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Hospital Admissions for Asthma in Preschool Children: Relationship to Major Roads in Birmingham, United Kingdom
Microsoft Academic Search
This study examined the relationship between residence near major roads, traffic flow, and risk of hospital admission for asthma in children younger than 5 y of age living in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Area of residence and traffic flow patterns were compared for children admitted to the hospital for asthma, children admitted for nonrespiratory reasons, and a random sample of children
John Edwards; Sarah Walters; Rodenc K. Griffiths
Concentrations and Phase Distribution of Nitro-PAH in the Queensway Road Tunnel in Birmingham, United Kingdom
Emission of nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAH) and their phase distribution were investigated from on-road vehicular emission in a busy road tunnel in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The analytical techniques have been based upon GC\\/NICIMS for the analysis of particle-associated and vapour nitro-PAH. Samples taken within the Queensway road tunnel in central Birmingham, which should be representative of vehicular emission, indicated
Marwan Dimashki; Stuart Harrad; Roy M. Harrison
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University has developed an interdisciplinary group of scientists, supported by the Quantitative Imaging Network to develop integrated high field (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) methods for assessing the effects of molecularly targeted anti-angiogenesis and cytoxic treatments in breast cancer clinical trials. The goal is to provide the breast cancer community with practical data acquisition and analysis protocols that facilitate the translation of advanced imaging technologies into patient management and clinical trials.
This application seeks support for a new Small Animal Imaging Resource (SAIR) at Vanderbilt University, dedicated to providing scientific and technical resources and support for non-invasive imaging of small animal models of cancer in vivo. The equipment and personnel needed to support cancer imaging in small animals will be provided by a new center which provides access to a comprehensive array of imaging resources.
Exploration: Vanderbilt"s Online Research Magazine
NSDL National Science Digital Library
There's a great deal of interesting research going on at Vanderbilt University, and their in-house online research magazine titled "Exploration" offers up detailed stories about some of this compelling work. Visitors to the site will enjoy looking through detailed multimedia presentations on the cosmological nature of diamonds, the facts of life in a cancer laboratory, and those unstoppable racing neurons. Visitors can also browse these features by themes, which include social sciences, life sciences, and engineering. Additionally, visitors can sign up to receive RSS feeds and chime in with their opinions via a contact page. Overall, this site is quite a nice find, and one that inspire other universities and colleges to set up a like-minded site.
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute takes its visitors on a journey moving from the nation's segregation era to the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. The Institute's historic galleries capture the spirit and courage of countless individuals who dared to confront the "bigotry and racial discrimination of American society." This site provides a range of exhibitions (both permanent and traveling) that will peak the interest of anyone interested in learning more about American history and historical art form during the 1950s and 1960s. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is more than an online museum; it is a place that promotes research and provides education and discussion regarding civil and human rights issues in America and around the world.
Clinical Research Subject Recruitment: The Volunteer for Vanderbilt Research Program www.volunteer.mc.vanderbilt.edu | accrualnet.cancer.gov
Unable to find commercial software to automate a research subject registry database at Vanderbilt University, the authors worked with university IT staff to create a custom system using inexpensive or free open-source software. They decided on a Web-based system to enhance accessibility and simplify end-user hardware and software requirements. The system was made available to all Vanderbilt researchers conducting IRB-approved clinical studies and to all individuals expressing an interest in trial participation.
Birmingham Conservatoire Historical Instrument Collection
If you have ever had a penchant to check out an ancient flageolet or a historic bass horn, this delightful online collection from the Birmingham Conservatoire Historical Instrument Collection is just the ticket. The project was developed by Professor George Caird and his colleagues at Birmingham City University, and funding for the project was provided by Arts & Humanities Research Council. From the homepage, visitors can browse the catalog of instruments by name or by maker, look over a host of images, and listen to some excellent audio samples of the instruments. The instruments are divided into categories that include "Trombones", "Plucked Strings", "Keyboards", and "Serpents, Ophicleides and Bass Horns". Each instrument is accompanied by information about its place of origin, its maker, its overall size, and numerous photographs. Moving on, the "Audio Resources" area is quite a pip, and visitors can listen to expert musicians playing everything from an 1836 piccolo to a folded coach horn making its way through Mozart's Post Horn Serenade.
Birmingham Public Library Cartography Collection
The Birmingham Public Library has a marvelous trove of maps in their collection and this site is the perfect place to explore almost 1,000 cartographic gems. As might be expected, the maps housed here depict various sections of Alabama, along with maps and atlases from Europe, Africa, and other regions of the world. First-time visitors might start by giving close attention to the Persia sive Shahistan map, which depicts the Middle East as it was in 1740. Visitors can scan around the maps by title, subject, type or date. It's remarkable to see how the field of cartography has progressed just by looking over these maps by date. This collection is a great way to explore the world and perhaps will inspire a new passion.
Clinical Research Subject Recruitment: The Volunteer for Vanderbilt Research Program www.volunteer.mc.vanderbilt.edu
PubMed Central
This article provides information concerning a novel research subject recruitment registry developed at Vanderbilt University. Project goals were (1) to provide a mechanism for lay individuals to self-enter information conveying interest in volunteering for clinical research and (2) provide tools for researchers to select and contact potential volunteers based on study-specific inclusion criteria. The registry was built and offered as an institutional resource to all university scientists conducting institutional review board�approved research. The authors present (1) a model for redesigning workflow associated with subject registration, volunteer retrieval, and subject contact; (2) details of a Web-based software application used as a focal point in designing workflow for our system; (3) descriptive statistics for volunteer and researcher use of the system during the first 32 months of operation; (4) cost estimates for the project; and (5) a set of recommendations for other medical centers wishing to adopt similar methodology.
Harris, Paul A.; Lane, Lynda; Biaggioni, Italo
Clinical research subject recruitment: the Volunteer for Vanderbilt Research Program www.volunteer.mc.vanderbilt.edu.
This article provides information concerning a novel research subject recruitment registry developed at Vanderbilt University. Project goals were (1) to provide a mechanism for lay individuals to self-enter information conveying interest in volunteering for clinical research and (2) provide tools for researchers to select and contact potential volunteers based on study-specific inclusion criteria. The registry was built and offered as an institutional resource to all university scientists conducting institutional review board-approved research. The authors present (1) a model for redesigning workflow associated with subject registration, volunteer retrieval, and subject contact; (2) details of a Web-based software application used as a focal point in designing workflow for our system; (3) descriptive statistics for volunteer and researcher use of the system during the first 32 months of operation; (4) cost estimates for the project; and (5) a set of recommendations for other medical centers wishing to adopt similar methodology. PMID:16049231
Harris, Paul A; Lane, Lynda; Biaggioni, Italo
Birmingham: The Status of Social Studies Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Trends in elementary and secondary social studies education in Birmingham, Alabama, are discussed. The case study was conducted during the 1976-1977 school year. Improvement and growth in social studies offerings are reported. (Author/RM)
Ort, E. P.
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site: Monument to the Gilded Age. Teaching with Historic Places.
By the turn of the 20th century, many wealthy families, including the Vanderbilts, had palatial houses along the Hudson River, between New York City and Albany (New York). In 1895, Frederick Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, built his country estate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park (New York). With more than 600�
Laffin, Margaret
Vanderbilt study reveals racial disparities in prostate cancer care
A study led by investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., finds that black men with prostate cancer receive lower quality surgical care than white men. The racial differences persist even when controlling for factors such as the year of surgery, age, comorbidities and insurance status.
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the Mental Retardation Research Centers.
The Kennedy Center at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University is one of 12 Mental Retardation Research Centers (MRRCs) constructed by the federal government. Several major discoveries in mental retardation have come from MRCCs. The Kennedy Center is unique in its focus on education integrated with a university and medical school environment,�
Alexander, Duane
Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey
INTERIOR VIEW WITH CASTING MACHINE AND A 4' DUCTILE IRON PIPE BEING CENTRIFUGALLY CAST, AS OPERATOR WATCHES TO ENSURE QUALITY. - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
INTERIOR VIEW WITH CASTING MACHINE AND CASTING FOREMAN OBSERVING OPERATION TO ENSURE MAXIMUM PRODUCTION AND QUALITY. - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
INTERIOR VIEW WITH CASTING MACHINE AND A 20' DUCTILE IRON PIPE BEING EXTRACTED USING PIPE PULLERS. - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt.
Opened in March 1994, the new library at Vanderbilt was planned to be at the intellectual and geographical heart of the medical center. Constructed of white precast blocks with a glass curtain wall, the building cost $12.5 million. Under an integrated advanced information management system (IAIMS) initiative, the building includes a center for biomedical informatics, which serves as the nerve center of the information enterprise at the medical center. Floor by floor descriptions are provided, including such design details as placing workstations directly inside the first floor entrance, a measure thought to contribute to increased use of the medical center network. User reaction to the building was highly positive in the first month of operation. PMID:7842665
Hodges, T M
VIEW LOOKING WEST TOWARD BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTER, HARDIE-TYNES FOUNDRY IN FOREGROUND, RED MOUNTAIN IN FAR LEFT HORIZON, US 280 RUNNING HORIZONTAL, I20-59 RUNNING VERTICAL. - Hardie-Tynes Manufacturing Company, 800 Twenty-eighth Street, North, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
AERIAL VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST ALONG RED MOUNTAIN TOWARD THE BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTER WITH U.S. HIGHWAY 280 (BOTTOM LEFT TO CENTER) AND THE HIGHWAY CUT (CENTER RIGHT). - Red Mountain Cut National Natural Landmark, U.S. 280 at Red Mountain, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
The Vanderbilt University nanoscale science and engineering fabrication laboratory
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Vanderbilt University has realized the design and construction of a 1635 sq. ft. Class 10,000 cleanroom facility to support the wide-ranging research mission associated with the Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE). By design we have brought together disparate technologies and researchers formerly dispersed across the campus to work together in a small contiguous space intended to foster interaction and synergy of nano-technologies not often found in close proximity. The space hosts a variety of tools for lithographic patterning of substrates, the deposition of thin films, the synthesis of diamond nanostructures and carbon nanotubes, and a variety of reactive ion etchers for the fabrication of nanostructures on silicon substrates. In addition, a separate 911 sq. ft. chemistry laboratory supports nanocrystal synthesis and the investigation of biomolecular films. The design criteria required an integrated space that would support the scientific agenda of the laboratory while satisfying all applicable code and safety concerns. This project required the renovation of pre-existing laboratory space with minimal disruption to ongoing activities in a mixed-use building, while meeting the requirements of the 2000 edition of the International Building Code for the variety of potentially hazardous processes that have been programmed for the space. In this paper we describe how architectural and engineering challenges were met in the areas of mitigating floor vibration issues, shielding our facility against EMI emanations, design of the contamination control facility itself, chemical storage and handling, toxic gas use and management, as well as mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lab security, fire and laboratory safety issues.
Hmelo, Anthony B.; Belbusti, Edward F.; Smith, Mark L.; Brice, Sean J.; Wheaton, Robert F.
Materials Research with the Vanderbilt Free-Electron Laser
The Vanderbilt Free-Electron Laser's (FEL) tunability (2-10=B5m), high intensity (15 MW) and short pulse structure (1 ps) make it ideal for studying (a) the electronic and vibrational structure of small and wide band gap semiconductors, and (b) non-thermal wavelength-selective materials alteration (``Free-Electron Laser Wavelength-Selective Materials Alteration and Photoexcitation Spectroscopy,'' N.H. Tolk, R.G. Albridge, A.V. Barnes, B.M. Barnes, J.L. Davidson, V.D. Gordon, G. Margaritondo, J.T. McKinley, G.A. Mensing, and J. Sturmann, Appl. Surf. Sci. 106, 205-210 (1996).). Two-photon absorption measurements in Ge were the first verification of a two-decades old predictionby Bassani and Hassan that the indirect two-photon absorption in Ge would be an LO-phonon assisted process. The FEL has greatly facilitated internal photoemission (IPE) heterojunction band discontinuity measurements. This technique is a photocurrent excitation spectroscopy that provides a direct measurement of the discontinuity without resorting to complex modeling. Another important area of materials research at the FEL concerns identification of wavelength-selective mechanisms for materials alteration. We have used the FEL to demonstrate strongly wavelength-selective ablation near the C-H stretch vibrational mode in chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond.
Tolk, Norman
75 FR 3695 - Television Broadcasting Services; Birmingham, AL
Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
...MB Docket No. 10-21; RM-11590] Television Broadcasting Services; Birmingham...rulemaking filed by Alabama Educational Television Commission (``AETC''), the licensee...List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73 Television, Television broadcasting. For...
Energy efficiency measures in an urban renewal programme in Birmingham.
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
In 1981 Birmingham City Council decided to incorporate and assess various measures designed to improve substantially the energy efficiency of twenty similar houses. The project has demonstrated a 22% reduction in delivered space heating energy resulting f...
A. Hildon P. Davidson
AERIAL VIEW OF MC WANE CAST IRON PIPE, LOOKING WEST TO BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTER. I-20-59 RUNNING DIAGONALLY FROM RIGHT MIDDLE GROUND. L&N RAILROAD TRACKS IN FOREGROUND. - McWane Cast Iron Pipe, 1201 Vanderbilt Road , Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
Back to the basics: Birmingham, Alabama, measurement and scale
USGS Publications Warehouse
Back to the Basics: Birmingham, Alabama is the fourth in a series of workshops that focus on teaching foundational map reading and spatial differentiation skills. It is the second published exercise from the Back to the Basics series developed by the Wetland Education through Maps and Aerial Photography (WETMAAP) Program (see Journal of Geography 103, 5: 226-230). Like its predecessor, the current exercise is modified from the Birmingham Back to the Basics workshop offered during the annual National Council for Geographic Education meeting. The focus of this exercise is on scale and measurement, foundational skills for spatial thinking and analysis. ?? 2005 National Council for Geographic Education.
Handley, L. R.; Lockwood, C. M.; Handley, N.
Birmingham hip resurfacing: the prevalence of failure.
Despite the increasing interest and subsequent published literature on hip resurfacing arthroplasty, little is known about the prevalence of its complications and in particular the less common modes of failure. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of failure of hip resurfacing arthroplasty and to analyse the reasons for it. From a multi-surgeon series (141 surgeons) of 5000 Birmingham hip resurfacings we have analysed the modes, prevalence, gender differences and times to failure of any hip requiring revision. To date 182 hips have been revised (3.6%). The most common cause for revision was a fracture of the neck of the femur (54 hips, prevalence 1.1%), followed by loosening of the acetabular component (32 hips, 0.6%), collapse of the femoral head/avascular necrosis (30 hips, 0.6%), loosening of the femoral component (19 hips, 0.4%), infection (17 hips, 0.3%), pain with aseptic lymphocytic vascular and associated lesions (ALVAL)/metallosis (15 hips, 0.3%), loosening of both components (five hips, 0.1%), dislocation (five hips, 0.1%) and malposition of the acetabular component (three hips, 0.1%). In two cases the cause of failure was unknown. Comparing men with women, we found the prevalence of revision to be significantly higher in women (women = 5.7%; men = 2.6%, p < 0.001). When analysing the individual modes of failure women had significantly more revisions for loosening of the acetabular component, dislocation, infection and pain/ALVAL/metallosis (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, p = 0.008, p = 0.01 respectively). The mean time to failure was 2.9 years (0.003 to 11.0) for all causes, with revision for fracture of the neck of the femur occurring earlier than other causes (mean 1.5 years, 0.02 to 11.0). There was a significantly shorter time to failure in men (mean 2.1 years, 0.4 to 8.7) compared with women (mean 3.6 years, 0.003 to 11.0) (p < 0.001). PMID:20884969
Carrothers, A D; Gilbert, R E; Jaiswal, A; Richardson, J B
75 FR 44977 - General Management Plan/Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact Statement, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt...
...Statement for the General Management Plan (GMP/EIS) for Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National...Park, New York. The Abbreviated Final GMP/EIS includes an analysis of agency and public comments received on the Draft GMP/EIS with NPS responses, errata...
Investigating the Validity and Reliability of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education
The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) is a multirater assessment of principals' learning-centered leadership. The instrument was developed based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. In this article, we report on the validity and reliability evidence for the VAL-ED accumulated in a national field�
Porter, Andrew C.; Polikoff, Morgan S.; Goldring, Ellen B.; Murphy, Joseph; Elliott, Stephen N.; May, Henry
Back to the Basics: Birmingham, Alabama, Measurement and Scale
"Back to the Basics: Birmingham, Alabama" is the fourth in a series of workshops that focus on teaching foundational map reading and spatial differentiation skills. It is the second published exercise from the Back to the Basics series developed by the Wetland Education through Maps and Aerial Photography (WETMAAP) Program (see "Journal of�
Handley, Lawrence R.; Lockwood, Catherine M.; Handley, Nathan
Profiles of British Muslim Identity: Adolescent Girls in Birmingham
By asking students to fill in 10 statements beginning with "I am..." and a further 10 statements beginning with "I am not..." we constructed profiles of British Muslim ethnic and national identity. Participants were 108 British Muslim girls of mean age 12.6 years studying in a single sex girls' school in Birmingham, UK. Using content analysis we�
Hutnik, Nimmi; Street, Rebecca Coran
Rhetorical Strategy in the Birmingham Political Union, 1830-1832.
Applies the critical paradigm of "rhetorical enterprise" to nineteenth century British reform efforts, particularly the Birmingham Political Union. Concludes that cases of rhetorical enterprise challenge critics to account for the enterprising consistency of tactics and creed, regardless of the relatively inconsistent factors of men and events.�
Wiethoff, William E.
Martin Luther King's �Letter from Birmingham Jail� as Pauline epistle
Martin Luther King's �Letter from Birmingham Jail� is an apostolic epistle in the Pauline tradition. Following the conventions of black American Protestantism, King discovered in St. Paul a type for himself and in St. Paul's letters a literary form that he could apply to modern situations. Like the Pauline letters, King's �Letter� depends heavily on scriptual allusions and may be
Malinda Snow
Cultural Landscape Report for Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site. Volume 1. Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis.
The report is intended to: provide detailed information about the layered history of the Vanderbilt property; document the existing condition of the landscape at appropriate scales; develop an understanding of changes over time that have affected the hist...
C. Zaitzevsky C. A. Birnbaum P. M. O'Donnel
Research from UCLA and Vanderbilt shows that new melanoma drug nearly doubles survival in majority of patients
Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, UCLA and 11 other centers in the United States and Australia have found that a new drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubled median overall survival
Enhancing Diversity in Physics: The Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program
We describe the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program as a model for partnering with minority-serving institutions to increase the representation of women and minorities earning PhDs in astronomy and related disciplines. Since its inception in 2004, the Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge program has attracted 30 minority students, 60% of whom are female, and with a retention rate of 94%. When the first Bridge students completed their PhDs in 2010-11, the program will become the top awarder of astronomy PhDs to underrepresented minorities in the United States. Already, Fisk has become the top producer of physics Masters degrees to African Americans. We summarize the program's structure, approach, and research basis with the goal of providing a replicable model for other institutions seeking to build similar collaborative, research-based bridging partnerships.
Stassun, Keivan
Infrared near-field microscopy with the Vanderbilt free electron laser: overview and perspectives
Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) makes it routinely possible to overcome the fundamental diffraction limit of standard (far-field) microscopy. Recently, aperture-based infrared SNOM performed in the spectroscopic mode, using the Vanderbilt University free electron laser, started delivering spatially-resolved information on the distribution of chemical species and on other laterally-fluctuating properties. The practical examples presented here show the great potential of
D. Vobornik; G. Margaritondo; J. S. Sanghera; P. Thielen; I. D. Aggarwal; B. Ivanov; J. K. Miller; R. Haglund; N. H. Tolk; A. Congiu-Castellano; M. A. Rizzo; D. W. Piston; F. Somma; G. Baldacchini; F. Bonfigli; T. Marolo; F. Flora; R. M. Montereali; A. Faenov; T. Pikuz; G. Longo; V. Mussi; R. Generosi; M. Luce; P. Perfetti; A. Cricenti
Vanderbilt-led team identifies new breast cancer gene expression pattern
A study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators has identified a gene expression pattern that may explain why chemotherapy prior to surgery isn�t effective against some tumors and suggests new therapy options for patients with specific subtypes of breast cancer. Other investigators in the study include researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK; the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas; and the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neopl�sicas (INEN) in Lima, Per�.
Technical scale and high-level detail: Vanderbilt's award-winning Eskind Biomedical Library.
With its opening in March 1994, the Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, launched a new era at the university's medical center. The new building is the culmination of much effort, involving the time and talents of many dedicated individuals. Because of its advanced technological features and its modernistic design, the building might be regarded as a model library for the twenty-first century. Images
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers identify six breast cancer subtypes:
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have identified six subtypes of an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of breast cancer, called �triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).� In the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Center Director Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., and colleagues describe the molecular features of these six distinct subtypes and identify chemotherapies to which the different subtypes respond in cultured cells and animal tumor models.
Building global health through a center-without-walls: the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
The Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt enables the expansion and coordination of global health research, service, and training, reflecting the university's commitment to improve health services and outcomes in resource-limited settings. Global health encompasses both prevention via public health and treatment via medical care, all nested within a broader community-development context. This has fostered university-wide collaborations to address education,
Sten H. Vermund; Vikrant V. Sahasrabuddhe; Sheetal Khedkar; Yujiang Jia; Carol Etherington; Alfredo Vergara
The University of Birmingham - Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Research
The University of Birmingham introduces the goal of its department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences' (GEES) research to link climate, hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology studies in order to build integrated models of fluvial systems. Users can find ample information about the goals and significance in its many projects which include riparian hydroecology, hydrology of cold environments, hydrogeomorphology, and channel sedimentation dynamics. Most of the materials contain an abundance of links to help users fully understand the Earth Surface Systems research. Along with the research of the staff, the site supplies introductions to many of the PhD research students' work.
Building Global Health Through a Center-Without-Walls: The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health
The Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt enables the expansion and coordination of global health research, service, and training, reflecting the university's commitment to improve health services and outcomes in resource-limited settings. Global health encompasses both prevention via public health and treatment via medical care, all nested within a broader community-development context. This has fostered university-wide collaborations to address education, business/economics, engineering, nursing, and language training, among others. The institute is a natural facilitator for team building and has been especially helpful in organizing institutional responses to global health solicitations from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and other funding agencies. This center-without-walls philosophy nurtures noncompetitive partnerships among and within departments and schools. With extramural support from the NIH and from endowment and developmental investments from the school of medicine, the institute funds new pilot projects to nurture global educational and research exchanges related to health and development. Vanderbilt's newest programs are a CDC-supported HIV/AIDS service initiative in Africa and an overseas research training program for health science graduate students and clinical fellows. New opportunities are available for Vanderbilt students, staff, and faculty to work abroad in partnership with international health projects through a number of Tennessee institutions now networked with the institute. A center-without-walls may be a model for institutions contemplating strategic investments to better organize service and teaching opportunities abroad, and to achieve greater successes in leveraging extramural support for overseas and domestic work focused on tropical medicine and global health.
Vermund, Sten H.; Sahasrabuddhe, Vikrant V.; Khedkar, Sheetal; Jia, Yujiang; Etherington, Carol; Vergara, Alfredo
77 FR 2131 - Watco Holdings, Inc.-Continuance in Control Exemption-Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C.
...Continuance in Control Exemption-- Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C. Watco Holdings, Inc. (Watco), a noncarrier, has...to continue in control of Birmingham Terminal Railway, L.L.C. (BHRR), upon BHRR's becoming a Class III...
Road Pricing.
Road pricing, sometimes called congestion pricing or value pricing, aims to apportion scarce road space by market pricing rather than queuing. As increasing population densities in growing metropolitan areas press on available resources, pricing has been ...
Sustainability Indicators and their Application in Decision-Making Pr ocesses for Eastside, Birmingham, UK
Birmingham Eastside, an area of 130 hectares, is located to the eastern side of Birmingham's city centre. Over a 10 year period this once deprived inner city area is being regenerated through public and private finance estimated at �6 billion. The regeneration scheme is rapidly bringing about changes to the local environment, economy, and the society therein. The key players
D. V. L. Hunt; D. R. Lombardi; C. D. F. Rogers; I. Jefferson
Malaria in Birmingham and a London teaching hospital.
During the past five years the incidence of imported malaria increased among patients seen in East Birmingham Hospital and in St Thomas's Hospital, London. Plasmodium vivax was the predominant species in Birmingham, and was almost always acquired by Asian immigrants visiting the Indian subcontinent. In St Thomas's P falciparum was most commonly imported, usually by African immigrants visiting Nigeria and Ghana. Two patients (one Irish, one Japanese) died of falciparum malaria after visiting tropical Africa. In both hospitals the immigrant patients had seldom taken prophylactic drugs, and the few who had, ceased to do so on arrival in the UK and sometimes before leaving the malarious country. Apparently immigrants who visit their homeland do not consult their general practitioners before travelling, are given inappropriate advice, or do not take appropriate advice when given. Since the incidence of imported falciparum malaria in the UK is rising, the following points should be considered: the infection may be lethal, particularly in patients lacking immunity; it can mimic other diseases, which may lead to delayed diagnosis; severe disease may be associated with few parasites on a blood film, and even if the result is negative further tests should be performed; clinicians and hospital pharmacists should be aware of the need to keep permanent stocks of parenteral chloroquine and quinine preparations.
Ellis, C J; Eykyn, S J; Watkins, P; Bell, M; Geddes, A M
Profiles of British Muslim identity: adolescent girls in Birmingham.
By asking students to fill in 10 statements beginning with 'I am...' and a further 10 statements beginning with 'I am not...' we constructed profiles of British Muslim ethnic and national identity. Participants were 108 British Muslim girls of mean age 12.6 years studying in a single sex girls' school in Birmingham, UK. Using content analysis we found that some adolescent girls are rooted only in their personal identity. Others are rooted in their social identity. We found a number of major categories: rooted in ethnic identity only, rooted in ethnic identity but differentiating self from other groups, rooted in bicultural identity, rooted in national identity and confused ethnic and national identity. Significantly a number of participants were concerned to transcend group identities and described themselves as 'not racist' or 'not prejudiced'. A model of ethnic and national identity is presented incorporating rootedness, differentiation, confusion and transcendence. PMID:19683339
Spatial and temporal variability of air pollution in Birmingham, Alabama
Quantification of the spatial and temporal variations of outdoor air pollutant concentrations provides important information for epidemiological and other air-pollution studies, many of which have relied in the past on data from a single, centrally-located air pollution monitoring site. A method is developed for combining air pollution measurements from multiple monitors and monitoring networks to generate daily air pollution concentration fields representing spatial variations over distances of approximately 1-10�km. Meteorological and co-pollutant data are used to estimate missing site measurements, yielding more realistic concentration fields as the number of monitoring locations with available data increases. Monitoring data are interpolated with weights computed from intersite pollutant correlations, which decay with distance, so distances between interpolation points and monitoring sites are factored into the interpolation weights. The approach minimizes the influence of source-oriented sites that represent limited areas, because data from such sites exhibit low intersite correlations and yield interpolation weights that decay rapidly to zero. Interpolated values represent pollutant concentrations averaged over spatial scales that depend on intersite distances and the interpolation grid, and do not delineate sharp spatial gradients associated with roadside or near-source conditions. The approach yields quantified interpolation errors the values of which depend on measurement uncertainties, intersite distances, and the representativeness of monitoring site locations. The method is illustrated using an 11-year period of measurements of ozone, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations from Jefferson County, Alabama. The principal city is Birmingham, which is influenced by regional-scale air pollution and by local emissions from mobile sources, industrial facilities, and residential communities. Emission sources are not distributed uniformly throughout Birmingham, the ridge-and-valley topography complicates dispersion of local emissions, and monitoring data indicate that air pollutant concentrations vary spatially as well as temporally. No single monitor represents air quality across the entire study area.
Blanchard, C. L.; Tanenbaum, S.; Hidy, G. M.
StarBRITE: The Vanderbilt University Biomedical Research Integration, Translation and Education Portal
StarBRITE is a one-stop, web-based research portal designed to meet the day-to-day needs of the Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College research community during the planning and conduct of research studies. StarBRITE serves as the main online location for research support addressing issues such as identification and location of resources, identification of experts, guidance for regulatory applications and approvals, regulatory assistance, funding requests, research data planning and collection, and serves as a central repository for educational offerings. To date, there have been more than 590,038 StarBRITE hits by more than 6582 cumulative users. We present here StarBRITE design objectives, details about technical infrastructure and system components, status report and activity metrics for the first 2.75-years of operation, and a report of lessons learned during organizing, launching and refining the portal.
Harris, Paul A.; Swafford, Jonathan A.; Edwards, Terri L.; Zhang, Minhua; Nigavekar, Shraddha S.; Yarbrough, Tonya R.; Lane, Lynda D.; Helmer, Tara; Lebo, Laurie A.; Mayo, Gail; Masys, Daniel R.; Bernard, Gordon R.; Pulley, Jill M.
Road safety
BackgroundRoad traffic injuries are a major public health problem, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Postcrash management can play a significant role in minimising crash consequences and saving lives. Iran has one of the highest mortalities from road traffic injuries in the world. The present study attempts to fill the knowledge gap and explores stakeholders' perceptions of barriers to and
D K Zavareh; M Bigdeli; R Mohammadi; H R Khaneh; L Laflamme; A Bikmoradi; B J A Haglund
University of Alabama at Birmingham pathway activation discovery could lead to new cancer drugs:
A discovery by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers about a how a common cell pathway that helps regulate cell survival and production is turned on could lead to new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
NASSP's Assessment Center: Practitioners Speak Out. Jefferson County School District, Birmingham, Ala.
The second in a series of articles on the NASSP Assessment Center for administrator evaluation and selection, this article sets forth the experiences administrators from Birmingham, Alabama, had with the center and their opinions of it. (JM)
Jones, Ron; And Others
Secular change in birthweight of Asian babies born in Birmingham.
We have studied changes in the birthweight of Asian babies born alive at this hospital between 1968 and 1978. In 1978 Pakistani babies were 139 g heavier but Indian babies only 25 g heavier than 10 years earlier. Contributing to these changes were significantly fewer short mothers and primiparae among Pakistanis, and non-significant increases in gestational age and intrauterine growth (that is, weight centile after allowing for gestational age, parity, and maternal height). Among Indians there were significant increases in maternal height and gestational age, but parity was reduced and intrauterine growth did not increase. In both groups there were fewer teenage mothers, but whereas among Pakinstanis birth intervals of less than one year were less common, there was no such reduction among Indian mothers. The secular change suggests that genetic factors are unlikely to be the major reason why Pakistani babies born in Birmingham are lighter than European babies, and that environmental factors play an important role. Efforts to increase birthweight need to consider both the mothers' physical environment during pregnancy and prepregnancy factors influencing growth in childhood, age at first pregnancy, and birth interval. The study shows a need to describe an 'Asian' population with details of their sub-ethnic structure. The sub-ethnic and secular differences further suggest that a single 'Asian' standard for birthweight and intrauterine growth may be inappropriate; the use of international reference data with which all infants may be compared is preferable.
Clarson, C L; Barker, M J; Marshall, T; Wharton, B A
INTERIOR VIEW WITH ANNEALING OVEN AND OPERATOR ENSURING THAT ALL ENTERING PIPE IS STRAIGHT AND THAT THE CORE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE BELL END OF EACH PIPE - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
INTERIOR VIEW, LOOKING NORTH, CUPOLA AREA WITH MOLTEN METAL BEING POURED OUT OF THE CUPOLA INTO THE POURING LADLE. FROM THE POURING LADLE, THE IRON IS LATER POURED INTO A TRANSFER LADLE FOR TRANSPORT TO THE CASTING MACHINES. - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
INTERIOR VIEW, LOOKING NORTH, TOWARDS CUPOLA WHERE SCRAP METAL AND OTHER COMPONENTS ARE MELTED TO CREATE DUCTILE IRON. BRIGHT FLASH IN BACKGROUND RESULTS FROM MOLTEN METAL (DUCTILE IRON) BEING POURED FROM CUPOLA INTO TRANSFER LADLE - McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, Pipe Casting Area, 1201 Vanderbilt Road, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL
Automating PACS quality control with the Vanderbilt image processing enterprise resource
Precise image acquisition is an integral part of modern patient care and medical imaging research. Periodic quality control using standardized protocols and phantoms ensures that scanners are operating according to specifications, yet such procedures do not ensure that individual datasets are free from corruption; for example due to patient motion, transient interference, or physiological variability. If unacceptable artifacts are noticed during scanning, a technologist can repeat a procedure. Yet, substantial delays may be incurred if a problematic scan is not noticed until a radiologist reads the scans or an automated algorithm fails. Given scores of slices in typical three-dimensional scans and widevariety of potential use cases, a technologist cannot practically be expected inspect all images. In large-scale research, automated pipeline systems have had great success in achieving high throughput. However, clinical and institutional workflows are largely based on DICOM and PACS technologies; these systems are not readily compatible with research systems due to security and privacy restrictions. Hence, quantitative quality control has been relegated to individual investigators and too often neglected. Herein, we propose a scalable system, the Vanderbilt Image Processing Enterprise Resource (VIPER) to integrate modular quality control and image analysis routines with a standard PACS configuration. This server unifies image processing routines across an institutional level and provides a simple interface so that investigators can collaborate to deploy new analysis technologies. VIPER integrates with high performance computing environments has successfully analyzed all standard scans from our institutional research center over the course of the last 18 months.
Esparza, Michael L.; Welch, E. Brian; Landman, Bennett A.
The Emphasis Program: a scholarly concentrations program at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
In 1999, a faculty committee at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine reviewed the mission and goals of the school and determined that graduates should receive initial preparation to develop scholarly careers in medicine. The authors describe the design of a scholarly projects course, the Emphasis Program, which is required of all students in the first two years of medical school. Each student undertakes a mentored project in one of nine areas of scholarship related to medicine. Curricular time is devoted to the program during the first two academic years, and students also spend eight weeks working on their projects in the intervening summer. The program includes a core didactic curriculum on topics common to all areas of scholarly work, such as biostatistics and study design. Implemented with the entering class of 2004, 467 students had completed the program as of May 2010, and only two students have been unable to complete projects in the allotted time. The majority of graduating seniors reported that they felt this was a valuable aspect of their medical education. Whereas the program offers a broad spectrum of scholarship opportunities, most students have selected projects in more traditional areas, such as laboratory-based research and patient-oriented research. The authors describe early successes in meeting program goals as well as some of the ongoing challenges of administering a required but individualized program of this nature. PMID:20671539
Gotterer, Gerald S; O'Day, Denis; Miller, Bonnie M
Road socialism
Road socialists maintain that government is the best manager for the nation's vehicular transportation arteries. Contrary to their views, the present author maintains that the managerial role can best be fulfilled by private entrepreneurs. Under highway privatization, he claims, traffic fatalities and automobile congestion will be sharply reduced.
Walter Block
Women Secondary Head Teachers: Alive and Well in Birmingham at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century
Far from being an "endangered species" (Edwards & Lyons, 1994), moving towards extinction, women secondary head teachers are alive and well in Birmingham. While the national picture in England and Wales showed 29.8 per cent of secondary head teachers were women in 2005, this research identifies extensive regional differences. In Birmingham 41 per�
Fuller, Kay
The Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience: The Case behind King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Fifty years ago, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." In exploring the story of the events behind the essay, and the Supreme Court case that resulted, "Walker v. Birmingham", 399 U.S. 307 (1967), educators will find a pedagogically powerful lens through which to review the seminal�
Kaplan, Howard
Determinants of health after hospital discharge: rationale and design of the Vanderbilt Inpatient Cohort Study (VICS)
Background The period following hospital discharge is a vulnerable time for patients when errors and poorly coordinated care are common. Suboptimal care transitions for patients admitted with cardiovascular conditions can contribute to readmission and other adverse health outcomes. Little research has examined the role of health literacy and other social determinants of health in predicting post-discharge outcomes. Methods The Vanderbilt Inpatient Cohort Study (VICS), funded by the National Institutes of Health, is a prospective longitudinal study of 3,000 patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndromes or acute decompensated heart failure. Enrollment began in October 2011 and is planned through October 2015. During hospitalization, a set of validated demographic, cognitive, psychological, social, behavioral, and functional measures are administered, and health status and comorbidities are assessed. Patients are interviewed by phone during the first week after discharge to assess the quality of hospital discharge, communication, and initial medication management. At approximately 30 and 90 days post-discharge, interviewers collect additional data on medication adherence, social support, functional status, quality of life, and health care utilization. Mortality will be determined with up to 3.5�years follow-up. Statistical models will examine hypothesized relationships of health literacy and other social determinants on medication management, functional status, quality of life, utilization, and mortality. In this paper, we describe recruitment, eligibility, follow-up, data collection, and analysis plans for VICS, as well as characteristics of the accruing patient cohort. Discussion This research will enhance understanding of how health literacy and other patient factors affect the quality of care transitions and outcomes after hospitalization. Findings will help inform the design of interventions to improve care transitions and post-discharge outcomes.
"I May Be Crackin', But Um Fackin": Racial Humor in "The Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963"
This article examines the utilization of racial humor in Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, "The Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963." The theoretical perspectives that inform the analysis include critical race theory and humor theory. The results of the analysis reveal that the use of humor in this book is influenced to a significant degree by race and�
McNair, Jonda C.
Near vertical view of Birmingham, Alabama as seen from Apollo 9
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Near vertical view of the Birmingham, Alabama area extending to Gadeden, as photographed from the Apollo 9 spacecraft during its earth-orbital mission. The city spreads out between ridges of the folded southern Appalachien Mountains. The major stream in the picture is the Coosa River.
Opportunistic Collaboration: Unlocking the Archives of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design
Purpose: To review a small specialist repository's strategic and opportunistic approach to utilising collaborative regional and national digital initiatives to increase access. The Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Archives activity is evaluated to determine whether a project-based approach recognises and meets the needs of historians,�
Everitt, Sian
ENTRIX Inc. (ENTRIX) recently conducted a feasibility study looking at water quality and flood reduction projects in the Five Mile Creek watershed, north of Birmingham, Alabama. The property is owned by the Freshwater Land Trust as part of the Jefferson County Greenways Plan. This project was driven by the supplemental projects required by the consent decree on Jefferson County Department
Terrell Gibbs; Aylin Lewallen; Doug Mooney; Wendy Allen-Jackson
Ethnic differences in patient perceptions of heart failure and treatment: the West Birmingham heart failure project
Objective: To investigate further the hypothesis that ethnic groups would have different levels of knowledge and perceptions of congestive heart failure (CHF) and treatments for this condition, a cross sectional survey was conducted of patients who were attending the heart failure clinics in two teaching hospitals of Birmingham, UK, that serve a multiethnic population.Methods: 103 patients with CHF (66 men,
G Y H Lip; H Khan; A Bhatnagar; N Brahmabhatt; P Crook; M K Davies
The Work of Teachers and Others in and around a Birmingham Slum School 1891-1920
The "Floodgate Street area" was a notorious slum district in the city of Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This article presents a case study, drawing on the rich archival sources available for this area, to examine the language that local authority and voluntary workers used to describe the local area, and their�
Wright, Susannah
The rhetorical construction of time in Martin Luther King, Jr.�s �letter from Birmingham jail�
This essay explores the rhetorical use of time in Martin Luther King, Jr.�s �Letter from Birmingham Jail� and offers an explanation of the ideological heritage that temporally unifies the discourse. The essay describes the �Letter's� recent, historical, and spiritual time frames, accounts for the ideological purpose each serves, and explains on what ground they unite.
Ronald E. Lee
Synoptic typing and its application to the investigation of weather air pollution relationships, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Principal components analysis and cluster analysis are used to derive airmass types based on surface meteorological data for the Birmingham area. UK. Airmass types are analysed in terms of their climatological, meteorological and air pollution characteristics. Continental anticyclonic airmass types are identified as producing high pollution concentration events, whereas, maritime cyclonic types, characterised by strong westerly flows are associated with
G. R. McGregor; D. Bamzelis
Context, Complexity and Contestation: Birmingham's Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education since the 1970s
The present article offers an historical perspective on the 1975, 1995 and 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabuses for Religious Education. It draws upon historical evidence uncovered as part of "The hidden history of curriculum change in religious education in English schools, 1969-1979" project, and curriculum history theories, especially David�
Parker, Stephen G.; Freathy, Rob J. K.
Conviviality and Conflict: Pluralism, Resilience and Hope in Inner-City Birmingham
This paper examines the lived realities of ethnic pluralism, social marginalisation and activism in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, UK, which external media representations have tended to depict as lacking �community cohesion� and fostering �parallel lives�. Drawing on qualitative interviews with local residents and entrepreneurs conducted over a three-year period, we challenge such representations and a defining characteristic of
Christian Karner; David Parker
The School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt: An Innovative Research-Based Program for High School Students
The School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt (SSMV) is an innovative partnership program between a Research I private university and a large urban public school system. The SSMV was started in 2007 and currently has 101 students enrolled in the program, with a total of 60 students who have completed the 4-yr sequential program. Students attend the SSMV for one full day per week during the school year and 3�6�wk in the summers following their ninth- to 11th-grade years, with each grade of 26 students coming to the Vanderbilt campus on a separate day. The research-based curriculum focuses on guiding students through the process of learning to develop questions and hypotheses, designing projects and performing analyses, and communicating results of these projects. The SSMV program has elevated the learning outcomes of students as evidenced by increased achievement scores relative to a comparison group of students; has provided a rigorous research-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics elective curriculum that culminates in a Summer research internship; has produced 27 Intel and Siemens semifinalists and regional finalists over the past 4 yr; and has supported the development of writing and communication skills resulting in regional and national oral presentations and publications in scientific journals.
Eeds, Angela; Vanags, Chris; Creamer, Jonathan; Loveless, Mary; Dixon, Amanda; Sperling, Harvey; McCombs, Glenn; Robinson, Doug
The Vanderbilt EB Factory: Development of Light Curve Analysis Tools for Precision Stellar Astrophysics with Kepler Eclipsing Binaries
The goal of the Vanderbilt EB Factory is to develop an end-to-end computational pipeline that allows automatic processing of massive amounts of light curve data -- from period finding, to object classification, to determination of the stellar physical properties -- in order to find the most scientifically interesting eclipsing binaries (EBs) and to permit accurate modeling of these EBs for detailed tests and benchmarking of theoretical stellar evolution models. We are integrating the most successful algorithms into a single, cohesive workflow environment, and are applying this 'EB Factory' to the full public Kepler dataset to find and characterize new "benchmark grade" EBs, and will disseminate both the enhanced data products from this pipeline and the pipeline itself to the broader NASA science community, especially other Kepler mission researchers. More generally, we are developing the EB Factory as a flexible, open source, modular framework in order to permit simple modifications by other users for a wide array of other types of variable stars of interest, such as RR Lyraes. Finally, we will present our developing suite of light-curve analysis tools available to the community from the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics (VIDA), including the Filtergraph instant data portal service, and the web-based LCchopper and LCanimator light-curve analysis services.
Stassun, Keivan; Paegert, M.; De Lee, N. M.; Cargile, P.
78 FR 47778 - Verizon Business Networks Services, Inc. Senior Analysts-Sales Impletmentation (SA-SI) Birmingham...
...TA-W-81,968B] Verizon Business Networks Services, Inc. Senior Analysts-Sales...Birmingham, Alabama; Verizon Business Networks Services, Inc. Senior Analysts-Sales...Francisco, California; Verizon Business Networks Services, Inc.Senior...
Village Creek: An Architectural and Historical Resources Survey of the Village Creek Project Neighborhoods, City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama.
A cultural resources survey conducted by the Birmingham Historical Society from April to June 1984 recorded 651 domestic dwellings and other structures in selected sections of the flood plain of Village Creek, a small tributary of the Black Warrior River ...
C. L. Hudgins M. L. White
Re-Envisioning the Professional Doctorate for Educational Leadership and Higher Education Leadership: Vanderbilt University's Peabody College Ed.D. Program
This article describes the process by which the faculty of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College conceived and implemented a new doctoral program designed for senior education practitioners. The authors describe the organizational context in which decisions were made. Next, they explain�
Caboni, Timothy C.; Proper, Eve
First results from the BOXING (Birmingham-OCIW XMM and IMACS Nearby Groups) project.
We present the first results from the BOXING (Birmingham-OCIW XMM and IMACS Nearby Groups) project, a collaboration between the Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington (OCIW) and the University of Birmingham U.K. to study a sample of 25 galaxy groups (z � 0.06) by means of optical photometry and spectroscopy (du Pont 2.5m; IMACS/Magellan) combined with x-ray observations (XMM). The combination of x-ray with optical data allows us to study the nature of the relationship between the properties of the groups and the galaxies that they contain. In this preliminary study, we present optical luminosity functions, which shows bimodal behavior in the poorer systems, interpreted as result of rapid merging. We also examine the dependence of galaxy morphology on local environment. Once spectroscopic observations are completed, we will be able to study velocity dispersions, star formation and nuclear activity in individual galaxies.
Miles, T. A.; Raychaudhury, S.; Mulchaey, J. S.
Fixation of a Periprosthetic Intertrochanteric Hip Fracture below a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing
This case report involves a 56-year-old female (Mrs X) with a traumatic intertrochanteric hip fracture with subtrochanteric extension below a previous Birmingham hip resurfacing. Periprosthetic fractures following hip resurfacing are usually subcapital and treated with a revision or conservative management. We present an unusual surgical problem with an interesting solution stabilising the fracture using a proximal femoral locking compression plate (LCP). Eight months following surgery the patient is able to walk pain free and there is good fixation and stability.
Macdonald, J.; Robinson, A.; Brown, I.
Road Design System.
The Road Design System calculates earthwork volumes and produces plotter federal aid sheets and other graphics for engineering purposes based upon various constraints of road geometry as supplied by the designer. All programs have a common data base and c...
T. Lupien H. T. Taylor
Healthy Roads Media
... Content Sources Contact Us Welcome to Healthy Roads Media A source of quality health information in many ... the multiple use videos at the Healthy Roads Media Store. Both free and low-cost videos available. ...
Ethnic differences in incidence of sudden infant death syndrome in Birmingham
Among the 45,204 live births in Birmingham in the three calendar years 1981-3, there were 218 postneonatal deaths, giving a postneonatal mortality rate of 4.82 per 1000 live births. Postneonatal mortality rates were 4.22 for whites, 5.91 for Asians (relative risk 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04 to 1.53) and 8.20 for Afro-Caribbeans (relative risk 1.78, 95% CI 1.25 to
D Kyle; R Sunderland; M Stonehouse; C Cummins; O Ross
Road Design System (RDS).
RDS is used by the Forest Service nationwide for design of forest roads. It is suited for design of low standard single lane, dirt roads that follow the terrain. However, it can also be used for double lane paved roads. It consists of 256 subroutines. The...
H. Krantz M. Litten D. Klassen
EPA Science Inventory
Roads are a source of auto related pollutants (e.g. gasoline, oil and other engine fluids). When roads are near streams, rain can wash these pollutants directly into the stream, harming both water and habitat quality. This metric measured the length of roads within 30 meters of a...
Early Indians Use Jones Valley. (Reading for "The South: Birmingham Case Study and the South as a Region". Grade Five (Unit IV) Project Social Studies.)
Readings designed to accompany Unit IV, (ED 069 562) which is intended for fifth grade students, describe the Birmingham region from 1812 to 1872. Nine themes in the study illustrate settlement in the valley, early growth in Birmingham, and the changing use of the area in terms of different perceptions of natural resources. Technical advancement�
Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Project Social Studies Curriculum Center.
Building Bridges to Diversity in Graduate Physics & Astronomy: The Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program
We describe the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program as a successful model for effective partnerships with minority-serving institutions toward significantly broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in the physical sciences. The program couples targeted recruitment with active retention strategies, and is built upon a clearly defined structure that is flexible enough to address individual student needs while maintaining clearly communicated baseline standards for student performance. A key precept of the program�s philosophy is to eliminate passivity in student mentoring; students are deliberately groomed to successfully transition into the PhD program through active involvement in research experiences with future PhD advisers, coursework that demonstrates competency in core PhD subject areas, and frequent interactions with joint mentoring committees. This approach allows student progress and performance to be monitored and evaluated in a more holistic manner than usually afforded by limited metrics such as standardized tests. Since its inception in 2004, the program has attracted a total of 18 underrepresented students, with a retention rate of 90%. Recent research indicates that minority students are nearly twice as likely as non-minority students to seek a Masters degree en route to the PhD. In essence, the Bridge program described here builds upon this increasingly important pathway, with a dedicated mentoring process designed to ensure that the Masters-to-PhD transition is a successful one.
Stassun, Keivan G.
Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory (BUCL): Experiences, Challenges and Applications of an Urban Temperature Network
The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory (BUCL) has recently been established by the University of Birmingham. BUCL is an in-situ, real-time urban network that will incorporate 3 nested networks - a wide-array of 25 weather stations, a dense array of 131 low-cost air temperature sensors and a fine-array of temperature sensor across the city-centre (50/km^2) - with the primary aim of monitoring air temperatures across a morphologically-heterogeneous urban conurbation for a variety of applications. During its installation there have been a number of challenges to overcome, including siting equipment in suitable urban locations, ensuring that the measurements were 'representative' of the local-scale climate, managing a large, near real-time data set and implementing QA/QC procedures. From these experiences, the establishment of a standardised urban meteorological network metadata protocol has been proposed in order to improve data quality, to ensure the end-user has access to all the supplementary information they would require for conducting valid analyses and to encourage the adequate recording and documentation of any changes to in-situ urban networks over time. This paper will provide an introduction to the BUCL in-situ network, give an overview of the challenges and experiences gained from its implementation, and finally discuss the proposed applications of the network, including its use in remote sensing observations of urban temperatures, as well as health and infrastructure applications.
Muller, Catherine; Chapman, Lee; Young, Duick; Grimmond, Sue; Cai, Xiaoming
Mineral magnetic measurements as a pollution proxy for canal sediments (Birmingham Canal Navigation Main Line).
The use of mineral magnetic measurements (XLF, XARM and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM)) as a potential particle size - pollution proxy for sediment samples collected from the Birmingham Mainline canal (UK) is explored as an alternative means of monitoring pollution. Comparison of sediment-related analytical data by correlation analyses between each magnetic parameter and individual particle size classes (i.e. sand, silt and clay), and more discrete intervals within classes (e.g. fine sand or medium silt) are reported. XLF, XARM and SIRM parameters reveal few significant (p < .05; n = 60), weak (rs = .443), associations with clay content. Specific areas of historic anthropogenic activity are investigated and reveal improved correlations with )XLF vs. clay (r = .739, p < .001; n = 60), silt (r = -.612, p < .001; n = 60), and discrete fractions of sediment (r = .700-.868; p < .001). Comparison of mineral magnetic concentration and geochemistry are also reported with moderate to strong relationships between XLF, XARM, Fe, Pb and Co. Contrary to earlier research findings, the results for the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line indicate that magnetic measurements cannot always provide a predictable particle size proxy and it is only certain environments and/or specific settings that are appropriate for granulometric normalization by this technique. PMID:24600884
Crosby, C J; Booth, C A; Appasamy, D; Fullen, M A; Farr, K
Do the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) and Birmingham nutrition risk (BNR) score predict mortality in older hospitalised patients?
BACKGROUND: Undernutrition is common in older hospitalised patients, and routine screening is advocated. It is unclear whether screening tools such as the Birmingham Nutrition Risk (BNR) score and the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) can successfully predict outcome in this patient group. METHODS: Consecutive admissions to Medicine for the Elderly assessment wards in Dundee were assessed between mid-October 2003 and
Sarah Henderson; Nicola Moore; Emma Lee; Miles D Witham
The Impact of Cost on the Availability of Fruits and Vegetables in the Homes of Schoolchildren in Birmingham, Alabama
Objectives. Fruit and vegetable cost is a presumed barrier to intake. We sought to determine whether fruit and vegetable cost and consumers' race and income would predict availability of fruits and vegetables in homes of schoolchildren in the Birmingham, Ala, area. Methods. Data on availability of 27 fruit and vegetable items were obtained from homes of 1355 children (32% African
Jamy D. Ard; Renee A. Desmond; Bryce S. Sutton; Maria Pisu; David B. Allison; Frank Franklin; Monica L. Baskin
"A Creative Psalm of Brotherhood": The (De)Constructive Play in Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
Scholars have celebrated the spoken word in King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," but they have overlooked the significance of the Letter's writing. In this essay I closely read King's act of writing the Letter, along with the figures of speech he employs in it, and I show how both--by enacting the mass media's ability to cross contexts--are�
Gaipa, Mark
Femoral neck fracture after Birmingham Hip Resurfacing Arthroplasty: prevalence, time to fracture, and outcome after revision.
A consecutive cohort of 3076 Birmingham Hip Resurfacings from a single institution was analyzed. The prevalence of femoral neck fracture, the time to fracture, and the outcome after revision were investigated. Fractures occurred in 34 hips (prevalence, 1.1%). Median time to fracture was 0.27 year (range, 0.014-11.2 years). Mean operation time for revision was 59 minutes, and 71% underwent isolated femoral component revision. At a mean follow-up of 5.5 years since revision, 3 patients required re-revision (2 aseptic loosening, 1 for sepsis) giving a survival of 95.7% (confidence interval, 86.9%-100%) at 5 years for the revision. Median Oxford Hip Score was 12.5% (interquartile range, 3.2%-32.3%). There were no cases of radiologic failure during follow-up. Most fractures occur early after hip resurfacing and were straightforward to revise. PMID:22819379
Matharu, Gulraj S; McBryde, Callum W; Revell, Matthew P; Pynsent, Paul B
1. View east, junction Rockland Road and Old Murphy Road, ...
1. View east, junction Rockland Road and Old Murphy Road, George Murphy House to left and Alfred I. Du Pont Institute gates to right - George Murphy House, Junction of Rockland & Old Murphy Roads, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
Referral for lung transplantation: experience of a Birmingham Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre between 1987 and 1994.
BACKGROUND: Whilst much is known of the outcome of lung transplantation for patients with cystic fibrosis, less is known about those patients who are either not referred for transplantation or who die before a donor is available. The referral practice and outcome of all the cystic fibrosis patients in one clinic was documented, whether or not they were assessed for lung transplantation. The results give a perspective on the impact of the current transplantation programmes on the adult cystic fibrosis population as a whole. METHODS: A retrospective study was made of patient deaths and referrals for lung transplantation between 1987 and 1994 from the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. RESULTS: The Birmingham Heartlands Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic has managed 192 patients since its beginning and currently cares for 141 patients. Since 1987 there have been 16 deaths in patients with cystic fibrosis who were considered unsuitable for lung transplantation. Of 49 patients referred for lung transplantation, 47 were accepted on to a provisional or active waiting list. The mean (SE) age at referral was 23.9 (0.7) years and mean (SE) forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was 0.87 (0.04) 1. Fourteen patients died whilst awaiting transplantation and 19 received donor lungs. There have been 10 deaths in the transplanted group. Survival following transplantation was 58% at one year and 52% at two years. CONCLUSION: Most of the deaths that occurred in the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic were in patients who either were not considered suitable for transplantation or were still awaiting transplantation. Whilst lung transplantation is the focus for many adults with cystic fibrosis, lack of donor organs has limited the impact of transplant programmes on the clinic.
Ryan, P. J.; Stableforth, D. E.
Fortran Interactive Road Design.
This report provides a prototype computer program for the design of roads in an Amphibious Operations Area for the Marine Amphibious Force. The report is divided into two sections; the State of the Art Research, and the Road Design Program Development. Th...
J. P. Cuccu
Silk Road Seattle
Silk Road Seattle is a "collaborative public education project using the 'Silk Road' theme to explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era (A.D.) to the Sixteenth Century." The Silk Road is a term understood to have been the overland trade route from China to the Mediterranean, opened first in the 2nd century and coming to an end between the 15th and 17th centuries. Traditional discussions of the Silk Road, however, recognize that there were branches that went into South Asia, or extended from Central Asia north of the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Sponsored primarily by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington and directed by Professors Daniel C. Waugh, Joel Walker, and Cynthea Bogel, this Web site contains a vast range of Silk Road materials. These materials include a list of texts that may be used in teaching and learning about the Silk Road, a section on cities and architecture along the Silk Road, information on traditional culture in Central Asia, a page of teaching and learning guides that list and annotate Silk Road materials, and a virtual art exhibit. This site is still in a constructive stage; therefore, every link is not yet accessible. In short, this site may be of value for a range of audiences, including school children, teachers, college and graduate students, and independent adult learners.
Roads to Safety.
Contends that the level of safety built into roads is largely unpremeditated and that roads and highways are not as safe as they might be. Discusses practices, standards, and deficiencies in highway and traffic safety related to geometric design and traffic engineering. Recommends increased transportation engineering professionalism and public�
Hauer, Ezra
Boulder, Grover Road.
The statement covers the probable effects of reconstructing a 28.5 mile section of the road between Boulder and Grover, Utah across the east slope of the Boulder Mountains, Dixie National Forest, Garfield and Wayne Counties, Utah. The proposed road will i...
Understanding road signs
In this paper, we propose a three levels framework that allows accounting for the understanding of road signs. We consider that a road sign is (1) the iconic transcription of (2) a legal message about categories that is displayed and has to be interpreted (3) in context. Whereas categorization is the basic process that determines decision-making, results of two experiments
Mary Bazire; Charles Tijus
Fruit and vegetable pricing by demographic factors in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area, 2004-2005. � Measures of the Food Environment
Ard JD, Perumean-Chaney S, Desmond R, Sutton B, Cox TL, Butsch WS, Allison DB, Franklin F, Baskin ML. Fruit and vegetable pricing by demographic factors in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area, 2004-2005.
14. VIEW OF NORTH-SOUTH ROAD WHICH PARALLELS ROAD TO HATCH ADIT (FEATURE B-28). NOTE MODERN 'LAY DOWN' FENCE ON ROAD. ROAD LIES TO THE WEST OF THE HATCH ADIT AND PHOTOGRAPH IS VIEW TO THE SOUTH. (OCTOBER, 1995) - Nevada Lucky Tiger Mill & Mine, East slope of Buckskin Mountain, Paradise Valley, Humboldt County, NV
Sources and processes affecting concentrations of PM 10 and PM 2.5 particulate matter in Birmingham (U.K.)
Hourly average concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 have been measured simultaneously at a site within Birmingham U.K. between October 1994 and October 1995. Comparison of PM10 and NOx data with two other sites in the same city shows comparable summer and winter mean concentrations and highly significant inter-site correlations for both hourly and daily mean data. Over a four-month period
Robert S. Appleby
Ceramic Road Striping Materials.
The purpose of the research was to investigate a ceramic material (a silicate cement) as a potential road striping material. Literature surveys showed that the ceramic material should have good bonding characteristics -- it should adhere well to both the ...
J. M. Rhodes C. L. Beatty
Experiments with Unsalted Roads.
In order to obtain a more complete picture of the advantages and disadvantages of salting, the Swedish National Road Administration started a project in winter 1979/80 which sought to determine the consequences of discontinuing chemical deicing (salting)....
G. Oeberg P. W. Arnberg G. Carlsson G. Helmers K. Jutengren
Rapid road repair vehicle
Disclosed is a rapid road repair vehicle capable of moving over a surface to be repaired at near normal posted traffic speeds to scan for and find at the high rate of speed, imperfections in the pavement surface, prepare the surface imperfection for repair by air pressure and vacuum cleaning, applying a correct amount of the correct patching material to effect the repair, smooth the resulting repaired surface, and catalog the location and quality of the repairs for maintenance records of the road surface. The rapid road repair vehicle can repair surface imperfections at lower cost, improved quality, at a higher rate of speed than was not heretofor possible, with significantly reduced exposure to safety and health hazards associated with this kind of road repair activities in the past. 2 figs.
Mara, L.M.
Sharing the Road. (Video).
Helps motorists understand the special concerns of and dangers faced by pedestrians, truck drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and ambulance drivers. Presents specific tips on how to reduce the risks of sharing the road.
International Road Federation: Publications
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Road Federation (IRF) is an organization of road experts with the "mission to encourage and promote development and maintenance of better, safer and more sustainable roads and road networks." Visitors will find that their website includes sections on "Projects", "Training", "Statistics" and "Publications". In the "Publications" section, there are more than a dozen issues of the IRF Bulletin shown, all available for free on the site. Some of the topics of the Special Edition Bulletins include "Rural Transport", "Urban Mobility", "Public Private Partnership", and "Intelligent Transport Systems". The Rural Transport Special Edition has articles such as "Transport Poverty Alleviation: An Approach in Bangladesh" and "The Impact of Rural Transport on Socio-Economic Development in Nicaragua". Some of the other publications available to visitors are the monthly "World Highways" and "Bi-Annual Reports" which offer a movieclip slideshow for the IRF's 60th anniversary.
Road boundary detection
A method for extracting road boundaries using the monochrome image of a visual road scene is presented. The statistical information regarding the intensity levels present in the image along with some geometrical constraints concerning the road are the basics of this approach. Results and advantages of this technique compared to others are discussed. The major advantages of this technique, when compared to others, are its ability to process the image in only one pass, to limit the area searched in the image using only knowledge concerning the road geometry and previous boundary information, and dynamically adjust for inconsistencies in the located boundary information, all of which helps to increase the efficacy of this technique.
Sowers, J.; Mehrotra, R.; Sethi, I. K.
A Holographic Road Show.
Describes the viewing sessions and the holograms of a holographic road show. The traveling exhibits, believed to stimulate interest in physics, include a wide variety of holograms and demonstrate several physical principles. (GA)
Kirkpatrick, Larry D.; Rugheimer, Mac
Handbook of road safety research
SciTech Connect
This book describes the road safety, accident investigation or vehicle and highway design. This book also discusses the nature and cause of road accidents. It discusses the following contents: Forward; Preface; The main features of the accident situation in Great Britain; The interacting roles of road environment, vehicle and road user in accidents; Roads - features which may be related to accidents; Movements of vehicles and road users before accidents; What happens to vehicles during and after accidents; Injuries to road users; The potential for savings in accidents involving injury; General remarks on accident investigation; Appendices References.
Grime, G.
[A review on road ecology].
Roads are a widespread and increasing feature of most landscapes, and have great ecological effects, e.g., increased mortality of animals and plants and habitat loss from road construction, alteration of the physical and chemical environment, and changes in roadsides vegetation. The great impact on animal population includes road-kills, limiting population, road avoidance causing home arrange shift, modification of movement pattern and barrier effect subdividing habitat and populations. Roads alter landscape spatial pattern and interrupt horizontal ecological flows strongly. These impacts can be assayed by indices of road density, road-effect zone and road location. Furthermore, important applications of road ecology to planning, conservation and management are essential and potential. Road ecology presents us a surprising frontier of ecology. PMID:12836559
Li, Yuehui; Hu, Yuanman; Li, Xiuzhen; Xiao, Duning
RoadRunner Robot
The RoadRunner comes packed with features offered at low cost. The robot has been meticulously engineered to be an ideal platform for both education and research. The RoadRunner comes with a state-of-the-art controller board packed with features including, but not limited to, the capability of wireless communication. This board, along with the RoadRunner's solid mechanical design, makes it an ideal choice for a variety of science, programming, and engineering applications. The purpose of this kit is to promote a learning environment conducive to understanding the basic concepts of robotics. These fundamentals include how robots are used, what they are used for, and how they can be beneficial in everyday life. In this particular case, the RoadRunner is intended to teach students the basics of micro-controllers, object-oriented programming, and the benefits of using external devices such as infrared sensors and wireless communication modules to allow the robot to perform complicated, but useful tasks. Wireless communication is especially helpful due to the fact that this capability allows individual robots to not only communicate with one another, but be remotely controlled by a base station as well. The RoadRunner is intended to act autonomously within an alien environment. However, when used in conjunction with other robots of its own kind, the RoadRunner is also able to collaborate movement, share data and, possibly, even program one another.
Health-hazard evaluation report HETA 91-034-2114, Berry Building, Birmingham, Alabama
In response to a request from union and management personnel, a health hazard evaluation was conducted at the Berry Building, Birmingham, Alabama. Workers have reported recurring respiratory illnesses and eye irritation. The four story building was made of bricks. A furniture store and warehouse had occupied the building which then remained empty for some time before it was occupied by the Department of Labor (SIC-9199) in 1985. The carbon-dioxide (124389) concentrations measured during the survey were below 1000 parts per million. All areas studied, except one, were within guidelines for both temperature and relative humidity. Concentrations of respirable matter ranged from 3 to 48 micrograms per cubic meter. Leaking or standing water was not apparent, nor were there any visible signs of microbial contamination. Monitoring for airborne bioaerosols was not done. The author concludes that, although no health hazards were specifically identified, most workers had experienced symptoms consistent with sick building syndrome. Recommendations are made for proper balancing of the ventilation system and changes in the smoking policy.
Hanley, K.W.
Small intestinal permeability to mannitol and lactulose in the three ethnic groups resident in west Birmingham.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Asymptomatic residents of tropical countries have differences in small intestinal morphology and permeability compared with residents of temperate zones. The aim of this study was to investigate small intestinal permeability and morphology in three ethnic groups resident in Birmingham, UK. METHODS: 28 white patients, 101 Indian (Indian subcontinent), and 49 Afro-Caribbean adult patients with dyspepsia had endoscopic distal duodenal biopsies and a hyperosmolar lactulose/mannitol permeability test. Twenty normal white subjects had the permeability test. RESULTS: Lactulose/mannitol excretion ratios (LMER) were: white subjects 0.022 (median), white patients 0.022, Indians 0.031, Afro-Caribbeans 0.033. Differences between the immigrant groups and the two white groups were significant (p < 0.001); 33% of Indians and 45% of Afro-Caribbeans had LMER outside the range of the white groups. Afro-Caribbeans born in the UK had significantly lower LMER than those born abroad (p < 0.05); a similar trend was seen in Indians. Villous height/mucosal thickness ratios, calculated from small intestinal biopsy specimens, were lower in the immigrant groups and correlated inversely with LMER (r = 0.28; p < 0.05). Time resident in the tropics also correlated inversely with LMER. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant differences in small intestinal permeability and morphology between immigrants resident in a Western country and the native white population. The data suggested that these differences were related to environmental factors.
Iqbal, T H; Lewis, K O; Gearty, J C; Cooper, B T
Unmet need for medical care and safety net accessibility among Birmingham's homeless.
Although homeless individuals often experience health problems requiring care, there are limitations to available research concerning the scale of their needs and the accessibility of safety net agencies to meet them. Traditional access-to-care surveys calculate unmet need among all persons queried (rather than persons needing care), making it difficult to calculate what percentage of persons requiring care actually obtain it. Additionally, no research has compared the relative accessibility of safety net programs to homeless persons in need. This cross-sectional, community-based survey assessed the prevalence of unmet need for several specific types of health care and compared the accessibility of agencies in Birmingham, AL. Substantial proportions of respondents reported unmet needs for general medical care (46 %), specialty care (51 %), mental health care (51 %), dental care (62 %), medications (57 %), and care of a child (23 %). The most commonly mentioned sites where care was sought included a federally funded Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) program (59 %), a religious free clinic (31 %), and a public hospital emergency department (51 %). The HCH program was most commonly cited as the location where care, once sought, could not be obtained (15 %), followed by the county hospital primary care clinics (13 %). In this survey, unmet need was common for all types of care queried, including primary care. Key components of the safety net, including a federally funded homeless health care program, had suboptimum accessibility. PMID:23620012
Kertesz, Stefan G; McNeil, Whitney; Cash, Julie J; Desmond, Renee; McGwin, Gerald; Kelly, Jason; Baggett, Travis P
Preventive and Curative Care Utilization Among Mexican Immigrant Women in Birmingham, AL
This study aims to describe the utilization of curative and preventive care among Mexican immigrant women in the country of origin versus the US, and to identify factors associated with preventive and curative care utilization. A cross-sectional sample of 185 Mexican immigrant women living in Birmingham, AL between 2004 and 2005 were included in this study. Fisher�s Exact tests showed that there was a statistically significant difference between seeking curative care (p < 0.0001) and preventive care (p < 0.0001) in country of origin versus the US. Differences in the reasons for lack of utilization of both curative and preventive care were also observed in the US and the country of origin. These findings suggest that difference in healthcare-seeking behaviors and utilization among Mexican immigrant women between the US and their country of origin may be useful in the development of interventions aimed at increasing the use of preventive and curative care services to this immigrant population in the US.
Garces-Palacio, Isabel C.; Scarinci, Isabel
The Birmingham Registry for Twin and Heritability Studies (BiRTHS).
In this article we present the protocol of the Birmingham Registry for Twin Heritability Studies (BiRTHS), which aims to establish a long-term prospective twin registry with twins identified from the antenatal period and subjected to detailed follow-up. We plan to investigate the concordance in anthropometrics and early childhood phenotypes between 66 monozygotic and 154 dizygotic twin pairs in the first 2 years of recruitment. In this project we plan to determine the relative contributions of heritability and environment to fetal growth, birth size, growth in infancy and development up to 2 years of age in an ethnically mixed population. Twins will be assessed with the Griffitth's Mental Development Scales, which will enable us to obtain detailed information on development. As maternal depression may have an effect on the twins' neurodevelopment, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale will be used at various stages during pregnancy and after delivery to assess maternal depressive symptoms. The increasing prevalence of obesity in both adults and children has raised concerns about the effect of maternal obesity in pregnancy on fetal growth. The prospective study design gives us the opportunity to obtain data on maternal nutrition (reflected by body mass index) and ante- and postnatal growth and development of twins. PMID:17254429
Krone, Ruth E; Ewer, Andrew K; Barrett, Timothy G; Moy, Robert J; Bakour, Shagaf; Maher, Eamonn R; Thangaratinam, Shakila; Cox, Philip; Martin, Bill; Khan, Khalid S; Zeegers, Maurice P
The Birmingham Histopathology Data Pool: a co-operative project among 10 laboratories.
In 1970 the Birmingham Histopathology Data Pool was established to collect information on biopsies of surgical specimens from three hospitals. The scheme has gradually expanded and 10 hospitals now participate. The pathologist gives each specimen a numerical code based on the Systematised Nomenclature of Pathology (SNOP). The information is processed by computer and stored on cumulative magnetic tape file. At regular intervals (at three, six, and nine months) 'printouts' listing all the information recorded within the interval are produced and a cumulative print-out is issued when the information for a whole year is complete. The data pool system has provided accurate alphabetical and SNOP diagnostic files and has simplified retrieval of data for both follow-up and research purposes. The pathologist may use the computer to retrieve and analyse information from the data pool for this own use or on behalf of clinicians, but he may use information from laboratories other than his own for research purposes and publication only with the permission of the pathologists who submitted the data.
Codling, B W; Alexander, M K; Parker, R G; Curran, R C
Effects of Road Treatments on Road-Stream Connectivity
Unpaved roads area major source of sediment, particularly in forested watersheds. Road maintenance and rehabilitation treatments are often intended to reduce road sediment production and delivery, but there are almost no data on how these different treatments affect road-stream connectivity. This paper reports on short- and longer-term changes to road-stream connectivity resulting from different road treatments. The data were collected in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains in California by pre- and post-treatment surveys (short-term changes) and comparing connectivity among different road treatments (longer-term changes). In the southern Sierra Nevada grading and waterbar installation tripled road sediment production and increased the proportion of road segments with sediment plumes, but these actions did not significantly alter mean sediment plume length or the pre-treatment hydrologic connectivity of 27%. Roads with at least 20% gravel cover did not have significantly shorter sediment plumes or lower hydrologic connectivity. On the Lassen National Forest in northeastern California, road-stream connectivity was largely eliminated by outsloping and the installation of additional cross-drains, and was reduced from 23% to 13% by installing additional drainage dips. Comparisons between road treatments indicate that outsloping resulted in the lowest road-stream connectivity, followed by installing additional cross-drains, road closings, and rocking combined with additional drainage dips. For untreated road segments the amount of road-stream connectivity varied substantially over time, presumably in response to the interannual variations in the amount and intensity of precipitation. These results show that road-stream connectivity can be reduced by treatments that reduce the amount of concentrated runoff. Rocking and road closures also may reduce road-stream connectivity by decreasing the erodibility of the road surface and the amount of surface runoff. More costly treatments, such as road decommissioning, may be unable to fully disconnect roads that are in close proximity to streams. By collecting and compiling these types of data, we can better predict road-stream connectivity and the potential effectiveness of different road treatments.
MacDonald, L. H.; Donnellycolt, A.; Stafford, A.; Coe, D. B.
View east along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the ...
View east along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the north side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View northeast across Hyde Road showing a residenc on the ...
View northeast across Hyde Road showing a residenc on the east side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View southwest along Brown Road showing residential and commercial buildings ...
View southwest along Brown Road showing residential and commercial buildings on the north and south sides of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View southeast across Providence Road (Route 6) showing a residence ...
View southeast across Providence Road (Route 6) showing a residence on the south side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View northwest along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the ...
View northwest along Wolf Den Road showing residences on the north side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View southwest along Hartford Road (Route 6) showing residences on ...
View southwest along Hartford Road (Route 6) showing residences on the north side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View north along Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing residences on ...
View north along Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing residences on the east side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View southeast along Pomfret Road (Route 169) showing residence on ...
View southeast along Pomfret Road (Route 169) showing residence on the east side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View northeast along Pomfret Road (Route 169) showing rersidences on ...
View northeast along Pomfret Road (Route 169) showing rersidences on the east side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View north along Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing residences on west side of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
Atrial fibrillation amongst the Indo-Asian general practice population. The West Birmingham Atrial Fibrillation Project.
Whilst there are recognised ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease, with a higher prevalence of hypertension and complications such as stroke amongst black/Afro-Caribbean populations, and ischaemic heart disease being more prevalent amongst Indo-Asians, the literature describing the clinical epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) in non-caucasian groups is scarce. To survey the clinical features and management amongst Indo-Asian patients with known AF, we studied patients from six general practices in the west of Birmingham. The six general practices had a combined practice population of 25051, from which, the Indo-Asian population was 14670. A total of 12 Indo-Asian patients (six male, six female; mean age, 67 years; range, 42 to 95 years) with known AF were identified, suggesting a prevalence of AF in Indo-Asians aged >50 years of 0.6%. Six patients had chronic AF, two had recent onset (defined as onset
Lip, G Y; Bawden, L; Hodson, R; Rutland, E; Snatchfold, J; Beevers, D G
Lip, G Y; Bawden, L; Hodson, R; Rutland, E; Snatchfold, J; Beevers, D G
Race, consanguinity and social features in Birmingham babies: a basis for prospective study.
STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of consanguinity on children's health. DESIGN--The study is a prospective survey from birth to five years of a cohort of babies born in a multiracial community. This report details the initial findings on consanguinity. SETTING--Participating families live predominantly in three health districts of Birmingham, and were recruited in three local maternity hospitals. PARTICIPANTS--Babies of 2432 European mothers, 509 Afro-Caribbean mothers, 625 Indian mothers, 956 Pakistani mothers, and 216 Bangladeshi mothers have been enrolled in the study. Eighty mothers refused to participate. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS--Sociodemographic information was obtained using a structured questionnaire administered at interview. Interview data were supplemented with obstetric information from the medical records. The highest prevalence of parental consanguinity was in Pakistani Muslims (69%), whereas in Muslims from other countries it was 23%, and it was less than 1% in non-Muslims. In the majority of consanguineous Muslim pedigrees the degree of inbreeding was greater than that for first cousin parents. CONCLUSIONS--This prospective study will allow an assessment to be made about any ill health in childhood arising from parental consanguinity, about whether screening programmes are indicated for particular autosomal recessive diseases, and about whether premarital health education might be beneficial. The study has also documented parental ages in different races and this, together with the levels of parental consanguinity in all races, will be useful in genetic methods for assessing the frequency of recessive genes, the possibility of genetic heterogeneity, and whether or not parental age effect exists for new mutations of specific genetic disorders.
Bundey, S; Alam, H; Kaur, A; Mir, S; Lancashire, R J
The ten-year survival of the Birmingham hip resurfacing: an independent series.
Recent events have highlighted the importance of implant design for survival and wear-related complications following metal-on-metal hip resurfacing arthroplasty. The mid-term survival of the most widely used implant, the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR), has been described by its designers. The aim of this study was to report the ten-year survival and patient-reported functional outcome of the BHR from an independent centre. In this cohort of 554 patients (646 BHRs) with a mean age of 51.9 years (16.5 to 81.5) followed for a mean of eight years (1 to 12), the survival and patient-reported functional outcome depended on gender and the size of the implant. In female hips (n = 267) the ten-year survival was 74% (95% confidence interval (CI) 83 to 91), the ten-year revision rate for pseudotumour was 7%, the mean Oxford hip score (OHS) was 43 (SD 8) and the mean UCLA activity score was 6.4 (SD 2). In male hips (n = 379) the ten-year survival was 95% (95% CI 92.0 to 97.4), the ten-year revision rate for pseudotumour was 1.7%, the mean OHS was 45 (SD 6) and the mean UCLA score was 7.6 (SD 2). In the most demanding subgroup, comprising male patients aged < 50 years treated for primary osteoarthritis, the survival was 99% (95% CI 97 to 100). This study supports the ongoing use of resurfacing in young active men, who are a subgroup of patients who tend to have problems with conventional THR. In contrast, the results in women have been poor and we do not recommend metal-on-metal resurfacing in women. Continuous follow-up is recommended because of the increasing incidence of pseudotumour with the passage of time. PMID:22933488
Murray, D W; Grammatopoulos, G; Pandit, H; Gundle, R; Gill, H S; McLardy-Smith, P
The five-year results of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing arthroplasty: an independent series.
Few independent studies have reported the outcome of resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip. The aim of this study was to report the five-year clinical outcome and seven-year survival of an independent series. A total of 610 Birmingham Hip Resurfacing arthroplasties were performed in 532 patients with a mean age of 51.8 years (16.5 to 81.6). They were followed for between two and eight years; 107 patients (120 hips) had been followed up for more than five years. Two patients were lost to follow-up. At a minimum of five years' follow-up, 79 of 85 hips (93%) had an excellent or good outcome according to the Harris hip score. The mean Oxford hip score was 16.1 points (sd 7.7) and the mean University of California Los Angeles activity score was 6.6 points (sd 1.9). There were no patients with definite radiological evidence of loosening or of narrowing of the femoral neck exceeding 10% of its width. There were 23 revisions (3.8%), giving an overall survival of 95% (95% confidence interval 85.3 to 99.2) at seven years. Fractured neck of femur in 12 hips was the most common indication for revision, followed by aseptic loosening in four. In three hips (three patients) (0.5%), failure was possibly related to metal debris. Considering that these patients are young and active these results are good, and support the use of resurfacing. Further study is needed to address the early failures, particularly those related to fracture and metal debris. PMID:18378915
Steffen, R T; Pandit, H P; Palan, J; Beard, D J; Gundle, R; McLardy-Smith, P; Murray, D W; Gill, H S
Off-Road Engineering
This video, from WGBH, takes a look at the Baha SAE off-road competition, organized by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) International. The video explains how students take an off-road vehicle all the way from the design phase to completion and the competition. Here, visitors will see the different tools and techniques that students use to design and build their vehicles. This video is helpful for anyone looking into the automotive engineering field and the skills necessary to be successful in it. Educators will also find a background essay, discussion questions, and standards alignment for the material. Running time for the video is 3:52.
Disclosed are improvments to a rapid road repair vehicle comprising an improved cleaning device arrangement, two dispensing arrays for filling defects more rapidly and efficiently, an array of pre-heaters to heat the road way surface in order to help the repair material better bond to the repaired surface, a means for detecting, measuring, and computing the number, location and volume of each of the detected surface imperfection, and a computer means schema for controlling the operation of the plurality of vehicle subsystems. The improved vehicle is, therefore, better able to perform its intended function of filling surface imperfections while moving over those surfaces at near normal traffic speeds.
Mara, Leo M. (Livermore, CA)
ROAD: A New Spatial Object Search Framework for Road Networks
In this paper, we present a new system framework called ROAD for spatial object search on road networks. ROAD is extensible to diverse object types and efficient for processing various location-dependent spatial queries (LDSQs), as it maintains objects separately from a given network and adopts an effective search space pruning technique. Based on our analysis on the two essential operations
Ken C. K. Lee; Wang-Chien Lee; Baihua Zheng; Yuan Tian
Road Design Management Research Project.
A road design management research project was initiated to design and apply research techniques directed toward improving work systems and total management systems of road design functions in the Montana Department of Highways. The processes of the planni...
R. E. Jorgensen
Gravel Roads Management: Volume 1.
This report establishes procedures for managing unsealed dirt and gravel roads, with a primary focus on smaller agencies, such as Wyoming counties, that must manage their roads with very limited resources. To accomplish this, several methodologies and rec...
G. Huntington K. Ksabati
On the Road
Veteran development officers say the experience of visiting and traveling to different places or countries often feels like an endless cycle of getting lost, missing flights, and eating midnight dinners from hotel vending machines. Despite ongoing travel challenges, experienced road warriors have learned how to maximize their effectiveness,�
Collins, Mary Ellen
The Digital Silk Road
Existing and proposed mechanisms for digital money all require large overhead to transfer money between parties. This overhead makes them unsuitable for extremely low cost activities, such as delivering and routing packets. The digital silk road is a proposed money system with extremely low transaction cost built into the communication protocols. The money introduced by this system is much more
Norman Hardy; Eric Dean Tribble
Lilac Road Overcrossing Study.
Lilac Road Overcrossing, a 695' long concrete arch bridge, with box-shaped ribs and superstructure, was designed using several cross-sectional configurations of variable depths. One of the box sections employed consisted of top and bottom slabs with a mid...
M. R. Wallace
El Azhar road tunnels
In the heart of the Fatimide area of Cairo, Egypt, architectural treasures are scattered, which need to be valued. The Egyptian authorities have thus decided to build two road tunnels to provide direct communication between Salah Salem street and Opera Square, to reduce the above ground traffic which in turn will allow valuation of this district for tourism and will
P. Ramond; S. Guillien
Commercial road vehicle noise
A survey of the characteristics of the noise emitted by commercial vehicles has been made. The most important single parameter determining the noise of a modern diesel-engined vehicle is the engine speed. All of the other parameters such as load, road speed, etc., have only a secondary effect. The sources of noise on the vehicle are reviewed and it is
P. E. Waters
Stochastic Road Shape Estimation
We describe a new system for estimating road shape ahead of a vehicle for the purpose of driver assistance. The method utilises a single on board colour camera, together with inertial and velocity information, to estimate both the position of the host car with respect to the lane it is follow- ing and also the width and curvature of the
Ben Southall; Camillo J. Taylor
Road Detection on Radar Imagery.
Detecting a road network on radar imagery is becoming a new area in remote sensing. This report is an attempt to build a facet-based road network detection procedure for radar imagery. This procedure includes the line detection part and the road detection...
J. J. Kim R. M. Haralick
Real Time Road Signs Recognition
This paper presents a road signs detection and classification system based on a three-step algorithm composed of color segmentation, shape recognition, and a neural network. The final goal of this algorithm is to detect and classify almost all road signs present along Italian roads. Color segmentation was suggested by the aim to achieve real time execution, since color-based segmentation is
Alberto Broggi; Pietro Cerri; Paolo Medici; Pier Paolo Porta; Guido Ghisio
Competition Issues in Road Transport
The road transport sector, an essential mode of transport in OECD economies, is conventionally divided into two, largely unrelated, parts � the road freight industry and the road passenger industry. The sectors under discussion � trucking, buses, and taxis � have quite different characteristics and scope for competition, which reflect inter alia differences in the timeliness and economies of scale
View northwest along Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Unitarian ...
View northwest along Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Unitarian Church and the Federated Church of Christ - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View southeast to Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Israel ...
View southeast to Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing the Israel Putnam Memorial - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
Dhahran Roads (A)
Cummins, Epley, and Mayo, a US-based construction firm, has been selected as the prime contractor for a 168-million-riyal road-reconstruction project in Saudi Arabia. Based on company cost estimates, the project provides a 15% return on costs, well below the required 18%. Because of a substantial advance payment and the specific timing of the payments, the project's IRR is 40%. This
Sherwood Frey; Michel Schlosser
Road traffic injuries in Mozambique.
Road traffic injuries affect the economy, health and quality of life of the people of Mozambique. Current road safety programmes are inadequate and inefficient given the magnitude of the problem. Data reported on road traffic crashes in the period 1990 to 2000 from the National Institute for Road Safety, the traffic police and the Central Hospital of Maputo were reviewed. The burden of road traffic injuries in Mozambique is rising, with at least three people killed daily. The age group most affected is 25-38 (39.35%), followed by 16-24 (20.79%). The main causes of crashes include reckless driving, drunken driving, roads with potholes, inadequate signs, lack of protection for pedestrians, and inadequate traffic law enforcement. However, the data are not adequate to reveal the true magnitude of the problem. Data collected by different sources are incomplete and not coordinated with other sources and databases. In urban areas, however, better response to crashes, treatment of the injured, reporting and data collection is attributable to a greater concentration of police and medical facilities. Road traffic safety programmes in Mozambique are inadequate and inefficient, starting with the data collection system. Improvement of injury surveillance systems is needed to help make road traffic safety a national development agenda priority and for developing and implementing road safety policies. For road safety programmes to be effective, government must facilitate stakeholders' involvement, and the clear definition of government activities, civil society activities and public-private partnerships need to be established. PMID:12772487
Rom�o, Francelina; Nizamo, Hanifa; Mapasse, Domingos; Rafico, Momede Muss�; Jos�, Jo�o; Mataruca, Sim�o; Efron, M L�cia; Omondi, Lucas O; Leifert, Thelma; Bicho, Joaquim M L Marungo
DNA strand breaks and adducts determined in feral and caged chub ( Leuciscus cephalus) exposed to rivers exhibiting variable water quality around Birmingham, UK
This study forms part of an investigation into the effects on fish of immersion in three rivers around Birmingham, UK. The rivers Blythe, Cole and Tame exhibit relatively high, intermediate and poor overall water quality, respectively, according to combined levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), as well as heavy metals. Specifically, biomarkers of
Matthew J Winter; Norman Day; Ruth A Hayes; Edwin W Taylor; Patrick J Butler; J. Kevin Chipman
Mount Pleasant United Working Men's Club: Report of a Formal Investigation into the Mount Pleasant United Working Men's Club, Edgbaston, Birmingham.
The Commission for Racial Equality held a formal investigation into complaints of racial discrimination in membership and visitor practices at the United Working Men's Club of Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. This report presents the oral testimony taken at the hearings and the conclusions of the Commission. At the end of the investigation the Club�
Commission for Racial Equality, London (England).
Comparison of time taken from initial presentation to histological diagnosis of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) in Birmingham, United Kingdom and Strasbourg, France
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate possible delays in referral time for Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients diagnosed at two similar neurosurgical centres (in Birmingham, UK and Strasbourg, France) and their impact on survival. Differences in the referral patterns for GBM patients within these healthcare systems may affect subsequent management and are potential targets to optimise the care of
Ammar Natalwala; Viren Bharkhada; Georges Noel; Garth Cruickshank
The Catastrophic State of Catastrophic Health Care Coverage. Hearing before the Special Committee on Aging. United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session (Birmingham, Alabama).
This document presents witnesses' testimonies and prepared statements from the Senate hearing held in Birmingham, Alabama to alert the public to the problems associated with catastrophic illness; learn what community services exist for older adults; and clarify what requirements for services, research, and education must be met to formulate an�
Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Increasing Diversity at the PhD Level in Astronomy: The Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program
We briefly review the current status of underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences: The underrepresentation of Black-, Hispanic-, and Native-Americans is an order of magnitude problem. We then describe the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program as a successful model for effective partnerships with minority-serving institutions toward addressing this problem. Since 2004 the program has admitted 60 students, 54 of them underrepresented minorities (60% female), with a retention rate of 92%. The program leads the nation in master�s degrees in physics for African Americans, is one of the top ten producers of physics master�s degrees among all US citizens in general, and has become the nation�s top producer of underrepresented minority PhDs in physics, astronomy, and materials science. We summarize the main features of the program including two of its core strategies: (1) partnering a minority-serving institution and a major research university through collaborative research, and (2) using the master�s degree as a deliberate stepping stone to the PhD. We also specifically discuss one of the emerging core theories of the program: the concept of properly identifying students with 'unrealized or unrecognized potential'. We discuss our methods to recognize and select for unrealized potential during the admissions process, and how we cultivate that unrealized potential toward development of successful scientists and leaders.
Stassun, Keivan; Holley-Bockelmann, K.; Berlind, A. A.
Computer Recognition of Roads from Satellite Pictures
A program which recognizes real roads, their intersections, and objects which are road-like is presented. Although the work has been strongly motivated by the real roads as they are seen from the ERTS satellite, the visual model of a road can be used for recognition of any road-like objects. This model is structured in such a way that it can
Ruzena Bajcsy; Mohamad Tavakoli
The road not taken*
The annual Janet Doe Lecture was established in l966 to honor Janet Doe, emerita librarian of the New York Academy of Medicine. The lecture focuses on either the history or philosophy of health sciences librarianship. This lecture addresses three fundamental values of the field, highlighting basic beliefs of the profession that are at risk: privacy, intellectual property rights, and access to quality information. It calls upon readers to make the everyday choices required to keep the value system of health sciences librarianship in place. Robert Frost's poignant poem �The Road Not Taken� provides the metaphor for examining choices in an information economy.
Messerle, Judith
Low-frequency, low-degree solar p-mode properties from 22 years of Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network data
The solar low-degree low-frequency modes of oscillation are of particular interest as their frequencies can be measured with very high precision and hence provide good constraints on seismic models. Here we detect and characterize these valuable measures of the solar interior from a 22 yr Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network data set. We report mode frequencies, line widths, heights, amplitudes, and rotational splitting, all with robust uncertainties. The new values of frequency, rotational splitting, amplitude, and line width we provide will help place new constraints on hydrostatic and rotational structure, plus diagnostics of near-surface convection. Further to this, by assuming simple power laws, we extrapolate mode properties to lower frequencies. We demonstrate that the low-l low-frequency p modes have a low signal-to-noise ratio and that this cannot be overcome simply by continued observation. It will be necessary to observe the Sun in novel ways to `beat' the intrinsic granulation noise.
Davies, G. R.; Broomhall, A. M.; Chaplin, W. J.; Elsworth, Y.; Hale, S. J.
25. White Plains Road Bridge in foreground; Unionport Road Bridge ...
25. White Plains Road Bridge in foreground; Unionport Road Bridge in background. Van Nest, Bronx Co., NY. Sec. 4207, MP 12.75./78. - Northeast Railroad Corridor, Amtrak Route between New Jersey/New York & New York/Connecticut State Lines, New York, New York County, NY
On the road to prevention: road injury and health promotion.
Road traffic injuries are already the leading cause of injury mortality and morbidity globally and by 2030 are predicted to be the fifth leading cause of mortality in the world. Australia has seen a dramatic reduction in road deaths and serious injuries since the 1970s and holds an international reputation for road traffic injury prevention due, in part, to its success in pioneering the multidisciplinary and intersectoral approach needed to address this significant issue and by applying an evidence-led approach to policy development. The paper will discuss Australia's early success in road traffic injury prevention (road safety), particularly the achievements following the implementation of targeted programs that focussed on road user behaviours for which health promotion played a role. The most successful of these programs was the introduction of comprehensive seat belt laws, random breath testing and more recently, strategic speed enforcement programs. Amid an array of significant challenges faced by the transport system in the future, the rapid development in information and communication technologies applied to transport is likely to provide the next generation of road safety benefits. The potential for a semi-autonomous transport system is likely to provide the next significant decline in road fatalities and serious injuries over the next 2 decades and the role of health promotion in relation to raising community engagement and building coalitions to increase uptake of new technologies will be discussed. PMID:24739772
Stevenson, Mark; Thompson, Jason
Hampton Roads Naval Museum
The region known as Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia has seen many a naval battle over the past several centuries. Today, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum continues to offer historic and contemporary exhibits that illustrate different facets of the region's naval history. Interestingly enough, the museum is located inside another museum (Nauticus), and admission is free. Visitors to the museum's website will find a host of interactive online exhibits, educational resources, and information on the USS Wisconsin, which is docked alongside the museum. To start, visitors may wish to click on the "Online Extras" section. Here they can click their way through an interactive map of the Naval Air Station Historic District, learn about the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, and check out the "Hands-on-History" area. This last area is quite well-developed, and it includes photographs of the Navy's Mid-Atlantic region and a cultural resources glossary. Finally, visitors won't want to miss the electronic version of "The Daybook", which is the Museum's quarterly journal of local naval history. [KMG
24 CFR 1710.110 - Roads.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR
...subdivision provided by public or private roads? What type of...lots (e.g., road on recorded easement...dedicated to the public; right of way dedicated...maintenance? If the roads are to be maintained by a public...
View southwest along Route Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing commercial ...
View southwest along Route Canterbury Road (Route 169) showing commercial and residential buildings on the east and west sides of the road - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
View northeast along Wauregan Road (Route 205) showing a residence ...
View northeast along Wauregan Road (Route 205) showing a residence on east side of the road from just south of the intersection of Routes 205 and 169 - Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
The Demand for Road Aggregates.
The report examines the broad pattern of aggregate usage in roads in Great Britain. It is estimated that, at present, about 49 million tons of aggregates are used each year in all road works, and that this figure could rise to about 85 million tons per an...
A. Please D. C. Pike
Grade data collection with GPS equipment is important because the load model component of the MEASURE model uses grade to predict the vehicle load. To date, data collection has been conducted for high priority roads and this task will include other roads not included in the firs...
Road sign detection and recognition
Road sign detection is important to a robotic vehicle that automatically drives on roads. In this paper, road signs are detected by means of rules that restrict color and shape and require signs to appear only in limited regions in an image. They are then recognized using a template matching method and tracked through a sequence of images. The method is fast and can easily be modified to include new classes of signs. The road sign detection is used as part of a control system that autonomously drives a vehicle over paved roads. The primary application is to detect intersections, which are usually marked with street name signs or stop signs. An estimate of the range to the sign is computed based on the size of the sign and provides a cue to intersection detection software and driving control.
Shneier, Michael
Road safety barriers
US Patent & Trademark Office Database
A road safety barrier having four or more ropes 4-7 supported by posts 1-3 rigidly mounted on or in the ground is described. Each rope is held in tension against the posts and follows a sinuous path between the posts. The ropes are tensioned against the posts and this gives rise to a combined frictional resistance to displacement of the ropes relative to each post along the length of the safety barrier. The structure of at least some of the posts and/or their mounting with respect to the ground defines a minimum bending yield strength in a direction along the length of the barrier. This minimum bending yield strength is greater than the bending moment resulting from the combined frictional resistance forces acting on the post.
Humanities on the Road
The goal of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council is to encourage lifelong learning, and one way they accomplish this goal is by sponsoring the Humanities on the Road. The show is an "arts and culture-themed television series showcas[ing] humanities presentations at cultural sites across Pennsylvania." The accompanying website provides visitors access to the episodes of the series, along with text about the content of each show. Visitors should check out the episode "May I Have the Pleasure of This Dance?", which was filmed at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple. A couple dances their way through history through waltzes, tangos, ragtime, and more. The "Behind the Scenes" tab near the top of the page offers visitors a glimpse into the world of the crew of the show, including interviews with the host, the series producer, the production assistant, and others.
Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History.
