title: Using agent-based modelling for small area household projections: a New Zealand case study

authors: Marais, Anton Louis

subjects: Household distribution

abstract: In New Zealand, the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is the guiding legislation that sets out how the environment is managed. The territorial authorities are charged with regulating how the environment is managed in their jurisdiction. In order to effectively manage any resource, good and robust planning processes are required. Population change is the factor that has the greatest impact on the environment, and is one of the most challenging to regulate, thus for the territorial authority planners, knowing where and when infrastructure investment is most likely required is key to fulfilling their statutory requirement.
This line of investigation has been driven by an ever increasing need for more spatially detailed projections of where and when changes are most likely to take place. The investigation and subsequent development of spatially detailed household projections transcends three territorial authorities in the lower Waikato river catchment situated in New Zealand.
An agent-based model was developed in which the individual agents were households. The aim of the model was to produce a simplified simulation of the location choices made by the members of a household in a housing market that is governed by councils’ infrastructure provision, household rents, transport costs and the benefit derived from the neighbourhood amenities and the environment. This model simulates the distribution of households over a twelve year period from 2013 to 2025. In the model the households were programmed to move to vacant properties in order to minimise their residential costs. Each time an agent moves this provides new potential options for all other households; thus the simulation runs and the households move until all households settle in their least cost locations, representing the distribution of households in 2025. The incorporation of multiple territorial authorities provides a more holistic approach than the prevailing approach which is based on disaggregating top level projection with the no further account of population movement outside the top-level migration assumption.
The results of the model calibration indicate the model performs well with a 16.6% RMSE at the smallest spatial unit. The projected results produce growth patterns that fall within the expectations of planning staff of the councils. These staff members have affirmed the model’s and input assumptions, and indicate the outcomes to be both useful and plausible. 
The results demonstrate the relationship between the councils and their respective growth plan strategies. The scenarios were developed to, demonstrate the relationship between the availability of vacant land and the cost to occupy a property, which ultimately impacts the flux of residents to or away from the city. 
With some broad assumptions and limitations, this model is distinctive in its approach as it is developed with the intention of being an applied tool to be used by the three councils. It has the further distinction as modelling the behaviours of individual households rather than the behaviours of an entire population, which is the unique in New Zealand and amongst a few applied models of this nature wide (Triantakonstantis & Mountrakis, 2012).

text: Using agent-based modelling for small area household projections: a New Zealand case study In New Zealand, the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is the guiding legislation that sets out how the environment is managed. The territorial authorities are charged with regulating how the environment is managed in their jurisdiction. In order to effectively manage any resource, good and robust planning processes are required. Population change is the factor that has the greatest impact on the environment, and is one of the most challenging to regulate, thus for the territorial authority planners, knowing where and when infrastructure investment is most likely required is key to fulfilling their statutory requirement.
This line of investigation has been driven by an ever increasing need for more spatially detailed projections of where and when changes are most likely to take place. The investigation and subsequent development of spatially detailed household projections transcends three territorial authorities in the lower Waikato river catchment situated in New Zealand.
An agent-based model was developed in which the individual agents were households. The aim of the model was to produce a simplified simulation of the location choices made by the members of a household in a housing market that is governed by councils’ infrastructure provision, household rents, transport costs and the benefit derived from the neighbourhood amenities and the environment. This model simulates the distribution of households over a twelve year period from 2013 to 2025. In the model the households were programmed to move to vacant properties in order to minimise their residential costs. Each time an agent moves this provides new potential options for all other households; thus the simulation runs and the households move until all households settle in their least cost locations, representing the distribution of households in 2025. The incorporation of multiple territorial authorities provides a more holistic approach than the prevailing approach which is based on disaggregating top level projection with the no further account of population movement outside the top-level migration assumption.
The results of the model calibration indicate the model performs well with a 16.6% RMSE at the smallest spatial unit. The projected results produce growth patterns that fall within the expectations of planning staff of the councils. These staff members have affirmed the model’s and input assumptions, and indicate the outcomes to be both useful and plausible. 
The results demonstrate the relationship between the councils and their respective growth plan strategies. The scenarios were developed to, demonstrate the relationship between the availability of vacant land and the cost to occupy a property, which ultimately impacts the flux of residents to or away from the city. 
With some broad assumptions and limitations, this model is distinctive in its approach as it is developed with the intention of being an applied tool to be used by the three councils. It has the further distinction as modelling the behaviours of individual households rather than the behaviours of an entire population, which is the unique in New Zealand and amongst a few applied models of this nature wide (Triantakonstantis & Mountrakis, 2012).

