130 scientists from 26 countries participate in congress on "collective behavior" on the eve of San Fermín
The thirteenth edition of congress Traffic and Granular Flow will be held at the University of Navarra from July 2 to 5.
The thirteenth edition of Traffic and Granular Flow will bring together more than 130 scientists from around the world in Pamplona from July 2 to 5 to explore the similarities between vehicle traffic, movements of large masses of people and granular media. "In all cases, these are individual solid media in large quantities (grains, cars, people), which move and interact with each other, sometimes passively and sometimes actively. The ways of approaching the problems are often similar," says Iker Zuriguel, Professor of Physics at the University of Navarra and organizer of this congress.
Just on the eve of San Fermín, where there are large concentrations of people - at the Chupinazo, at bullfights or in bars - this congress is held with experts from around the world to analyze the collective behavior that occurs in different situations and that, as Zuriguel points out, range from political demonstrations, recreational rallies, pilgrimages, concerts, competitions in soccer stadiums, among others.
"As some recent events show, it doesn't take a real threat to trigger panic. Space planning and understanding the behavior of large masses of pedestrians is increasingly necessary for safety reasons. One such event is the San Fermin festival," adds Zuriguel.
The topics to be covered at congress are pedestrian detection and modeling; evacuation dynamics; self-propelled particles; granular flow and dynamics of granular materials; collective motion in biological systems; highway and intermodal urban traffic; connected and automated vehicles; network dynamics and intelligent traffic system.
Among the keynote speakers will be Marta Gonzalez, professor at the University of California, whose research focuses on the interactions that exist between people, the citizen environment and their social networks. In addition, Guy Theraulaz -director of research of the CNRS (France) and specialist in collective behavior of animals -, and Karen Daniels - professor at North Carolina State University and specialist in granular media - will complete the plenary sessions.