Studying the Impact of Trained Staff on Evacuation Scenarios by Agent-Based Simulation

Human evacuation experiments can trigger distress, be unethical and present high costs. As a solution, computer simulations can predict the effectiveness of new emergency management procedures. This paper applies multi-agent simulation to measure the influence of staff members with diverse training levels on evacuation time. A previously developed and validated model was extended with explicit mechanisms to simulate staff members helping people to egress. The majority of parameter settings have been based on empirical data acquired in earlier studies. Therefore, simulation results are expected to be realistic. Results show that staff are more effective in complex environments, especially when trained. Not only specialised security professionals but, especially, regular workers of shopping facilities and offices play a significant role in evacuation processes when adequately trained. These results can inform policy makers and crowd managers on new emergency management procedures

Enhancing Egress Drills: Preparation and Assessment of Evacuee Performance

This article explores how egress drills-specifically those related to fire incidents-are currently used, their impact on safety levels, and the insights gained from them. It is suggested that neither the merits of egress drills are well understood, nor the impact on egress performance well characterized. In addition, the manner in which they are conducted varies both between and within regulatory jurisdictions. By investigating their strengths and limitations, this article suggests opportunities for their enhancement possibly through the use of other egress models to support and expand upon the benefits provided. It is by no means suggested that drills are not important to evacuation safety-only that their inconsistent use and the interpretation of the results produced may mean we (as researchers, practitioners, regulators, and stakeholders) are not getting the maximum benefit out of this important tool

Pulvermetallurgie hochgestickter Staehle Abschlussbericht

New stainless high nitrogen steels from the powder metallurgical process are characterized by high wear and corrosion resistance at combined strength and fracture toughness. A new method for the preparation of such steels includes the smelting of prealloys in vacuum induction furnaces under argon to yield the brittle sigma phase, grinding of the cooled material to a powder of < 300 #mu#m particle size, nitrogen treatment of the powder at 500-900 C and subsequent optimization of the mechanical properties by a finishing treatment. High nitrogen austenitic steels can be used for substitution of Co and Ni containing steel, while high nitrogen martensitic steels exhibit enhanced corrosion and wear resistance. Cylindrical steel components with improved crack stop properties can be obtained by the described laminate technique. (WEN)Carried out in cooperation with ABB PowdermetAvailable from TIB Hannover: F96B99+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman