Relevant Locations Research Articles

Hybrid Location-based Recommender System for Mobility and Travel Planning

In recent times, the modern developments of internet technologies and social networks have attracted global researchers to explore the recommender systems for generating personalized location-based services. Recommender Systems (RSs) as proven decision support tools have gained immense popularity to solve information overloading problem among various real-time applications of e-commerce, travel and tourism, movies and e-learning. RSs emerge as a popular and reliable information filtering approach that is capable of suggesting relevant items, movies, and locations to the active target user based on dynamic preferences and interests. Beyond the development of many feature-rich recommendation algorithms, the need for a better full-fledged RS to produce precise and highly relevant recommendations based on ratings and preferences provided by the target user is very high. With the specific focus to the travel domain, the global research community has been involved in the development of a complete travel recommender system that is immune to the sparsity and cold start problems. In this paper, we present a new Hybrid Location-based Travel Recommender System (HLTRS) through exploiting ensemble based co-training method with swarm intelligence algorithms to enhance the personalized travel recommendations. The proposed HLTRS is experimentally validated on the real-world large-scale dataset, and we have made an extensive user study to determine the ability of developed RS to produce user satisfiable recommendations in real-time scenarios. The obtained results and analyses demonstrate the improved performance of the proposed Hybrid Location-based Travel Recommender System over existing baselines of recommender systems research.

PAS3-HSID: a Dynamic Bio-Inspired Approach for Real-Time Hot Spot Identification in Data Streams

Hot spot identification is a very relevant problem in a wide variety of areas such as health care, energy or transportation. A hot spot is defined as a region of high likelihood of occurrence of a particular event. To identify hot spots, location data for those events is required, which is typically collected by telematics devices. These sensors are constantly gathering information, generating very large volumes of data. Current state-of-the-art solutions are capable of identifying hot spots from big static batches of data by means of variations of clustering or instance selection techniques that pre-process the original input data, providing the most relevant locations. However, these approaches neglect to address changes in hot spots over time. This paper presents a dynamic bio-inspired approach to detect hot spots in big data streams. This computational intelligence method is designed and applied to the transportation sector as a case study to identify incidents in the roads caused by heavy goods vehicles. We adapt an immune-based algorithm to account for the temporary aspect of hot spots inspired by the idea of pheromones, which is then subsequently implemented using Apache Spark Streaming. Experimental results on real datasets with up to 4.5 million data points—provided by a telematics company—show that the algorithm is capable of quickly processing large streaming batches of data, as well as successfully adapting over time to detect hot spots. The outcome of this method is twofold, both reducing data storage requirements and demonstrating resilience to sudden changes in the input data (concept drift).

Simulating the potential of swarm grids for pre-electrified communities – A case study from Yemen

Swarm grids are an emerging approach to electrification in the Global South that interconnects individual household generation and storage to a small electricity network to make full use of existing generation capacities. Using a simulation tool for demand, weather, and power flows, we analyse the potential of an AC swarm grid for a large pre-electrified village in rural Yemen. Service quality and financial indicators are compared to the cases of individual supply and a centralised micro grid.While the swarm grid would improve supply security from the current 12.4% (Tier 2) to 81.7% (Tier 3) at lower levelised costs, it would be inferior to the micro grid in both service (Tier 4) and costs. This is mainly driven by the large pre-installed fossil-fuel generator and storage capacities in our case study. However, this situation may be representative for other relevant locations. Under these conditions, a swarm grid poses the danger of creating (possibly-undesirable) incentives to invest in diesel generators, and it may fail to support prosumerism effectively. Nevertheless, the swarm's evolutionary nature with the possibility for staggered investments (e.g. in smaller yet complementary groups of consumers) poses a central advantage over micro grids in the short-term alleviation of energy poverty.

Design of an Interactive Spatial Augmented Reality System for Stage Performance Based on UWB Positioning and Wireless Triggering Technology

In this research, the authors designed an interactive spatial augmented reality system for stage performance based on the technologies of UWB positioning and Bluetooth® triggering. The position of the actor is obtained through the antenna tag carried by the actor and the signal base station placed on the stage. Special effects can be triggered through the Bluetooth® module according to the actor, and rendered at the relevant location on the screen, which has higher concealment. The system has a higher degree of freedom in practical applications, which can present an interactive spatial augmented reality effect, and therefore provide new possibilities for the application of spatial augmented reality in the stage performance.