Explores the prehistory of the Silk Roads, reexamines their structure and history in the classical era, and explores shifts in their geography in the last one thousand years. Explains that a revised understanding of the Silk Roads demonstrates how the Afro-Eurasian land mass has been linked by networks of exchange since the Bronze Age. (CMK)
Christian, David
12. Cades Cove Road, view toward entrance with ruts in ...
12. Cades Cove Road, view toward entrance with ruts in road. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
Analysis of the Impact of the Birmingham OwnHealth Program on Secondary Care Utilization and Cost: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Abstract Background: This study aimed to assess the impact of the Birmingham OwnHealth� program (a partnership among the National Health Service [NHS] Birmingham East and North, formerly Birmingham East and North PCT, as the commissioner, Pfizer Health Solutions [Tadworth, United Kingdom] as the primary contractor, and NHS Direct as a subcontractor) on the number of unscheduled secondary care spells and the cost of care for patients with long-term conditions. This article reports a retrospective cohort study conducted at the NHS Birmingham East and North. Subjects and Methods: Adults with at least 1 of 10 defined long-term conditions were eligible for inclusion. Patients in the OwnHealth program were compared with those in a matched comparison group from a population who were eligible but did not enroll in the program. The main outcome measures were the difference in the number of secondary care spells (defined as the experience between hospital admission and discharge) between the OwnHealth group and the comparison group and the difference in the cost of care (calculated from the cost of activities during secondary care spells). Results: The mean number of secondary care spells per person per year in the OwnHealth group was 0.61 (standard deviation [SD] 1.35) compared with 0.84 (SD 1.49) in the comparison group (p<0.0005). This constituted a 27% reduction in secondary care spells per person per year. The mean cost of secondary care spells per person per year in the OwnHealth group was $1,305 (SD $3,138) compared with $1,678 (SD $3,485) in the comparison group (p<0.0005). Discussion: This difference in costs constituted a 27% reduction in utilization and 22% reduction in cost of secondary care with the OwnHealth program. Conclusions: Telehealth intervention can reduce the cost of secondary care of some patients with long-term conditions.
Nymark, Liv Solvar; Davies, Paul; Shabestari, Omid
Effect of telephone health coaching (Birmingham OwnHealth) on hospital use and associated costs: cohort study with matched controls
Objectives To test the effect of a telephone health coaching service (Birmingham OwnHealth) on hospital use and associated costs. Design Analysis of person level administrative data. Difference-in-difference analysis was done relative to matched controls. Setting Community based intervention operating in a large English city with industry. Participants 2698 patients recruited from local general practices before 2009 with heart failure, coronary heart disease, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and a history of inpatient or outpatient hospital use. These individuals were matched on a 1:1 basis to control patients from similar areas of England with respect to demographics, diagnoses of health conditions, previous hospital use, and a predictive risk score. Intervention Telephone health coaching involved a personalised care plan and a series of outbound calls usually scheduled monthly. Median length of time enrolled on the service was 25.5 months. Control participants received usual healthcare in their areas, which did not include telephone health coaching. Main outcome measures Number of emergency hospital admissions per head over 12 months after enrolment. Secondary metrics calculated over 12 months were: hospital bed days, elective hospital admissions, outpatient attendances, and secondary care costs. Results In relation to diagnoses of health conditions and other baseline variables, matched controls and intervention patients were similar before the date of enrolment. After this point, emergency admissions increased more quickly among intervention participants than matched controls (difference 0.05 admissions per head, 95% confidence interval 0.00 to 0.09, P=0.046). Outpatient attendances also increased more quickly in the intervention group (difference 0.37 attendances per head, 0.16 to 0.58, P<0.001), as did secondary care costs (difference �175 per head, �22 to �328, P=0.025). Checks showed that we were unlikely to have missed reductions in emergency admissions because of unobserved differences between intervention and matched control groups. Conclusions The Birmingham OwnHealth telephone health coaching intervention did not lead to the expected reductions in hospital admissions or secondary care costs over 12 months, and could have led to increases.
Road impacts in Brazilian Amazonia
We examine the evidence on Amazonian road impacts with a strong emphasis on context. Impacts of a new road, on either deforestation or socioeconomic outcomes, depend upon the conditions into which roads are placed. Conditions that matter include the biophysical setting, such as slope, rainfall, and soil quality, plus externally determined socioeconomic factors like national policies, exchange rates, and the global prices of beef and soybeans. Influential conditions also include all prior infrastructural investments and clearing rates. Where development has already arrived, with significant economic activity and clearing, roads may decrease forest less and raise output more than where development is arriving, while in pristine areas, short-run clearing may be lower than immense long-run impacts. Such differences suggest careful consideration of where to invest further in transport.
Pfaff, Alexander; Barbieri, Alisson; Ludewigs, Thomas; Merry, Frank; Perz, Stephen; Reis, Eustaquio
The Physics of Road Runner
This page provides clips from Warner Brothers Road Runner and Coyote cartoons. Suggestions for use are included next to each clip. A Microsoft PowerPoint presentation based on the clips is also provided.
Burns, Dan
FHWA Road Tunnel Design Guidelines.
This document provides technical criteria and guidance for the planning and design of road tunnels. Specific areas covered include planning, studies and investigations, design, and design of construction, of tunnels and shafts. Performance concepts and pr...
D. Oyenuga
Guidelines on Road Design Aesthetics.
This report sets out guidelines and internationally accepted principles on the aesthetic design of roads. It uses many photographs and sketches to illustrate the poor aesthetic effects resulting from uncoordinated vertical and horizontal alignment and edg...
N. Hyde
The Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) system contains digital descriptions of water and transportation features - rivers, lakes, roads, railroads, etc. - as well as major power lines and pipelines. This coverage is a subset of the larger TIGER ...
34. COULTERVILLE ROAD AT CENTER AND EL PORTAL ROAD/HIGHWAY 140 AT BOTTOM. ROCK SLIDES ARE AT THE COOKIE CLIFFS, BOTTOM RIGHT. NOTE OLD STAGE COACH ROAD JUST ABOVE THE EL PORTAL ROAD IN LOWER RIGHT TO LEFT OF ROCK SLIDE AREA. - Yosemite National Park Roads & Bridges, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA
Automatic inspection of road surfaces
Traditional inspections of road surfaces for the condition assessment and for locating cracks are time-consuming, expensive and can prove to be dangerous. What is ideally required would be a fully equipped automated inspecting vehicle capable of high precision location and characterization of road surface cracks over the width of the road (single pass). We propose an automatic crack monitoring system (akin to HARRIS - UK) with the video-based subsystem substituted by Global Positioning Systems for more accurate positioning. Besides, our technique avoids the storage of large volumes of scanned images of 'acceptable' road surface conditions. A pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) is used as a preprocessor for each scanned image to detect cracks while another PCNN segments this image to characterize identified defects. The latter image is then stored as binary image along with the GPS data. The type of cracks is later identified (offline) from the recorded binary images. This mode of data collection leads to a more accurate, less costly and faster automated system. Our results for road surface (concrete and bituminous) images reveal the suitability of this novel technique for a fully automated road inspection system for crack identification and characterization.
Rughooputh, Harry C.; Rughooputh, Soonil D.; Kinser, Jason M.
Ambulance call-outs and response times in Birmingham and the impact of extreme weather and climate change.
Although there has been some research on the impact of extreme weather on the number of ambulance call-out incidents, especially heat waves, there has been very little research on the impact of cold weather on ambulance call-outs and response times. In the UK, there is a target response rate of 75% of life threatening incidents (Category A) that must be responded to within 8 min. This paper compares daily air temperature data with ambulance call-out data for Birmingham over a 5-year period (2007-2011). A significant relationship between extreme weather and increased ambulance call-out and response times can clearly be shown. Both hot and cold weather have a negative impact on response times. During the heat wave of August 2003, the number of ambulance call-outs increased by up to a third. In December 2010 (the coldest December for more than 100 years), the response rate fell below 50% for 3 days in a row (18 December-20 December 2010) with a mean response time of 15 min. For every reduction of air temperature by 1�C there was a reduction of 1.3% in performance. Improved weather forecasting and the take up of adaptation measures, such as the use of winter tyres, are suggested for consideration as management tools to improve ambulance response resilience during extreme weather. Also it is suggested that ambulance response times could be used as part of the syndromic surveillance system at the Health Protection Agency. PMID:23447548
Thornes, John Edward; Fisher, Paul Anthony; Rayment-Bishop, Tracy; Smith, Christopher
Including the urban heat island in spatial heat health risk assessment strategies: a case study for Birmingham, UK
Background Heatwaves present a significant health risk and the hazard is likely to escalate with the increased future temperatures presently predicted by climate change models. The impact of heatwaves is often felt strongest in towns and cities where populations are concentrated and where the climate is often unintentionally modified to produce an urban heat island effect; where urban areas can be significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The purpose of this interdisciplinary study is to integrate remotely sensed urban heat island data alongside commercial social segmentation data via a spatial risk assessment methodology in order to highlight potential heat health risk areas and build the foundations for a climate change risk assessment. This paper uses the city of Birmingham, UK as a case study area. Results When looking at vulnerable sections of the population, the analysis identifies a concentration of "very high" risk areas within the city centre, and a number of pockets of "high risk" areas scattered throughout the conurbation. Further analysis looks at household level data which yields a complicated picture with a considerable range of vulnerabilities at a neighbourhood scale. Conclusions The results illustrate that a concentration of "very high" risk people live within the urban heat island, and this should be taken into account by urban planners and city centre environmental managers when considering climate change adaptation strategies or heatwave alert schemes. The methodology has been designed to be transparent and to make use of powerful and readily available datasets so that it can be easily replicated in other urban areas.
Chaco Roads Project Phase 1: A Reappraisal of Prehistoric Roads in the San Juan Basin 1983.
Most previous field research on Chacoan roads has focused on roads recognized in and around Chaco Canyon. In addition, a number of previous studies have incorporated the presumed road network into systemic interpretations of the relationship between the c...
C. Kincaid
On the Road Performance Tests of Electric Test Vehicle for Correlation with Road Load Simulator.
A dynamometer (road load simulator) is used to test and evaluate electric vehicle propulsion systems. To improve correlation between system tests on the road load simulator and on the road, similar performance tests are conducted using the same vehicle. T...
M. O. Dustin R. J. Slavik
Encapsulating Urban Traffic Rhythms into Road Networks
Using road GIS (geographical information systems) data and travel demand data for two U.S. urban areas, the dynamical driver sources of each road segment were located. A method to target road clusters closely related to urban traffic congestion was then developed to improve road network efficiency. The targeted road clusters show different spatial distributions at different times of a day, indicating that our method can encapsulate dynamical travel demand information into the road networks. As a proof of concept, when we lowered the speed limit or increased the capacity of road segments in the targeted road clusters, we found that both the number of congested roads and extra travel time were effectively reduced. In addition, the proposed modeling framework provided new insights on the optimization of transport efficiency in any infrastructure network with a specific supply and demand distribution.
Wang, Junjie; Wei, Dong; He, Kun; Gong, Hang; Wang, Pu
Road Nail: Experimental Solar Powered Intelligent Road Marking System
Driving in low visibility conditions (night time, fog or heavy precipitation) is particularly challenging task with an increased probability of traffic accidents and possible injuries. Road Nail is a solar powered intelligent road marking system of wirelessly networked signaling devices that improve driver safety in low visibility conditions along hazardous roadways. Nails or signaling devices are autonomous nodes with capability to accumulate energy, exchange wireless messages, detect approaching vehicles and emit signalization light. We have built an experimental test-bed that consists of 20 nodes and a cellular gateway. Implementation details of the above system, including extensive measurements and performance evaluations in realistic field deployments are presented. A novel distributed network topology discovery scheme is proposed which integrates both sensor and wireless communication aspects, where nodes act autonomously. Finally, integration of the Road Nail system with the cellular network and the Internet is described.
Samard�ija, Dragan; Tesli?, Nikola; Todorovi?, Branislav M.; Kova?, Erne; Isailovi?, ?or?e; Miladinovi?, Bojan
China takes to the roads.
China is undergoing rapid motorisation--motor vehicle registrations are growing at a rate of 10%-20% a year. Road trauma is already a major public health problem, and road deaths, officially estimated to be around 50,000 a year, will almost certainly rise with increasing motorisation. China, with its millions of bicycles, currently has one of the most environmentally friendly transportation systems on the planet. However, as the trend towards car travel continues, the problems of congestion and environmental pollution so evident in the West will also become critical public health issues in China. Images FIG 2 FIG 3
Roberts, I.
Modern and fossil contributions to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in PM?.? from North Birmingham, Alabama in the southeastern U.S.
Analyzing the radiocarbon ((14)C) content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmospheric particulate matter can provide estimates on the source contributions from biomass burning versus fossil fuel. The relative importance of these two sources to ambient PAHs varies considerably across regions and even countries, and hence there is a pressing need to apportion these sources. In this study, we advanced the radiocarbon analysis from bulk carbon to compound class specific radiocarbon analysis (CCSRA) to determine ?(14)C and ?(13)C values of PAHs in PM(2.5) samples for investigating biomass burning and fossil fuel source contributions to PAHs from one of the Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) sites in North Birmingham (BHM), Alabama during winter (December 2004-February 2005) and summer (June-August 2005) by accelerator mass spectrometry. To compare our ambient samples to known sources, we collected and analyzed fenceline samples from the vicinity of a coke plant in BHM. As expected, PAHs from the coke plant fenceline samples had very low radiocarbon levels. Its ?(14)C varied from -990 to -970�, indicating that 97 to 99% were of fossil source. PAHs in the ambient PM(2.5) had ?(14)C from -968 to -911 �, indicating that 92-97% of PAHs were from fossil fuel combustion. These levels indicated the dominance of fossil sources of ambient PAHs. The radiocarbon level of ambient PAHs was higher in winter than in summer. Winter samples exhibited depleted ?(13)C value and enriched ?(14)C value because of the increased contribution of PAHs from biomass burning source. However, biomass burning contributed more to heavier PAHs (modern source accounting for 6-8%) than lighter ones with a modern contribution of 3%. PMID:22201480
Xu, Li; Zheng, Mei; Ding, Xiang; Edgerton, Eric S; Reddy, Christopher M
Prediction of ESRD and Death Among People With CKD: The Chronic Renal Impairment in Birmingham (CRIB) Prospective Cohort Study
Background Validated prediction scores are required to assess the risks of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and death in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Study Design Prospective cohort study with validation in a separate cohort. Setting & Participants Cox regression was used to assess the relevance of baseline characteristics to risk of ESRD (mean follow-up, 4.1 years) and death (mean follow-up, 6.0 years) in 382 patients with stages 3-5 CKD not initially on dialysis therapy in the Chronic Renal Impairment in Birmingham (CRIB) Study. Resultant risk prediction equations were tested in a separate cohort of 213 patients with CKD (the East Kent cohort). Factors 44 baseline characteristics (including 30 blood and urine assays). Outcomes ESRD and all-cause mortality. Results In the CRIB cohort, 190 patients reached ESRD (12.1%/y) and 150 died (6.5%/y). Each 30% lower baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate was associated with a 3-fold higher ESRD rate and a 1.3-fold higher death rate. After adjustment for each other, only baseline creatinine level, serum phosphate level, urinary albumin-creatinine ratio, and female sex remained strongly (P < 0.01) predictive of ESRD. For death, age, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, troponin T level, and cigarette smoking remained strongly predictive of risk. Using these factors to predict outcomes in the East Kent cohort yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ie, C statistic) of 0.91 (95% CI, 0.87-0.96) for ESRD and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75-0.89) for death. Limitations Other important factors may have been missed because of limited study power. Conclusions Simple laboratory measures of kidney and cardiac function plus age, sex, and smoking history can be used to help identify patients with CKD at highest risk of ESRD and death. Larger cohort studies are required to further validate these results.
Landray, Martin J.; Emberson, Jonathan R.; Blackwell, Lisa; Dasgupta, Tanaji; Zakeri, Rosita; Morgan, Matthew D.; Ferro, Charlie J.; Vickery, Susan; Ayrton, Puja; Nair, Devaki; Dalton, R. Neil; Lamb, Edmund J.; Baigent, Colin; Townend, Jonathan N.; Wheeler, David C.
The outcome of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing in patients aged < 50 years up to 14 years post-operatively.
We report the long-term survival and functional outcome of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) in patients aged < 50 years at operation, and explore the factors affecting survival. Between 1997 and 2006, a total of 447 BHRs were implanted in 393 patients (mean age 41.5 years (14.9 to 49.9)) by one designing surgeon. The mean follow-up was 10.1 years (5.2 to 14.7), with no loss to follow-up. In all, 16 hips (3.6%) in 15 patients were revised, giving an overall cumulative survival of 96.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 93.7 to 98.3) at ten years and 94.1% (95% CI 84.9 to 97.3) at 14 years. Using aseptic revision as the endpoint, the survival for men with primary osteoarthritis (n = 195) was 100% (95% CI 100 to 100) at both ten years and 14 years, and in women with primary osteoarthritis (n = 109) it was 96.1% (95% CI 90.1 to 99.9) at ten years and 91.2% (95% CI 68.6 to 98.7) at 14 years. Female gender (p = 0.047) and decreasing femoral head size (p = 0.044) were significantly associated with an increased risk of revision. The median Oxford hip score (OHS, modified as a percentage with 100% indicating worst outcome) at last follow-up was 4.2% (46 of 48; interquartile range (IQR) 0% to 24%) and the median University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) score was 6.0 (IQR 5 to 8). Men had significantly better OHS (p = 0.02) and UCLA scores (p = 0.01) than women. The BHR provides excellent survival and functional results in men into the second decade, with good results achieved in appropriately selected women. PMID:23997127
Matharu, G S; McBryde, C W; Pynsent, W B; Pynsent, P B; Treacy, R B C
SR 28, Grant Road South-Frontage Road, Washington.
The proposed project consists of the construction of 2600 feet of two-lane frontage road through a partially developed commercial and industrial area, and rocky, arid, undeveloped land. The purpose of the project is to establish access control along both ...
S.C. Road S-33, Trenholm Road From Belt Line to Near Rockbridge Road, Richland County, Columbia, South Carolina.
Road S-33-Trenholm Road, located in Richland County, Columbia, South Carolina is proposed to be up-graded from two to four lanes from near Belt Line Boulevard to near Rockbridge Road. The proposed 3.3 mile project is an integral part of the Columbia Area ...
Road Design Management Research Project. Appendix.
A road design management research project was initiated to (1) design and apply research techniques directed toward improving manpower utilization, work systems and total management systems of road design functions, and (2) test the techniques in the Mont...
Surface Mine Haulage Road Design Study.
The report recommends criteria for the design of safe surface mine haulage roads. Information relevant to road design at surface mine sites delineates vertical and horizontal alignment; subbase and surface materials; drainage; cross-slope, super-elevation...
B. E. Stauffer P. M. McClain
25 CFR 265.3 - Roads prohibited.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR
...passable to motor transportation, including in this restriction highways, roads, truck trails, work roads, and all other types...30, 1982] Cross Reference: For rights-of-way for highways over Indian lands, see part 169 of this...
Mass Diagram in Timber Access Road Analysis.
Much of the damage caused by timber access roads result from sidecasting of surplus material, a construction practice that has caused stream sedimentation, road failures, and mass soil movements. Recent restrictions on the use of sidecasting require end h...
D. Burke
35. PRATER GRADE ROAD VIEW, FACING NW. NOTE WEATHERING STEEL RAIL AND ROAD CUT IN DISTANCE. MONTEZUMA VALLEY OVERLOOK IS JUST TO RIGHT OF DISTANT ROAD CUT. - Mesa Verde National Park Main Entrance Road, Cortez, Montezuma County, CO
6. Crenulated wall along Clingman's Dome Road looking S. ...
6. Crenulated wall along Clingman's Dome Road looking S. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Clingmans Dome Road, Between Newfound Gap Road & Clingmans Dome, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
3. ENVIRONMENT, FROM SOUTH, SHOWING RIVER ROAD RIDGE CARRYING CASSELMAN RIVER ROAD OVER CASSELMAN RIVER - River Road Bridge, Crossing Casselman River on Casselman River Road, Grantsville, Garrett County, MD
8. Double arch culvert on Laurel Creek Road looking WSW. ...
8. Double arch culvert on Laurel Creek Road looking WSW. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
1. View of Laurel Creek Road, revetment wall and cliff ...
1. View of Laurel Creek Road, revetment wall and cliff looking S. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
13. Cades Cove Road, with barbed wire fence and mountain ...
13. Cades Cove Road, with barbed wire fence and mountain view. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
5. Laurel Creek Road, revetment wall and creek. Great ...
5. Laurel Creek Road, revetment wall and creek. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
28. Ford near the end of Cades Cove Loop Road ...
28. Ford near the end of Cades Cove Loop Road looking NNW. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
27. Abandoned treelined road in Cades Cove looking N. ...
27. Abandoned tree-lined road in Cades Cove looking N. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
9. Double arch culvert on Laurel Creek Road looking ENE. ...
9. Double arch culvert on Laurel Creek Road looking ENE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
10. Concrete bridge on road to Tremont looking S. ...
10. Concrete bridge on road to Tremont looking S. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
24. View of barn, fields and Cades Cove loop road ...
24. View of barn, fields and Cades Cove loop road looking NNE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
26. View of Cades Cove Loop Road with fields and ...
26. View of Cades Cove Loop Road with fields and mountains looking NE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
15. Cades Cove Road, mountain view with horses. Great ...
15. Cades Cove Road, mountain view with horses. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
14. Cades Cove Road, mountain view with single tree. ...
14. Cades Cove Road, mountain view with single tree. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Cades Cove Road & Laurel Creek Road, From Townsend Wye to Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
Road Map for a Dream
The transition into kindergarten is a challenge for any student, but it can be especially difficult for students with disabilities and their families. In this article, Amanda Fenlon suggests that by planning ahead families and schools can smooth that transition and put students on the right road. She encourages families to work with their child's�
Fenlon, Amanda
Vision For Intelligent Road Vehicles
As part Of an @'* '' demonstrate ' ''' autonomous a system of visual object recognition modules was develOped within the EUREKA pRoMETHEvs Over the last four years. Together, the modules constitute a basis for an intelligent road vehicle, able to recognize franc situations in real time and to react accordingly. They were still be considered a high-performance robot vision
Volker Graefe
Road Transport Industry Training Board
The Road Transport Industry Training Board has recognized that manpower planning was the key to estimating the industry's training needs. The effective training methods discussed are: management training, Group Training Associations, apprentice training, direct training, and mobile-training service. (Author/BP)
Industrial Training International, 1975
Design Guidelines for Recreational Roads.
The design guidelines are the result of a 2-yr study which included: A review of the state-of-the-art of recreational road design; development of geometric design controls including a functional classification scheme, representative design vehicles, and d...
J. McNamara A. Moore J. Baerwald
Notes on Road Accident Statistics.
The Road Research Laboratory has organised courses in traffic and safety for the benefit of police officers and highway engineerings for a number of years. The notes for one of the lectures, dealing with accident statistics form the basis of the report. I...
H. D. Johnson F. Garwood
Road Accident Facts 1984, Ireland.
The report gives detailed classifications of accidents on Irish Roads reported to the Garda Siochana in 1984. Some comment is also given on the interpretation of the classifications. In a number of the more detailed tables which are included in the report...
Road Accident Tabulation Language (Rattle).
A suite of programs has been written for ICL System 4 computers to enable tabular reports from the annual road accident statistics files to be extracted with a minimum of effort. Requests for analysis are written in the form of simple language statements ...
P. Harris
Pollution-free road lighting
They relate to reducing road accidents and some forms of crime but also enhance the social safety of residents and pedestrians and the amenity for residents. Road traffic in developing countries is much more hazardous than in industrialized countries. Accident rates in 'low' income countries may be as much as 35 times higher than in 'high' income countries. Thus, it might be much more cost-effective to light roads in the developing world than in the industrialized world. Fighting light pollution is more pressing in developing countries as most of the major high-class astronomical observatories are there. Astronomical observations are disturbed by light from outdoor lighting installations, part of which is scattered in the atmosphere to form 'sky glow'. The International Lighting Commission CIE has published a Technical Report giving general guidance for lighting designers and policy makers on the reduction of the sky glow. Lighting improves visibility, essential for almost all human activity. However, light that hits the road contributes to visibility only if it is reflected. In poorly designed lighting equipment much of the lumen output of the lamps is sent directly upwards. This can be avoided by properly defined light fittings. The light output of fittings is determined by their optical quality and by the installation maintenance factor. Open fittings are to be preferred. If mounted horizontally, they make street lighting with the least light pollution.
Schreuder, Duco A.
Methanol - Alternative Fuel Road Traffic.
This brochure names the fuel properties that are required for road traffic, discusses the replacement of petrol by methanol, discusses the possibilities of manufacturing methanol, draws up a timetable and an organigram for a (M-15) large scale test and co...
H. Muendler
2 Abstract. This paper presents an overview of the road and traffic sign detection and recognition. It describes the characteristics of the road signs, the requirements and difficulties behind road signs detection and recognition, how to deal with outdoor images, and the different techniques used in the image segmentation based on the colour analysis, shape analysis. It shows also the
Hasan FLEYEH; Mark DOUGHERTY
Road traffic sign detection and classification
A vision-based vehicle guidance system for road vehicles can have three main roles: (1) road detection; (2) obstacle detection; and (3) sign recognition. The first two have been studied for many years and with many good results, but traffic sign recognition is a less-studied field. Traffic signs provide drivers with very valuable information about the road, in order to make
A. de la Escalera; L. E. Moreno; M. A. Salichs; J. M. Armingol
Erodibility of road batters under simulated rainfall
Rainfall simulation experiments on road batters in a forest catchment in New South Wales, Australia, demonstrated the limits of small scale erosion studies. Comparable erodibility studies were carried out on road surfaces, road batters constructed of soil, bedrock and unconsolidated materials and the forest surfaces. There was no significant difference in sediment loss between any type of site, nor was
24 CFR 1710.210 - Roads.
...posted to assure completion of the roads within the subdivision. (d) If the interior roads are to be maintained by a public authority, submit a copy of a letter...that authority which states that the roads have been, or the conditions...
Model-Based Road Extraction from Images
In this paper we present an approach to the automatic extraction of roads from aerial images. We argue that a model for road extraction is needed in every step of the image interpretation process. The model needs to include knowledge about different aspects of roads, like geometry, radiometry, topology, and context. The main part of this paper discusses the parts
Carsten Steger; Clemens Glock; Wolfgang Eckstein; Helmut Mayer; Bernd Radig
Increases in impervious surface area lead to declines in chemical and biological indicators of water quality .Roads are an important aspect of impervious surface, and distance to roads is an indicator of the potential threat to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Although roads a...
Graph-supported verification of road databases
The verification of existing data is an important task in order to ensure a high level of data quality, such as is needed in geographic information systems (GIS). Today, this work is carried out manually by an operator, who compares vector data from databases with remotely sensed imagery. In this paper, a system for automated road data verification using digital image processing for the extraction of roads from aerial imagery and topological analysis in order to optimise the whole process in terms of reliability and efficiency is presented. The main goal is to call the operator's attention only to parts of the network, where the automated process did not find sufficient evidence of a road. The road extraction is supported by the use of prior knowledge on the global level (whether the road is situated in rural, urban or forest areas), and information on the road geometry and its attributes. The road extraction is executed twice. Firstly, with a strict parameter control ensuring the minimization of false positives and a subsequent evaluation, which denotes roads from the database being accepted or rejected. In a second step, a graph-based search algorithm detects connections, which are missing for an optimised road network. If rejected roads are part of these connections, they are checked again using a more tolerant parameter control. A detailed performance analysis of results shows the applicability of the proposed method for quality control of topographic road databases.
Gerke, Markus; Butenuth, Matthias; Heipke, Christian; Willrich, Felicitas
Road Extraction from High Resolution Satellite Images
Roads are significant objects of an infrastructure and the extraction of roads from aerial and satellite images are important for different applications such as automated map generation and change detection. Roads are also important to detect other structures such as buildings and urban areas. In this paper, the road extraction approach is based on Active Contour Models for 1-meter resolution gray level images. Active Contour Models contains Snake Approach. During applications, the road structure was separated as salient-roads, non-salient roads and crossings and extraction of these is provided by using Ribbon Snake and Ziplock Snake methods. These methods are derived from traditional snake model. Finally, various experimental results were presented. Ribbon and Ziplock Snake methods were compared for both salient and non-salient roads. Also these methods were used to extract roads in an image. While Ribbon snake is described for extraction of salient roads in an image, Ziplock snake is applied for extraction of non-salient roads. Beside these, some constant variables in literature were redefined and expressed in a formula as depending on snake approach and a new approach for extraction of crossroads were described and tried.
�zkaya, M.
Understanding Road Usage Patterns in Urban Areas
In this paper, we combine the most complete record of daily mobility, based on large-scale mobile phone data, with detailed Geographic Information System (GIS) data, uncovering previously hidden patterns in urban road usage. We find that the major usage of each road segment can be traced to its own - surprisingly few - driver sources. Based on this finding we propose a network of road usage by defining a bipartite network framework, demonstrating that in contrast to traditional approaches, which define road importance solely by topological measures, the role of a road segment depends on both: its betweeness and its degree in the road usage network. Moreover, our ability to pinpoint the few driver sources contributing to the major traffic flow allows us to create a strategy that achieves a significant reduction of the travel time across the entire road system, compared to a benchmark approach.
Wang, Pu; Hunter, Timothy; Bayen, Alexandre M.; Schechtner, Katja; Gonz�lez, Marta C.
Wang, Pu; Hunter, Timothy; Bayen, Alexandre M.; Schechtner, Katja; Gonzalez, Marta C.
Sediment Production From Forest Road Surfaces
Erosion on roads is an important source of fine-grained sediment in streams draining logged basins of the Pacific Northwest. Runoff rates and sediment concentrations from 10 road segments subject to a variety of traffic levels were monitored to produce sediment rating curves and unit hydrographs for different use levels and types of surfaces. These relationships are combined with a continuous rainfall record to calculate mean annual sediment yields from road segments of each use level. A heavily used road segment in the field area contributes 130 times as much sediment as an abandoned road. A paved road segment, along which cut slopes and ditches are the only sources of sediment, yields less than 1% as much sediment as a heavily used road with a gravel surface.
Reid, Leslie M.; Dunne, Thomas
Early clinical failure of the Birmingham metal-on-metal hip resurfacing is associated with metallosis and soft-tissue necrosis.
The rate and mode of early failure in 463 Birmingham hip resurfacings in a two-centre, multisurgeon series were examined. Of the 463 patients two have died and three were lost to follow-up. The mean radiological and clinical follow-up was for 43 months (6 to 90). We have revised 13 resurfacings (2.8%) including seven for pain, three for fracture, two for dislocation and another for sepsis. Of these, nine had macroscopic and histological evidence of metallosis. The survival at five years was 95.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 94.1 to 96.8) for revision for all causes and 96.9% (95% CI 95.5 to 98.3) for metallosis. The rate of metallosis related revision was 3.1% at five years. Risk factors for metallosis were female gender, a small femoral component, a high abduction angle and obesity. We do not advocate the use of the Birmingham Hip resurfacing procedure in patients with these risk factors. PMID:19651828
Ollivere, B; Darrah, C; Barker, T; Nolan, J; Porteous, M J
Binzhou Perpetual Pavement Test Road
Expressway construction has been carried out on a large-scale in China. Vigorous economical development has caused rapid growth in traffic volume and truck axle loads creating a severe challenge for the pavement structure design. Therefore, the high-performance and low- maintenance cost of a long-life perpetual pavement structure is gaining attention. This paper discusses the first perpetual asphalt pavement test road
Yongshun Yang; Jincheng Wei; Wang Lin; David Timm; Gerald Huber
Secrets of the Silk Road
Secrets of the Silk Road is another worthy addition to the growing body of Web-based information about the Silk Road (see, for example, The International Dunhuang Project, founded in 1998 and mentioned in several Scout Reports), launched by the Bowers Museum of Santa Ana, California and presented by University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. This site includes artifacts documenting the history of the Silk Road in the vast Tarim Basin in the Far Western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Three well-preserved mummies from the Tarim Basin have been brought to the United States for the exhibition, along with lavish grave goods. Visitors to the website can view images of "The Beauty of Xiaohe," a female mummy from 1800-1500 BCE and other treasures ranging from a Chrysanthemum Shaped Dessert from the 5th-3rd century BCE, to gold objects such as mask from 5th-6th century CE or the Gold Plaque with Lion Design, 5th-3rd Century BCE.
