Residential Patterns Research Articles

DECODE: Data-driven energy consumption prediction leveraging historical data and environmental factors in buildings

Energy prediction in buildings plays a crucial role in effective energy management. Precise predictions are essential for achieving optimal energy consumption and distribution within the grid. This paper introduces a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model designed to forecast building energy consumption using historical energy data, occupancy patterns, and weather conditions. The LSTM model provides accurate short, medium, and long-term energy predictions for residential and commercial buildings compared to existing prediction models. We compare our LSTM model with established prediction methods, including linear regression, decision trees, and random forest. Encouragingly, the proposed LSTM model emerges as the superior performer across all metrics. It demonstrates exceptional prediction accuracy, boasting the highest R2 score of 0.97 and the most favorable mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.007. An additional advantage of our developed model is its capacity to achieve efficient energy consumption forecasts even when trained on a limited dataset. We address concerns about overfitting (variance) and underfitting (bias) through rigorous training and evaluation on real-world data. In summary, our research contributes to energy prediction by offering a robust LSTM model that outperforms alternative methods and operates with remarkable efficiency, generalizability, and reliability.

Occupational Injury Patterns of Patients Presented to Trauma Centre Gujranwala Teaching Hospital Gujranwala.

Background: Occupational accidents and illnesses annually result in significant loss of life and disability. The study focuses on evaluating the sociodemographic characteristics, mechanisms, causes, regions of injury, and sectorial characteristics of occupational accidents in patients admitted to a trauma centre. Objective: To analyse the patterns and factors associated with occupational injuries, including demographics, injury mechanisms, sectors affected, and the financial and healthcare implications of these incidents. Methods: The study, approved by the local ethics committee, retrospectively examined patient records. Key parameters such as age, sex, injury mechanism, type, location, and educational background were analysed. Statistical significance was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis, Student's T, and Chi-Square tests, with a p-value < 0.05 considered significant. Results: Among 181 patients, the mean age was 32.96 ± 5.97 years, with 93.4% being male. Most injuries occurred in construction and industrial sectors, showing a significant sectoral distribution (p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between worker's sector and educational level (p<0.05). Penetrating injuries were most common (36.4%), while multiple traumas were least (0.5%). The average Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 9.79 ± 8.1, and the mean cost of treatment was $1729.57 ± 8178.3, varying significantly across industries. Conclusion: Occupational accidents predominantly affect young male workers, particularly those with primary school education, and tend to occur during daytime hours.

Enhancing peak prediction in residential load forecasting with soft dynamic time wrapping loss functions

Short-term residential load forecasting plays a crucial role in smart grids, ensuring an optimal match between energy demands and generation. With the inherent volatility of residential load patterns, deep learning has gained attention due to its ability to capture complex nonlinear relationships within hidden layers. However, most existing studies have relied on default loss functions such as mean squared error (MSE) or mean absolute error (MAE) for neural networks. These loss functions, while effective in overall prediction accuracy, lack specialized focus on accurately predicting load peaks. This article presents a comparative analysis of soft-DTW loss function, a smoothed formulation of Dynamic Time Wrapping (DTW), compared to other commonly used loss functions, in order to assess its effectiveness in improving peak prediction accuracy. To evaluate peak performance, we introduce a novel evaluation methodology using confusion matrix and propose new errors for peak position and peak load, tailored specifically for assessing peak performance in short-term load forecasting. Our results demonstrate the superiority of soft-DTW in capturing and predicting load peaks, surpassing other commonly used loss functions. Furthermore, the combination of soft-DTW with other loss functions, such as soft-DTW + MSE, soft-DTW + MAE, and soft-DTW + TDI (Time Distortion Index), also enhances peak prediction. However, the differences between these combined soft-DTW loss functions are not substantial. These findings highlight the significance of utilizing specialized loss functions, like soft-DTW, to improve peak prediction accuracy in short-term load forecasting.

