{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T23:11:07Z","timestamp":1779145867346,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,21]],"date-time":"2024-02-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1708473600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100015015","name":"Ningbo University of Technology","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2100011540002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2100011540002"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100015015","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Walking speed is a significant aspect of evacuation efficiency, and this speed varies during fire emergencies due to individual physical abilities. However, in evacuations, it is not always possible to keep an upright posture, hence atypical postures, such as stoop walking or crawling, may be required for survival. In this study, a novel 3D passive vision-aided inertial system (3D PVINS) for indoor positioning was used to track the movement of 20 volunteers during an evacuation in a low visibility environment. Participants\u2019 walking speeds using trunk flexion, trunk\u2013knee flexion, and upright postures were measured. The investigations were carried out under emergency and non-emergency scenarios in vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. Results show that different moving directions led to a roughly 43.90% speed reduction, while posture accounted for over 17%. Gender, one of the key categories in evacuation models, accounted for less than 10% of the differences in speed. The speeds of participants under emergency scenarios when compared to non-emergency scenarios was also found to increase by 53.92\u201360% when moving in the horizontal direction, and by about 48.28\u201350% when moving in the vertical direction and descending downstairs. Our results also support the social force theory of the warming-up period, as well as the effect of panic on the facilitating occupants\u2019 moving speed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24051378","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,21]],"date-time":"2024-02-21T04:23:10Z","timestamp":1708489390000},"page":"1378","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The Impact of Postures and Moving Directions in Fire Evacuation in a Low-Visibility Environment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4082-8438","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jingjing","family":"Yan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"International Exchange College, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China"},{"name":"International Doctoral Innovation Centre, University of Nottingham, Ningbo 315100, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gengen","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geographical Science, University of Nottingham, Ningbo 315100, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anahid","family":"Basiri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Craig","family":"Hancock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4308-9829","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Siegfried K.","family":"Yeboah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of the Built Environment and Architecture, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1108\/PRR-12-2018-0033","article-title":"Fire hazard in buildings: Review, assessment and strategies for improving fire safety","volume":"4","author":"Kodur","year":"2020","journal-title":"PSU Res. Rev."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2009.08.005","article-title":"Building safety and human behaviour in fire: A literature review","volume":"45","author":"Kobes","year":"2010","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arewa, A.O., Ahmed, A., Edwards, D.J., and Nwankwo, C. (2021). Fire Safety in High-Rise Buildings: Is the Stay-Put Tactic a Misjudgement or Magnificent Strategy?. Buildings, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/buildings11080339"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Kuligowski, E.D., Peacock, R.D., and Hoskins, B.L. (2010). A Review of Building Evacuation Models."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) (2019). SFPE Guide to Human Behavior in Fire, Springer."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Fahy, R.F., and Proulx, G. (2001, January 26\u201328). Toward creating a database on delay times to start evacuation and walking speeds for use in evacuation modeling. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Human Behaviour in Fire, Boston, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1186\/2193-0414-2-7","article-title":"Fire evacuation in high-rise buildings: A review of human behaviour and modelling research","volume":"2","author":"Ronchi","year":"2013","journal-title":"Fire Sci. Rev."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ress.2014.07.007","article-title":"The validation of evacuation simulation models through the analysis of behavioural uncertainty","volume":"131","author":"Lovreglio","year":"2014","journal-title":"Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e14275","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2023.e14275","article-title":"Analysis of the use of behavioral data from virtual reality for calibration of agent-based evacuation models","volume":"9","author":"Kvarda","year":"2023","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103020","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2020.103020","article-title":"Developing and validating evacuation models for fire safety engineering","volume":"120","author":"Ronchi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1007\/s10694-014-0432-3","article-title":"Assessing the verification and validation of building fire evacuation models","volume":"52","author":"Ronchi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Fire Technol."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125168","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physa.2020.125168","article-title":"State-of-the-art high-rise building emergency evacuation behavior","volume":"561","author":"Ding","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. A Stat. Mech. Its Appl."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Proulx, G. (2001, January 25\u201326). Occupant behaviour and evacuation. Proceedings of the 9th International Fire Protection Symposium, Munich, Germany."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Fahy, R.F. (2004, January 10\u201311). Available Data and Input Into Models. Proceedings of the Workshop on Building Occupant Movement during Fire Emergencies, Gaithersburg, MD, USA."