5. Historic American Buildings Survey, From J. Smith Futhey and ...
5. Historic American Buildings Survey, From J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1881, page 234, EXTERIOR SKETCH, 1881. - Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse, Birmingham & Meetinghouse Roads, Birmingham, Chester County, PA
Accident prediction models for urban roads.
This paper describes some of the main findings from two separate studies on accident prediction models for urban junctions and urban road links described in [Uheldsmodel for bygader-Del1: Modeller for 3-og 4-benede kryds. Notat 22, The Danish Road Directorate, 1995; Uheldsmodel for bygader- Del2: Modeller for straekninger. Notat 59, The Danish Road Directorate, 1998] (Greibe and Hemdorff, 1995, 1988). The main objective for the studies was to establish simple, practicable accident models that can predict the expected number of accidents at urban junctions and road links as accurately as possible. The models can be used to identify factors affecting road safety and in relation to 'black spot' identification and network safety analysis undertaken by local road authorities. The accident prediction models are based on data from 1036 junctions and 142 km road links in urban areas. Generalised linear modelling techniques were used to relate accident frequencies to explanatory variables. The estimated accident prediction models for road links were capable of describing more than 60% of the systematic variation ('percentage-explained' value) while the models for junctions had lower values. This indicates that modelling accidents for road links is less complicated than for junctions, probably due to a more uniform accident pattern and a simpler traffic flow exposure or due to lack of adequate explanatory variables for junctions. Explanatory variables describing road design and road geometry proved to be significant for road link models but less important in junction models. The most powerful variable for all models was motor vehicle traffic flow. PMID:12504148
Greibe, Poul
Soil-friendly off-road suspension
The article investigates the potential of controlled vehicle suspension for off-road vehicles. The primary question is whether the controlled vehicle suspension can reduce the deformation of the deformable off-road (soil) and can become a soil-friendly suspension. The article represents the preliminary study of this problem, in the sense that the realistic but simple models for the vehicle, the tyre�off-road contact,
M. Valasek; J. Sveda; Z. Sika
Environmental exposure of road borders to zinc
The emissions of zinc along roads originating from tyre wear, corrosion of safety fence and other traffic-related sources have been quantified and validated by measured long-term loads in road run-off and airborne solids (drift) for 29 published case studies. The distribution pattern over the road border at various distances from the edge of the paved surface is assessed on the
J. Blok
The road plan model: Information model for planning road building activities
The general building contractor is presented with an information model as an approach for deriving a high-level work plan of construction activities applied to road building. Road construction activities are represented in a Road Plan Model (RPM), which is modeled in the ISO standard STEP/EXPRESS and adopts various concepts from the GARM notation. The integration with the preceding road design stage and the succeeding phase of resource scheduling is discussed within the framework of a Road Construction Model. Construction knowledge is applied to the road design and the terrain model of the surrounding road infrastructure for the instantiation of the RPM. Issues regarding the implementation of a road planner application supporting the RPM are discussed.
Azinhal, Rafaela K.; Moura-Pires, Fernando
Demonstrating a correlation between the maturity of road safety practices and road safety incidents.
Objective: The objective of this study is to demonstrate a correlation between the maturity of a country's road safety practices and road safety incidents. Methods: Firstly, data on a number of road injuries and fatalities for 129 countries were extracted from the United Nations Global Status on Road Safety database. These data were subdivided according to road safety incident and accident causation factors and normalized based on vehicular fleet (per 1000 vehicles) and road network (per meter of paved road). Secondly, a road safety maturity model was developed based on an adaptation of the concept of process maturity modeling. The maturity of countries with respect to 10 road safety practices was determined through the identification of indicators recorded in the United Nations Global Status of Road Safety Database. Plots of normalized road safety performance of the 129 countries against their maturity scores for each road safety practice as well as an aggregation of the road safety practices were developed. An analysis of variance was done to determine the extent of the correlation between the road safety maturity of the countries and their performance. In addition, a full Bayesian analysis was done to confirm the correlation of each of the road safety practices with injuries and fatalities. Results: Regression analysis for fatalities, injuries, and combined accidents identified maturity with respect to road safety practices associated with speed limits and use of alternative modes as being the most significant predictors of traffic fatalities. A full Bayesian regression confirms that there is a correlation between the maturity of road safety practices and road safety incidents. Conclusion: Road safety practices associated with enforcement of speed limits and promotion of alternative modes are the most significant road safety practices toward which mature countries have concentrated their efforts, resulting in a lower frequency of fatalities, injury rates, and property damage accidents. The authors argue that the use of gross domestic product (GDP) as a predictor of road safety incidents suffers from the presumptive assumption that the only criterion that matters is national income, therefore erroneously predicting that richer countries all perform approximately the same in fatalities and that developing nations are at various stages, with high variability and uncertainty in prediction. It is proposed that an aggregation of individual maturity scores from road safety practices will lead to a better indicator for policy because it connects externalities (fatalities/injuries) with intrinsic factors for which policies can be oriented. PMID:24867569
Amador, Luis; Willis, Christopher Joseph
23. Road view at Jim Camp Wash. Note Rainbow Museum ...
23. Road view at Jim Camp Wash. Note Rainbow Museum at rear. Road is on east-west axis here as original design of Rainbow Museum area. Long Logs Road to left foreground. Park Road to right foreground. Looking W. - Petrified Forest National Park Roads & Bridges, Holbrook, Navajo County, AZ
The Use of Theatre Tours in Road Safety Education.
The Scottish Road Safety Campaign and the Road Safety Council of Wales have made a large investment in theater tours as a method of providing road safety education. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a road safety message delivered by a theater group, Road Safety Officers (RSOs), or, teachers for pupils in upper secondary classes.�
Powney, Janet; And Others
A Method for Automatically Extracting Road Layers from Raster Maps
To exploit the road network in raster maps, the first step is to extract the pixels that constitute the roads and then vectorize the road pixels. Identifying colors that represent roads in raster maps for extracting road pixels is difficult since raster maps often contain numerous colors due to the noise introduced during the processes of image compression and scanning.
Yao-yi Chiang; Craig A. Knoblock
Road traffic noise and hypertension
Background It has been suggested that noise exposure increases the risk of hypertension. Road traffic is the dominant source of community noise exposure. Objective To study the association between exposure to residential road traffic noise and hypertension in an urban municipality. Methods The study population comprised randomly selected subjects aged 19�80?years. A postal questionnaire provided information on individual characteristics, including diagnosis of hypertension. The response rate was 77%, resulting in a study population of 667 subjects. The outdoor equivalent traffic noise level (Leq 24?h) at the residence of each individual was determined using noise?dispersion models and manual noise assessments. The individual noise exposure was classified in units of 5?dB(A), from <45?dB(A) to >65?dB(A). Results The odds ratio (OR) for hypertension adjusted for age, smoking, occupational status and house type was 1.38 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06 to 1.80) per 5?dB(A) increase in noise exposure. The association seemed stronger among women (OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.17 to 2.50) and among those who had lived at the address for >10?years (OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.29 to 2.83). Analyses of categorical exposure variables suggested an exposure�response relationship. The strongest association between exposure to traffic noise and hypertension was found among those with the least expected misclassification of true individual exposure, as indicated by not having triple?glazed windows, living in an old house and having the bedroom window facing a street (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.38 to 4.43). Conclusion The results of our study suggest an association between exposure to residential road traffic noise and hypertension.
Bluhm, Gosta Leon; Berglind, Niklas; Nordling, Emma; Rosenlund, Mats
Commercially managed road funds: managing roads like a business, not like a bureaucracy
Nearly all countries are seriously short of revenues for investment and maintenance of roads. Improving utilization of the existing road budget has helped to narrow, but not eliminate, this financing gap. Requests for additional resources from the government's budget have fallen on deaf ears, because the road sector has grown too large to be fully-financed through general tax revenues. Government
Ian G. Heggie
Salamander abundance along road edges and within abandoned logging roads in Appalachian forests.
Roads may be one of the most common disturbances in otherwise continuous forested habitat in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Despite their obvious presence on the landscape, there is limited data on the ecological effects along a road edge or the size of the "road-effect zone." We sampled salamanders at current and abandoned road sites within the Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina (U.S.A.) to determine the road-effect zone for an assemblage of woodland salamanders. Salamander abundance near the road was reduced significantly, and salamanders along the edges were predominantly large individuals. These results indicate that the road-effect zone for these salamanders extended 35 m on either side of the relatively narrow, low-use forest roads along which we sampled. Furthermore, salamander abundance was significantly lower on old, abandoned logging roads compared with the adjacent upslope sites. These results indicate that forest roads and abandoned logging roads have negative effects on forest-dependent species such as plethodontid salamanders. Our results may apply to other protected forests in the southern Appalachians and may exemplify a problem created by current and past land use activities in all forested regions, especially those related to road building for natural-resource extraction. Our results show that the effect of roads reached well beyond their boundary and that abandonment or the decommissioning of roads did not reverse detrimental ecological effects; rather, our results indicate that management decisions have significant repercussions for generations to come. Furthermore, the quantity of suitable forested habitat in the protected areas we studied was significantly reduced: between 28.6% and 36.9% of the area was affected by roads. Management and policy decisions must use current and historical data on land use to understand cumulative impacts on forest-dependent species and to fully protect biodiversity on national lands. PMID:17298522
Semlitsch, Raymond D; Ryan, Travis J; Hamed, Kevin; Chatfield, Matt; Drehman, Bethany; Pekarek, Nicole; Spath, Mike; Watland, Angie
Do Roads Reduce Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) Populations?
Road mortality is thought to be a leading cause of turtle population decline. However, empirical evidence of the direct negative effects of road mortality on turtle population abundance is lacking. The purpose of this study was to provide a strong test of the prediction that roads reduce turtle population abundance. While controlling for potentially confounding variables, we compared relative abundance of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in 20 ponds in Eastern Ontario, 10 as close as possible to high traffic roads (Road sites) and 10 as far as possible from any major roads (No Road sites). There was no significant effect of roads on painted turtle relative abundance. Furthermore, our data do not support other predictions of the road mortality hypothesis; we observed neither a higher relative frequency of males to females at Road sites than at No Road sites, nor a lower average body size of turtles at Road than at No Road sites. We speculate that, although roads can cause substantial adult mortality in turtles, other factors, such as release from predation on adults and/or nests close to roads counter the negative effect of road mortality in some populations. We suggest that road mitigation for painted turtles can be limited to locations where turtles are forced to migrate across high traffic roads due, for example, to destruction of local nesting habitat or seasonal drying of ponds. This conclusion should not be extrapolated to other species of turtles, where road mortality could have a larger population-level effect than on painted turtles.
Dorland, Alexandra; Rytwinski, Trina; Fahrig, Lenore
17. RETAINING WALL CRIBBING AND ROAD VIEW, LOOKING IN SOUTHWARD DIRECTION OF TRAVEL BELOW DIAMOND PEAK. ROAD SIGN NOTES SWITCHBACK SEEN IN CA-270-14 TO CA-270-16. LOOKING ESE. - Lassen Park Road, Mineral, Tehama County, CA
Design of Surface Mine Haulage Roads. A Manual.
This Bureau of Mines publication contains a complete manual for design of surface mine haulage roads. The manual covers such aspects of haulage road design as road alignment, both vertically and horizontally, construction materials, cross slope and draina...
W. W. Kaufman J. C. Ault
Road-Safety Management in Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
This study examined road-safety management in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries). The main topics reviewed were recent crash statistics, key governmental agencies in charge of road safety, road-safety programs, influential organizations...
J. Luoma M. Sivak
4. Ford near the northern end of road looking NNE. ...
4. Ford near the northern end of road looking NNE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Rich Mountain Road, Between Cades Cove & park boundary at Rich Mountain Gap, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
2. Switchback and General Road view looking S. Great ...
2. Switchback and General Road view looking S. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Rich Mountain Road, Between Cades Cove & park boundary at Rich Mountain Gap, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
Road Design System - Engineering Computer Application Handbook.
The primary purpose of the handbook is to instruct the user in submitting road design data to the computer center and in interpreting computer printouts. The road design system (RDS), when used properly as a tool by the designer, will enable him to study ...
The primary purpose of the Handbook is to instruct the user in submitting road design data to the computer center and in interpreting computer printouts. The road design system (RDS), when used properly as a tool by the designer, will enable him to study ...
International Road Signs: Interpretability and Training Techniques.
The drivers in a battalion about to be deployed to Germany were taught the meanings of international road signs using one of the following techniques: Sign Only, in which the road signs were presented via a slide projector and the names of the slides provided orally by the instructor; Sign Elaboration, which was identical to the Sign Only�
Griffith, Douglas; Actkinson, Tomme R.
Road-sign detection and tracking
In a visual driver-assistance system, road-sign detection and tracking is one of the major tasks. This study describes an approach to detecting and tracking road signs appearing in complex traffic scenes. In the detection phase, two neural networks are developed to extract color and shape features of traffic signs from the input scenes images. Traffic signs are then located in
Chiung-Yao Fang; Sei-Wang Chen; Chiou-Shann Fuh
Seljuk Muqarnas along the Silk Road
The film Seljuk Muqarnas along the Silk Road gives an overview of muqarnas, stalactite vaults, in Seljuk style architecture (1038-1194). The muqarnas are located in portals and niches of car- avansaraies, madrassas and mosques. Starting with the Sultan Han near Kayseri we follow the Silk Road westward till Konya and finally show the Arslanhane Camii in Ankara. Video recordings alternate
Silvia Harmsen; Daniel Jungblut; Susanne Kromker
Road Pricing models with maintenance cost
According to the Federal Highway Administration of the United States, maintenance expenditure takes up more than 25% of road revenue disbursement and this percentage has been increasing gradually. The reason for the increment in maintenance cost is that there lacks incentives for road users to take this cost component into their driving behavior. That is, different classes of vehicles should
Chih-Peng Chu; Jyh-Fa Tsai
Learning Road Safety Skills in the Classroom
This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of a classroom based learning programme in the acquisition of road safety skills. The participant, a child with severe learning disabilities, was taught road safety behaviours in the classroom with the aid of photograph cards. When he had mastered these skills in the classroom, he returned to the�
Brown, Freddy Jackson; Gillard, Duncan
Deterioration and Rating of Gravel Roads
This paper presents a literature survey concerning the deterioration and rating of gravel roads. The methods for rating gravel roads in Sweden, Finland, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia are critically studied. The results show that a combination of traffic-dependent, geometric and physical factors govern deterioration, which in turn may lead to inadequate drainage capacity, potholes, rutting, corrugations, dust, loose
Hossein Alzubaidi; Rolf Magnusson
A Road Map for the Journey
The various models for information literacy skills instruction in the form of a road map, allows teachers and media specialists to determine what matches the needs of his or her students. The eight paths to choose from on the road to information literacy are highlighted.
Milam, Peggy
Road Accident Recording Systems in Southern Africa.
The report contains a review of present road accident recording system in the SADCC-countries and recommends a new, improved road accident recording system. It is recommended to report each individual accident to a central unit which prepares and compiles...
T. Vaaje
In this paper a detection road sign system, based on the analysis of colour images, is presented. This system aims at recovering the images regions that have colours similar to those present in road signs (red, white, black, blue). For each colour and inside adequate colour space, heuristic threshold decision are identified. Dynamic thresholds don't suffer from the illumination change
Tire-Road Friction-Coefficient Estimation
Tire-road forces are crucial in vehicle dynamics and control because they are the only forces that a vehicle experiences from the ground. These forces significantly affect the lateral, longitudinal, yaw, and roll behavior of the vehicle. The maximum force that a tire can supply is determined by the maximum value of the tire-road friction coefficient for a given normal vertical
Rajesh Rajamani; Neng Piyabongkarn; Jae Lew; Kyongsu Yi; Gridsada Phanomchoeng
Using endemic road features to create self-explaining roads and reduce vehicle speeds.
This paper describes a project undertaken to establish a self-explaining roads (SER) design programme on existing streets in an urban area. The methodology focussed on developing a process to identify functional road categories and designs based on endemic road characteristics taken from functional exemplars in the study area. The study area was divided into two sections, one to receive SER treatments designed to maximise visual differences between road categories, and a matched control area to remain untreated for purposes of comparison. The SER design for local roads included increased landscaping and community islands to limit forward visibility, and removal of road markings to create a visually distinct road environment. In comparison, roads categorised as collectors received increased delineation, addition of cycle lanes, and improved amenity for pedestrians. Speed data collected 3 months after implementation showed a significant reduction in vehicle speeds on local roads and increased homogeneity of speeds on both local and collector roads. The objective speed data, combined with residents' speed choice ratings, indicated that the project was successful in creating two discriminably different road categories. PMID:20728653
Charlton, Samuel G; Mackie, Hamish W; Baas, Peter H; Hay, Karen; Menezes, Miguel; Dixon, Claire
Detection and classification of road signs in natural environments
An automatic road sign recognition system first locates road signs within images captured by an imaging sensor on-board of\\u000a a vehicle, and then identifies the detected road signs. This paper presents an automatic neural-network-based road sign recognition\\u000a system. First, a study of the existing road sign recognition research is presented. In this study, the issues associated with\\u000a automatic road sign
Yok-yen Nguwi; Abbas Z. Kouzani
Pictogram road signs detection and understanding in outdoor scenes
An automatic road signs recognition system can be integrated in the vehicles of the future to improve drivers' safety and driver-road interactions supplying warning mechanisms for drivers' assistance. We present an efficient expert system for the road sign recognition task: road signs are detected taking into account their color and shape, whereas road signs recognition is performed by MLP neural network classifiers. In the paper are also reported the experimental results obtained by the proposed system on real outdoor road images.
Vitabile, Salvatore; Sorbello, Filippo
BRICS: opportunities to improve road safety.
Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa - the countries known as BRICS - are currently undergoing a deep epidemiological transition that is mainly driven by rapid economic growth and technological change. The changes being observed in the distribution of the burden of diseases and injuries - such as recent increases in the incidence of road traffic injuries - are matters of concern. BRICS may need stronger institutional capacity to address such changes in a timely way. In this paper, we present data on road traffic injuries in BRICS and illustrate the enormous challenge that these countries currently face in reducing the incidence of such injuries. There is an urgent need to improve road safety indicators in every country constituting BRICS. It is imperative for BRICS to invest in system-wide road safety interventions and reduce the mortality and morbidity from road traffic injuries. PMID:24940016
Hyder, Adnan A; Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I
Detecting Road Intersections from GPS Traces
As an alternative to expensive road surveys, we are working toward a method to infer the road network from GPS data logged from regular vehicles. One of the most important components of this problem is to find road intersections. We introduce an intersection detector that uses a localized shape descriptor to represent the distribution of GPS traces around a point. A classifier is trained on the shape descriptor to discriminate intersections from non-intersections, and we demonstrate its effectiveness with an ROC curve. In a second step, we use the GPS data to prune the detected intersections and connect them with geometrically accurate road segments. In the final step, we use the iterative closest point algorithm to more accurately localize the position of each intersection. We train and test our method on GPS data gathered from regular vehicles in the Seattle, WA, USA area. The tests show we can correctly find road intersections.
Fathi, Alireza; Krumm, John
BRICS: opportunities to improve road safety
Abstract Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa � the countries known as BRICS � are currently undergoing a deep epidemiological transition that is mainly driven by rapid economic growth and technological change. The changes being observed in the distribution of the burden of diseases and injuries � such as recent increases in the incidence of road traffic injuries � are matters of concern. BRICS may need stronger institutional capacity to address such changes in a timely way. In this paper, we present data on road traffic injuries in BRICS and illustrate the enormous challenge that these countries currently face in reducing the incidence of such injuries. There is an urgent need to improve road safety indicators in every country constituting BRICS. It is imperative for BRICS to invest in system-wide road safety interventions and reduce the mortality and morbidity from road traffic injuries.
Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I
Visual road following without 3D reconstruction
The traditional approach to visual road following involves reconstructing a 3D model of the road. The model is in a world or vehicle-centered coordinate system, and it is symbolic, iconic, or a combination of both. Road-following commands (as well as other commands, e.g., obstacle avoidance) are then generated from this 3D model. Here we discuss an alternative approach in which a minimal road model is generated. The model contains only task-relevant information and a minimum of vision processing is performed to extract this information in the form of visual cues represented in the 2D image coordinate system. This approach leads to rapid and continuous update of the road model from the visual data. It results in inexpensive, fast, and robust computations. Road following is achieved by servoing on the visual cues in the 2D model. This approach results in a tight coupling of perception and action. In this paper, two specific examples of road following that use this approach are presented. In the first example, we show that road-following commands can be generated from visual cues consisting of the projection into the image of the tangent point on the edge of the road, along with the optical flow of this point. Using this cue, the resulting servo loop is very simple and fast. In the second example, we show that lane markings can be robustly tracked in real time while confining all processing to the 2D image plane. Neither knowledge of vehicle motion nor a calibrated camera is required. This system has been used to drive a vehicle up to 80 km/hr under various road conditions. The algorithm runs at a 15 Hz update rate.
Herman, Martin; Raviv, Daniel; Schneiderman, Henry; Nashman, Marilyn
Going Down The Crooked Road
The Crooked Road runs through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and has a storied place in the history of country music and Appalachian culture. This past summer, Ralph Berrier Jr. and Kyle Green of The Roanoke Times set out to document the music and musicians of the area, stopping in such small towns along the way as Floyd, Ferrum, Galax, and Clintwood. Along the way, they documented their experiences through extensive reportage and photography, all of which is included on this nice multimedia feature. Visitors can view videos taken along their journey, learn about how a bluegrass tune is constructed, and listen to audio vignettes of each stop they made. The site also includes a fine recipe for a local favorite, Great Smoky Mountains' grilled veggies, and number of podcasts for portable listening enjoyment.
Fine particulate matter source apportionment for the chemical speciation trends network site at Birmingham, Alabama, using positive matrix factorization
The Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) receptor model version 1.1 was used with data from the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) Chemical Speciation Trends Network (STN) to estimate source contributions to ambient PM2.5 in a highly industrialized urban setting in the southeastern United States. Model results consistently resolved 10 factors that are interpreted as two secondary, five industrial, one motor vehicle, one road dust, and one biomass burning sources. It was found that most PMF factors did not cleanly represent single source types and instead are 'contaminated' by other sources. Secondary particulate matter formed by atmospheric processes, such as sulfate and secondary OC, contribute the majority of ambient PM2.5 and exhibit strong seasonality 37 {+-} 10% winter vs. 55 {+-} 16% summer average. Motor vehicle emissions constitute the biggest primary PM2.5 mass contribution. In summary, this study demonstrates the utility of the EC tracer method to effectively blank-correct the OC concentrations in the STN dataset. In addition, examination of the effect of input uncertainty estimates on model results indicates that the estimated uncertainties currently being provided with the STN data may be somewhat lower than the levels needed for optimum modeling results. An appendix , available to members on the website www.awma lists stationary sources of PM2.5 within 10 km of the NHBM site and PM2.5 emissions greater than 1 ton per year. 71 refs., 7 figs., 9 tabs.
Baumann, K.; Jayanty, R.K.; Flanagan, J.B. [Research Triangle Institute International, NC (United States). Research Triangle Park
The importance of accurate road data for spatial applications in public health: customizing a road network
Background Health researchers have increasingly adopted the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for analyzing environments in which people live and how those environments affect health. One aspect of this research that is often overlooked is the quality and detail of the road data and whether or not it is appropriate for the scale of analysis. Many readily available road datasets, both public domain and commercial, contain positional errors or generalizations that may not be compatible with highly accurate geospatial locations. This study examined the accuracy, completeness, and currency of four readily available public and commercial sources for road data (North Carolina Department of Transportation, StreetMap Pro, TIGER/Line 2000, TIGER/Line 2007) relative to a custom road dataset which we developed and used for comparison. Methods and Results A custom road network dataset was developed to examine associations between health behaviors and the environment among pregnant and postpartum women living in central North Carolina in the United States. Three analytical measures were developed to assess the comparative accuracy and utility of four publicly and commercially available road datasets and the custom dataset in relation to participants' residential locations over three time periods. The exclusion of road segments and positional errors in the four comparison road datasets resulted in between 5.9% and 64.4% of respondents lying farther than 15.24 meters from their nearest road, the distance of the threshold set by the project to facilitate spatial analysis. Agreement, using a Pearson's correlation coefficient, between the customized road dataset and the four comparison road datasets ranged from 0.01 to 0.82. Conclusion This study demonstrates the importance of examining available road datasets and assessing their completeness, accuracy, and currency for their particular study area. This paper serves as an example for assessing the feasibility of readily available commercial or public road datasets, and outlines the steps by which an improved custom dataset for a study area can be developed.
Frizzelle, Brian G; Evenson, Kelly R; Rodriguez, Daniel A; Laraia, Barbara A
25 CFR 170.121 - What is a cultural access road?
Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
...access road? (a) A cultural access road is a public road that provides access to sites for cultural...it must enter into an agreement with the public authority having jurisdiction over the road. (d) Cultural access roads may be...
Non-Official Roads Dilemma in Amazonia
At the beginning of this millennium, "non-official" roads predominate in Amazonia. The opening of these roads, a phenomenon that has not been studied in depth, represents a major dilemma - it generates environmental and social impacts, but it helps to reduce the isolation of the communities in Amazonia and to improve the quality of life for those rural populations. The combined positive and negative aspects of this dilemma mean that it is a matter of crucial importance for the government at last to do a proper job in building these roads; if this is disregarded, in the future, the environment and the Brazilians living in that region will be at risk.
Perz, Stephen G.; Arima, Eugenio; Souza, Carlos, Jr.; Caldas, Marcellus; Brandao, Amintas de O., Jr.; Araujo de Souza, Francisco Kennedy; Walker, Robert
Measuring salt and freezing temperature on roads
Practical monitoring of the amount of salt spread on the road surface for de-icing purposes is technically difficult, especially if it has to be done in a commercially viable way. Possible solutions to this problem are discussed. As it has become customary to refer to the freezing temperature of a salted road, the physical meaning of such a temperature is scrutinised. It turns out that the meaning and the definition of freezing temperature are not clear, and that it also does not have the significance that is often associated with it. Some experimental results of salt measurements on a road are presented.
Turunen, Markus
Upgrading unpaved roads: Road base stabilization using lime and fly ash
A cost-effective alternative to upgrading unpaved roads using asphalt which may cost $100,000 per mile is proposed. In lime-fly ash stabilization, road aggregate is thoroughly mixed with lime, fly ash and water to form a new road base to a depth of five or more inches; this new road base is then compacted and covered with a minimum asphaltic surface layer such as a double chip seal. Guidelines are given for evaluating whether road base stabilization using lime and fly ash (an in-expensive waste product of coal-burning power plants) is an economical alternative to asphalt in upgrading a particular road. Detailed guidelines are presented for estimating the cost of materials for a lime-flyash project as well as a description of the necessary construction and maintenance procedures.
Howley, J.; Wohlers, C.
Next steps for road safety: findings from the European status report on road safety
IntroductionIn 2008 the World Health Organization undertook a global survey to assess the road safety situation in all Member States.Aims and MethodsTo assess the status of road safety in the WHO European Region and provide a baseline assessment of how far countries have come in implementing the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention. The survey used
F Zambon; D Sethi; R Kuznetsova; F Racioppi
8. View north along Kenyon School Road showing Kenyon School ...
8. View north along Kenyon School Road showing Kenyon School Road Bridge (Rhode Island Bridge No. 489) and the barn located at the intersection of Lewistown Avenue and Kenyon School Road. - Kenyon Village, Kenyon School Road, Sherman Avenue, & Lewiston Avenue, Richmond (historical), Providence County, RI
10. VIEW OF ALIGNMENT FOR COULTERVILLE ROAD AND MERCED RIVER CANYON. NOTE ROAD CUT FOR NEW BIG OAK FLAT ROAD AT CENTER DISTANCE. LOOKING N. GIS: N-37 42 45.5 / W-119 43 24.7 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA
Congestion management and electronic road pricing in Singapore
Government and policy makers today face the pressing problem of managing road congestion in urban areas. This paper details the experience of Singapore and the effort made to curb vehicular increase on the roads using a state-of-the-art regulated Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme. Specifically, the paper looks at the public policy effort to forge ahead with road pricing, prepare the
Mark Goh
Twenty-four month comparison of Apolipoproteins A-1, AII, and B in contraceptive implant users (Norplant� and Implanon�) in Birmingham, United Kingdom 1 1 Norplant� is a registered trademark of The Population Council, New York, New York
A 2-year prospective, randomized study of 60 implant users was performed to evaluate fasting serial serum apolipoprotein A-I, A-II, and B levels before insertion and every 3 months in users of two contraceptive implants releasing levonorgestrel (Norplant�) and 3-ketodesogestrel\\/etonogestrel (Implanon�) in Birmingham, United Kingdom. All changes in serum apolipoprotein concentrations, irrespective of an increase or decrease, were smaller than one
Lawrence Mascarenhas; Agaath van Beek; Herjan Coelingh Bennink; John Newton
Re-suspension of lead contaminated urban soil as a dominant source of atmospheric lead in Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh, USA
Soils in older areas of cities are highly contaminated by lead, due largely to past use of lead additives in gasoline, the use of lead in exterior paints, and industrial lead sources. Soils are not passive repositories and periodic re-suspension of fine lead contaminated soil dust particulates (or aerosols) may create seasonal variations of lead exposure for urban dwellers. Atmospheric soil and lead aerosol data from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) database were obtained for Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Detroit (Michigan), Chicago (Illinois), and Birmingham (Alabama), USA. In this study the temporal variations of atmospheric soil and lead aerosols in these four US cities were examined to determine whether re-suspended lead contaminated urban soil was the dominant source of atmospheric lead. Soil and lead-in-air concentrations were examined to ascertain whether lead aerosols follow seasonal patterns with highest concentrations during the summer and/or autumn. In addition, atmospheric soil and lead aerosol concentrations on weekends and Federal Government holidays were compared to weekdays to evaluate the possibility that automotive turbulence results in re-suspension of lead contaminated urban soil. The results show that the natural logs of atmospheric soil and lead aerosols were associated in Pittsburgh from April 2004 to July 2005 (R2 = 0.31, p < 0.01), Detroit from November 2003 to July 2005 (R2 = 0.49, p <0.01), Chicago from November 2003 to August 2005 (R2 = 0.32, p < 0.01), and Birmingham from May 2004 to December 2006 (R2 = 0.47, p < 0.01). Atmospheric soil and lead aerosols followed seasonal patterns with highest concentrations during the summer and/or autumn. Atmospheric soil and lead aerosols are 3.15 and 3.12 times higher, respectively, during weekdays than weekends and Federal Government holidays, suggesting that automotive traffic turbulence plays a significant role in re-suspension of contaminated roadside soils and dusts. In order to decrease urban lead aerosol concentrations, lead deposition and subsequent children's seasonal exposure, lead contaminated urban soils need remediation or isolation because the legacy of lead continues to pose unnecessary and preventable health risks to urban dwellers.
Laidlaw, Mark A. S.; Zahran, Sammy; Mielke, Howard W.; Taylor, Mark P.; Filippelli, Gabriel M.
The legacy of chlorinated solvents in the Birmingham aquifer, UK: observations spanning three decades and the challenge of future urban groundwater development.