Does inequality migrate? The development of income inequality across German states

AbstractThis study analyzes the evolution of educational and occupational patterns among migrants and natives, as well as income inequality in Germany from 1985 to 2015. We show that despite migrants catching up in education, employment, and income with their native counterparts, unfavorable societal attitudes toward them have remained virtually unchanged, which can be attributed to Bourdieu's conceptualization of cultural inheritance. We find that while income inequality has increased significantly over the 30‐year period, this trend varied considerably by the federal state and that migration did nothing to add to inequality. Since both the German economy and society rely on migrants, there is a strong need for the narratives toward migrants to be based on empirical evidence. The findings of this study hold migrant‐related policy implications not only for Germany but also for other developed nations that rely on migrants as a labor force.

Experiences of the Redesigning Daily Occupation programme – a qualitative study among persons with neurological diseases

Background The Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) is a programme targeting persons who need to restructure activities and routines to achieve a healthier balance in everyday life. Issues that often is needed for persons with neurological diseases. Aims/Objectives To describe how persons with neurological disease experienced the ReDo-programme and to investigate how their occupational patterns and fatigue changed during the programme. Material and Methods A mixed method study with a convergent parallel design including ten participants. Questionnaires and individual semi-structured interviews have been used and data analysed by descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results The findings indicated an increased participation in everyday life after the intervention. Furthermore, the main theme showed that the intervention enabled reflections and new insight. Sub-themes included: feeling pressured to perform, being part of a group and changing occupational pattern. Conclusions Participants valued being a group; however, they experienced the intensity as being too high. The content of the intervention enabled reflections and new insights regarding their occupational pattern, which was experienced as a starting point towards behavioural changes and re-prioritisation of occupations in everyday life. Significance A modified version with lower intensity and careful goal setting might be valuable for persons with neurological diseases.

Exploration of the ground state properties of neutron-rich sodium isotopes using the deformed relativistic mean field theory in complex momentumrepresentations with BCS pairings* *Partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11935001, 11575001), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (2008085MA26), Anhui project (Z010118169), the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) (HIR2021PY007), and the project of Key

This study explores the ground-state characteristics of neutron-rich sodium isotopes, encompassing two-neutron separation energies, root-mean-square radii, quadrupole moments of proton and neutron distributions, single-particle levels of bound and resonant states, and neutron density distributions and shapes. Simultaneously, special attention is paid to the distinctive physical phenomena associated with these isotopes. The deformed relativistic mean field theory in complex momentum representations with BCS pairings (DRMF-CMR-BCS) employed in our research provides resonant states with real physics, offering insights into deformed halo nuclei. Four effective interactions (NL3, NL3*, PK1, and NLSH) were considered to assess the influence of continuum and deformation effects on halo structures. Calculations for odd-even nuclei 35–43Na revealed the dependence on the chosen effective interaction and number of considered resonant states. Neutron occupation patterns near the Fermi surface, particularly in orbitals and , were determined to be crucial in halo formation. The study provided detailed insights into the density distributions, shape evolution, and structure of neutron-rich sodium isotopes, contributing valuably to the field of nuclear physics.

Exploring the potential of occupancy modelling using passive acoustics in <i>Coua gigas</i> and <i>Coua coquereli</i>

In highly threatened habitats such as the dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar, it is essential to develop new approaches to detect population changes and evaluate conservation measures. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is such a promising approach. This method has many advantages over conventional methods, such as time efficiency, money savings, and reduced wildlife disturbance. It is especially suitable for studying occupancy and activity patterns of vocalizing species such as birds. Our study analyzed data recorded with autonomous sound recorders in 2018 in Kirindy Forest for the territorial calls of Coua gigas and Coua coquereli. We modeled occupancy and detection probability for both species in the study area. We also examined activity patterns and found that the peak of vocal activity for Coua coquereli is at 700h and for Coua gigas at 1100h. To also test the value of PAM in relation to ecological factors we modeled occupancy and included logging status as a site covariate. We detected a positive influence of logging in occupancy of Coua gigas. Our study provides guidelines for future occupancy studies using PAM in the two coua species. We conclude that PAM will improve the ecological monitoring of soniferous animals in Madagascar.

