Review of California Wildfire Evacuations from 2017 to 2019

Between 2017 and 2019, California experienced a series of devastating wildfires that together led over one million people to be ordered to evacuate. Due to the speed of many of these wildfires, residents across California found themselves in challenging evacuation situations, often at night and with little time to escape. These evacuations placed considerable stress on public resources and infrastructure for both transportation and sheltering. In the face of these clear challenges, transportation and emergency management agencies across California have widely varying levels of preparedness for major disasters, and nearly all agencies do not have the public resources to adequately and swiftly evacuate all populations in danger. To holistically address these challenges and bolster current disaster and evacuation planning, preparedness, and response in California, we summarize the evacuations of eleven major wildfires in California between 2017 and 2019 and offer a cross-comparison to highlight key similarities and differences. We present results of new empirical data we collected via an online survey of individuals impacted by: 1) the 2017 October Northern California Wildfires (n=79), 2) the 2017 December Southern California Wildfires (n=226), and 3) the 2018 Carr Wildfire (n=284). These data reveal the decision-making of individuals in these wildfires including choices related to evacuating or staying, departure timing, route, sheltering, destination, transportation mode, and reentry timing. We also present results related to communication and messaging, non-evacuee behavior, and opinion of government response. Using the summarized case studies and empirical evidence, we present a series of recommendations for agencies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE INTERNET

The Internet is a critically important research site for sociologists testing theories of technology diffusion and media effects, particularly because it is a medium uniquely capable of integrating modes of communication and forms of content. Current research tends to focus on the Internet’s implications in five domains: 1) inequality (the “digital divide”); 2) community and social capital; 3) political participation; 4) organizations and other economic institutions; and 5) cultural participation and cultural diversity. A recurrent theme across domains is that the Internet tends to complement rather than displace existing media and patterns of behavior. Thus in each domain, utopian claims and dystopic warnings based on extrapolations from technical possibilities have given way to more nuanced and circumscribed understandings of how Internet use adapts to existing patterns, permits certain innovations, and reinforces particular kinds of change. Moreover, in each domain the ultimate social implications of this new technology depend on economic, legal, and policy decisions that are shaping the Internet as it becomes institutionalized. Sociologists need to study the Internet more actively and, particularly, to synthesize research findings on individual user behavior with macroscopic analyses of institutional and political-economic factors that constrain that behavior.World Wide Web, communications, media, technology

Electronic governance with an infrastructure reporting platform: The case of Züri wie neu.

This master thesis researches how the interaction between the administration of the city of Zurich and users of the infrastructure reporting platform Züri wie neu (ZWN) is mediated. The thesis is a case study of an internet and communication solution adopted in state-led digitized governance structures often understood under the moniker of e-governance in so-called smart cities. Like characterizations found in literature on smart cities, literature on comparable infrastructure reporting platforms and ZWN specifically sees those platforms as a bottom-up tool to increase participation while fostering more accountability of governments, govern more transparently and efficiently. With the help of a heuristic platform walkthrough, semi-structured interviews with officials of the city of Zurich involved in the management and maintenance of ZWN and a spatial analysis of the openly available data this thesis questions some of the fundamental promises of digitized governance such as increased efficiency and accountability, foster active participation and provide improved services. The interaction through ZWN is mediated in ways that protect the administration from stirring up wrong expectations by creating distance between the administration and users through a standardized, nudged, and one-sided communication, allowing them to deal better with time consuming users, ‘naggers’ and prevent political discussion the administration is unable to deal with due to a structural problem. Further, ZWN appears as an isolated tool within the organization of the city of Zurich with limited benefits for the efficiency of the administration in providing infrastructure maintenance services which is already extensively managed apart from the usage of the platform. Simultaneously, the platform serves as an image caretaker showcasing the performance of the administration. Lastly, compared to other studies on infrastructure reporting platforms from the US, UK and Belgium no apparent differences over space in report contribution to the platform have been found

Exploranative Code Quality Documents

Good code quality is a prerequisite for efficiently developing maintainable software. In this paper, we present a novel approach to generate exploranative (explanatory and exploratory) data-driven documents that report code quality in an interactive, exploratory environment. We employ a template-based natural language generation method to create textual explanations about the code quality, dependent on data from software metrics. The interactive document is enriched by different kinds of visualization, including parallel coordinates plots and scatterplots for data exploration and graphics embedded into text. We devise an interaction model that allows users to explore code quality with consistent linking between text and visualizations; through integrated explanatory text, users are taught background knowledge about code quality aspects. Our approach to interactive documents was developed in a design study process that included software engineering and visual analytics experts. Although the solution is specific to the software engineering scenario, we discuss how the concept could generalize to multivariate data and report lessons learned in a broader scope.Comment: IEEE VIS VAST 201

A Spatial Analysis of Obesity and Its Associations with the Built and Natural Environment, Physical Inactivity, and Socioeconomic and Demographic Conditions in the United States of America