Licensed abstraction well data collected during 1986-2008 from a total of 77 wells mainly located at industrial sites combined with historic land use data from 1975 has allowed insight into the legacy of chlorinated solvent contamination in the Birmingham aquifer that underlies the UK's second largest city. This legacy, expected to be reasonably symptomatic of those occurring in other urban aquifers, was characterised by: dominance of parent solvents, particularly TCE (trichloroethene) that widely exceeded drinking-water quality criteria; greater TCE occurrence in wells in proximity to increased historic land use by the metal/engineering solvent-user industry (the relationship providing a first-pass indicator of future resource development potential); regional groundwater vulnerability controls; well abstraction changes (over months to decades) influential of observed concentration transients and anticipated plume capture or release; persistence of contamination over decades (with less soluble PCE (perchloroethene) showing increased persistence relative to TCE) that was reasonably ascribed to slow contaminant release from DNAPL (dense non-aqueous phase liquid) sources and, or low permeability layers; presence of dechlorination products arising from solvent (bio)degradation, although this key attenuation process appeared to have moderate to weak influence regionally on plumes; and, inadvertent, but significant solvent mass removal from the aquifer by industrial abstractions. Key challenges to realising future urban groundwater development were identified based on the observed legacy and well capture zone simulations. Despite the extensive contamination of the aquifer, it should still be possible to develop wells of high (several megalitres per day) capacity for drinking water supply (or other lower grade uses) without the requirement for solvent treatment. In those areas with higher risk of contamination, our dataset, together with application of emergent risk assessment approaches (that our dataset may serve to validate), could be used to inform potential abstractors as to whether solvent treatment is likely to be required at a particular abstraction site with time. Challenges identified that were relevant to the future development of Birmingham and urban aquifers more generally include the adequacy of groundwater quality monitoring data and uncertainties in contaminant source terms, abstraction well capture zone predictions and plume natural attenuation, in particular degradation rates. The study endorses that despite significant solvent contamination encountered, strategies can, and need, to be increasingly found to reclaim urban aquifer resources and more sustainably meet urban water demands. PMID:23022878
Rivett, Michael O; Turner, Ryan J; Glibbery N�e Murcott, Penny; Cuthbert, Mark O
Pavement Surface Specification for Road Load Measurement.
This report proposes a framework for specifying coast-down test surfaces that will produce relevant, reproducible road load measurements. The proposed specification includes grade, roughness, megatexture, and macrotexture. Specification using standard sca...
M. A. Barnes R. O. Rasmussen S. M. Karamihas
Charge to Road Map Development Sessions
Develop a road map for new standard Model applications radiation belt models. Model applications: Spacecraft and instruments. Reduce risk. Reduce cost. Improve performance. Increase system lifetime. Reduce risk to astronauts.
Barth, Janet
Development of a Road User Cost.
Road user costs (vehicle running, time and accident costs) are important elements in defining the benefit associated with highway improvements. Decisions concerning the planning, evaluation and financing of highway improvements require an understanding of...
F. J. Wegmann A. Chatterjee L. D. Han
Movie Trailer: 'Road to the Red Planet'
NASA Video Gallery
NASA and the European Space Agency have announced three new joint science missions to Mars, including one that will return to Earth with a sample taken from the Martian surface. "Road to the Red Pl...
The report gives results of extensive field tests to develop emission factors for particulate emissions generated by traffic entrainment of paved road surface particulate matter. Using roadway surface silt loading as the basis, predictive emission factor equations for each partic...
Car manufacturers and global road safety: a word frequency analysis of road safety documents
Objective The World Bank believes that the car manufacturers can make a valuable contribution to road safety in poor countries and has established the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) for this purpose. However, some commentators are sceptical. The authors examined road safety policy documents to assess the extent of any bias. Design Word frequency analyses of road safety policy documents from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the GRSP. Main outcome measures The relative occurrence of key road safety terms was quantified by calculating a word prevalence ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Terms for which there was a fourfold difference in prevalence between the documents were tabulated. Results Compared to WHO's World report on road traffic injury prevention, the GRSP road safety documents were substantially less likely to use the words speed, speed limits, child restraint, pedestrian, public transport, walking, and cycling, but substantially more likely to use the words school, campaign, driver training, and billboard. Conclusions There are important differences in emphasis in road safety policy documents prepared by WHO and the GRSP. Vigilance is needed to ensure that the road safety interventions that the car industry supports are based on sound evidence of effectiveness.
Roberts, I; Wentz, R; Edwards, P
Road grade estimation for on-road vehicle emissions modeling using light detection and ranging data.
Vehicle-specific power (VSP) is useful for explaining a substantial portion of variability in real-world vehicle emissions, such as those measured with portable emissions monitoring systems (PEMS). VSP is a function of vehicle speed, acceleration, and road grade. Road grade is shown to significantly affect estimates of both VSP and of real-world emissions via sensitivity analysis and analysis of empirical data. However, road grade is difficult to measure reliably using PEMS. Therefore, alternative methods for estimating road grade were identified and compared. A preferred method for estimating road grade was explored in more detail based on light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data. The method includes buffering LIDAR data onto roadway maps using a geographic information system tool, defining segments of roadway based on criteria pertaining to vertical curvature, quantification of roadway elevations within the buffered segments, and estimation of road grade and banking by fitting a plane to each segment. Factors influencing errors in road grade estimates are discussed. The method was evaluated by application to selected interstate highways and comparison to design drawing data. The development and application of LIDAR-based road grade data are demonstrated via a case study using PEMS data collected in the Research Triangle Park, NC, area. LIDAR data are shown to be reliable and accurate for road grade estimation for vehicle emissions modeling. PMID:16805402
Zhang, Kaishan; Frey, H Christopher
On the road performance tests of electric test vehicle for correlation with road load simulator
A dynamometer (road load simulator) is used to test and evaluate electric vehicle propulsion systems. To improve correlation between system tests on the road load simulator and on the road, similar performance tests are conducted using the same vehicle. The results of track tests on the electric propulsion system test vehicle are described. The tests include range at constant speeds and over SAE J227a driving cycles, maximum accelerations, maximum gradability, and tire rolling resistance determination. Road power requirements and energy consumption were also determined from coast down tests.
Dustin, M. O.; Slavik, R. J.
Determinants of road traffic crash fatalities across Indian States.
This article explores the determinants of road traffic crash fatalities in India. In addition to income, the analysis considers the sociodemographic population structure, motorization levels, road and health infrastructure and road rule enforcement as potential factors. An original panel data set covering 25 Indian states is analyzed using multivariate regression analysis. Time and state fixed-effects account for unobserved heterogeneity across states and time. The rising motorization, urbanization and accompanying increase in the share of vulnerable road users, that is, pedestrians and two-wheelers, are the major drivers of road traffic crash fatalities in India. Among vulnerable road users, women form a particularly high-risk group. Higher expenditure per police officer is associated with a lower fatality rate. The results suggest that India should focus, in particular, on road infrastructure investments that allow the separation of vulnerable from other road users on improved road rule enforcement and should pay special attention to vulnerable female road users. PMID:22936645
Grimm, Michael; Treibich, Carole
Efficiency Assessment of Road Project Delivery Models
In this study, four road delivery project models are analyzed by data envelopment analysis. The four models are design-bid-build (DBB), design-build (DB), construction management (CM) and design-build-maintenance (DBM). According to the analysis, DBM is the most efficient model and CM has the best time-scheduled control. DB performs the best efficiency in construction. The results may provide public sectors to employ an adequate model so as to proceed with road construction project.
Lo, Shih-Ching; Chao, Yu
Delay in ambulance dispatch to road accidents.
When a road accident occurs, the police communications officer, or 911 operator, generally receives the first call. If the caller reports injuries, the emergency medical services dispatcher is notified immediately; but if the caller is uncertain of injuries, the operator may wait. Most often an ambulance is not needed. However, in nearly 20% of fatal road accidents in Missouri, waiting for confirmation of need resulted in a delay of 5 minutes or more in the dispatch of an ambulance. PMID:1585968
Brodsky, H
Overuse Injuries in Professional Road Cyclists
Background: Little epidemiological information exists on overuse injuries in elite road cyclists. Anecdotal reports indicate anterior knee pain and lower back pain may be common problems.Purpose: This study was conducted to register overuse injuries among professional road cyclists with special focus on anterior knee and lower back pain.Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.Methods: We attended training camps of 7 professional teams
Benjamin Clarsen; Tron Krosshaug; Roald Bahr
CSI model for estimating road maintenance projects
Major road maintenance projects need an accurate cost estimate at the early stage of design. At present, simple and quick models are lacking. Two easy?to?use cost models for major asphalt road maintenance projects are developed. The double mean model and the trend line model are based on the cost?significance method. The historical data used are bills of quantities (BoQs) of
Nannan Wang; Malcolm Horner
Teaching Young Children to Cross Roads Safely
Road safety education is considered essential to teach children to interact with traffic safely. Many programs, however, do not consider the separate component skills of the road-crossing task, the functional and behavioural factors that may put some children at increased risk, and the most beneficial methods to transfer knowledge to improved behaviour in real-world environments. A targeted and practical training program using a simulated road environment has been developed and evaluated amongst primary school children using a randomised controlled trial. Significant reductions in proportion of critically incorrect road-crossing responses were found immediately after training (56%) and one-month post-training (47%) by the case group compared with pre-training responses, and relative to any changes in responses of the control group. The beneficial effects were greater for younger children, females, children with less well developed perceptual, attentional and cogntive skills, and those with little traffic exposure. The effects of the training program on other outcome measures (proportion of missed opportunity responses, decision time and safety rating responses) were less clear but showed some beneficial effects. This paper discusses the use of the simulated training program, a novel and safe way, to improve road crossing decisions. It is suggested that improvements can be made to child pedestrian education by providing tailored and practical programs that target the component skills of road-crossing decisions and improve essential skills through intensive training and feedback on known risk factors.
Oxley, Jennifer; Congiu, Melinda; Whelan, Michelle; D'Elio, Angelo; Charlton, Judith
Road Scene Analysis using Trinocular Stereo Vision
Road scene analysis in 3D driving environment, which aims to detect objects from continuously changing background, is vital for driver assitance system and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) applications. Laser or millimeter wave radars have shown good performance in measuring relative speed and distance in highway driving environment. However the accuracy of these systems decreases in an urban traffic environment as more confusion occurs due to the factors such as parking vehicles, guardrails, poles and motorcycles. A stereovision based sensing system provides an effective supplement to radar-based road scene analysis with its much wider field of view and more accurate lateral information. This paper presents an efficient solution for road scene analysis using a trinocular stereo vision based algorithm. In this algorithm, trinocular stereo vision detects all types of objects in road scene. And �U-V-disparity" concept is employed to analyze 3D geometric feature of road scene. The proposed algorithm has been tested on real road scenes and experimental results verified its efficiency.
Matsushima, Kousuke; Matsuura, Hiroto; Kijima, Yoshitaka; Hu, Zhencheng; Uchimura, Keiichi
The effect of 'running-in' on the tribology and surface morphology of metal-on-metal Birmingham hip resurfacing device in simulator studies.
It is well documented that hard bearing combinations show a running-in phenomenon in vitro and there is also some evidence of this from retrieval studies. In order to investigate this phenomenon, five Birmingham hip resurfacing devices were tested in a hip wear simulator. One of these (joint 1) was also tested in a friction simulator before, during, and after the wear test and surface analysis was conducted throughout portions of the testing. The wear showed the classical running in with the wear rate falling from 1.84 mm3 per 10(6) cycles for the first 10(6) cycles of testing to 0.24 mm3 per 10(6) cycles over the final 2 x 10(6) cycles of testing. The friction tests suggested boundary lubrication initially, but at 1 x 10(6) cycles a mixed lubrication regime was evident. By 2 x 10(6) cycles the classical Stribeck curve had formed, indicating a considerable contribution from the fluid film at higher viscosities. This continued to be evident at both 3 x 10(6) and 5 x 10(6) cycles. The surface study complements these findings. PMID:16669393
Vassiliou, K; Elfick, A P D; Scholes, S C; Unsworth, A
Factors Affecting Acceptance and Intention to Receive Pandemic Influenza A H1N1 Vaccine among Primary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Birmingham, UK
UK pandemic influenza strategy focused on vaccination of high risk groups, although evidence shows that school-age children have the highest infection rates. Vaccination of children might be an additional strategy. We undertook a cross-sectional study amongst 149 parents of primary school children aged 4�7 years in Birmingham, UK to quantify intention to accept pandemic influenza vaccine and identify factors affecting uptake. Ninety-one (61.1%, 95% CI 52.8, 68.9) had or would accept vaccine for their child. The most common reasons for declining vaccine were concerns about safety (58.6% reported this), side effects (55.2%), or believing their child had already had swine flu (12.1%). Parents of nonwhite ethnicity (OR 2.4 (1.1, 5.0)) and with asthmatic children (OR 6.6 (1.4, 32.1)) were significantly more likely to accept pandemic vaccine, as were those whose children had ever received seasonal vaccine and those who believed swine flu to be a serious threat (OR 4.2 (1.9, 9.1)). Parents would be more likely to accept vaccination if they received a letter of invite, if the government strongly encouraged them, if it were administered at school, and if it were more thoroughly tested. Accurate media portrayal of safety of the vaccine during future pandemics will be essential.
Janks, Michaela; Cooke, Sara; Odedra, Aimee; Kang, Harkeet; Bellman, Michelle; Jordan, Rachel E.
Factors Affecting Acceptance and Intention to Receive Pandemic Influenza A H1N1 Vaccine among Primary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Birmingham, UK.
UK pandemic influenza strategy focused on vaccination of high risk groups, although evidence shows that school-age children have the highest infection rates. Vaccination of children might be an additional strategy. We undertook a cross-sectional study amongst 149 parents of primary school children aged 4-7 years in Birmingham, UK to quantify intention to accept pandemic influenza vaccine and identify factors affecting uptake. Ninety-one (61.1%, 95% CI 52.8, 68.9) had or would accept vaccine for their child. The most common reasons for declining vaccine were concerns about safety (58.6% reported this), side effects (55.2%), or believing their child had already had swine flu (12.1%). Parents of nonwhite ethnicity (OR 2.4 (1.1, 5.0)) and with asthmatic children (OR 6.6 (1.4, 32.1)) were significantly more likely to accept pandemic vaccine, as were those whose children had ever received seasonal vaccine and those who believed swine flu to be a serious threat (OR 4.2 (1.9, 9.1)). Parents would be more likely to accept vaccination if they received a letter of invite, if the government strongly encouraged them, if it were administered at school, and if it were more thoroughly tested. Accurate media portrayal of safety of the vaccine during future pandemics will be essential. PMID:23150815
Janks, Michaela; Cooke, Sara; Odedra, Aimee; Kang, Harkeet; Bellman, Michelle; Jordan, Rachel E
Effectiveness of Three Rehabilitation Treatments for Unpaved Forest Roads
Up to $1 million per year is being spent to reduce sediment production and delivery from unpaved roads and protect the remaining Chinook salmon habitat on the Lassen National Forest in northeastern California, but little is known about the effectiveness of these treatments. The goal of this study is to estimate the reduction in road sediment production and road-stream connectivity due to three road rehabilitation treatments: 1) rocking and out-sloping, 2) road closures, and 3) road decommissioning. Sediment production was estimated for 4.6 km of untreated roads and 27 km of treated roads by measuring the volumes of erosion features. Road-stream connectivity was assessed by following the rills and sediment plumes emanating from each road segment. The mean volume of erosion features from the untreated roads was 16 m3 km-1 (s.d. = 15 m3 km-1). The measured mean volume for 26 rocked and out-sloped road sections was 5.9 m3 km- 1 (s.d.= 16 m3 km-1), which was 37% of the mean for the untreated roads. However, just three of the 26 treated sections accounted for 88% of the total volume. The closed roads had a similar mean volume of erosional features as the rocked and out-sloped roads, and three of the 11 sections accounted for 97% of the total volume. The mean erosion volume for the decommissioned roads was an order of magnitude higher at 41 m3 km-1 (s.d.= 92 m3 km-1). Again the distribution was highly skewed with three of the 22 sections accounting for 83% of the total, while 11 sections had no significant erosion features. Road-stream connectivity was less than 10% of the surveyed length for the untreated roads, the rocked and out-sloped roads, and the closed roads. In contrast, 28% of the surveyed length of the decommissioned roads was connected to the stream channel network. The highly skewed distributions of erosion volumes show that most of the road-related sediment is coming from a few 'bad' roads. This indicates that detailed road surveys are needed to identify which roads should be treated, and which roads need additional work to adequately protect fish habitat.
Donnellycolt, A. K.; MacDonald, L. H.
The purpose was to create a GIS data set representing future road construction in the EPA MAIA study region. The latest data came from planning departments during 1999. Two types of construction were considered: the first are completely new roads being built on new easements an...
The report gives results of an assessment of the use of carpeting to control fugitive emissions from unpaved roads. Historically, emissions from unpaved roads have been controlled by watering, oiling, or chemical soil stabilization. An analysis of the forces which produce emissio...
TRRL (Transport and Road Research Laboratory) Road Investment Model for Developing Countries (RTIM2).
As rural and inter-urban roads represent a large part of national development programs in developing countries, information on road investment was built into a computer model to improve the quality of investment decisions. The model permitted a study of: ...
L. L. Parsley R. Robinson
Virtual sensors, application to vehicle tire-road normal forces for road safety
The principal concerns in road safety are understanding and preventing risky situations. A close examination of accident data reveals that losing the vehicle control is responsible for a huge proportion of car accidents. Improving vehicle stabilization is possible when vehicle parameters are known. Unfortunately, some parameters like tire-road forces, which have a major impact on vehicle dynamics, are difficult to
Moustapha Doumiati; Alessandro Victorino; Ali Charara; Daniel Lechner
Road trauma perceptions and the potential influence of the media.
The United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) recognises the urgency of addressing global road trauma. Road crashes and attempts to reduce risky driving, including public education campaigns, receive media attention in many countries. In Australia, road fatalities have declined significantly. However, the extent of awareness about this success and of fatalities overall is unclear. A survey of 833 Australian drivers revealed the majority of participants under-estimated fatalities. Unexpectedly, some under-estimates appear based on recollections of media reports. The findings suggest lack of awareness of the extent of road deaths and that, paradoxically, media reports might contribute to under-estimations. This represents a major public health challenge. Engaging community support for road safety, relative to other health/safety messages, may prove difficult if the extent of road trauma is misunderstood. Misperceptions about fatality levels may be a barrier to road users adopting safety precautions or supporting further road safety countermeasures. PMID:22515659
Fleiter, Judy J; Watson, Barry
Road manslaughter--or just the cost of progress?
Much to the frustration of road safety researchers, practitioners, and advocates, road deaths and injuries have not been widely accepted as a major public health threat. Currently, road trauma is one of the biggest killers and causes of serious and disabling injuries in the world. Although there has been considerable research on the causes of road injury and ways of mitigating the problem, there is still reluctance to systematically and sufficiently do what can be done to reduce this problem globally. This paper takes a historical review of the road trauma problem and responses to it. In examining developments in road transport and road injury, it is clear that the main impediment to reducing road deaths and injury has been a misguided preference of economic advancement over public health risk management. It is misguided because road trauma has impeded and does still impede the capacity of economies to develop. The challenge for societies now is to look at this false dichotomy�that of road development and motorisation versus road safety�and begin to make the right choices in favour of human society advancement through the development and management of safe road-traffic systems. A new �Safe Systems� approach is emerging in Australia and spreading globally as a guiding principle for road safety. The evolution of this approach is traced and illustrated in this article. The need for finding ways to engender a stronger global political commitment to road safety is demonstrated.
Mooren, L; Grzebieta, R
Environmental exposure of road borders to zinc.
The emissions of zinc along roads originating from tyre wear, corrosion of safety fence and other traffic-related sources have been quantified and validated by measured long-term loads in road run-off and airborne solids (drift) for 29 published case studies. The distribution pattern over the road border at various distances from the edge of the paved surface is assessed on the basis of 38 published case studies with measured concentrations in soil. For the impact assessment, the road border is differentiated into a zone that is part of the "technosphere" and the "target zone" beyond that technosphere that can be considered as part of the receiving environment. The "technosphere" of the road includes the central reservation, the hard and the soft shoulder or, if one or both shoulders are not present, the so-called obstacle "free zone" that is defined by road engineers. Pollution within the technosphere may require appropriate management of solid disposal and isolation from groundwater to prevent further distribution of pollutants to the environment. In the target zone along regional roads, the zinc load is about 4 mg/m(2) year and this is of the same order of magnitude as that of atmospheric deposition in areas beyond the influence of roads (background). In the target zone along highways, the zinc load is increased in comparison to the background deposition. The average load of about 38 mg/m(2) year is similar to that in fertilised agricultural land. Because most of the emitted zinc stays in the technosphere, the total amount entering this target zone along highways is limited. From the 140 tons of zinc per year that is released from tyre wear in The Netherlands, 64 tons is emitted in the urban area, 6.5 tons reaches to the target zones of all roads and only 1.1 tons of zinc will enter the target zone along highways. This amount will be further decreased by the application of porous asphalt in the near future. The emission from safety fence corrosion does not enter the target zone. Only in special cases, such as bridges, crossings and squares the release of zinc from these sources may enter the aquatic environment by the discharge of run-off. PMID:16162323
Blok, J
Autonomous road navigation for unmanned ground vehicles
The Navigation and Control Group, Missile Guidance Directorate, Research Development & Engineering Center of the U.S. Army Missile Command is conducting a program to develop and demonstrate a robust, low cost machine vision system for autonomous vehicles. This machine vision system has the requirement of providing robust classification of roads and obstacles over varying terrain, lighting, and weather. The focus of the development is to operate using a passive sensor suite of a color video camera and a black hot FLIR video camera. Machine vision algorithms have been developed and tested in a simulation environment using test sequences from video segments of various road types. This paper presents a novel approach to road and obstacle classification based on color video input. The paper begins by defining the problem and is followed by a discussion of the major functions of the simulation including the mission supervisor, the image server, the image processing algorithms, and concludes with experimental results.
Speigle, Scott A.; McIngvale, Pat; Olson, Keith; Scales, Allen; Larsen, Karin
Road vehicle emission factors development: A review
Pollutant emissions need to be accurately estimated to ensure that air quality plans are designed and implemented appropriately. Emission factors (EFs) are empirical functional relations between pollutant emissions and the activity that causes them. In this review article, the techniques used to measure road vehicle emissions are examined in relation to the development of EFs found in emission models used to produce emission inventories. The emission measurement techniques covered include those most widely used for road vehicle emissions data collection, namely chassis and engine dynamometer measurements, remote sensing, road tunnel studies and portable emission measurements systems (PEMS). The main advantages and disadvantages of each method with regards to emissions modelling are presented. A review of the ways in which EFs may be derived from test data is also performed, with a clear distinction between data obtained under controlled conditions (engine and chassis dynamometer measurements using standard driving cycles) and measurements under real-world operation.
Franco, Vicente; Kousoulidou, Marina; Muntean, Marilena; Ntziachristos, Leonidas; Hausberger, Stefan; Dilara, Panagiota
Control of road trauma epidemic in Australia.
This lecture discusses initiatives taken by the Road Trauma Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to reduce fatality and injury on Australian roads. In 1970 the Road Trauma Committee and the communications media initiated a national campaign in support of legislation for the compulsory wearing of seat belts. Public ignorance and Parliamentary inertia were countered. Victoria became the first State in the Western world to introduce this legislation. All other Australian States followed. Significant and marked reductions in fatality and injury were achieved and have been maintained. Recognising alcohol as the single most important cause of serious road crashes and injuries in Australia, the committee advocated legislation for compulsory blood alcohol tests on all adult road crash casualties. In 1973-74 legislation was enacted in South Australia and Victoria and in 1976 in Queensland. Results show that more than one-quarter of driver casualties have alcohol concentrations above the legal limit of 0.05 g%. Half of these exceed 0.15 g%. On the other hand less than 3% of the general driving population exceed the legal limit. Further advocacy led in 1976 to the enactment of random roadside breath-test legislation in Victoria. The majority of Australian convicted drinking drivers have alcohol-related social problems. A quarter incur reconvictions. The conventional penal approach has failed. At present the Road Trauma Committee is campaigning for compulsory medical assessment of convicted drinking drivers. Reissue of a driving licence would be dependent upon evidence of re-education and/or rehabilitation. Pilot re-education programmes have been shown to lessen recidivism markedly. Prevention of drink-driving behaviour is the major strategy. The tactics entail deterence, improved secondary-school and driver education, and the implementation of a national policy for control of alcohol abuse.
McDermott, F.
Measurement and dimension of road fatality in Brunei.
In this article, we have investigated the pattern of road fatality in Brunei. It is seen from this analysis that road fatality in Brunei was one of the highest in the world in the early 1990s, but has been significantly reduced over the years, and is now one of the lowest in the world. Preliminary investigation shows that young male drivers are responsible for most road fatalities in Brunei. We have also fitted a linear regression model and found that road fatality is significantly positively related to people aged 18-24 years and new registered vehicles, both of which are expected to grow with the growth of population and economic development. Hence, road fatality in Brunei is also expected to grow unless additional effective road safety countermeasures are introduced and implemented to reduce road toll. Negative coefficient is observed for trend variable, indicating the reduction of road fatality due to the combined effects of improvements of vehicle safety, road design, medical facilities and road safety awareness among road user groups. However, short-term road fatality analysis based on monthly data indicates that the coefficient of the trend variable is positive, implying that in recent months road fatalities are increasing in Brunei, which is supported by media reports. We have compared Brunei's road fatality data with Australia, Singapore and Malaysia and found that Brunei's road fatality rate is lower than Singapore and Malaysia, but higher than Australia. This indicates that there are still opportunities to reduce road fatalities in Brunei if additional effective road safety strategies are implemented like in Australia without interfering in the economic and social development of Brunei. PMID:21409677
Haque, Mohammed Ohidul
Effects of roads on survival of San Clemente Island foxes
Roads generate a variety of influences on wildlife populations; however, little is known about the effects of roads on endemic wildlife on islands. Specifically, road-kills of island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) on San Clemente Island (SCI), Channel Islands, California, USA are a concern for resource managers. To determine the effects of roads on island foxes, we radiocollared foxes using a 3-tiered sampling design to represent the entire population in the study area, a sub-population near roads, and a sub-population away from roads on SCI. We examined annual survival rates using nest-survival models, causes of mortalities, and movements for each sample. We found the population had high annual survival (0.90), although survival declined with use of road habitat, particularly for intermediate-aged foxes. Foxes living near roads suffered lower annual survival (0.76), resulting from high frequencies of road-kills (7 of 11 mortalities). Foxes living away from roads had the highest annual survival (0.97). Road-kill was the most prominent cause of mortality detected on SCI, which we estimated as killing 3-8% of the population in the study area annually. Based on movements, we were unable to detect any responses by foxes that minimized their risks from roads. The probabilities of road-kills increased with use of the road habitat, volume of traffic, and decreasing road sinuosity. We recommend that managers should attempt to reduce road-kills by deterring or excluding foxes from entering roads, and attempting to modify behaviors of motorists to be vigilant for foxes. ?? 2011 The Wildlife Society.
Snow, N. P.; Andelt, W. F.; Stanley, T. R.; Resnik, J. R.; Munson, L.
Erosion and sediment delivery following removal of forest roads
Erosion control treatments were applied to abandoned logging roads in California, with the goal of reducing road-related sediment input to streams and restoring natural hydrologic patterns on the landscape. Treatment of stream crossings involved excavating culverts and associated road fill and reshaping streambanks. A variety of techniques were applied to road benches, which included decompacting the road surface, placing unstable road fill in more stable locations, and reestablishing natural surface drainage patterns. Following treatment and a 12-year recurrence-interval storm, some road reaches and excavated stream crossings showed evidence of mass movement failures, gullying, bank erosion and channel incision. Post-treatment erosion from excavated stream crossings was related to two variables: a surrogate for stream power (drainage area x channel gradient) and the volume of fill excavated from the channel. Post-treatment erosion on road reaches was related to four explanatory variables: method of treatment, hillslope position (upper, mid-slope or lower), date of treatment, and an interaction term (hillslope position x method of treatment). Sediment delivery from treated roads in upper, middle and lower hillslope positions was 10, 135 and 550 m3 of sediment per kilometre of treated roads, respectively. In contrast, inventories of almost 500 km of forest roads in adjacent catchments indicate that untreated roads produced 1500 to 4700 m3 of sediment per kilometre of road length. Erosion from 300 km of treated roads contributed less than 2 per cent of the total sediment load of Redwood Creek during the period 1978 to 1998. Although road removal treatments do not completely eliminate erosion associated with forest roads, they do substantially reduce sediment yields from abandoned logging roads. Published in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Madej, M. A.
Optimal policies for aggregate recycling from decommissioned forest roads.
To mitigate the adverse environmental impact of forest roads, especially degradation of endangered salmonid habitat, many public and private land managers in the western United States are actively decommissioning roads where practical and affordable. Road decommissioning is associated with reduced long-term environmental impact. When decommissioning a road, it may be possible to recover some aggregate (crushed rock) from the road surface. Aggregate is used on many low volume forest roads to reduce wheel stresses transferred to the subgrade, reduce erosion, reduce maintenance costs, and improve driver comfort. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential for aggregate to be recovered and used elsewhere on the road network, at a reduced cost compared to purchasing aggregate from a quarry. This article investigates the potential for aggregate recycling to provide an economic incentive to decommission additional roads by reducing transport distance and aggregate procurement costs for other actively used roads. Decommissioning additional roads may, in turn, result in improved aquatic habitat. We present real-world examples of aggregate recycling and discuss the advantages of doing so. Further, we present mixed integer formulations to determine optimal levels of aggregate recycling under economic and environmental objectives. Tested on an example road network, incorporation of aggregate recycling demonstrates substantial cost-savings relative to a baseline scenario without recycling, increasing the likelihood of road decommissioning and reduced habitat degradation. We find that aggregate recycling can result in up to 24% in cost savings (economic objective) and up to 890% in additional length of roads decommissioned (environmental objective). PMID:18481140
Thompson, Matthew; Sessions, John
Road detection and tracking for autonomous mobile robots
As part of the Army's Demo III project, a sensor-based system has been developed to identify roads and to enable a mobile robot to drive along them. A ladar sensor, which produces range images, and a color camera are used in conjunction to locate the road surface and its boundaries. Sensing is used to constantly update an internal world model of the road surface. The world model is used to predict the future position of the road and to focus the attention of the sensors on the relevant regions in their respective images. The world model also determines the most suitable algorithm for locating and tracking road features in the images based on the current task and sensing information. The planner uses information from the world model to determine the best path for the vehicle along the road. Several different algorithms have been developed and tested on a diverse set of road sequences. The road types include some paved roads with lanes, but most of the sequences are of unpaved roads, including dirt and gravel roads. The algorithms compute various features of the road images including smoothness in the world model map and in the range domain, and color features and texture in the color domain. Performance in road detection and tracking are described and examples are shown of the system in action.
Hong, Tsai Hong; Rasmussen, Christopher; Chang, Tommy; Shneier, Michael
An approach to accidents modeling based on compounds road environments.
The most common approach to study the influence of certain road features on accidents has been the consideration of uniform road segments characterized by a unique feature. However, when an accident is related to the road infrastructure, its cause is usually not a single characteristic but rather a complex combination of several characteristics. The main objective of this paper is to describe a methodology developed in order to consider the road as a complete environment by using compound road environments, overcoming the limitations inherented in considering only uniform road segments. The methodology consists of: dividing a sample of roads into segments; grouping them into quite homogeneous road environments using cluster analysis; and identifying the influence of skid resistance and texture depth on road accidents in each environment by using generalized linear models. The application of this methodology is demonstrated for eight roads. Based on real data from accidents and road characteristics, three compound road environments were established where the pavement surface properties significantly influence the occurrence of accidents. Results have showed clearly that road environments where braking maneuvers are more common or those with small radii of curvature and high speeds require higher skid resistance and texture depth as an important contribution to the accident prevention. PMID:23376544
Fernandes, Ana; Neves, Jose
Optimal Policies for Aggregate Recycling from Decommissioned Forest Roads
To mitigate the adverse environmental impact of forest roads, especially degradation of endangered salmonid habitat, many public and private land managers in the western United States are actively decommissioning roads where practical and affordable. Road decommissioning is associated with reduced long-term environmental impact. When decommissioning a road, it may be possible to recover some aggregate (crushed rock) from the road surface. Aggregate is used on many low volume forest roads to reduce wheel stresses transferred to the subgrade, reduce erosion, reduce maintenance costs, and improve driver comfort. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential for aggregate to be recovered and used elsewhere on the road network, at a reduced cost compared to purchasing aggregate from a quarry. This article investigates the potential for aggregate recycling to provide an economic incentive to decommission additional roads by reducing transport distance and aggregate procurement costs for other actively used roads. Decommissioning additional roads may, in turn, result in improved aquatic habitat. We present real-world examples of aggregate recycling and discuss the advantages of doing so. Further, we present mixed integer formulations to determine optimal levels of aggregate recycling under economic and environmental objectives. Tested on an example road network, incorporation of aggregate recycling demonstrates substantial cost-savings relative to a baseline scenario without recycling, increasing the likelihood of road decommissioning and reduced habitat degradation. We find that aggregate recycling can result in up to 24% in cost savings (economic objective) and up to 890% in additional length of roads decommissioned (environmental objective).