Using Camera Traps to estimate Habitat Preferences and Occupancy Patterns of Vertebrates in Boreal Wetlands

Using Camera Traps to estimate Habitat Preferences and Occupancy Patterns of Vertebrates in Boreal Wetlands

Morbidity pattern of tea garden residents of Darjeeling, India

Abstract Tea industry is an important agroindustry of the northern part of West Bengal. Poor socioeconomic conditions, illiteracy, culture and food habit, overcrowding, make the population vulnerable to various communicable and noncommunicable diseases. This study was done to identify the pattern of communicable and noncommunicable diseases among the outpatient attendees of a tea-estate in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. The cross-sectional record-based study was conducted among the beneficiaries of the tea-garden clinic. Among them, proportion having non-communicable diseases (65.2%) were higher than communicable disease (34.8%). Most of the communicable (61.9%) and noncommunicable (87.9%) diseases were among 20–60 years age group. Among them, majority of the communicable disease were respiratory (51.9%) and mainly upper respiratory tract infection (100%). In this age group, majority of the cardiovascular problem were hypertension (96%) and majority of the musculoskeletal diseases were joint pain (79%). It is necessary to have a knowledge of the recent trends of diseases in the area as reliable information on health problems of a population is an essential prerequisite for formulating health-care system to address health needs.

Analyzing the territorial dimensions of work through a comparative study of waste recovery facilities in France and Brazil.

Waste production and management from residents and collection for sorting are systems heavily dependent on territorial dimensions. Ergonomic research needs to better integrate such territorial determinants to improve work conditions and design sustainable work systems. Through studies in France and Brazil, this paper analyzes the territorial relations that raise work systems' sustainability challenges for materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and waste management in both countries and examines the links between work activity and territory in MRFs. Both studies were based on the principles of activity-oriented ergonomics and used analyses of work activity and sociotechnical systems. The French study focused on interventions conducted over a 42-month period in five MRFs. The Brazilian study was based on a 20-month longitudinal qualitative and quantitative study. In this paper, we argue that territory is a key determining factor in waste production and work. Notably, the consumption patterns of residents and the economic flows within a geographic space determine the waste composition; and the territorially specified public policies, which define technical and social dimensions of waste collection and sorting. However, the territorial dimensions of waste are poorly considered in facility design. Workers' health and sorting system performance are thus affected and negatively compromising plant performance. The territory appears as a blind spot in the design of work systems. One of the challenges is to create interfaces and devices that could help to integrate better human activity and waste territorialized anchorage, in a multilevel organization, from local communities to the global recycling chains.

Fuzzy-based smart energy management system for residential buildings in Saudi Arabia: A comparative study

Considering Saudi Arabia's strategy entails economic diversification and a reduction in dependency on oil, a change towards sustainable and efficient energy management practices is required. Effective energy management is critical for optimising energy consumption, lowering costs, and reducing the environmental footprint. Traditional energy management systems are frequently built on rule-based or deterministic techniques that fail to address the complexity and uncertainty inherent in home energy usage patterns and user behaviours. Fuzzy logic-based solutions have emerged in recent years, holding enormous promise for domestic energy management. Fuzzy logic excels at dealing with imprecise and uncertain input, making it ideal for modelling human-centric systems such as domestic energy management. This study presents a cutting-edge fuzzy-based smart energy management system adapted to Saudi residential buildings. Using fuzzy logic approaches, the system intends to optimize energy usage, reduce peak demand, and improve energy efficiency. It automatically adjusts energy-consuming devices such as air conditioning, lights, and appliances depending on user preferences, occupancy patterns, as well as real-time energy prices using fuzzy decision-making algorithms. The research not only substantiates the success of this strategy through a comparative study, but it also highlights its prospective benefits for Saudi Arabian residential constructions. It also covers the obstacles and potential research possibilities for adopting fuzzy-based smart energy management systems, exposing a promising road towards a more sustainable and safe energy future. The study's findings underscore the superiority of the comparative study alternative, revealing it as the most effective means to evaluate the fuzzy-based system's performance and unique advantages in relation to other established energy management approaches.