Are age-related deficits in route learning related to control of visual attention?

Typically aged adults show reduced ability to learn a route compared to younger adults. In this experiment, we investigate the role of visual attention through eye-tracking and engagement of attentional resources in age-related route learning deficits. Participants were shown a route through a realistic virtual environment before being tested on their route knowledge. Younger and older adults were compared on their gaze behaviour during route learning and on their reaction time to a secondary probe task as a measure of attentional engagement. Behavioural results show a performance deficit in route knowledge for older adults compared to younger adults, which is consistent with previous research. We replicated previous findings showing that reaction times to the secondary probe task were longer at decision points than non-decision points, indicating stronger attentional engagement at navigationally relevant locations. However, we found no differences in attentional engagement and no differences for a range of gaze measures between age groups. We conclude that age-related changes in route learning ability are not reflected in changes in control of visual attention or regulation of attentional engagement.

Paget\u2019s Disease of Long Bones: Microstructural Analyses of Historical Bone Samples

Although Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is the second most common metabolic bone disease, there is only limited information about the microarchitecture of affected bones. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine cortical and trabecular bone properties in clinically relevant locations by microcomputed tomography (µCT). Ten femora and ten tibiae affected by Paget’s disease taken from the Natural History Museum Vienna were compared to 13 femora and 10 tibiae of non-affected body donors. Digitization of the cortical and trabecular bone microarchitecture was performed with an X-ray-based µCT scanner. Additionally, semi-quantitative gradings of trabecular and cortical architectural parameters of the femora and the tibiae were generated. Microcomputed tomography images showed changes in the thickness of cortices, cortical porosity, and trabecularization of cortical structures. Moreover, severe disorganization of trabecular structures, trabecular defects, and thickening of (remaining) trabeculae were detected. Numerical cortical analyses showed lower total bone volume (BV) and lower BV in the outer region (66–100%) (− 36%, p = 0.004, and − 50%, p < 0.001, respectively), lower total volume (TV) in the outer region (66–100%) (− 42%, p < 0.001), lower total bone volume fraction (BV/TV) and BV/TV in the outer region (66–100%) (− 23%, and − 12%, p < 0.001, respectively), higher BV and TV in the middle region (33–66%) and higher BV/TV in the inner region (0–33%) (123%, p = 0.011, 147%, p = 0.010, and 33%, p = 0.025, respectively) in Pagetic compared to non-affected bones. Trabecular analyses showed higher BV/TV (96%, p = 0.008) and Tb.Th (43%, p = 0.004) in Pagetic compared to non-affected bones. There is a major and consistent structural alteration of PDB at cortical and trabecular sites in weight-bearing long bones. Our findings are relevant for the differential diagnosis of PDB and for the pathogenesis of associated complications, since the disorder produces abnormalities in the structure that might lead to bone fragility.

An Evaluation of the Wind and Wave Dynamics along the European Coasts

The objective of this work is to analyze the wind and wave conditions along the coasts of the European seas. The emphasis is put on the mean and maximum values. The areas studied are characterized by intense maritime activities, including traffic, as well as various harbor and offshore operations. In the present study, 35 years of data (1983–2017) coming from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were processed, corresponding to 40 different geographical locations. Thus, these 40 reference points are defined for some of the most relevant offshore locations in the coastal environments targeted. As regards the data considered in the analysis, two different sets were used. The first corresponds to the wave model, while the second to the atmospheric model, both operated by ECMWF. Finally, it can be concluded that the proposed work provides a global perspective related to the average and maximum wind and wave conditions and to a further extent on the climate dynamics along the coasts of the European seas.

Monitoring Water Quality of some Canals in Delta Region, Egypt

Egypt suffers from the scarcity of water resources. The problem has been exacerbated by the steady increase in population density and the establishment of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Therefore, preserving the availability and quality of this resource is enormously important. Water quality is affected by a number of factors related to the characteristics of the watercourse and surrounding environment, like soil type, agricultural and industrial activity in the studied regions. Therefore, a comparative study was conducted on water samples collected from eight different locations at west and middle Delta regions from Beheira and Gharbia governorates. The obtained results showed that there are significant differences among the means of sample collection sites and dates, as well as the interaction between studied variables in all studied parameters. Although, most physical and chemical parameters were within standards limits except turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). However, the average values of turbidity, color and pH were convergent in both governorates. While total dissolved salts (TSS) had a higher value (42.2 mg L-1) in the Beheira governorate. In the case of, the remaining studied parameters, the values recorded in Gharbia gov. were higher than the corresponding values recorded in Beheira gov. including COD and UV245 absorbance, which are associated with organic pollution. Thus, physical and chemical approaches can be used to evaluate the water quality in relevant locations. Further studies based on biological approaches should be also carried out.

