations to develop and disseminate evacuation planning solutions for the needs of individuals with disabilities. Policy and planning discussions for the evacuation of individuals with disabilities would benefit from a more informed and accepted understanding of the complexity of evacuation issues. This article attempts to explain the complexity by proposing a framework that emphasizes the conditions associated with various forms of emergency evacuations and factors that affect an individuals response to these conditions. The intent of the framework is to clarify the assumptions associated with emergency evacuations and to provide a framework that one may use to evaluate the appropriateness of the resulting policies and planning initiatives.Policy and planning for the evacuation of individuals with disabilities would benefit from a more informed and accepted understanding of the complexity of evacuation issues. This article proposes a framework perspective on 4 forms of emergency evacuation according to the timing and duration of the evacuation (protective, preventive, rescue, and reconstructive), as well as 3 overlying factors that affect all emergency evacuations: the behavior of the individual, the planned systems active in the event, and the environment in which the event occurs. The Americans with Disabilities Act Design Requirements for Accessible Egress is discussed to demonstrate the value of evaluating policy and planning according to the proposed framework. Recent catastrophic events have demonstrated a disproportionate effect of emergency evacuations on individuals with disabilities. These events have raised questions concerning the appropriateness and effectiveness of evacuation policies and practices, prompting many organization...

Modeling Emergency Evacuation of Individuals with Disabilities in a Densely Populated Airport

Emergency evacuation from airports is an important consideration, given the continuing occurrence of natural and human-caused disasters affecting these locations. These incidents have focused attention on the needs of individuals with disabilities, who are more likely to suffer during emergency situations. The agent-based model presented in this paper can be used by engineering and management professionals in design and planning efforts to estimate the evacuation performance of heterogeneous populations from airports. The model classifies the environment according to accessibility characteristics encompassing various conditions that have a disproportionate effect on the behavior of individuals with disabilities during an evacuation. The results of a simulation experiment demonstrate some of the limitations of the pier airport design and identify which individuals are most at risk: those with lower stamina and those using wheelchairs. The results also reveal areas of the airport that are prone to bottlenecks or clogging.

Traffic flow characteristics of heterogeneous pedestrian stream involving individuals with disabilities

Walking facilities such as walkways and stairs are important infrastructure that must be designed to accommodate pedestrian behavior to be effective. Heterogeneity in pedestrian composition is one important factor generally overlooked in guidelines and handbooks for walking facility design. Specifically, individuals with different types of disabilities are often overlooked because of the lack of available data. In response, a controlled large-scale research project was conducted at Utah State University to study the performance of various walking environments under heterogeneous pedestrian streams involving individuals with visual and mobility impairments. These environments included a passageway, types of angles (right and oblique), bottlenecks, queuing areas, and stairs. The goals of this study were (a) to investigate macroscopic characteristics of heterogeneous pedestrian streams in various walking environments by using traffic flow fundamental diagrams and (b) to analyze the walking speeds of different pedestrian groups with consideration of congestion. The performance of facilities was evaluated by using macroscopic parameters estimated from calibrated traffic flow models. Speed analyses showed similarities and differences between the behaviors of pedestrian groups. Exploring traffic flow characteristics of a heterogeneous pedestrian stream in various walking facilities may improve the planning and design of such facilities.

Utahns' understanding of autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND The general public has numerous misconceptions and a lack of awareness and understanding regarding some of the prevalence, characteristics, and treatments of autism. As a result, education and awareness activities to increase the general publics understanding and awareness of autism are important. This study was conducted throughout Utah to inform public education and awareness efforts being planned as part of Utahs State Plan for Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Development Disorders. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to identify public awareness and knowledge of ASD in Utah, such as the publics understanding of the prevalence, characteristics, and treatments of autism, as well as the sources of this information. METHODS To identify public perceptions and attitudes of autism spectrum disorder, 1001 Utah residents 18 years of age or older were surveyed using a 32-question statewide random-digit dialed telephone survey. RESULTS The percentages of responses for 15 of the 20 autism-related questions are presented by ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino), education level, and income level. CONCLUSIONS The study indicates that autism education efforts need to address the least understood aspects of autism; the causes of autism, how autism is diagnosed, and how autism is treated. Radio or TV outlets are more effective, particularly so with Hispanic or Latinos and populations with less education. Medical professionals are also an important resource for families with direct autism-related needs.