An Eulerian perspective on habitat models of striped bass occurrence in an offshore wind development area

Abstract Offshore wind energy development, including along the US Atlantic coast, frequently occurs within important multispecies migration corridors; however, assessing the regional factors influencing the local Eulerian occurrence of these species poses a significant challenge. We used generalized models incorporating lagged variables and hierarchical formulations to account for temporal dependencies and hierarchical structure that occur outside the narrower frame of a sampled project area. Acoustically tagged striped bass, the most frequently detected species regionally, were sampled using a gridded acoustic telemetry array in the Maryland Wind Energy Area of the US Mid-Atlantic Bight. The daily occurrence of striped bass was better explained by broad-scale sea surface temperature warming patterns than by local concurrent environmental conditions, demonstrating the importance of drivers that occur across the wider spatial scales of migration. Weekly residency patterns were similar between tagging origin groups, suggesting that Chesapeake Bay, Hudson River, Delaware Bay, and other Northwest Atlantic populations migrate synchronously through the Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight and are similarly influenced by sea surface temperature. Our study demonstrates that adapting an Eulerian approach to include lagged variables can improve regional assessments of fish on the move until richer Lagrangian insights become possible through future coordination of telemetry arrays throughout the Mid-Atlantic flyway.

Counterfactual mobility network embedding reveals prevalent accessibility gaps in U.S. cities

Living in cities affords expanded access to various resources, infrastructures, and services at reduced travel costs, which improves social life and promotes systemic gains. However, recent research shows that urban dwellers also experience inequality in accessing urban facilities, which manifests in distinct travel and visitation patterns for residents with different demographic backgrounds. Here, we go beyond simple flawed correlation analysis and reveal prevalent accessibility gaps by quantifying the causal effects of resident demographics on mobility patterns extracted from U.S. residents’ detailed interactions with millions of urban venues. Moreover, to efficiently reveal micro neighborhood-level accessibility gaps, we design a novel Counterfactual RANdom-walks-based Embedding (CRANE) method to learn continuous embedding vectors on urban mobility networks with confounding effects disentangled. Our analysis reveals significant income and racial gaps in mobility frequency and visitation rates to sports and education venues. Besides, bachelor’s degree holders experience greater mobility reduction during the COVID-19 crisis. With extensive experiments on neighborhood-level accessibility prediction and visualizing accessibility gaps with embeddings vectors, we demonstrate that the counterfactual mobility network embeddings can improve the explanatory capacity and robustness of revealed accessibility gaps by extending them from aggregate statistics to individual neighborhoods and allowing for cross-city knowledge transfer. As such, urban mobility networks can reveal consistent accessibility gaps in the U.S., calling for urgent urban design policies to fill in the gaps.

Metapopulation models using landscape connectivity can better reflect landscape heterogeneity

Forest fragmentation due to urban development has a significant impact on species persistence, necessitating a metapopulation theory approach considering landscape structure and patch-based impact assessments. In this study, we propose a method that applies landscape connectivity and incidence function models (IFM) to a species distribution model to represent the persistence of metapopulations by considering landscape structure (IFM-LCONS). The proposed approach was used to understand changes in leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) occupancy patterns resulting from urban development considering landscape and patch structure. The impact on changes in occupancy owing to urban development was better reflected by patch area (R2 = 0.5031, R2 = 0.1642) and quality (R2 = 0.5142, R2 = 0.1042). Notably, the IFM-LCONS showed an increasing occupancy at a connectivity value of 500, whereas the IFM indicated the opposite. These results highlight that the here proposed approach allows for a more thorough consideration of the impact of urban development on landscape and structural aspects with respect to endangered and rare species, which can be used for conservation planning.