Feature-Based Attention Samples Stimuli Rhythmically

Attention supports the allocation of resources to relevant locations and objects in a scene. Under most conditions, several stimuli compete for neural representation. Attention biases neural representation toward the response associated with the attended object [1, 2]. Therefore, an attended stimulusenjoys a neural response that resembles the response to that stimulus in isolation. Factors that determine and generate attentional bias have been researched, ranging from endogenously controlled processes to exogenous capture of attention [1-4]. Recent studies investigate the temporal structure governing attention. When participants monitor a single location, visual-target detection depends on the phase of an ∼8-Hz brain rhythm [5, 6]. When two locations are monitored, performance fluctuates at 4Hz for each location [7, 8]. The hypothesis is that 4-Hz sampling for two locations may reflect a common sampler that operates at 8Hz globally, which is divided between relevant locations [5-7,9]. The present study targets two properties of this phenomenon, called rhythmic-attentional sampling: first, sampling is typically described for selection over different locations. We examined whether rhythmic sampling is limited to selection over space or whether it extends to feature-based attention. Second, we examined whether sampling at 4Hz results from the division of an 8-Hz rhythm over two objects. We found that two overlapping objects defined by features are sampled at ∼4Hz per object. In addition, performance on a single object fluctuated at 8Hz. Rhythmic sampling of features did not result from temporal structure in eye movements.

Virtual field experiences in introductory geology: Addressing a capacity problem, but finding a pedagogical one

Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of fieldwork in geology. However, as resources become scarce, field experiences are often targeted for cuts. This was the case at the University of Calgary when massive enrollments placed a tremendous burden on resources. In courses throughout, field trips and other excursions were eliminated, making it so students do not have any field experiences until their third year. In response, we have developed three virtual field experiences (VFEs) of geologically relevant locations near Calgary. A burgeoning technology, VFEs offer advantages of convenience and versatility when compared to actual field trips. Our VFEs comprise drone-captured images used to form high-resolution 2-D photomosaics and 3-D computer models. We piloted one VFE in an introductory geology course. We wanted to understand how students engaged with the models so that we could make the VFE as effective as possible. Observing student engagement over two iterations allowed us to make changes to the activity. We found that students had difficulties with the VFE’s open endedness. They also demonstrated difficulty with the relationship between observations and inferences. This is indicative of a broader issue with how geology (or science in general) is taught. Traditional instruction in geology places great emphasis on the “what” of geology as opposed to the “how.” We contend that teaching geology with more emphasis on how geology works will help students develop a better understanding of the relationship between inference and observation, enhancing their fieldwork and their understanding of science.

The mediodorsal pulvinar coordinates the macaque fronto-parietal network during rhythmic spatial attention

Spatial attention is discontinuous, sampling behaviorally relevant locations in theta-rhythmic cycles (3–6 Hz). Underlying this rhythmic sampling are intrinsic theta oscillations in frontal and parietal cortices that provide a clocking mechanism for two alternating attentional states that are associated with either engagement at the presently attended location (and enhanced perceptual sensitivity) or disengagement (and diminished perceptual sensitivity). It has remained unclear, however, how these theta-dependent states are coordinated across the large-scale network that directs spatial attention. The pulvinar is a candidate for such coordination, having been previously shown to regulate cortical activity. Here, we examined pulvino-cortical interactions during theta-rhythmic sampling by simultaneously recording from macaque frontal eye fields (FEF), lateral intraparietal area (LIP), and pulvinar. Neural activity propagated from pulvinar to cortex during periods of engagement, and from cortex to pulvinar during periods of disengagement. A rhythmic reweighting of pulvino-cortical interactions thus defines functional dissociations in the attention network.

Monte Carlo study of the interfacial adsorption of the Blume-Capel model.