Analysis of Walking Speeds Involving Individuals with Disabilities in Different Indoor Walking Environments

AbstractWalking facilities are important infrastructures in communities. These facilities should be designed to accommodate the needs of all types of pedestrians. Unfortunately, existing design guidelines fail to offer adequate consideration for individuals with disabilities owing to a lack of empirical data. To address this knowledge gap, a controlled large-scale research project was conducted at Utah State University (USU) to study the walking behavior of people with various types of disabilities in various indoor walking facilities. These facilities included a passageway, different types of angles (right and oblique), bottleneck, and stairwells. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the impacts of individuals with disabilities on crowd walking speed, and to study the impacts of different indoor walking facilities on the movements of various pedestrian groups. Results show that the presence of individuals with disabilities in a crowd significantly reduces the overall crowd speed. Statistical ...

Time Headway Modeling and Capacity Analysis of Pedestrian Facilities Involving Individuals with Disabilities

Walking infrastructure should be designed to be effective for the needs of all pedestrian groups. Unfortunately, individuals with disabilities are often ignored in pedestrian facility analysis and design because of the lack of data on their walking behavior. A large-scale controlled walking experiment involving individuals with disabilities was conducted at Utah State University to observe individual pedestrian walking behavior on various walking facilities, including a passageway and a bottleneck. The purpose of this study was twofold: to model the time headway between individual types by using a mixed distribution model and to estimate passageway and bottleneck capacities and identify the impact of involving individuals with disabilities on capacity estimation. Analysis revealed that visually impaired individuals and individuals using nonmotorized wheelchairs and walkers caused the minimum capacity reduction on passageways and bottlenecks, whereas individuals using motorized wheelchairs caused the maximum capacity reduction in these areas. The findings are expected to improve the estimation of the facility capacity required to meet a preferred level of service for heterogeneous populations.

The Built Environment and Community Integration A Review of States’ Olmstead Plans

Olmstead v. L.C. upheld the civil rights of individuals with disabilities to live, learn, work, and socialize in the community of their choice. The built environment plays a role in the community integration of individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate states’ Olmstead Plans to determine the extent to which they address the role of the built environment in community integration of individuals with disabilities. The majority of the reviewed plans did not demonstrate a reasonably clear acknowledgment of the role of the built environment in community integration. The Olmstead Plans did address housing and transportation. However, housing and transportation policies need to reach out beyond disability into the community to affect the community integration of individuals with disabilities. An important step toward community integration through community planning practices is the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the standard community processes at the policy level.

Utilizing Augmented Reality Technology for Crowd Pedestrian Analysis Involving Individuals With Disabilities

This research explores how different compositions of Individuals with Disabilities (IwDs) affect the dynamics of crowd movement. In particular, we consider IwDs such as individuals on manual and electric wheelchair, with vision loss and other mobility impairments to better understand the impacts that the compositions of individuals with various types of disabilities will bring on the mobility of the crowd at various structural elements of a built environment such as hall way, door way, and stairwells. While currently available video tracking technologies provide options for primitive macroscopic and microscopic analysis of a crowd, they lack the ability to analyze detailed navigational information of each focused group such as IwDs with varying types of disabilities. This paper provides an approach that exploits ARToolKitPlus libraries and Power-over-Ethernet high speed cameras along with augmented reality elements to track navigational patterns at individual level in a crowd. Preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system to track individual tracking of navigational patterns.Copyright

The relationship between outdoor recreation and depression among individuals with disabilities.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depressive symptoms among individuals with disabilities. The current paper compares three outdoor recreation predictors (dichotomized participation, participation index score, and participation frequencies) to two depression dependents (dichotomized current major depression and raw depression index score). Results reveal a negative relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depression, outdoor recreation participants had lower overall depression scores than nonparticipants, and lower depression scores were related to more frequent outdoor recreation participation. Future experimental studies are needed in order to fully understand the causal relationship between outdoor recreation and depression among different subgroups of individuals with disabilities.