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The problem of insecurity is a global phenomenon that has several forms like terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, etc. Insecurity has taken hold in the Sub-Saharan Region of West Africa, especially in Nigeria, for over two decades. Nigeria's security crisis is more pronounced in the Northern Region, with a new wave in the North-Central Region of Nigeria. It is herculean to assess insecurity in the North-Central Region of Nigeria because of the region's fuzzy or imprecise nature of insecurity. This constitutes the rationale for deploying the Fermatean fuzzy technique to assess insecurity due to the capacity of the Fermatean fuzzy scheme to handle imprecision. To this end, a new Fermatean fuzzy distance metric is presented to evaluate insecurity in the North-Central Region of Nigeria using a multi-criteria decision-making technique. To express the logic for creating the new Fermatean fuzzy distance metric, some existing Fermatean fuzzy distance metrics are discussed, along with their drawbacks. The mathematical properties of the new technique are discussed, and the new method is applied computationally to assess insecurity in the North-Central Region of Nigeria. The data for the security assessment are collected via Fermatean fuzzy linguistic variables using the opinions of security experts and analyzed using the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, which is a commonly used multi-criteria decision-making method. Finally, the numerical validity of the new technique is expressed with comparative results, and the finding shows the benefit of the new distance approach over the existing methodologies. The outcome of the work will provide reliable traveling advisories for safe voyages within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study are to analyze the tourism and air-transport industries in Africa and determine how African governments could improve the safety of tourists and local communities in this region to improve resident quality of life and tourism demand. Indeed, this study tries to improve African people's lives through the tourism and travel sectors so that they can thrive in terms of their quality of life and happiness. The findings of the current study reveal that Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, and Tunisia are the most visited countries by international tourists; in fact, these four countries are the ones that generated the most income from international tourism in the period analyzed. Moreover, the results suggest that the tourism and air-transport industries in Africa could improve national economies, infrastructure, and resident quality of life thanks to international tourism receipts and increasing security levels around travel and tourism activities. Obviously, the tourism industry cannot be developed when there is constant insecurity, terrorism, and perpetual armed conflicts, as is the case in Nigeria, Somalia, DR Congo, Libya, Mali, and Cameroon, among many others. Security is the most important factor for a tourist destination because the safety and security of residents and tourists are the primary factors affecting tourism growth. The novelty of this research resides in its willingness to improve African people's quality of life through air-transport and tourism activities, providing security guarantees for tourist and resident safety. This manuscript also contributes to enhancing and bootstrapping the literature on security in the travel and tourism sectors industry, particularly in Africa, where security is a priority more than a necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Tornadoes represent a significant threat to life and property and tend to evoke protective action in most people. Studies have suggested that many people travel to the nearest storm shelter or flee the area, rather than sheltering-in-place as recommended by the National Weather Service (NWS). While shelter-in-place is the recommendation of the NWS, for tornado safety, few studies have quantified the risk reduction when compared to traveling to a storm shelter or fleeing the area. To address this knowledge gap, we developed an agent-based model, the tornado warning-induced shelter, travel, and evacuation response agent-based model (TWISTER ABM), to simulate protective action behaviors in the city of Norman, Oklahoma, under eight protective action scenarios including: (1) everyone who responds to the warning (responders) seeks refuge in the nearest sturdy building (seek refuge), seeks shelter in a FEMA-rated shelter (seek shelter), or flees the area, (2) all responders flee the area, (3), all responders seek refuge (shelter-in-place), (4) all responders seek shelter, (5) all agents flee the area, (6) all agents seek refuge, (7) all agents seek shelter, and (8) all agents do nothing. We found that, for an EF5 tornado hitting Norman at rush hour, the overall fatality rates by protective action type were 0.6% for those who took no action, 0.3% for those who sought refuge, 1.5% for those who sought shelter, and 1.1% for those fleeing the area. We also found that fatality rates were reduced by a factor of 6.6 for Scenario 6 (shelter-in-place) over Scenario 7 (travel to a FEMA-rated shelter). We believe that models such as TWISTER ABM can be used by the NWS and emergency managers in their attempts at communicating the effectiveness of shelter-in-place. Tornadoes are dangerous windstorms that can cause serious injury or death to people who do not take protective action. The NWS states that sheltering-in-place is the safest form of protective action, but no studies to date have shown how much it can reduce casualties. We developed an agent-based model to study how changes in protective action type can influence the fatality rate (fatalities per 1,000 residents) caused by a tornado in the city of Norman, Oklahoma. We found that, for an EF5 tornado hitting Norman at rush hour, the overall fatality rates, for all model runs, were lowest for agents who sheltered-in-place (0.3%) and highest for those who traveled to public shelters (1.53%). We also found that fatality rates were lowest when all agents sheltered-in-place (0.24%) and highest when every agent responding to the warning traveled to public shelters (1.54%), a 6.6 times reduction for shelter-in-place. We believe that models such as TWISTER ABM can be used by the NWS and emergency managers in their attempts at communicating the effectiveness of shelter-in-place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, robotaxi is being tested in cities such as Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou, etc., and it remains a relatively new mode of transportation for consumers. Considering that robotaxi is a new mobility model, its popularity has an immediate impact on the function and efficiency of urban traffic, so further research on consumers' perceptions is necessary in order to improve their acceptance of robotaxi. In this study, we explored the behavioral intention of current users of robotaxi based on their performance expectancy, effort expectation, and perceived risk. Based on the results, it appears that performance expectations and effort expectations positively influence usage intentions, which indicates that improving travel efficiency and lowering the threshold for robotaxi use will assist consumers in accepting it. In terms of consumer behavior, perceived risk negatively impacts usage intention, meaning that personal safety, service quality, and travel experience are important factors. Performance expectancy and effort expectancy are positively correlated, indicating that improving travel efficiency and lowering thresholds are complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]