Obesity has strong genetic determinants but the genetic composition of the population does not change rapidly. Thus in this study, the major changes in non-genetic factors such as the development of obesogenic environments and shifting socioeconomic status and lifestyle of individuals are hypothesized to increase the risk of obesity. As the prevalence of obesity continue to increase worldwide with substantial attention in the US, a clearer understanding of how spatial associations between obesity and confounding factors are interrelated is crucial to better tackle the issue of obesity. This study employs the ‘global’ and ‘local’ Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) methods including the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to investigate obesity and its spatial associations with environmental, behavioral, socioeconomic, sociodemographic, and population based dynamics at the county level. The results from this study have generated empirically-based and useful insights for the 3,105 counties and county-equivalents across the 48 contiguous states, also known as the continental US. A major contribution of this study is exploring obesity and its confounding associations with various factors not only spatially but also temporally for the first time, revealing the temporal changes from 2004 to 2007 and to 2010. By utilizing the ESDA methods, a consistent answer obtained significantly indicates that positive spatial associations exist between obesity and physical inactivity (PIA), poverty, and population-weighted distance (PWD) to parks. Conversely, negative spatial associations exist between obesity and ratio of jobs to employed residents (JER) and population density. Another major contribution of this study is examining and revealing geographic variability in the association between obesity rates and various explanatory variables both nationwide and regionally at the county level for the entire US. By utilizing the GWR, a significant spatial nonstationarity is identified. This finding suggests that the strength of associations between obesity and each of the explanatory variables vary depending on the spatial location. It is also revealed that the confounding variables PIA, high educational attainment, African-American population, and poverty are identified as the top four variables by having relatively stronger effects in explaining obesity rates at the county level both nationwide and regionally

Development of data processing interpretation and analysis system for the remote sensing of trace atmospheric gas species

Problems associated with the development of the measurement of air pollution from satellites (MAPS) experiment program are addressed. The primary thrust of this research was the utilization of the MAPS experiment data in three application areas: low altitude aircraft flights (one to six km); mid altitude aircraft flights (eight to 12 km); and orbiting space platforms. Extensive research work in four major areas of data management was the framework for implementation of the MAPS experiment technique. These areas are: (1) data acquisition; (2) data processing, analysis and interpretation algorithms; (3) data display techniques; and (4) information production

LA RIVER STEW-MAP: The Los Angeles River Stewardship Mapping & Assessment Project

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) was applied in the Los Angeles River Watershed to answer the questions: Who are the active environmental stewardship groups in my area and where, why, and how are they caring for the land? STEW-MAP defines a “stewardship group” as a civic organization or group that works to conserve, manage, monitor, transform, educate on and/or advocate for the environment. Leveraging national expertise and previous regional investment in Los Angeles County STEW-MAP, the Los Angeles (LA) River STEW-MAP provides detailed information on the geographical footprint and collaborative relationships of organizations working in the Los Angeles River watershed. LA River STEW-MAP researchers developed an inventory of 535 environmental stewardship organizations working in the LA River Watershed; and collected survey data from 107 of those organizations. Some highlights of the resulting data analysis included: The majority of groups (57%) were 501(c)3 nonprofits, with less than ten percent representing other legal designations. The next largest group was city/local government, chosen by just nine percent of respondents. The government was identified as providing funding to over two-thirds of responding stewardship organizations; and the network results showed that government agencies were often identified by respondents as groups that they go to for collaboration, knowledge, and funding related to environmental projects. This may reflect the historical development, land ownership, and current political climate of the LA River—all of which are largely led by agencies at all levels of government. Responding groups tended to be younger and smaller, and heavily reliant on volunteer labor. Most groups had been founded since the 1990s, with nearly a quarter of groups founded in just the past ten years. The median number of staff reported by the responding organizations was 9 full-time and 3 part-time. Notably, the average hours respondents reported from occasional volunteers was 152 hours/month, the equivalent of almost a month of full-time work. Education is a focus of stewardship organizations. Education-related responses were prominent throughout the results. LA River stewardship groups are playing a key role in educating their communities about the watershed and broader environmental issues. Stewardship groups support local environments AND communities. “Community” was prevalent in mission statement analysis, “community improvement and capacity building” was among the most chosen focus areas, and “community organizing” was identified by nearly half of respondents as a service they provide. LA River STEW-MAP results reflected the watershed approach of the study, with “stream/river/canal,” “stormwater management,” and “watershed/sewershed” representing three of the top five most chosen stewardship site types, and water quality/water conservation among the top three most chosen focus areas. However, when asked to consider the influence of eight water-related plans and programs on their work, LA River Watershed plans were not influential to the average responding organization. This dilution of influence of any one plan or program may be attributed to the large number of ongoing planning efforts within the watershed. It also may highlight a need for even greater engagement with stewardship groups in watershed plan implementation. The highest geographic concentration of stewardship was found in downtown Los Angeles around the LA River. Other areas of high stewardship concentration were the northeastern area of the watershed, within the Angeles National Forest. Groups identified over 1200 collaborative, knowledge, or funding relationships related to environmental stewardship. Since respondents were able to write in their responses, this provided the opportunity to add new groups not included in the initial inventory of stewardship organizations. The “hubs” of activity in the stewardship network were mostly 501(c)3 nonprofit groups, and government agencies from the local to the federal level. These results are reported in detail in this report. The project also produced two publicly available online mapping tools where users can further explore the geographic and social network data. The summary statistics, initial maps and network analyses provided here offer an extensive look at stewardship across the LA River Watershed. There is great potential across the data types for more intensive examination. Future analyses may include spatial, social network, or other explorations of this rich dataset to better understand environmental stewardship in the Watershed. The results and mapping tools have numerous possibilities for application in practice. Examples from previous STEW-MAPs include using the spatial data to help guide prioritization of urban forestry efforts to meet sustainability goals; and searching the STEW-MAP database in a particular area to help mobilize a community network in response to a specific issue. These are two of many examples compiled by the national STEW-MAP Community of Practice, which the LA River Watershed organizations may participate in and use as a resource. It is important to note that the LA River STEW-MAP survey only reached about 20% of the initial list of organizations. Thus, follow-up work could include on the ground outreach to increase the response rate. LA River STEW-MAP has the potential to be a dynamic, regularly updated database and map that provides a current view of stewardship across the watershed rather than a snapshot in time. The LA River Urban Waters Federal Partnership may be a good place to discuss possibilities for further development and ongoing maintenance of the database and mapping tool.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cures_reports/1007/thumbnail.jp