Spatial patterns in occupancy and density of larval lampreys in freshwater habitats restored to a Stage 0 condition

AbstractWe examined occupancy and density of larval lampreys (Entosphenus tridentatus and Lampetra spp.) in two rivers in Oregon (USA) restored to a Stage 0 condition 1–5 years prior, using a multiscale occupancy model and a zero‐inflated Poisson mixture model. We sampled lampreys using backpack electrofishing in randomly distributed, paired, 1‐m2 quadrats and recorded environmental data. Probabilities of occupancy and density were higher when water velocity was low, the substrate was noncompacted, and sediment was dominated by fines (<4 mm). At mean water depth (0.34 m) and velocity (0.09 m/s), estimated densities in occupied quadrats were 4.8 lampreys/m2 (95%: 3.4–6.9) when the substrate was compacted, and fines were not dominant, and 21.1 lampreys/m2 (95%: 17.7–25.3) when the substrate was noncompacted and fines were dominant. Probabilities of detecting occupancy in a 1‐m2 quadrat sampled by backpack electrofishing were 0.76 (95%: 0.64–0.87) when captured after visual observation and 0.80 (95%: 0.71–0.88) with blind sweeps (i.e., constantly moving the net regardless of observation). The probability of capturing a single lamprey in a quadrat sampled by blind sweeps was 0.32 (95%: 0.27–0.37). Sampling in paired 1‐m2 quadrats facilitated concurrent examination of patterns in occupancy and density while accounting for capture probability, which could aid temporal monitoring of restored habitats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to document occupancy and estimate densities of larval lampreys in habitats that underwent valley floor restoration to Stage 0. We observed both lamprey genera within 5 years of restoration. Aquatic restoration that increases low‐velocity, noncompacted, fine sediment habitats could benefit lampreys.

The Patterns and Mechanisms of Residential Mobility in Nanjing, China: Insights from the Mantel Test

Residential mobility serves as a pivotal determinant in reshaping urban social spaces and driving spatial differentiation and segregation within cities. This study harnesses a rich dataset from surveys and the housing market in Nanjing, China to dissect the spatial distribution patterns of its mobile population. Employing the Mantel Test—a novel approach in this context—we assess the interplay between spatial shifts in residential locations and the socio-demographic attributes of individuals, thereby shedding light on the socio-spatial dynamics across various migration categories. Our findings underscore a pronounced trend in the post-2000 era of China’s housing marketization: residential migrations occur predominantly within a five-year cycle. The decay in migration distances aligns with the migration field formula, suggesting a systematic attenuation of mobility over spatial extents. The study identifies a strong congruence between the mobility rings—zones of frequent residential movement—and the micro-level characteristics of residents, reflecting the nuanced fabric of urban stratification. Furthermore, we unveil how macro-level institutional frameworks and the housing market milieu substantially shape and limit the migration frequency, hinting at the overarching impact of policy and economic landscapes on residential mobility patterns. The paper culminates by articulating the underlying dynamics of urban residential migration, providing a comprehensive account that contributes to the discourse on sustainable urban development and planning.

Do cuckoo calls affects red-backed shrike settlement pattern? An experimental approach