We investigate the scaling of the interfacial adsorption of the two-dimensional Blume-Capel model using Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, we study the finite-size scaling behavior of the interfacial adsorption of the pure model at both its first- and second-order transition regimes, as well as at the vicinity of the tricritical point. Our analysis benefits from the currently existing quite accurate estimates of the relevant (tri)critical-point locations. In all studied cases, the numerical results verify to a level of high accuracy the expected scenarios derived from analytic free-energy scaling arguments. We also investigate the size dependence of the interfacial adsorption under the presence of quenched bond randomness at the originally first-order transition regime (disorder-induced continuous transition) and the relevant self-averaging properties of the system. For this ex-first-order regime, where strong transient effects are shown to be present, our findings support the scenario of a non-divergent scaling, similar to that found in the original second-order transition regime of the pure model.

Techno-Economic Design of Wind Farms: A Methodology and Multi-Scenario Application

This paper aims to present a methodology and multi-scenario application for the techno-economic assessment of the wind turbine layout in a wind farm. The considered decisional variables deal with the number of wind turbines to install, their self-distance and their distance toward the primary grid line. In addition, the wind speed profile and the site boundary environmental conditions are within the methodology. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and the net present value (NPV) are estimated as the key results and decisional indicators to compare multiple scenarios within two relevant locations in the Middle East (a case study of Abadan site in Iran) and the Mediterranean region (a case study of Swatar site in Malta). Finally, for each site, an effective layout of the wind farm is selected. Numerical results lead to the optimum layout with the lowest cost of energy. Swatar site has the highest potential of wind for the energy production. The LCOE for this site is estimated to be 4.01 c€/kWh for a wind farm with a size of 10 MW and 5.76 c€/kWh for a wind farm with size of 25 MW. Overall, it is shown that the wind power fosters sustainable development in both case studies and the proposed structures and layouts increase the performances of the wind farms, considerably.

Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans ed. by Kim Vaz-Deville

Reviewed by: Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans ed. by Kim Vaz-Deville Peter Dunbaugh Smith Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans. Edited by Kim Vaz-Deville. ( Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018. Pp. xxviii, 349. Paper, $30.00, ISBN 978-1-4968-1740-2; cloth, $90.00, ISBN 978-1-4968-1739-6.) Though long a subject of scholarly analysis, New Orleans's annual Mardi Gras celebration continues to reveal itself as an important cultural index. Kim Vaz-Deville's collection of essays offers scholars in women's studies and African [End Page 721] American cultural history, as well as casual readers who are interested in these subjects, an impressive array of multidisciplinary perspectives on the historical construction and recent reemergence of a Mardi Gras masking tradition known as the Baby Dolls. Women in communities marginalized by Jim Crow segregation embraced opportunities to leverage the expanded expressive liberties afforded them during carnival season. They created new identities through the use of increasingly ritualized cultural practices, providing themselves with a new and transgressive forum to contest, critique, and ironize the same social constraints that had previously disempowered them. Public presentation of women's bodies in motion became a powerful and purposeful assertion of individual and collective black female autonomy that directly challenged the same normative concepts of race, gender, and class that had been imposed on them. Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans deftly navigates its complex sociocultural terrain in a manner that is both intimate and scholarly. Personal narratives of individual dancers, such as Henrietta Hayes Warrick, an important cultural transmitter of the earliest Claiborne Avenue Baby Doll traditions, and Cinnamon Black, a current practitioner, help structure the book's introductory passages with an informants' framework, creating a thematic unity that informs the eclecticism of the accompanying essays. In particular, Warrick's own longevity embodies this unifying aspect of historical continuity, which helps tie together the wide variety of perspectives on this unique gendered practice. From biographical essays on influential musicians and dancers, including Lionel Batiste and Antoinette K-Doe, to historical chronologies documenting local and national influences that helped shape their communities, this collection embodies a multiplicity of expression that resembles the kaleidoscopic visual culture it reveals among the various Mardi Gras krewes. Essays deeply rooted in the neighborhoods themselves are among the most effective. Local knowledge is leveraged to reveal the nuanced shades of propriety that distinguished later Baby Doll dancers from their earlier antecedents among neighborhood prostitutes. This methodological approach also contributes to a better understanding of the subsequent evolution of some Baby Doll troupes into more traditional community, social, and philanthropic organizations. Less effective are background essays that propose to encompass broader issues of race and gender through more generalized approaches. For example, one essay compares the local use of the term baby with its use in lyrics by Tin Pan Alley songwriters, an argument that would have been enhanced by the introduction of more meaningful connections between these songs and New Orleans itself. The last few chapters—of a book that is already richly illustrated with images and photographs of relevant practitioners and locations—are dedicated to a celebration of the continuing resonance of Baby Doll traditions, as expressed through the work of contemporary visual artists. From figurative paintings and sculptures to folk art quilts and pillows, these pieces embody the exuberance of the participant and the pleasure of the spectator with an immediacy that would have been difficult to express through the written word. Issues surrounding cultural preservation and the transmission of heritage often provoke important subtexts that, in this case, help direct the work of many of Walking Raddy's authors. The scope of their questions concerning continuity of practice and the transformation of meaning among various generations of [End Page 722] Baby Dolls over time seems to overflow traditional disciplinary silos. By providing readers with an insider's insight into the agency of women operating within these small but historically significant neighborhoods in one of America's great cities, the essays reveal a truly neglected ingredient in the recipe of New Orleans's rich gumbo of culture. More important, readers also learn the degree to...

