Cluster Aware Mobility Encounter Dataset Enlargement

The recent emerging fields in data processing and manipulation has facilitated the need for synthetic data generation. This is also valid for mobility encounter dataset generation. Synthetic data generation might be useful to run research-based simulations and also create mobility encounter models. Our approach in this paper is to generate a larger dataset by using a given dataset which includes the clusters of people. Based on the cluster information, we created a framework. Using this framework, we can generate a similar dataset that is statistically similar to the input dataset. We have compared the statistical results of our approach with the real dataset and an encounter mobility model generation technique in the literature. The results showed that the created datasets have similar statistical structure with the given dataset.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. In 2019 International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), June 201

Border control cooperation in the European Union: the Schengen visa policy in practice

This research project investigates the governing of Europe’s external border. It analyses how the common Schengen short-stay visa policy has been applied in practice by member states in the period from 2005 to 2010. So far, little systematic theoretical and empirical research has been carried out on the implementation of Schengen. The contributions of the thesis are two-fold. Firstly, it makes available a comprehensive and easily accessible database on the visa requirements, issuing-practices and consular representation of EU states in all third countries. It enables researchers to map out and compare how restrictively the visa policy is implemented by different member states and across sending countries. Secondly, the project provides three separate papers that in different ways make use of the database to explore and explain the varying openness of Europe’s border and dynamics of cooperation among member states. The three papers are tied together by a framework conceptualising Schengen as a border regime with two key dimensions: restrictiveness and integration. The first paper asks to what extent, and why, Europe’s border is more open to visitors of some nationalities rather than others. The second paper investigates to what extent, and why, EU states cooperate on sharing consular facilities in the visa-issuing process. The third paper examines to what extent, and why, Schengen participation has a restrictive impact on the visa-issuing practices of member countries. The analyses test existing theories and develop new concepts and models. The three papers engage with rationalist and constructivist theories and seek to assess their relative explanatory power. In doing so, the project makes use of different quantitative comparative approaches. It employs regression analysis, social network analytical tools and quasi-experimental design. Overall, the thesis concludes that Schengen is characterized by extensive cooperation and restrictive practices towards especially visitors from poor, Muslim-majority and refugeeproducing countries

Probabilistic Location Estimate of Passive Mobile Positioning Events

Uurijad, kes on püüdnud mõista inimeste liikumise mustreid, korjavad andmeid mobiilivõrkudelt. Mobiilid teevad sündmuse kirjeid iga kord, kui nendega helistatakse, saadetakse SMSi või kasutatakse Interneti. Sündmuste kirjed sisaldavad informatsiooni sellest, millisesse võrgu transiiversisse mobiiltelefon oli sel hetkel ühendatud. Võrgu ühe transiiveri leviala saab kasutada, et püüda positsioneerida telefoni geograafilist asukohta. Kasutades positsioneerimiseks transiiveri leviala, siis need hinnatavad asukohad pole punktid kaardil, vaid geograafilised alad, kus telefon võib olla kui ta on transiiveriga ühendatud.\n\r Mobiilide ühendamine transiiveritega sõltub mitmest muutujast, mis tähendab, et mobiil ei ole alati ühendatud kõige tugevama signaaliga transiiveriga. See teeb mobiili asukoha hindamise keerulisemaks, sest transiiverite levialad võivad üksteisest üleulatuda.\n\rVõrguplaan kirjeldab võrgus olevate transiiverite levialasid ning seda kasutatakse, et defineerida transiiverite levialasid.\n\rSelles lõputöös hinnatakse mobiilisündmuste positsioneerimise kvaliteeti ruumilise jaotuse tihedusfunktsioonidega. Luuakse erinevad võrguplaani variandid ja erinevate võrguplaanide kvaliteeti hinnatakse Bayesi statistikaga ja kasutatakse reaalsed asukoha andmed. Erinevate võrguplaanide kvaliteeti hinnatakse suurima tõepära meetodiga.\n\rVõrreldi RSSI ja Voronoi põhjal tehtud võrguplaane ja nende modificatsioone ja leiti, et Voronoi võrguplaanide puhul paistis asukoha positsioneerimine paremini kui RSSI võrguplaanide puhul.\n\rLisaks uuriti, kuidas transiiverite levialade üleulatamisel arvestamine Bayesi metoodiga mõjutab asukoha positsioneerimise täpsust. Leiti, et Bayesi levialade üleulatamise metood tegi halvemate võrguplaanide täpsust paremaks, aga paremate võrguplaanide täpsust halvemaks.Researchers, who are trying to understand human mobility patterns, collect data from cellular telephone networks. Mobiles are creating events every time they are used for calling, SMS, or the Internet. The events contain the information, in which network cell that mobile was at the moment of the event. Cell's coverage can be used for estimating the geographical location of the mobile. The estimated locations are not a point on the map, but the possible area, where the mobile may be when they are connected to that specific cell. \n\rMobiles connecting to cells are depending on multiple variables, meaning, that a mobile may not always connect to the cell with the strongest signal. That makes estimation of the mobile location more difficult, as the coverage areas may overlap with each other. \n\rCell plan is a description of cell coverage areas and there are multiple ways for defining cell coverage areas.\n\rThis thesis is about estimating mobile events positioning quality with spatial probability density functions. Different cell plan variants will be implemented and real ground truth location data is used to find the modification that maximizes the likelihood estimation. \n\rCompared RSSI-based and Voronoi-based cell plans and their modifications and was found that Voronoi-based cell plans are better for location positioning than the RSSI-based cell plans.\n\rFurthermore, Bayesian overlapping method was examined to see does applying it would improve location positioning accuracy. It was found that applying Bayesian overlapping methods improved the accuracy of the worse cell plans, but made accuracy worse for the better cell plans