Birds select breeding territories by assessing territory quality and considering predation pressure. However, in many small passerines, brood parasitism may also play an important role in territory occupancy. Settlement decisions are made under time pressure, especially for late migrants. An example of late migrants is the red-backed shrike Lanius collurio, a species wintering in sub-tropical Africa, which serves as a host for the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus and arrives in territories a few days later than their brood parasite. We expected that arriving red-backed shrikes avoided territories with common cuckoo presence. Then, we tested how experimentally provided artificial playback calls of the common cuckoo and woodpigeon (treated as control) affected the probability of red-backed shrike settlement. In the breeding season 2021, we observed 279 red-backed shrike territories to assess the effect of playback of common cuckoo calls on their host presence. Moreover, we adopt information on shrike territories collected in previous years to establish territory quality, measured by occupancy pattern over years. Each of these places was also checked for the presence of corvids, which are predators of shrike nests. We did not find difference with lower preference of shrikes towards cuckoo calls and to pigeon calls Columba columbus, what suggest the human presence and manipulation in the territories during experiments with recorders should be incorporated as an important factor to understanding shrikes’ settlement behaviour. What is interesting we found no negative effect of corvids (jay Garrulus glandarius) in control territories. However, shrike territories where cuckoo calls were emitted and where the presence of corvids was found were less likely to be inhabited by shrikes. Therefore, territory quality, human presence enhanced by nest predators, is an important factor affecting host–parasite interactions.

Above and below the Green Line: a social history of divergent Mississippian cultures

ABSTRACT A cultural boundary between Late Mississippi period groups has long been observed in the Yazoo Basin corresponding with the mouth of the Arkansas River. However, similarities in mound site structure, settlement location, and processes associated with Mississippianization have sometimes led researchers to downplay these differences, effectively treating the Yazoo Basin as a single physiographic and cultural unit. We examine the idea that subtle differences in physiography within the Yazoo Basin can account for observed differences in material culture. We find that while physiography explains site location and may have influenced how Mississippian people interacted, it does not explain residential patterns, mound site use, or interactions with people from the American Bottom during the “Cahokia horizon.” Instead, we argue that Mississippi period mound sites in the northern and southern Yazoo Basin differed fundamentally in their functions, and that these differences are rooted in Late Woodland Coles Creek and Baytown notions of dwelling and ceremonial practice.

Residency and movement patterns of juvenile yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis, stocked on estuarine artificial reefs

Context Successful fish stocking relies upon releasing cohorts directly into habitat containing suitable supporting resources. To facilitate this, an emerging trend has seen fish released onto artificial reefs. Aims We compared the residency and movement patterns of juvenile sparids (yellowfin bream – Acanthopagrus australis), stocked on artificial reefs and natural habitat, to determine the suitability of incorporating artificial structures as release sites in future stocking programs. Methods Forty hatchery-reared yellowfin bream were evenly divided and stocked on either artificial reef or natural habitat within an east-Australian estuary, and tracked using acoustic telemetry. Key results Artificial reefs provided greater habitat complexity than the natural habitat and fish stocked onto these structures showed greater fidelity to their release site and were detected for longer periods of time than those stocked into less complex natural habitat. Conclusions The high residency levels of fish around artificial reef sites indicate they contain resources to support stocked juvenile sparids. Implications Stocked yellowfin bream can tolerate a range of salinity and temperatures, allowing flexibility in stocking programs. Future stocking of bream or other sparids should consider releasing fish onto artificial reefs where available. Additionally, the deployment of reefs could aid existing stocking programs.

The Initial Residential Patterns of Immigrants across the Urban Hierarchy in Sweden: The Role of Educational Attainment

AbstractThis study employs the aspirations‐capabilities framework to explore the intricate interplay between choices and constraints shaping migrants' settlement patterns, with a particular emphasis on the often‐overlooked aspect of educational attainment. Using Swedish register data containing information about migrants' educational level, this paper examines and typifies the initial residential sorting patterns of migrants arriving in Sweden in the period 2000–2014. Employing multinomial logistic regression to understand how migrant sorting takes place, the results show a clear distinction in settlement patterns, with higher educated migrants being more likely to settle in metropolitan areas, and lower educated migrants ending up in rural areas, even when controlling for region of origin and purpose of migration. Nordic and African migrants, resettled refugees, older migrants, and migrant families with younger children are most likely to live in sparsely populated areas. The paper concludes that these trends exacerbate existing patterns of spatial polarization.