Privacy-Preserving Similar Patient Queries for Combined Biomedical Data

Abstract The decreasing costs of molecular profiling have fueled the biomedical research community with a plethora of new types of biomedical data, enabling a breakthrough towards more precise and personalized medicine. Naturally, the increasing availability of data also enables physicians to compare patients’ data and treatments easily and to find similar patients in order to propose the optimal therapy. Such similar patient queries (SPQs) are of utmost importance to medical practice and will be relied upon in future health information exchange systems. While privacy-preserving solutions have been previously studied, those are limited to genomic data, ignoring the different newly available types of biomedical data. In this paper, we propose new cryptographic techniques for finding similar patients in a privacy-preserving manner with various types of biomedical data, including genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic data as well as their combination. We design protocols for two of the most common similarity metrics in biomedicine: the Euclidean distance and Pearson correlation coefficient. Moreover, unlike previous approaches, we account for the fact that certain locations contribute differently to a given disease or phenotype by allowing to limit the query to the relevant locations and to assign them different weights. Our protocols are specifically designed to be highly efficient in terms of communication and bandwidth, requiring only one or two rounds of communication and thus enabling scalable parallel queries. We rigorously prove our protocols to be secure based on cryptographic games and instantiate our technique with three of the most important types of biomedical data – namely DNA, microRNA expression, and DNA methylation. Our experimental results show that our protocols can compute a similarity query over a typical number of positions against a database of 1,000 patients in a few seconds. Finally, we propose and formalize strategies to mitigate the threat of malicious users or hospitals.

Validation of Psomizopelma metallicum Gibson, 2018 (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae).

Gibson (2018) recently revised the species of Psomizopelma Gibson, 1995 (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae), in which P. metallicum was described based on females as one of four new species. In the section on "type material" for this species, one paratype was stated as deposited in the CNC (Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada), whereas the holotype and three other paratypes were stated as deposited in UCFC (University of Central Florida Collection of Arthropods, Orlando, FL, USA). The coden CNC, including the name of the collection and its location was listed in the methods section, but unfortunately the coden UCFC and its relevant collection and location data was inadvertently omitted. As such, under Article 16.4.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the name Psomizopelma metallicum Gibson is not available, because even though a museum coden was given in the publication for where the holotype is deposited, the name and location of the collection was not. The purpose of this correspondence is to correct the oversight in Gibson (2018) and to make the name P. metallicum available. The method of citing holotype label data and abbreviations for structure given below as well as a comprehensive description and illustrations of the species are given in Gibson (2018).

Cytopathologic characteristics of HPV-related small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.

Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) of the oropharynx is an epidemiologically and clinically distinct form of SqCC that is associated with an improved prognosis. However, HPV-related small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx is a rare and newly described variant that is associated with aggressive clinical behavior and poor outcomes. To date, fewer than 2 dozen reports of this entity exist in the literature, and there is no discussion of cytopathologic features. This article reports 6 cases and discusses the salient cytomorphologic findings, ancillary studies, and challenges when this entity is encountered. Anatomic pathology archives were searched to identify patients with a diagnosis of HPV-related small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx. Medical records were reviewed to document the following: age, sex, smoking status, other relevant clinical history, primary location, treatment, and clinical outcome. Both p16 and high-risk HPV in situ hybridization (ISH) studies were positive in at least 1 specimen from each patient. The pathologic diagnoses, cytomorphologic characteristics, immunocytochemical stains, and HPV ISH studies were reviewed and recorded for all available cases. Six patients with 11 cytopathology specimens of HPV-related small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx were identified. The mean age was 61.3 years, and all patients died with widely metastatic disease (mean, 23 months; range, 12-48 months). Mixed small cell carcinoma and SqCC components were present in half of the cases. The identification of a small cell component can be reliably performed with cytology preparations and is crucial because this (and not the HPV status) determines the prognosis.

