Predicting collective behaviour at the Hajj: place, space, and the process of cooperation

Around 2 million pilgrims attend the annual Hajj to Mecca and the holy places, which are subject to dense crowding. Both architecture and psychology can be part of disaster risk reduction in relation to crowding, since both can affect the nature of collective behaviour – particularly cooperation – among pilgrims. To date, collective behaviour at the Hajj has not been systematically investigated from a psychological perspective. We examined determinants of cooperation in the Grand Mosque and plaza during the pilgrimage. A questionnaire survey of 1194 pilgrims found that the Mosque was perceived by pilgrims as one of the most crowded ritual locations. Being in the plaza (compared to the Mosque) predicted the extent of cooperation, though crowd density did not. Shared social identity with the crowd explained more of the variance than both location and density. We examined some of the process underlying cooperation. The link between shared social identity and giving support to others was stronger in the plaza than in the Mosque, and suggests the role of place and space in modulating processes of cooperation in crowds. These findings have implications for disaster risk reduction and for applications such as computer simulations of crowds in pilgrimage locations

Assessing the feasibility of integrating ecosystem-based with engineered water resource governance and management for water security in semi-arid landscapes: A case study in the Banas catchment, Rajasthan, India

Much of the developing world and areas of the developed world suffer water vulnerability. Engineering solutions enable technically efficient extraction and diversion of water towards areas of demand but, without rebalancing resource regeneration, can generate multiple adverse ecological and human consequences. The Banas River, Rajasthan (India), has been extensively developed for water diversion, particularly from the Bisalpur Dam from which water is appropriated by powerful urban constituencies dispossessing local people. Coincidentally, abandonment of traditional management, including groundwater recharge practices, is leading to increasingly receding and contaminated groundwater. This creates linked vulnerabilities for rural communities, irrigation schemes, urban users, dependent ecosystems and the multiple ecosystem services that they provide, compounded by climate change and population growth. This paper addresses vulnerabilities created by fragmented policy measures between rural development, urban and irrigation water supply and downstream consequences for people and wildlife. Perpetuating narrowly technocentric approaches to resource exploitation is likely only to compound emerging problems. Alternatively, restoration or innovation of groundwater recharge practices, particularly in the upper catchment, can represent a proven, ecosystem-based approach to resource regeneration with linked beneficial socio-ecological benefits. Hybridising an ecosystem-based approach with engineered methods can simultaneously increase the security of rural livelihoods, piped urban and irrigation supplies, and the vitality of river ecosystems and their services to beneficiaries. A renewed policy focus on local-scale water recharge practices balancing water extraction technologies is consistent with emerging Rajasthani policies, particularly Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan (‘water self-reliance mission’). Policy reform emphasising recharge can contribute to water security and yield socio-economic outcomes through a systemic understanding of how the water system functions, and by connecting goals and budgets across multiple, currently fragmented policy areas. The underpinning principles of this necessary paradigm shift are proven and have wider geographic relevance, though context-specific research is required to underpin robust policy and practical implementation

Detailed Results Population & Housing Census 1425 H. (2004) Administrative Area : Hail

In Arabic and Englis

Highlights : Population & Housing Census 1425H (2004)

In Arabic and Englis

Changes in the provision of long-stay care, 1970-1990

The objective of this paper is to map out the changes in the public, private and voluntary provision of long-stay care for elderly people and younger people with a physical handicap, people with a mental handicap and people with a mental illness in Britain over the period 1970–1990. It is also designed to bring together in a convenient form all the relevant data which are not readily available because they are published in several disparate sources. The effects on the social security budget of the expansion of private residential and nursing homes are described. National trends in provision show a marked increase in private residential and nursing homes and indicate how private provision has taken up an increasing number of people aged 65 years or over and has substituted for public provision with the closure of the hospitals for people with a mental illness or a mental handicap. The income support payments to people in independent homes increased, at 1990 prices, from $33 million in 1980 to$1390 million in 1990. The implications of this changing balance of care in terms of choice, efficiency and equity are examined in the concluding section. There is some evidence that the growth of the independent sector has increased consumer choice and improved efficiency in the provision of long-stay care but at some cost to those people who would have been provided with free NHS facilities but now have to contribute to the costs of their care