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102254","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijdrr.2021.102254","article-title":"Incorporating human factors in emergency evacuation\u2013An overview of behavioral factors and models","volume":"60","author":"Wang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.1002\/fam.2212","article-title":"Bounding defaults in egress models","volume":"39","author":"Gwynne","year":"2015","journal-title":"Fire Mater."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.2190\/R8LA-JHL7-YGK7-8RKJ","article-title":"Numerical studies on evacuation pattern in a lecture hall","volume":"10","author":"Li","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Appl. Fire Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (2019, September 16). Evacuation Plans and Procedures eTool, Available online: https:\/\/www.osha.gov\/SLTC\/etools\/evacuation\/."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2021.105211","article-title":"Determining optimum staged-evacuation schedule considering total evacuation time, congestion severity and fire threats","volume":"139","author":"Hosseini","year":"2021","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"DiNenno, P.J. (2008). SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, National Fire Protection Association. [4th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1016\/0379-7112(87)90007-5","article-title":"Calculating evacuation times for tall buildings","volume":"12","author":"Pauls","year":"1987","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1199","DOI":"10.1177\/154193120605001118","article-title":"Improving occupant characteristics in performance-based evacuation modeling","volume":"50","author":"Muhdi","year":"2006","journal-title":"Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2008.09.010","article-title":"The effect of occupant characteristics on crawling speed in evacuation","volume":"44","author":"Kady","year":"2009","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.1177\/0734904109105320","article-title":"The impact of exit route designs on evacuation time for crawling occupants","volume":"27","author":"Kady","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Fire Sci."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"SFPE (2019). SFPE Guide to Human Behavior in Fire, Society of Fire Protection Engineers."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hurley, M.J., Gottuk, D., Hall, J.R., Harada, K., Kuligowski, E., Puchovsky, M., Torero, J., Watts, J.M., and Wieczorek, C. (2016). SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4939-2565-0"},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Cao, L., Davis, J., and Gallagher, S. (2014, January 17\u201320). The impact of posture on evacuation speed. Proceedings of the 2nd International Tall Building Fire Safety Conference, London, UK."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2017.12.032","article-title":"Characterizing posture and associated physiological demand during evacuation","volume":"104","author":"Cao","year":"2018","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.1038\/35035023","article-title":"Simulating dynamical features of escape panic","volume":"407","author":"Helbing","year":"2000","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3149","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physleta.2017.08.014","article-title":"The self-slowing behavioral mechanism of pedestrians under normal and emergency conditions","volume":"381","author":"Zhao","year":"2017","journal-title":"Phys. Lett. A"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2018.04.006","article-title":"Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation for evacuation of people from a building in case of fire","volume":"130","author":"Kasereka","year":"2018","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Cao, L. (2017). Evaluation of Evacuation Performance Using Different Locomotive Postures. [Ph.D. Thesis, Auburn University]."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"449","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physa.2005.11.031","article-title":"Evacuation of crawlers and walkers from corridor through an exit","volume":"367","author":"Nagai","year":"2006","journal-title":"Phys. A Stat. Mech. Its Appl."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gaitpost.2010.09.027","article-title":"Locomotion in restricted space: Kinematic and electromyographic analysis of stoopwalking and crawling","volume":"33","author":"Gallagher","year":"2011","journal-title":"Gait Posture"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1149","DOI":"10.1177\/154193121005401513","article-title":"Characteristics of Gait in Restricted Vertical Space Versus Unrestricted Walking","volume":"54","author":"Gallagher","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1016\/0003-6870(85)90211-X","article-title":"Metabolic costs of stoopwalking and crawling","volume":"16","author":"Morrissey","year":"1985","journal-title":"Appl. Ergon."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Davis, R.A. (2011). A Comparison of Physiological Effects of Traditional Walking Locomotion to Crawling, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100609","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tbs.2023.100609","article-title":"Walking performance of pedestrians in corridors under different visibility conditions","volume":"33","author":"Cao","year":"2023","journal-title":"Travel Behav. Soc."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Anastasios, K., Despina, P., Nikolas, G., and Dimitrios, K. (2022). Evacuation in an underground Space: A real-time investigation of occupants\u2019 travel speed in clear and smoked environments. Infrastructures, 7.","DOI":"10.3390\/infrastructures7040057"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104804","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2020.104804","article-title":"Analysis of headway-velocity relation in one and two-dimensional pedestrian flows","volume":"129","author":"Cao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103621","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tust.2020.103621","article-title":"Walking speed in completely darkened full-scale tunnel experiments","volume":"106","author":"Seike","year":"2020","journal-title":"Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"626","article-title":"Wall-following behaviour during evacuation under limited visibility: Experiment and modelling","volume":"16","author":"Xue","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. A Transp. Sci."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105013","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2020.105013","article-title":"Incentive-based experiments to characterize pedestrians\u2019 evacuation behaviors under limited visibility","volume":"133","author":"Xue","year":"2021","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Fridolf, K., Nilsson, D., Frantzich, H., Ronchi, E., and Arias, S. (2018, January 23\u201327). Walking speed in smoke: Representation in life safety verifications. Proceedings of the 12th International Performance-Based Codes and Fire Safety Design Methods Conference, Oahu, HI, USA."