Earthworks - Web Pages for Road Design
The process of earthworks is to excavate the existing land to a suitable level so that road construction may begin. The earthworks can take the form of either excavation in the form of cuts or the construction of embankments to carry an elevated highway. Normally in a road design project, both will be necessary and movement of earth from one part of the site to the next will be necessary. This should be done with as little waste created or as little extra material required as disposal or collection is expensive.
Assessment of annoyance from road traffic noise
A simple model for assessment of annoyance from road traffic noise is suggested. The model is based on the noise index L Teq, introduced by the author in a previous paper. This index may be either measured directly or estimated based on measured values for L eq and L max. The percentage of heavy vehicles is also included in the model. By applying these values to two simple nomograms the annoyance caused by that particular traffic situation may be estimated. The proposed model may give a better understanding of the effects of noise control measures such as road side noise barriers and traffic regulations.
Gjestland, T.
Investigation of water quality and aquatic-community structure in Village and Valley Creeks, City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, 2000-01
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a 16-month investigation of water quality, aquatic-community structure, bed sediment, and fish tissue in Village and Valley Creeks, two urban streams that drain areas of highly intensive residential, commercial, and industrial land use in Birmingham, Alabama. Water-quality data were collected between February 2000 and March 2001 at four sites on Village Creek, three sites on Valley Creek, and at two reference sites near Birmingham?Fivemile Creek and Little Cahaba River, both of which drain less-urbanized areas. Stream samples were analyzed for major ions, nutrients, fecal bacteria, trace and major elements, pesticides, and selected organic constituents. Bed-sediment and fish-tissue samples were analyzed for trace and major elements, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and additional organic compounds. Aquatic-community structure was evaluated by conducting one survey of the fish community and in-stream habitat and two surveys of the benthic-invertebrate community. Bed-sediment and fish-tissue samples, benthic-invertebrates, and habitat data were collected between June 2000 and October 2000 at six of the nine water-quality sites; fish communities were evaluated in April and May 2001 at the six sites where habitat and benthic-invertebrate data were collected. The occurrence and distribution of chemical constituents in the water column and bed sediment provided an initial assessment of water quality in the streams. The structure of the aquatic communities, the physical condition of the fish, and the chemical analyses of fish tissue provided an indication of the cumulative effects of water quality on the aquatic biota. Water chemistry was similar at all sites, characterized by strong calcium-bicarbonate component and magnesium components. Median concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were highest at the headwaters of Valley Creek and lowest at the reference site on Fivemile Creek. In Village Creek, median concentrations of nitrite and ammonia increased in a downstream direction. In Valley Creek, median concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, organic nitrogen, suspended phosphorus, and orthophosphate decreased in a downstream direction. Median concentrations of Escherichia coli and fecal coliform bacteria were highest at the most upstream site of Valley Creek and lowest at the reference site on Fivemile Creek. Concentrations of enterococci exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criterion in 80 percent of the samples; concentrations of Escherichia coli exceeded the criterion in 56 percent of the samples. Concentrations of bacteria at the downstream sites on Village and Valley Creeks were elevated during high flow rather than low flow, indicating the presence of nonpoint sources. Surface-water samples were analyzed for chemical compounds that are commonly found in wastewater and urban runoff. The median number of wastewater indicators was highest at the most upstream site on Valley Creek and lowest at the reference site on Fivemile Creek. Concentrations of total recoverable cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in surface water exceeded acute and chronic aquatic life criteria in up to 24 percent of the samples that were analyzed for trace and major elements. High concentrations of trace and major elements in the water column were detected most frequently during high flow, indicating the presence of nonpoint sources. Of the 24 pesticides detected in surface water, 17 were herbicides and 7 were insecticides. Atrazine, simazine, and prometon were the most commonly detected herbicides; diazinon, chlorpyrifos, and carbaryl were the most commonly detected insecticides. Concentrations of atrazine, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion periodically exceeded criteria for the protection of aquatic life. Trace-element priority pollutants, pesticides, and other organic compounds were detected in higher concentrations in bed sediment at the Village and Valley Creek sites t
McPherson, Ann K.; Abrahamsen, Thomas A.; Journey, Celeste A.
Vulnerability analysis methods for road networks
Road networks rank among the most important lifelines of modern society. They can be damaged by either random or intentional events. Roads are also often affected by natural hazards, the impacts of which are both direct and indirect. Whereas direct impacts (e.g. roads damaged by a landslide or due to flooding) are localized in close proximity to the natural hazard occurrence, the indirect impacts can entail widespread service disabilities and considerable travel delays. The change in flows in the network may affect the population living far from the places originally impacted by the natural disaster. These effects are primarily possible due to the intrinsic nature of this system. The consequences and extent of the indirect costs also depend on the set of road links which were damaged, because the road links differ in terms of their importance. The more robust (interconnected) the road network is, the less time is usually needed to secure the serviceability of an area hit by a disaster. These kinds of networks also demonstrate a higher degree of resilience. Evaluating road network structures is therefore essential in any type of vulnerability and resilience analysis. There are a range of approaches used for evaluation of the vulnerability of a network and for identification of the weakest road links. Only few of them are, however, capable of simulating the impacts of the simultaneous closure of numerous links, which often occurs during a disaster. The primary problem is that in the case of a disaster, which usually has a large regional extent, the road network may remain disconnected. The majority of the commonly used indices use direct computation of the shortest paths or time between OD (origin - destination) pairs and therefore cannot be applied when the network breaks up into two or more components. Since extensive break-ups often occur in cases of major disasters, it is important to study the network vulnerability in these cases as well, so that appropriate steps can be taken in order to make it more resilient. Performing such an analysis of network break-ups requires consideration of the network as a whole, ideally identifying all the cases generated by simultaneous closure of multiple links and evaluating them using various criteria. The spatial distribution of settlements, important companies and the overall population in the nodes of the network are several factors, apart from the topology of the network which could be taken into account when computing vulnerability indices and identifying the weakest links and/or weakest link combinations. However, even for small networks (i.e., hundreds of nodes and links), the problem of break-up identification becomes extremely difficult to resolve. The naive approaches of the brute force examination consequently fail and more elaborated algorithms have to be applied. We address the problem of evaluating the vulnerability of road networks in our work by simulating the impacts of the simultaneous closure of multiple roads/links. We present an ongoing work on a sophisticated algorithm focused on the identification of network break-ups and evaluating them by various criteria.
B�l, Michal; Vod�k, Rostislav; Kube?ek, Jan; Rebok, Tom�; Svoboda, Tom�
View of northern end of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining ...
View of northern end of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, camera facing northwest - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Detail view of reinforced concrete of Bonita Ridge Access Road ...
Detail view of reinforced concrete of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, camera facing northwest - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Detail view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall showing ...
Detail view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall showing drainpipes, camera facing northwest - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Improved Performance of Unpaved Roads During Spring Thaw.
Unpaved roads in Vermont are subject to deterioration from seasonal freezing and thawing, and many towns have roads that suffer chronic serviceability problems during the so-called 'spring thaw,' or mud season. Several techniques thought to mitigate deter...
K. S. Henry J. P. Olson S. P. Farrington J. Lens
Deck view, east approach; intersection of Carroll Road at left; ...
Deck view, east approach; intersection of Carroll Road at left; Interstate Highway 5 viaduct in background; view to southwest; 90mm lens - Carroll Overhead Bridge, Altamont Pass Road, Livermore, Alameda County, CA
13. VIEW FROM WEST ON ROAD OF WOOD BRIDGE OVER BEAVER DAM CREEK (VICINITY OF WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS). TYPICAL BATTLEFIELD LOOP BRIDGE WITH STEEL SUPPORTS. - Yorktown Battlefield Tour Roads, Yorktown, York County, VA
26. LONE CONE AND OLD ROAD GRADE TO LEFT SEEN FROM PARKING LOT ADJACENT TO LAUNDROMAT AT MOREFIELD CAMPGROUND STORE, FACING NW. - Mesa Verde National Park Main Entrance Road, Cortez, Montezuma County, CO
SMITH FARM FROM EBEY ROAD, LOOKING NORTH. (At the right, ...
SMITH FARM FROM EBEY ROAD, LOOKING NORTH. (At the right, this image shows the addition added to the granary in 1998 in order to adapt it to a family home.) - Smith Farm, 399 Ebey Road, Coupeville, Island County, WA
22. View of historic district looking northeast; road in foreground ...
22. View of historic district looking northeast; road in foreground and Ogeechee River in background - Richmond Hill Plantation, East of Richmond Hill on Ford Neck Road, Richmond Hill, Bryan County, GA
13. View of historic district looking northeast, with road to ...
13. View of historic district looking northeast, with road to left and Ogeechee River in background - Richmond Hill Plantation, East of Richmond Hill on Ford Neck Road, Richmond Hill, Bryan County, GA
4. APPROACH OF CARRS MILL ROAD TO THE SOUTH PORTAL OF THE MITCHELLS MILL BRIDGE; VIEW TO NORTH. - Mitchell's Mill Bridge, Spanning Winter's Run on Carrs Mill Road, west of Bel Air, Bel Air, Harford County, MD
11. COULTERVILLE ROAD AT ROCK SLIDE AREA WITH HWY 140 AT REAR. LOOKING NNE. GIS: N-37 43 04.7 / W-119 43 00.3 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA
8. Vidw southwest, junction of SR 141 and Rockland Road, ...
8. Vidw southwest, junction of SR 141 and Rockland Road, northern estate wall and tree lines to left - A. I. Du Pont Estate, Junction of State Route 141 & Rockland Road, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
6. View northeast, junction of SR 141 and Rockland Road, ...
6. View northeast, junction of SR 141 and Rockland Road, western estate wall and tree lines to right - A. I. Du Pont Estate, Junction of State Route 141 & Rockland Road, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
1. View north along old section of New Bridge Road, ...
1. View north along old section of New Bridge Road, western estate wall and Temple of Love to right - A. I. Du Pont Estate, Junction of State Route 141 & Rockland Road, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
8. Underside of bridge over Happy Hollow Road showing concrete ...
8. Underside of bridge over Happy Hollow Road showing concrete piers looking SSW. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Foothills Parkway, From Chilowee to Walland & from Cosby to I-40, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
7. Bridge over Happy Hollow Road on unopened section of ...
7. Bridge over Happy Hollow Road on unopened section of Foothills Parkway looking ENE. - Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Foothills Parkway, From Chilowee to Walland & from Cosby to I-40, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN
76. VIEW OF SECOND WEAPONS STORAGE AREA ALONG SERVICE ROAD SHOWING BUILDINGS 338-333 LOOKING NORTHWEST. - Loring Air Force Base, Weapons Storage Area, Northeastern corner of base at northern end of Maine Road, Limestone, Aroostook County, ME
8. JAMESTOWN ISLAND LOOP ROAD, VIEW TO NORTHEAST OF WINE MAKING SIGN (STOP 5). NOTE WICKET MADE OF VINES IN FOREGROUND. - Jamestown Island Loop Road, Jamestown Island, Jamestown, James City County, VA
36 CFR 223.37 - Revegetation of temporary roads.
36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2013-07-01... Revegetation of temporary roads. 223.37 Section 223.37 Parks, Forests, and Public Property FOREST SERVICE... Revegetation of temporary roads. Timber sale...
12. WORLD'S FAMOUS TREE HOUSE AND ROAD VIEW. SOUTH OF PIERCY, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. LOOKING SW. - Redwood National & State Parks Roads, California coast from Crescent City to Trinidad, Crescent City, Del Norte County, CA
OVERVIEW OF GOLD HILL MILL, ROAD, AND WARM SPRINGS CAMP BUILDINGS, LOOKING SOUTH SOUTHEAST. THE FUNCTION OF THE FLAT AREA AT CENTER RIGHT IS UNKNOWN. - Gold Hill Mill, Warm Spring Canyon Road, Death Valley Junction, Inyo County, CA
4. View west along Rockland Road, Nemours carillon tower and ...
4. View west along Rockland Road, Nemours carillon tower and estate wall to left and George Murphy House to right - George Murphy House, Junction of Rockland & Old Murphy Roads, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
A Meteorological Observation System for Road and Aviation Meteorological Research.
The observation station measured wind profiles, as well as air humidity and temperature profiles; it also measured temperature profiles in both road based constructions. The balances of both short wave and long wave radiation were measured over the road s...
G. Kari
40 CFR 51.371 - On-road testing.
...by measuring on-road emissions through the use of remote sensing devices or by assessing vehicle emission performance...inspection; notification may be by mailing in the case of remote sensing on-road testing or through immediate...
4. HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPH, VIEW ALONG PARKWAY LOOKING AT REDDING ROAD BRIDGE, CA. 1940. COLLECTION CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. - Merritt Parkway, Redding Road Bridge, Spanning Merritt Parkway, Fairfield, Fairfield County, CT
How Long Do the Dead Survive on the Road? Carcass Persistence Probability and Implications for Road-Kill Monitoring Surveys
Background Road mortality is probably the best-known and visible impact of roads upon wildlife. Although several factors influence road-kill counts, carcass persistence time is considered the most important determinant underlying underestimates of road mortality. The present study aims to describe and model carcass persistence variability on the road for different taxonomic groups under different environmental conditions throughout the year; and also to assess the effect of sampling frequency on the relative variation in road-kill estimates registered within a survey. Methodology/Principal Findings Daily surveys of road-killed vertebrates were conducted over one year along four road sections with different traffic volumes. Survival analysis was then used to i) describe carcass persistence timings for overall and for specific animal groups; ii) assess optimal sampling designs according to research objectives; and iii) model the influence of road, animal and weather factors on carcass persistence probabilities. Most animal carcasses persisted on the road for the first day only, with some groups disappearing at very high rates. The advisable periodicity of road monitoring that minimizes bias in road mortality estimates is daily monitoring for bats (in the morning) and lizards (in the afternoon), daily monitoring for toads, small birds, small mammals, snakes, salamanders, and lagomorphs; 1 day-interval (alternate days) for large birds, birds of prey, hedgehogs, and freshwater turtles; and 2 day-interval for carnivores. Multiple factors influenced the persistence probabilities of vertebrate carcasses on the road. Overall, the persistence was much lower for small animals, on roads with lower traffic volumes, for carcasses located on road lanes, and during humid conditions and high temperatures during the wet season and dry seasons, respectively. Conclusion/Significance The guidance given here on monitoring frequencies is particularly relevant to provide conservation and transportation agencies with accurate numbers of road-kills, realistic mitigation measures, and detailed designs for road monitoring programs.
Santos, Sara M.; Carvalho, Filipe; Mira, Antonio
36 CFR 223.38 - Standards for road design and construction.
...2010-07-01 false Standards for road design and construction. 223.38...Provisions § 223.38 Standards for road design and construction. Road...the sale contract provides for road design standards in excess of those...
...2009-07-01 false Standards for road design and construction. 223.38...Provisions § 223.38 Standards for road design and construction. Road...the sale contract provides for road design standards in excess of those...
25 CFR 170.803 - What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program?
... What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? 170.803...WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM BIA Road Maintenance § 170.803 What facilities are eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a)...
Simulating the effects of forest roads on watershed hydrology
The Distributed Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation Model (DHSVM) was enhanced to represent the interception and redirection of surface and subsurface flow by road cuts and stream channels. Two channel networks are imposed in vector form on the DHSVM grid: one representing roads, the other representing streams. Impacts of the road network on channel flows are modeled explicitly; road location and geometry, along with soil moisture, determine the timing and volume of intercepted water, while road drainage characteristics and culvert placement determine the flow path and travel time to the channel system. The active road drainage/channel network may expand and contract as grid cell water tables rise and fall below their channel beds. The model was applied to a 10-km2 experimental watershed to study the influence of road network design on streamflow characteristics. It was demonstrated that even where the road network produces minor changes in streamflow at the basin outlet, subsurface flow interception by roads could alter significantly streamflow in tributary channels. The impact of the road network on channel flows was shown to vary during a storm based on the road design, storm characteristics, topography, local geology, and soil moisture conditions. The impact occurs earlier in a storm when the road network diverts flow into the drainage rather than out of it. When flows are redirected into a channel, the road contributing area quickly increases the current total contributing area for the channel, causing a proportional increase in discharge. If the road design allows some water to pass under the road, there may be only minor impacts early in the storm with increasing impact as watertables rise and subsurface flow begins to be intercepted. When flows are redirected out of the natural drainage the impact is not felt until the channel contributing area extends upslope to the road system.
Wigmosta, Mark S.; Perkins, William A.
Modelling and evaluating interior tire-road noise
Exterior and interior tire-road noise is a common problem for car and tire manufactures. Exterior tire-road noise is bounded by SPL limits mentioned on a vehicle pass-by as described in UN-ECE R117 and EC R661\\/2009. Interior tire-road noise on the other hand is determined by market requirements. Predicting interior tire-road noise and determining these market requirements are still very challenging.
D. A. Bekke; Y. H. Wijnant; Boer de A
Optimized norm-conserving Vanderbilt pseudopotentials
Fully nonlocal two-projector norm-conserving pseudopotentials are shown to be compatible with a systematic approach to the optimization of convergence with the size of the plane-wave basis. A reformulation of the optimization is developed, including the ability to apply it to positive-energy atomic scattering states and to enforce greater continuity in the pseudopotential. The generalization of norm conservation to multiple projectors is reviewed and recast for the present purposes. Comparisons among the results of all-electron and one- and two-projector norm-conserving pseudopotential calculations of lattice constants and bulk moduli are made for a group of solids chosen to represent a variety of types of bonding and a sampling of the periodic table.
Hamann, D. R.
First Results in Robot Road-Following
The new Carnegie Mellon Autonomous I and Vehicle group has produced the first demonstrations of road following robots. In this paper we first describe the robots that are part of the CMU Autonomous Land Vehicle project. We next describe the vision system of the CMU ALV. We then present the control algorithms, including a simple and stable control scheme for
Richard Wallace; Anthony Stentz; Charles E. Thorpe; Hans Maravec; William Whittaker; Takeo Kanade
The Sun and the Rosaring Ceremonial Road
A well-built roadway from the early Viking Age at the Ro � saring archaeological site in central Sweden is assumed by archaeologists to have been used for processions. The road is here examined in relation to its environment, the sun and the moon, the Milky Way and the rainbow. The aim was to extend landscape archaeology to include natural phenomena
Emilia Pasztor; Curt Roslund; Britt-Mari Nasstrom; Heather Robertson
Effect of road traffic on amphibian density
We studied the effect of traffic intensity on local abundance of anurans. We counted dead and live frogs and toads per km and estimated frog and toad local abundances using breeding chorus intensities on similar roads through similar habitats, but with different levels of traffic intensity. After correcting for effects of date, local habitat, time, and region, our analyses demonstrated
Lenore Fahrig; John H. Pedlar; Shealagh E. Pope; Philip D. Taylor; John F. Wegner
Road Design System (RDS) User's Guide.
The purpose of this Guide is to instruct the user in using the Road Design System (RDS). It lets the user know what programs are available. It also tells the user some things to watch out for when using the programs.
Seatbelts and road traffic collision injuries
Modification of seatbelts and their legislation played an important role in reducing morbidity and mortality of occupants in road traffic collisions. We aimed to review seatbelt development, its mechanism of action and its effects. Seatbelts reduce injury by preventing the occupant from hitting the interior parts of the vehicle or being ejected from the car. We have made a linear regression correlation between the overall seatbelt compliance and road traffic death rates in 46 high income countries to study the relationship between seatbelt use and mortality. There was a very highly significant negative correlation between the seatbelt compliance and road traffic death rates (R = - 0.77, F = 65.5, p < 0.00001). Seatbelt-related injuries include spinal, abdominal or pelvic injuries. The presence of a seatbelt sign must raise the suspicion of an intra-abdominal injury. These injuries can be reduced if seatbelts were applied correctly. Although seatbelts were recognized as an important safety measure, it still remains underused in many countries. Enforcement of seatbelt usage by law is mandatory so as to reduce the toll of death of road traffic collisions.
Road traffic sign detection in color images
This work is a part of a smart system that can be used in autonomous vehicles or can assist drivers in locating road signs. The detection technique includes histogram equalization, light control and color segmentation. In this technique, both the HSV and the YUV color spaces are incorporated to achieve better segmentation results than that of one color space techniques.
W. G. Shadeed; D. I. Abu-Al-Nadi; M. J. Mismar
Medical Concerns among Wheelchair Road Racers.
Results of a questionnaire administered to 43 wheelchair road racers suggest that their medical problems may lead to complications while training or racing. The study looked at the effects of training, injuries, bladder management, medications, and spasms. Sports medicine professionals are provided with information on handling disabled athletes.�
Martinez, Santos F.
NASA's Deep-Space Telecommunications Road Map
This article presentsthis road map, describes how it supports an increasing mission set while also providingsignificantly increased science data return, summarizes the current state ofkey Ka-band and optical communications technologies, and identifies critical pathitems in terms of technology developments, demonstrations, and mission users
L. Swanson; C. D. Edwards; C. T. Stelzried; L. J. Deutsch
A Bumpy Road to Action Research.
Using a systematic approach to addressing classroom questions, practitioners can utilize the results of their own research to assess, develop, or improve their practice. A study of mentor teachers, administrators, and teaching fellows provides information on potential "bumps in the road" of action research, focusing on: knowledge and skills, time,�
Gilbert, Sharon L.; Smith, Lynn C.
Bitumen-Sand Mixes for Road Bases.
The cost of bitumen-sand mixes can be reduced by using less bitumen than is necessary for surface durability, provided they are surface-dressed to protect them from abrasion. To determine whether a road built using this technique gives adequate performanc...
F. H. P. Williams
Cost Recovery from Optimally Designed Roads
If vehicles are charged for the road damage they cause, only a fraction of maintenance costs will be recovered. This paper proves that with constant returns to scale in construction and use, the balance, together with interest on the capital cost, will be recovered by congestion charges. Congestion costs are calculated for Britain, and shown to slightly exceed the total
David M Newbery
A Road Map for Improving Geography Assessment
In late 2012, both the second edition of the "Geography for Life: National Geography Standards" and the National Science Foundation-funded "Road Map for Geography Education Project" reports were released; the former document describes the conceptual goals for K-12 geography education, and the latter, a route to coordinating reform efforts to�
Wertheim, Jill A.; Edelson, Daniel C.; Hildebrant, Barbara; Hinde, Elizabeth; Kenney, Marianne; Kolvoord, Robert; Lanegran, David; Marcello, Jody Smothers; Morrill, Robert; Ruiz-Primo, Maria; Seixas, Peter; Shavelson, Richard
Remote Passive Road Ice Sensor System (RPRISS).
RPRISS is a passive infrared (IR) imaging system that can detect the presence of even very thin layers of ice on a paved surfaced. The system can also accurately estimate road surface temperature and provide television-like surveillance of traffic in the ...
J. Reed B. Barbour
Decentralized resource allocation for road passenger transportation?
Inter-urban road passenger transportation requires the al- location of drivers and buses to transport people. In such allocation process, several constraints on driving time are being imposed by the governments in order to assure citizens safety. Such constraints, how- ever, are posing a lot of di-culties to the allocation process, usually generated by human operators. In this paper we formalize
Beatriz Lopez; Pere Urra
Road traffic noise, sleep and mental health.
This study examines the relationship between road traffic noise, self-reported sleep quality and mental health. The study is cross-sectional and based on data from a survey conducted in Oslo, Norway, in 2000. Psychological distress (Hopkins Symptom Checklist, HSCL-25) was measured along with self-reported somatic health, sleep quality, noise sensitivity and socioeconomic variables. Questionnaire data were combined with modeled estimates of noise exposure. The total study sample consisted of 2898 respondents. After adjustment for potential confounders and stratifying for sleep quality, we found a positive, but not statistically significant association between noise exposure and symptoms of psychological distress among participants with poor sleep quality (slope=0.06, 95% CI: -0.02 to 0.13, per 10dB increase in noise exposure). In the same sleep quality group, we found a borderline statistically significant association between noise exposure and a symptom level indicating a probable mental disorder (HSCL?1.55) (odds ratio=1.47, 95% CI: 0.99-1.98, per 10dB increase in noise exposure). We found no association between road traffic noise and mental health among subjects reporting good and medium sleep quality. The results suggest that road traffic noise may be associated with poorer mental health among subjects with poor sleep. Individuals with poor sleep quality may be more vulnerable to effects of road traffic noise on mental health than individuals with better sleep quality. PMID:24637180
Sygna, Karin; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Aamodt, Geir; Oftedal, Bente; Krog, Norun Hjertager
To ensure mobility, future road traffic management needs actual and reliable information about the traffic over wide areas. Nowadays, outside of motorways the actual traffic situation is almost unknown due to the lack of sensor installations. Traffic monitoring with radar from high altitudes delivers a new approach which allows the capture of traffic data in wide areas and at every
K.-H. Bethke; S. Baumgartner; M. Gabele
Control of road noise by vehicle operation�
The results of some preliminary investigations into the noise emitted by road vehicles under various operating conditions are presented. The operating parameters considered are engine speed, road speed, gear ratio, acceleration and pay load. The information obtained is then used to illustrate the effect of some simple traffic control situations. Results from a 91/2 ton truck and a 1500 cm 3 car are presented and it is shown that noise at constant speed increases at a mean rate of 12 dBA per doubling of speed. When the vehicle is accelerating this rate of increase is much reduced, although the maximum levels are similar to those obtained when the vehicle is running at constant speed. The other parameters are found to have only a secondary effect. The conclusions, in terms of road planning, are that limiting speed and smoothing traffic flow have a beneficial effect on noise. High levels of noise can be generated by vehicles accelerating away from a road intersection for a distance up to 700-1000 ft even in the presence of a 30 m.p.h. speed limit.
Waters, P. E.
Realtime lane tracking of curved local road
A lane detection system is an important component of many intelligent transportation systems. We present a robust realtime lane tracking algorithm for a curved local road. First, we present a comparative study to find a good realtime lane marking classifier. Once lane markings are detected, they are grouped into many lane boundary hypotheses represented by constrained cubic spline curves. We
Zu Kim
On-the-Road Performance Tests of Electric Test Vehicle for Correlation with Road Load Simulator.
A special purpose dynamometer (Road Load Simulator) is being used at NASA Lewis Research Center to test and evaluate electric vehicle propulsion systems developed under DOE's Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program. To improve correlation between system tests...
Economic fundamentals of road pricing : a diagrammatic analysis
The author presents a conceptual framework for road pricing based on a rigorous diagrammatic - but nonmathematical - framework derived from first (economic) principles. His analysis of traditional arguments about road pricing shows why implementing congestion pricing as practiced in the past has encountered obstacles. Partly, it is because both types of road users - the tolled and the tolled
Timothy D. Hau
State of the road tunnel safety technology in Japan
As more and more tunnels have been constructed to develop new road network, through mountainous ranges or to avoid environmental problems in urban areas, safety in road tunnels has been becoming a major issue. Establishment of tunnel safety measures is the most important task for all those who are engaged in road tunnel design, construction, operation or safety. Based on
H Mashimo
Analysis of station locations in a road weather information system
Many northern countries use a road weather information system (RWIS) with a network of stations to monitor winter road conditions. Present station locations were selected after field investigations of micro- and local-climate conditions (e.g. using thermal mapping). This paper describes an approach to optimally locate and equip the stations in order to best identify conditions hazardous to road transport. This
M. Eriksson; J. Norrman
Sediment production from forest roads in western Oregon
Prevention and estimation of soil erosion from forest roads requires an understanding of how road design and maintenance affect sediment production. Seventy-four plots were installed on forest roads in the Oregon Coast Range to examine the relationship between sediment production and road attributes such as distance between culverts, road slope, soil texture, and cutslope height. An additional comparison was made between road segments with cutslopes and ditches freshly cleared of vegetation and segments with established vegetation on cutslopes and in ditches. All road segments were 5 m wide and insloped with aggregate surfacing, light traffic, and no overhanging forest cover. Sediment production was correlated to the product of segment length times road slope squared. Sediment production from aggregate covered roads on a silty clay loam was about 9 times greater than that from roads constructed on a gravelly loam. Sediment production was not correlated to the cutslope height. Road segments where vegetation was cleared from the cutslope and ditch produced about 7 times as much sediment as road segments where vegetation was retained, showing the potential reduction in erosion by revegetation following construction and the potential impact of ditch cleaning during maintenance. Relationships and estimates from this study provide a basis for improved erosion estimates by commonly used empirical procedures.
Luce, Charles H.; Black, Thomas A.
5. VIEW OF THE LOCATION FOR A PROPOSED SPUR ROAD FROM KINGS CANYON ROAD TO THE PROPOSED HELICOPTER LANDING SITE #11. LOCATED AT MILEPOST 0.55, FACING NORTH 53� EAST (53 ). - Kings Canyon Road, Carson City, Carson City, NV
Optimization-based Method for Automated Road Network Extraction
Automated road information extraction has significant applicability in transportation. It provides a means for creating, maintaining, and updating transportation network databases that are needed for purposes ranging from traffic management to automated vehicle navigation and guidance. This paper is to review literature on the subject of road extraction and to describe a study of an optimization-based method for automated road network extraction.
Xiong, D
Applying behavior recognition in road detection using vehicle sensor networks
Transportation related environment and social problems become very imminent with rapid urban growth. Road detection aims to detect road anomalous events that endanger vehicle driving. Road detection using Vehicle Sensor Networks (VSNs) is a new method with many advantages, as vehicles become more and more popular nowadays. Data collected by vehicle sensor network is related with vehicle behaviors such as
Yuanyuan Zeng; Kai Xiang; Deshi Li
Color Image Processing for Navigation: Two Road Trackers.
To build on autonomous vehicle capable of road following, it is necessary to compute the position and the orientation of the vehicle relative to the road. One way of doing so is to acquire images from a camera on the vehicle and extract some road features...
C. Thorpe D. Aubert
6. VIEW OF COULTERVILLE ROAD AT BIG MEADOW IN FORESTA. INTERSECTION WITH DAVIS CUT-OFF ROAD AT LEFT. LOOKING W. GIS: N-37 42 09.3 / W-119 44 59.8 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA
7. ALIGNMENT OF ABANDONED COULTERVILLE ROAD IN FORESTA AT FALLEN TREE IN CENTER REAR. FOREGROUND MARKS TURN OF NEW ROAD FROM FORESTA TO HIGHWAY 120. LOOKING E. GIS: N-37 42 16.6 / W-119 44 00.3 - Coulterville Road, Between Foresta & All-Weather Highway, Yosemite Village, Mariposa County, CA
2. View south along Old Murphy Road toward junction with ...
2. View south along Old Murphy Road toward junction with Rockland Road, George Murphy House to left, Alfred I. Du Pont Institute gates at center, and Nemours Estate wall and carillon tower to right - George Murphy House, Junction of Rockland & Old Murphy Roads, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE
Cooperative methods for road tracking in aerial imagery
A description is given of research in digital mapping and image understanding in the area of automated feature extraction from aerial imagery. The authors discuss a system for road tracking, ARF (A Road Follower), that uses multiple cooperative methods for extracting information about road location and structure from complex aerial imagery. This system is a multilevel architecture for image analysis
David M. McKeown; Jerry L. Denlinger
View of blind curve along National Old Trails Road, about ...