LIPIcs, Volume 277, GIScience 2023, Complete Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 277, GIScience 2023, Complete Volum

Information Sharing and Cross-border Entry in European Banking

Information asymmetries can severely limit cross-border border expansion of banks. When a bank enters a new market, it has incomplete information about potential new clients. Such asymmetries are reduced by credit registers, which distribute financial data on bank clients. We investigate the interaction of credit registers and bank entry modes (in form of branching and M&A) by using a new set of time series cross-section data for the EU-27 countries. We study how the presence of public and private credit registers and the type of information exchanged affect bank entry modes during the period 1990-2007. Our analysis shows that the existence of both types of registers increases the share of branching in the overall entries. Additionally, the establishment of public registers reduces concentration ratios, and some banking competition indicators (such as overhead costs/assets). The introduction of a private credit bureau, on the other hand, has no effect on concentration ratios, but positively contributes to competition (by decreasing interest rate margins). This suggests that credit registers facilitate direct entry through a reduction of information asymmetries, which in turn intensifies competition.credit registries, foreign entry, asymmetric information

International youth mobility and life transitions in Europe: questions, definitions, typologies and theoretical approaches

This paper takes as its main focus the intersection of young people’s international mobility within Europe with a number of youth life transitions – from education to work, from unemployment to employment, and, more widely, from ‘youth’ to ‘adulthood’. It surveys both the extensive empirical literature on European youth migrations and a number of theoretical approaches which help to conceptualise and understand this youth-mobility phenomenon. Three categories of young intra-EU migrants are identified: students who are studying abroad, graduates who are working or seeking work abroad (the ‘higher-skilled’), and non-graduates working or looking for work abroad (the ‘lower-skilled’). The age-band is 16-35 years, although we acknowledge that ‘youth’ and ‘young adults’ are flexible categories. We also problematise the notion of skill and its various levels. Amongst the theoretical lenses we deploy to frame youth mobility are economic theory (neoclassical and ‘new economics’), social networks, life-course studies, temporal conjunctures (EU enlargement, the 2008 ‘crisis’), and core-periphery dynamics. The three longest sections of the paper review the empirical and theoretical literatures on mobile students and higher- and lower-skilled workers. The concluding discussion reviews policy measures taken at EU, national and local levels

The Emigrant Communities of Latvia

This open access volume examines experiences of contemporary Latvian migrants, thereby focusing on reasons for emigration, processes of integration in their host countries, and – in the case of return migration - re-integration in their home country. In the context of European migration, the book describes the case of Latvia, which is interesting due to the multiple waves of excessive emigration, continuously high migration potential among European Union member states, and diverse migrant characteristics. It provides a fascinating insight into the social and psychological aspects linked to migration in a comparative context. The data in this volume is rich in providing individual level perspectives of contemporary Latvian migrants by addressing issues such as emigrants’ economic, social and cultural inclusion in the host country, ties with the home country and culture, interaction with public authorities both in the host and home country, political views, and perspectives on the permanent settlement in migration or return. Through topics such as assimilation of children, relationships between emigrants representing different emigration waves, the complex identities and attachments of minority emigrants, and the role of culture and media in identity formation and presentation, this book addresses topics that any contemporary emigrant community is faced with.; Provides insight in patterns of Latvian migration during the past 25 years An interdisciplinary enriched account on push and pull forces in contemporary diaspora transformations Discusses migration combining top-down policy and bottom-up emigrant perspective

TUNNEL ROAD SAFETY: A LOOK AT OLDER DRIVERS’ PERFORMANCE AND SIGHT IMPAIRMENT

In California, there is an observed trend in which collisions cluster in and around tunnels. The break in road continuity created by the tunnels disturbs traffic flow that can lead to collisions. One of the main contrasts between open roads and tunnel roads occurs in lighting. Drivers with sight deficiencies are unable to adapt their sight to the change in the lighting environment and may crash due to misperception of road alignment, vehicle’s speed and other physiological reactions, such as tension. The suspect population group of crashes occurring under the influence of tunnels conditions is older drivers. The literature suggests that sight and driving performance deteriorate with age. This research attempted to validate this claim by performing a study that looked at driver and crash characteristic of injury and fatal collisions that occurred in and around tunnels. The expectation was that a greater proportion of the older population, 60 years and older, would be represented in the crash data. However, this study found that it is young drivers and not older drivers who are more likely to crash in and around tunnels. This finding may be explained by the State of California’s vision requirements for the issue of a driver’s license, and the voluntary retirement of drivers that feel that they can no longer drive safely. A second explanation may be that high-risk taking behavior exhibited in younger drivers overcompensates for the physical impairments exhibited in older drivers