Instability wave-streak interactions in a hypersonic boundary layer at flight conditions.

The interaction of stationary streaks undergoing nonmodal growth with modally unstable instability waves in a hypersonic boundary-layer flow is studied using numerical computations. The geometry and flow conditions are selected to match a relevant trajectory location from the ascent phase of the HIFiRE-1 flight experiment; namely, a 7 degree half-angle, circular cone with 2.5 mm nose radius, freestream Mach number equal to 5.30, unit Reynolds number equal to 13.42 m-1, and wall-to-adiabatic temperature ratio of approximately 0.35 over most of the vehicle. This paper investigates the nonlinear evolution of initially linear optimal disturbances that evolve into finite-amplitude streaks, followed by an analysis of the modal instability characteristics of the perturbed, streaky boundary-layer flow. The investigation is performed with stationary direct numerical simulations (DNS) and plane-marching parabolized stability equations (PSE), in conjunction with partial-differential-equation-based planar eigenvalue analysis. The overall effect of streaks is to reduce the peak amplification factors of instability waves, indicating a possible downstream shift in the onset of laminar-turbulent transition. The present study confirms previous findings that the mean flow distorsion of the nonlinear streak perturbation reduces the amplification rates of the Mack-mode instability. More importantly, however, the present results demonstrate that the spanwise varying component of the streak can produce a larger effect on the Mack-mode amplification. The study with selected azimuthal wavenumbers for the stationary streaks reveals that a wavenumber of approximately 1.4 times larger than the optimal wavenumber is more effective in stabilizing the planar Mack-mode instabilities. In the absence of unstable first-mode waves for the present cold-wall condition, transition onset is expected to be delayed until the peak streak amplitude increases to nearly 35 percent of the freestream velocity, when intrinsic instabilities of the boundary-layer streaks begin to dominate the transition process. For streak amplitudes below that limit a significant net stabilization is achieved, yielding a potential transition delay that can exceed 100 percent of the length of the laminar region in the uncontrolled case.

Locational Attractiveness Modelling of Retail in Santa Maria, Brazil

A central topic in the retail analysis is store location, which is related to its attractiveness and even with its profitability. In order to determine the force of attraction of a given point of sale, methodologies based on gravitational models have been developed. More recently, classic models have been integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This paper explores a methodology for retail spatial analysis in a GIS environment, and it aims to: (a) model the degree of influence of different store location attributes on the consumer choice among a collection of retail options, and (b) develop an empirical application for the clothing retail business sector in the city of Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. The study selects three relevant location attributes of store choice: retail market clustering, local accessibility of the street network, and topographic slope of the terrain. These three location features were taken as inputs for the attractiveness evaluation of each store, using the Huff model. As a result, we were able to model the trading areas of each shop related to the selected attributes. The paper provides a methodology for modelling the performance of retail location attributes and building different scenarios of probabilities for consumer patronage, allowing a first measure of the influence of each selected store location attribute.

Benefits of Seismic Isolation for Nuclear Structures Subjected to Severe Earthquake

The Fukushima accident has reiterated that the seismic safety is a clear necessity in the design of nuclear power plants. To overcome the weaknesses of the plant design, appropriate measures or interventions have thus to be put in place to improve the nuclear safety. In this study, seismic isolation, widely adopted for conventional constructions, is considered as retrofit measure to provide superior performance of plant itself, even when exceptional events occur. In this paper, we numerically investigate the dynamic behaviour of a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plant subjected to 0.6g PGA; in doing that time-history analysis has been performed assuming the reactor building with and without isolators. For that purpose, a suitable FEM model has been implemented to provide in-structure response spectra at safety relevant locations and subsystem supports. Adequate steel and concrete properties as well as isolators properties, experimentally determined, have been assumed. Results have shown the benefits of seismic isolation for NPP that can so sustain levels of loading beyond the design input and demonstrated that failure of an isolation system cannot occur before failure of the isolated structure. However, the large horizontal displacements of the structure require appropriate considerations in the layout and interfaces for interconnected systems.