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103934","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tust.2021.103934","article-title":"Emergency evacuation speed distributions in smoke-filled tunnels","volume":"112","author":"Seike","year":"2021","journal-title":"Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol."},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Campbell, W.W. (2013). DeJong\u2019s The Neurologic Examination, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. [7th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"Ferraz, H.B., and Saba, R.A. (2017). Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults, Springer."},{"key":"ref_48","unstructured":"Davis, R.A. (2011). Physiological Characterization of Crawling Activity, East Stroudsburg University."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1094","DOI":"10.1016\/j.buildenv.2010.11.010","article-title":"Evacuation performance of individuals in different visibility conditions","volume":"46","author":"Jeon","year":"2011","journal-title":"Build. Environ."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Proulx, G., Tiller, D., Kyle, B., and Creak, J. (1999). Assessment of Photoluminescent Material during Office Occupant Evacuation."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physa.2017.02.060","article-title":"Experimental study on walking preference during high-rise stair evacuation under different ground illuminations","volume":"479","author":"Zeng","year":"2017","journal-title":"Phys. A Stat. Mech. Its Appl."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ugwitz, P., Ju\u0159\u00edk, V., Herman, L., Stacho\u0148, Z., Kub\u00ed\u010dek, P., and \u0160a\u0161inka, \u010c. (2019). Spatial analysis of navigation in virtual geographic environments. Appl. Sci., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/app9091873"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101527","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijdrr.2020.101527","article-title":"Evacuation performance of individuals and social groups under different visibility conditions: Experiments and surveys","volume":"47","author":"Xie","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1370","DOI":"10.1109\/TIM.2019.2910923","article-title":"3-D Passive-Vision-Aided Pedestrian Dead Reckoning for Indoor Positioning","volume":"69","author":"Yan","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas."},{"key":"ref_55","first-page":"367","article-title":"Emergency movement","volume":"Volume 3","author":"Nelson","year":"2002","journal-title":"SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering"},{"key":"ref_56","first-page":"316","article-title":"Experimental study on evacuation process in a stairwell of a high-rise building","volume":"47","author":"Fang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1665","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2011.12.018","article-title":"Experimental study on an ultra high-rise building evacuation in China","volume":"50","author":"Ma","year":"2012","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1016\/j.firesaf.2017.11.010","article-title":"An experimental study of visibility effect on evacuation speed on stairs","volume":"96","author":"Chen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Fire Saf. J."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105441","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2021.105441","article-title":"Pedestrian ascent and descent behavior characteristics during staircase evacuation under invisible conditions","volume":"143","author":"Lu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hurley, M.J., Gottuk, D., Hall, J.R., Harada, K., Kuligowski, E., Puchovsky, M., Torero, J., Watts, J.M., and Wieczorek, C. (2015). SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4939-2565-0"},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSS.2017.2783332","article-title":"Agent-based modeling of emergency evacuations considering human panic behavior","volume":"5","author":"Trivedi","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Comput. Soc. Syst."},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1737","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.2000.84.4.1737","article-title":"Influence of leg muscle vibration on human walking","volume":"84","author":"Ivanenko","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"ref_63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.2000.83.1.288","article-title":"Interactions between posture and locomotion: Motor patterns in humans walking with bent posture versus erect posture","volume":"83","author":"Grasso","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"ref_64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fang, S.H., Liang, Y.C., and Chiu, K.M. (2012, January 11\u201313). Developing a mobile phone-based fall detection system on Android platform. Proceedings of the 2012 Computing, Communications and Applications Conference, Hong Kong, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ComComAp.2012.6154019"},{"key":"ref_65","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.1682\/JRRD.2003.10.0150","article-title":"The effect of walking speed on center of mass displacement","volume":"41","author":"Orendurff","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Rehabil. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_66","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"066132","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.69.066132","article-title":"Experiment, theory, and simulation of the evacuation of a room without visibility","volume":"69","author":"Isobe","year":"2004","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. E"},{"key":"ref_67","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssci.2016.02.025","article-title":"Experimental study on characteristics of pedestrian evacuation on stairs in a high-rise building","volume":"86","author":"Huo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Saf. Sci."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/5\/1378\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T14:02:13Z","timestamp":1760104933000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/5\/1378"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,21]]},"references-count":67,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3]]}},"alternative-id":["s24051378"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s24051378","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,21]]}}}