year: 2016

title: Multi-argument classification for semantic role labeling

authors: Lin, Chi-San Althon

subjects: computer science

abstract: This paper describes a Multi-Argument Classification (MAC) approach to Semantic Role Labeling. The goal is to exploit dependencies between semantic roles by simultaneously classifying all arguments as a pattern. Argument identification, as a pre-processing stage, is carried at using the improved Predicate-Argument Recognition Algorithm (PARA) developed by Lin and Smith (2006). Results using standard evaluation metrics show that multi-argument classification, archieving 76.60 in F₁ measurement on WSJ 23, outperforms existing systems that use a single parse tree for the CoNLL 2005 shared task data. This paper also describes ways to significantly increase the speed of multi-argument classification, making it suitable for real-time language processing tasks that require semantic role labelling.

text: Multi-argument classification for semantic role labeling This paper describes a Multi-Argument Classification (MAC) approach to Semantic Role Labeling. The goal is to exploit dependencies between semantic roles by simultaneously classifying all arguments as a pattern. Argument identification, as a pre-processing stage, is carried at using the improved Predicate-Argument Recognition Algorithm (PARA) developed by Lin and Smith (2006). Results using standard evaluation metrics show that multi-argument classification, archieving 76.60 in F₁ measurement on WSJ 23, outperforms existing systems that use a single parse tree for the CoNLL 2005 shared task data. This paper also describes ways to significantly increase the speed of multi-argument classification, making it suitable for real-time language processing tasks that require semantic role labelling.

year: 2008

title: Akoranga whakarei: Learning about inclusion from four kura rumaki

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: Special education

abstract: In 2004 the New Zealand Ministry of Education proposed two research projects to understand how learning, social and cultural outcomes were being promoted for tamariki and rangatahi Māori with special educational needs in both kura auraki (English-medium schools) and kura rumaki (Māori-medium schools). 1hey also wanted to understand how this played out for other whānau members. At the time, a description of the services being promoted for Māori with special education needs acknowledged the philosophy that "tamariki and rangatahi with special needs and their whānau learn effectively through the provision of culturally competent services, which will ensure mana and tikanga are upheld" (Ministry of Education, 2003, p. 56). 
This chapter will briefly describe how this research was undertaken in kura rumaki and then discuss the findings that emerged. Perhaps not surprisingly, it will show that the staff from the kura who participated in this study, as with all of their students and whānau, had a very holistic and inclusive view of educating all tamariki and rangatahi, especially those with identified special education needs. The conclusion will consider some of the implications of these findings for others and propose that these research outcomes maintain relevance in 2014, a decade later.

text: Akoranga whakarei: Learning about inclusion from four kura rumaki In 2004 the New Zealand Ministry of Education proposed two research projects to understand how learning, social and cultural outcomes were being promoted for tamariki and rangatahi Māori with special educational needs in both kura auraki (English-medium schools) and kura rumaki (Māori-medium schools). 1hey also wanted to understand how this played out for other whānau members. At the time, a description of the services being promoted for Māori with special education needs acknowledged the philosophy that "tamariki and rangatahi with special needs and their whānau learn effectively through the provision of culturally competent services, which will ensure mana and tikanga are upheld" (Ministry of Education, 2003, p. 56). 
This chapter will briefly describe how this research was undertaken in kura rumaki and then discuss the findings that emerged. Perhaps not surprisingly, it will show that the staff from the kura who participated in this study, as with all of their students and whānau, had a very holistic and inclusive view of educating all tamariki and rangatahi, especially those with identified special education needs. The conclusion will consider some of the implications of these findings for others and propose that these research outcomes maintain relevance in 2014, a decade later.

year: 2015