View of blind curve along National Old Trails Road, about 1,000 feet from top, facing north. - La Bajada Historic Trails and Roads, Approximately 1 mile East/Northeast of intersection of State Highway 16 and Indian Service Road 841, La Bajada, Santa Fe County, NM
Road-traffic-related mortality in Iran: a descriptive study
Road traffic accidents are considered to be the second highest cause of mortality in Iran. A study was conducted to describe road-traffic-related mortality data in Iran in a given period. All Iranian mortality data on road traffic accidents between March 1999 and 2000 (one complete Iranian calendar year) were obtained. The main variables studied were deceased's gender, age, education level,
A Montazeri
7. VIEW OF WEAPONS DELIVERY ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL NO. 1 DRAIN, LOOKING 522 EAST OF NORTH. - Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Lower Diagonal No. 1 Drain, Bounded by West Gate Road & Weapons Delivery Road, Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Churchill County, NV
Road Safety Evaluation System Based on Virtual Simulation
In order to evaluate road safety in design stage, virtual simulation tests are proposed. The system includes the modeling of virtual road based on Creator, the development of vehicle dynamics model and 3D model, the development of real-time simulation software based on Vega and road safety evaluation model. Through the visual simulation tests, the vehicle speed inducement effect of the
Tao Chen; Lang Wei
9. VIEW FROM MANY PARKS CURVE (ON TRAIL RIDGE ROAD) OF HORSESHOE PARK, SHOWING FALL RIVER ROAD FAINTLY AT LEFT AT BASE OF SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND CROSSING ALLUVIAL FAN FROM LAWN LAKE FLOOD. - Fall River Road, Between Estes Park & Fall River Pass, Estes Park, Larimer County, CO
Automated road markings extraction from mobile laser scanning data
Road markings are used to provide guidance and instruction to road users for safe and comfortable driving. Enabling rapid, cost-effective and comprehensive approaches to the maintenance of route networks can be greatly improved with detailed information about location, dimension and condition of road markings. Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) systems provide new opportunities in terms of collecting and processing this information. Laser scanning systems enable multiple attributes of the illuminated target to be recorded including intensity data. The recorded intensity data can be used to distinguish the road markings from other road surface elements due to their higher retro-reflective property. In this paper, we present an automated algorithm for extracting road markings from MLS data. We describe a robust and automated way of applying a range dependent thresholding function to the intensity values to extract road markings. We make novel use of binary morphological operations and generic knowledge of the dimensions of road markings to complete their shapes and remove other road surface elements introduced through the use of thresholding. We present a detailed analysis of the most applicable values required for the input parameters involved in our algorithm. We tested our algorithm on different road sections consisting of multiple distinct types of road markings. The successful extraction of these road markings demonstrates the effectiveness of our algorithm.
Kumar, Pankaj; McElhinney, Conor P.; Lewis, Paul; McCarthy, Timothy
5. VIEW OF WEST GATE ROAD CULVERT OF LOWER DIAGONAL NO. 1 DRAIN, LOOKING 323' EAST OF NORTH. - Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, Lower Diagonal No. 1 Drain, Bounded by West Gate Road & Weapons Delivery Road, Naval Air Station Fallon, Fallon, Churchill County, NV
The Western Australian Road Injury Database (1987�1996)
Accurate information about injuries and their causes is essential to road safety research, policy development and evaluation. Such information is most powerful when it is available for all road crashes within a jurisdiction. The Western Australian Road Injury Database achieves this through the on-going linkage of crash details from reports to police with the details of injuries to casualties contained
Diana L. Rosman
Web Based Injury Surveillance System (WBISS) for Road Traffic Injuries
Road traffic injuries are a major, but neglected public health problem in Sri Lanka. As their economic costs are high and emergency trauma care is lacking in the country, the prevention of the road traffic injuries is extremely important. To prevent road traffic injuries, accurate information are mandatory on modes, patterns and trends of crashes and injuries. However, existing surveillance
Achala Upendra Jayatilleke; Chandrajith Ashuboda Marasinghe; Shinji Nakahara; S. T. Nandasara; M. Jimba
Second-best road pricing through highway franchising
This paper considers the welfare impacts of a range of franchising regimes for congestible highways. For a single road in isolation, it is shown that a competitive auction with the level of road use as the decision criterion produces the socially optimal road (in terms of capacity and toll level), provided neutral scale economies characterize highway operations. The auction outperforms
Erik T. Verhoef
Access to markets and the benefits of rural roads
Transport infrastructure plays a central role in rural development, yet little is known about the size - or, especially, the distribution - of benefits from road investments. Among other benefits, rural roads provide cheaper access to both markets for agricultural output and for modern inputs. The author develops and implements a method for nonparametrically estimating the benefits from road projects
Hanan G. Jacoby
The goal of the project is to survey the applicability of machine automation and wireless communication technologies in road repairing and surfacing. The focus is on the control of the worksite and road repairing and road surfacing process. This process contains design, construction, quality control and work site management. The objective is to study, how different machines, e.g. asphalt mixing
Pekka Kilpel�inen; Rauno Heikkil�; Tommi Parkkila
Road traffic emission factors for heavy metals
Quantifying the emissions and concentrations of heavy metals in urban air is a prerequisite for assessing their health effects. In this paper a combination of measurements and modelling is used to assess the contribution from road traffic emissions. Concentrations of particulate heavy metals in air were measured simultaneously during 1 year at a densely trafficked street and at an urban background site in Stockholm, Sweden. Annual mean concentrations of cadmium were 50 times lower than the EU directive and for nickel and arsenic concentrations were 10 and six times lower, respectively. More than a factor of two higher concentrations was in general observed at the street in comparison to roof levels indicating the strong influence from local road traffic emissions. The only compound with a significantly decreasing trend in the urban background was Pb with 9.1 ng m -3 in 1995/96 compared to 3.4 ng m -3 2003/04. This is likely due to decreased emissions from wear of brake linings and reduced emissions due to oil and coal combustion in central Europe. Total road traffic emission factors for heavy metals were estimated using parallel measurements of NOx concentrations and knowledge of NOx emission factors. In general, the emission factors for the street were higher than reported in road tunnel measurements. This could partly be due to different driving conditions, since especially for metals which are mainly emitted from brake wear, more stop and go driving in the street compared to in road tunnels is likely to increase emissions. Total emissions were compared with exhaust emissions, obtained from the COPERT model and brake wear emissions based on an earlier study in Stockholm. For Cu, Ni and Zn the sum of brake wear and exhaust emissions agreed very well with estimated total emission factors in this study. More than 90% of the road traffic emissions of Cu were due to brake wear. For Ni more than 80% is estimated to be due to exhaust emissions and for Zn around 40% of road traffic emissions are estimated to be due to exhaust emissions. Pb is also mainly due to exhaust emissions (90%); a fuel Pb content of only 0.5 mg L -1 would give similar emission factor as that based on the concentration increment at the street. This is the first study using simultaneous measurements of heavy metals at street and roof enabling calculations of emission factors using a tracer technique.
Johansson, Christer; Norman, Michael; Burman, Lars
Globalization in road safety: explaining the downward trend in road accident rates in a single country (Israel).
A theoretical model is proposed in which road safety in a single country depends upon parochial considerations, such as police enforcement, and upon global considerations, such as international road safety technology. We show that there is a non-spurious relationship between the downward trend in the rate of road accidents in Israel and the road accident rate abroad. We suggest that this reflects the international propagation of road safety technology as it is embodied in motor vehicles and road design, rather than parochial road safety policy. Recent developments in the econometric analysis of time series are used to estimate the model using data for Israel. We make no direct attempt to explain the downward trend in the rate of road accidents outside Israel. PMID:10576678
Beenstock, M; Gafni, D
RoadCompass: following rural roads with vision + ladar using vanishing point tracking
We present a vision- and ladar-based approach to autonomous driving on rural and desert roads that has been tested extensively\\u000a in a closed-loop system. The vision component uses Gabor wavelet filters for texture analysis to find ruts and tracks from\\u000a which the road vanishing point can be inferred via Hough-style voting, yielding a direction estimate for steering control.\\u000a The ladar
Christopher Rasmussen
Altitude and Configuration of the Potentiometric Surface in the Crystalline and Metasedimentary Rocks in Birmingham, Newlin, Pennsbury, and Pocopson Townships and parts of East Marlborough and Kennett Townships, Chester County, Pennsylvania, June 1994 through November 1995
A map showing ground-water levels in crystalline and metasedimentary rocks in Birmingham, Newlin, Pennsbury, and Pocopson Townships and parts of East Marlborough and Kennett Townships, Chester County, Pennsylvania, was constructed from water levels measured in wells from June 1994 through November 1995. Pre-1994 measurements were incorporated on the map to provide control in areas where more recent data were not available. Because little ground-water development has occurred in the areas where pre-1994 water levels were used, levels are assumed to be the same in 1994 and 1995 as they were when the measurement was made.
Wood, Charles R.; Wettstein, William C.; Aichele, Steven S.; Joyce, James; Schneider, Frank M.
Experimental analysis of the structure-borne tyre/road noise due to road discontinuities
Tyre/road noise has become the major source of traffic noise in urban regions. Although tyre/road noise has been studied for decades, little can be found in the literature about the noise resulting from crossing road discontinuities such as expansion joints, railway crossings, and potholes. Both vehicle interior and exterior noise can reach significant peak levels as a result of crossing such a pavement discontinuity. This paper presents an experimental analysis of the generating phenomena of structure borne tyre/road noise due to a road discontinuity. Both exterior and interior tyre/road noise are considered. The influence of driving speed, cleat dimension, inflation pressure, tyre temperature and preload onto the noise generating phenomena is investigated. A novel test setup was designed and built at the K.U. Leuven Noise and Vibration Engineering Laboratory in order to measure the structural and acoustic response of a tyre rolling over a cleat. The vehicle interior noise is analysed by means of a test circuit cleat test.
Kindt, P.; Berckmans, D.; De Coninck, F.; Sas, P.; Desmet, W.
SmartRoads: training Indonesian workers to become road safety ambassadors in industrial and community settings.
This paper reports on a programme to improve road safety awareness in an industrial community in the vicinity of Jakarta, in Indonesia. Adapting the model of a successful community and school-based programme in Victoria, in Australia, and using a peer education approach, 16 employees of a major manufacturing company were trained to implement road safety education programmes amongst their peers. Specific target groups for the educators were colleagues, schools and the local community. Over 2 days the employees, from areas as diverse as production, public relations, personnel services, administration and management, learned about road safety facts, causes of traffic casualties, prevention approaches and peer education strategies. They explored and developed strategies to use with their respective target groups and practised health education skills. The newly trained workers received certificates to acknowledge them as 'SmartRoads Ambassadors' and, with follow-up support and development, became road safety educators with a commitment and responsibility to deliver education to their respective work and local communities. This paper argues that the model has potential to provide an effective and locally relevant response to road safety issues in similar communities. PMID:24801779
Montero, Kerry; Spencer, Graham; Ariens, Bernadette
A healthy road transport system is essential for any country's social and economic development. It is generally observed that if road deterioration is allowed to increase, the economy will need significantly larger expenditures in subsequent years to keep the road maintenance backlog constant. This paper is part of a larger study whose main purpose is to investigate the dynamic behaviour
Harry M. Ngwangwa; P. Stephan Heyns; Kobus F. J. J. Labuschagne
Roads Investments, Spatial Intensification and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Understanding the impact of road investments on deforestation is part of a complete evaluation of the expansion of infrastructure for development. We find evidence of spatial spillovers from roads in the Brazilian Amazon: deforestation rises in the census tracts that lack roads but are in the same county as and within 100 km of a tract with a new paved or unpaved road. At greater distances from the new roads the evidence is mixed, including negative coefficients of inconsistent significance between 100 and 300 km, and if anything, higher neighbor deforestation at distances over 300 km.
Pfaff, Alexander; Robalino, Juan; Walker, Robert; Aldrich, Steven; Caldas, Marcellus; Reis, Eustaquio; Perz, Stephen; Bohrer, Claudio; Arima, Eugenio; Laurance, William; Kibry, Kathryn
Unofficial Road Building in the Amazon: Socioeconomic and Biophysical Explanations
Roads have manifold social and environmental impacts, including regional development, social conflicts and habitat fragmentation. 'Road ecology' has emerged as an approach to evaluate the various ecological and hydrological impacts of roads. This article aims to complement road ecology by examining the socio-spatial processes of road building itself. Focusing on the Brazilian Amazon, a heavily-studied context due to forest fragmentation by roads, the authors consider non-state social actors who build 'unofficial roads' for the purpose of gaining access to natural resources to support livelihoods and community development. They examine four case studies of roads with distinct histories in order to explain the socio-spatial processes behind road building in terms of profit maximization, land tenure claims, co-operative and conflictive political ecologies, and constraints as well as opportunities afforded by the biophysical environment. The study cases illustrate the need for a multi-pronged theoretical approach to understanding road building, and call for more attention to the role of non-state actors in unofficial road construction.
Perz, Stephen G.; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Arima, Eugenio; Walker, Robert J.
Pixel color feature enhancement for road signs detection
Road signs play an important role in our daily life which used to guide drivers to notice variety of road conditions and cautions. They provide important visual information that can help drivers operating their vehicles in a manner for enhancing traffic safety. The occurrence of some accidents can be reduced by using automatic road signs recognition system which can alert the drivers. This research attempts to develop a warning system to alert the drivers to notice the important road signs early enough to refrain road accidents from happening. For solving this, a non-linear weighted color enhancement method by pixels is presented. Due to the advantage of proposed method, different road signs can be detected from videos effectively. With suitably coefficients and operations, the experimental results have proved that the proposed method is robust, accurate and powerful in road signs detection.
Zhang, Qieshi; Kamata, Sei-Ichiro
Investigation of road network features and safety performance.
The analysis of road network designs can provide useful information to transportation planners as they seek to improve the safety of road networks. The objectives of this study were to compare and define the effective road network indices and to analyze the relationship between road network structure and traffic safety at the level of the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ). One problem in comparing different road networks is establishing criteria that can be used to scale networks in terms of their structures. Based on data from Orange and Hillsborough Counties in Florida, road network structural properties within TAZs were scaled using 3 indices: Closeness Centrality, Betweenness Centrality, and Meshedness Coefficient. The Meshedness Coefficient performed best in capturing the structural features of the road network. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models were developed to assess the safety of various network configurations as measured by total crashes, crashes on state roads, and crashes on local roads. The models' results showed that crash frequencies on local roads were closely related to factors within the TAZs (e.g., zonal network structure, TAZ population), while crash frequencies on state roads were closely related to the road and traffic features of state roads. For the safety effects of different networks, the Grid type was associated with the highest frequency of crashes, followed by the Mixed type, the Loops & Lollipops type, and the Sparse type. This study shows that it is possible to develop a quantitative scale for structural properties of a road network, and to use that scale to calculate the relationships between network structural properties and safety. PMID:23584537
Wang, Xuesong; Wu, Xingwei; Abdel-Aty, Mohamed; Tremont, Paul J
Modeling of Forest Roads Impact on Shallow Landslides Triggering
Forest roads can influence the hydrologic response and shallow landslides susceptibility of upland catchments. The presence of compacted or paved roads increases overland flow because infiltration is reduced, and the natural flow pathways are modified due to interception by road cutslopes, that convey upslope runoff, this including both surface and part of subsurface flows. Roadways, and especially roadside ditches, route road-generated runoff to the stream network. This occurs at river crossing culverts or through gullies that can be incised below road drainage facilities that are not directly stream connected, depending on the characteristics of the receiving areas. This can lead to significant changes of the natural stream network and of storm hydrographs in small catchments. The capture and redirection of road-generated water fluxes involve also geomorphic effects as the formation of gullies, the migration of channel, the triggering of shallow landslide and debris-flows. To understand the impact of forest roads on hydrologic response and then on shallow landslides triggering one needs to represent the geometric and topologic interconnectivity between forest roads, road drainage systems, watershed topography and stream network. This allows for the detection of each road segment sub basin, the computation of the relative contributing area, and the extraction of a drainage network that takes into account the presence of the road network. This approach is developed here to represent the distributed hydrologic fluxes and the resulting catchment response for an experimental basin where a number of roads built in the fifties are monitored and where, on February, 1996, many shallow landslides occurred. Hydrologic simulations show that one requires a detailed description of catchment topography to capture the effect of forest roads on water flows. Coupling the hydrological model with the geomechanic ones it is shown how the presence of forest roads can enhance shallow landslides susceptibility. The study area is the H.J.Andrews Experimental Forest Watershed 3 (WS3), located in the Lookout Creek basin, Western Oregon Cascades.
Rulli, M.; Moreni, S.; Vigano', M.; Rosso, R.
Vapor absorption refrigeration in road transport vehicles
This study includes an experimental investigation into the use of vapor absorption refrigeration (VAR) systems in road transport vehicles using the waste heat in the exhaust gases of the main propulsion unit as the energy source. This would provide an alternative to the conventional vapor compression refrigeration system and its associated internal combustion engine. The performance of a VAR system fired by natural gas is compared with that of the same system driven by engine exhaust gases. This showed that the exhaust-gas-driven system produced the same performance characteristics as the gas-fired system. It also suggested that, with careful design, inserting the VAR system generator into the main engine exhaust system need not impair the performance of the vehicle propulsion unit. A comparison of the capital and running costs of the conventional and proposed alternative system is made. Suggestions are also made regarding operation of the VAR system during off-road/slow running conditions.
Horuz, I. [Univ. of Uludag, Bursa (Turkey). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering] [Univ. of Uludag, Bursa (Turkey). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Field trips along the Geological Transpyrenean Road
GeolVal association, www.geolval.fr , in collaboration with Geoambiente association, created a serie of pedagogical explanations about Pyrenees landscapes along the road from France to Spain, linking the towns of Pau, Oloron, Jaca and Mallos de Riglos. It was a ten years work that lasted in 2008. http://www.routetranspyreneenne.com/home_f.php We can now use this "treasure" with our students and mix some landscapes explanations from a road site with a little field trip along mountain in order to "touch" the rocks. We are working about the importance of field in the way the students understand geosciences and try to organize field trips that aim to simplify and make concrete some key concepts. We also began an interactive software version of this work, presented through a pilot application, made in collaboration with Total petroleum firm.
Burgio, Marion; Richert, Jean-Paul; Gruneisen, Pierre; Lacazedieu, Annie; Dekeyser, Dominique; Vazquez-Prada, Diego
Metropolitan VANET: Services on the Road
The application of mobile communication technology to support road traffic constitutes a challenging, but at the same time very promising working area for research and development. Services reach from vehicular safety applications including collision and other safety warnings to non-safety applications like real-time traffic congestion and routing information, high-speed tolling, mobile infotainment, and many others. The creation of high-performance, highly
Minglu Li
The Road to Gravitational S-Duality
We overview the road to defining S-duality analogues for non-supersymmetric theories of gravity. The case of pure topological gravity in four dimensions, and, MacDowell-Mansouri gauge theory of gravity are discussed. Three-dimensional dimensional reductions from the topological gravitational sector in four dimensions, enable to recuperate the 2+1 Chern-Simons gravity and the corresponding S-dual theory, from the notion of self-duality in the four-dimensional theory.
Garcia-Compe�n, H.; Obreg�n, O.; Ramirez, C.; Sabido, M.
Modification of seatbelts and their legislation played an important role in reducing morbidity and mortality of occupants\\u000a in road traffic collisions. We aimed to review seatbelt development, its mechanism of action and its effects. Seatbelts reduce\\u000a injury by preventing the occupant from hitting the interior parts of the vehicle or being ejected from the car. We have made\\u000a a linear
Alaa K Abbas; Ashraf F Hefny; Fikri M Abu-Zidan
Road safety legislation in the Americas.
Legislating five of the main risk factors for road traffic injuries (RTIs), as much as enforcing the law, is essential in forging an integral culture of road safety. Analysis of the level of progression in law enforcement allows for an evaluation of the state of world regions. A secondary analysis of the 2009 Global status report on road safety: time for action survey was undertaken to evaluate legislation on five risk factors (speed management, drinking and driving, motorcycle helmet use, seatbelt use, and use of child restraints) in the Americas. Laws were classified depending on their level of progression: the existence of legislation, whether the legislation is adequate, a level of law enforcement > 6 (on a scale of 0-10), and whether the law is considered comprehensive. A descriptive analysis was performed. The totality of the countries has national or subnational legislation for at least one of the five risk factors. However, 63% have laws on the five risk factors studied, and none of them has comprehensive laws for all five. Seatbelt use appears to be the most extended enforced legislation, while speeding laws appear to be the least enforced. There are positive efforts that should be recognized in the region. However, the region stands in different stages of progression. Law enforcement remains the main issue to be tackled. Laws should be based on evidence about what is already known to be effective. PMID:22910728
H�jar, Martha; P�rez-N��ez, Ricardo; Incl�n-Valadez, Cristina; Silveira-Rodrigues, Eug�nia Maria
Monitoring road surfaces by close proximity noise of the tire/road interaction.
Applied acoustics is becoming an important field for civil infrastructure and environmental assessment, and road maintenance or rehabilitation strategies. In this research LA(2)IC has developed a GPS-based measurement techniques and apparatus on a test vehicle, for monitoring the acoustical properties of different road pavement surfaces with a reference tire. A field test on PA-12 Spanish porous pavement found in Ciudad Real is developed. The test procedure, a modification based upon the close-proximity method (CPX), relies on the use of three standard microphones situated very close to the tire/road contact patch. This procedure allows the simultaneous measurement of the sound emission synchronized to a GPS receiver, which permits tracking of the position of the sound emission. Geo-referenced sound spectra for every 10 m during individual passes of the test vehicle are analyzed to determine the tire/road noise emissions from tire/PA-12 pavement interaction. Noise levels of around 102 dB(A), with a variability of approximately 0.6 dB(A), are found at a reference vehicle speed of 85 kmh. The frequency spectrum analysis over the test section shows noticeable differences for frequencies above 1 kHz, where the tire/road noise generation mechanisms are dominated by air pumping. PMID:18189555
Paje, S E; Bueno, M; Ter�n, F; Vi�uela, U
Cost of crashes related to road conditions, United States, 2006.
This is the first study to estimate the cost of crashes related to road conditions in the U.S. To model the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in the crash, we used 2000-03 Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) data, the only dataset that provides detailed information whether road conditions contributed to crash occurrence. We applied the logistic regression results to a costed national crash dataset in order to calculate the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in each crash. In crashes where someone was moderately to seriously injured (AIS-2-6) in a vehicle that harmfully impacted a large tree or medium or large non-breakaway pole, or if the first harmful event was collision with a bridge, we changed the calculated probability of being road-related to 1. We used the state distribution of costs of fatal crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity to estimate the respective state distribution of non-fatal crash costs. The estimated comprehensive cost of traffic crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity was $217.5 billion in 2006. This represented 43.6% of the total comprehensive crash cost. The large share of crash costs related to road design and conditions underlines the importance of these factors in highway safety. Road conditions are largely controllable. Road maintenance and upgrading can prevent crashes and reduce injury severity. PMID:20184840
Zaloshnja, Eduard; Miller, Ted R
Cost of Crashes Related to Road Conditions, United States, 2006
This is the first study to estimate the cost of crashes related to road conditions in the U.S. To model the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in the crash, we used 2000�03 Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) data, the only dataset that provides detailed information whether road conditions contributed to crash occurrence. We applied the logistic regression results to a costed national crash dataset in order to calculate the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in each crash. In crashes where someone was moderately to seriously injured (AIS-2-6) in a vehicle that harmfully impacted a large tree or medium or large non-breakaway pole, or if the first harmful event was collision with a bridge, we changed the calculated probability of being road-related to 1. We used the state distribution of costs of fatal crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity to estimate the respective state distribution of non-fatal crash costs. The estimated comprehensive cost of traffic crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity was $217.5 billion in 2006. This represented 43.6% of the total comprehensive crash cost. The large share of crash costs related to road design and conditions underlines the importance of these factors in highway safety. Road conditions are largely controllable. Road maintenance and upgrading can prevent crashes and reduce injury severity.
Zaloshnja, Eduard; Miller, Ted R.
Basic Characteristics of Road Traffic Deaths in China
Background This study is to report characteristics of people killed in road traffic crashes and to describe major patterns of traffic crashes in China. Methods: Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted. Road traffic death national data, population denominator data and motor vehicles data of 2009 were obtained from the Bureau of Traffic Management at Ministry of Public Security and National Bureau of Statistics. The association between the fatalities from road traffic crashes and selected demographic factors, the time distribution, crash patterns, crash causes, and road user category were assessed in ?2 analyses. Results: Road traffic crashes in China disproportionably affected the following populations: males, persons 21�65 yr of age and adults aged more than 65 yr, persons living in rural areas, pedestrians, passengers, motorcyclists and bicyclists. Approximately 50% of fatalities of road traffic crash occurred in Eastern regions. The number of road traffic deaths was higher in daytime than in nighttime. Road traffic deaths in frontal crashes, side-to-side crash and crashes with an object or a person were more common than in rear-end crashes. In about 92% of road traffic deaths, auto drivers were believed to be responsible for the fatal crash. Major crash causing factors were speeding, careless driving, driving without a license, driving in the wrong lane, and driving after drinking alcohol. Conclusions: Road traffic deaths accounted for about 70,000 premature deaths in China which should be taken into account.
ZHANG, Xujun; YAO, Hongyan; HU, Guoqing; CUI, Mengjing; GU, Yue; XIANG, Huiyun
Evaluating road surface conditions using dynamic tire pressure sensor
In order to best prioritize road maintenance, the level of deterioration must be known for all roads in a city's network. Pavement Condition Index (PCI) and International Roughness Index (IRI) are two standard methods for obtaining this information. However, IRI is substantially easier to measure. Significant time and money could be saved if a method were developed to estimate PCI from IRI. This research introduces a new method to estimate IRI and correlate IRI with PCI. A vehicle-mounted dynamic tire pressure sensor (DTPS) system is used. The DTPS measures the signals generated from the tire/road interaction while driving. The tire/road interaction excites surface waves that travel through the road. DTPS, which is mounted on the tire's valve stem, measures tire/road interaction by analyzing the pressure change inside the tire due to the road vibration, road geometry and tire wall vibration. The road conditions are sensible to sensors in a similar way to human beings in a car. When driving on a smooth road, tire pressure stays almost constant and there are minimal changes in the DTPS data. When driving on a rough road, DTPS data changes drastically. IRI is estimated from the reconstructed road profile using DTPS data. In order to correlate IRI with PCI, field tests were conducted on roads with known PCI values in the city of Brockton, MA. Results show a high correlation between the estimated IRI values and the known PCI values, which suggests that DTPS-based IRI can provide accurate predictions of PCI.
Zhao, Yubo; Wu, H. Felix; McDaniel, J. Gregory; Wang, Ming L.
Modeling of forest roads impact on hydrological response
Forest roads can influence the hydrologic response of upland catchments, this including river geomorphology. The presence of compacted or paved roads increases overland flow because infiltration is reduced, and the natural flow pathways are modified due to interception by road cutslopes, that convey upslope runoff, this including both surface and part of subsurface flows. Roadways, and especially roadside ditches, route road-generated runoff to the stream network. This occurs at river crossing culverts or through gullies that can be incised below road drainage facilities that are not directly stream connected, depending on the characteristics of the receiving areas. This can lead to significant changes of the natural stream network and of storm hydrographs in small catchments. The capture and redirection of road-generated water fluxes involve also geomorphic effects as the formation of gullies, the migration of channel, the triggering of shallow landslide and debris-flows. To understand the impact of forest roads on hydrologic response one need to represent the geometric and topologic interconnectivity between forest roads, road drainage systems, watershed topography and stream network. This allows for the detection of each road segment sub basin, the computation of the relative contributing area, and the extraction of a drainage network that takes into account the presence of the road network. This approach is developed here to represent the distributed hydrologic fluxes and the resulting catchment response for an experimental basin where a number of roads built in the fifties are monitored. The study area is the H.J.Andrews Experimental Forest Watershed 3 (WS3), located in the Lookout Creek basin, Western Oregon Cascades. Hydrologic simulations show that one requires a detailed description of catchment topography to capture the effect of forest roads on water flows.
Rulli, M.; Rosso, R.; Moreni, S.; Vigany, M.
[Road traffic injuries in Mexico: evidences to strengthen the Mexican road safety strategy].
Based on a review of secondary data and the scientific literature and an analysis of the ENSANut-2012 database, the current study provides a comprehensive overview of the current burden of road traffic injuries (RTI) in Mexico and analyzes the country's social response to RTI. The high collision, injury, mortality, and disability rates associated with this public health problem represent a high cost for Mexican society, especially for families. The paper argues that the Mexican response has focused on vehicle occupants while overlooking vulnerable road users and has prioritized strategies with limited effectiveness. Although the country's existing legislation addresses the main risk factors, enforcement has been limited. Finally, the paper makes some recommendations for strengthening the Mexican strategy to prevent RTI, such as safe, equitable, healthy, and sustainable mobility for all types of road users. Despite some strides in RTI prevention, there are still challenges and opportunities to be addressed in the future. PMID:24936809
P�rez-N��ez, Ricardo; H�jar, Martha; Celis, Alfredo; Hidalgo-Sol�rzano, Elisa
Tailpipe, resuspended road dust, and brake-wear emission factors from on-road vehicles
Intensive mass and chemical measurements were performed at roadside locations in Reno, Nevada, and Durham/Research Triangle Park), North Carolina to derive tailpipe, resuspended road dust, and brake-wear emission factors from in-use vehicles. Continuous particulate matter (PM) data were utilized to derive total emission factors while integrated PM data were used to attribute the calculated emission factors to different mechanisms using chemical mass balance receptor modeling and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Resuspended road dust and tailpipe emissions were found to be the dominant mechanisms that contribute significantly to the total PM 10 and PM 2.5 emission factors, respectively. Small contributions from brake-wear were observed at locations where strong braking occurs, but no tire-wear was seen at any sampling location. PM 10 emission rates from light-duty spark ignition (LDSI) vehicles ranged from 40 to 780 mg/km, 10 to 70 mg/km, and 0 to 80 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 10 emission rates from heavy-duty vehicles ranged from 230 to 7800 mg/km, 60 to 570 mg/km, and 0 to 610 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 2.5 emission rates from LDSI vehicles ranged from 2 to 25 mg/km, 10 to 50 mg/km, and 0 to 5 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively. PM 2.5 emission rates from heavy-duty vehicles ranged from 15 to 300 mg/km, 60 to 480 mg/km, and 0 to 15 mg/km per vehicle for road dust, tailpipe, and brake-wear, respectively.
Abu-Allaban, Mahmoud; Gillies, John A.; Gertler, Alan W.; Clayton, Russ; Proffitt, David
Recognition of Road Contours Using Delineators at Night
Drivers of vehicles focus their gaze in the direction of movement, driver guesses an optimum route using the white road line and the delineators. However, the range that can be clearly seen in the headlights is limited, it is difficult to guess the optimum route. This paper proposes a method that estimate road contour using delineators. The road contours are estimated from the 3D positions of delineators located on the sides of roads, which are extracted using a circle detection filter. Then, clothoid curve is applied to the delineators and the parameters of clothoid curve are obtained. This classifies the parameter into four kinds of curves using support vector machine. In simulation experiment, we create a virtual road. A classification rate was 86.9 %. Our method was able to classify the road contour by high accuracy.
Shimizu, Shoichi; Fujiyoshi, Hironobu; Sakai, Hiroshi; Kanade, Takeo; Iwahori, Yuji
Detection of water on road surface by the polarized light
This report explains the working principle, structure, and performance of a new detector of water on a road surface paved with concrete by polarized light. Near the polarizing angle, reflected light from the road surface includes vertical and horizontal polarized components. Intensity difference of the two polarized lights is very small on the dry road surface. On the wet road surface, the vertical component decreases much more than horizontal component. Based on the above mentioned fact, experiments to detect water on a road surface were carried out using a rotating polarizer (41.3 rps) and a silicon pinphotodiode under the sunlight. Experimental results showed that this system could remotely detect water on the road surface over the area of a few square meters.
Kimura, Tadashi
Grey Relational Evaluation on Road Project Delivery Models
In this study, four road delivery project models are analyzed by grey relational evaluation. The four models are design-bid-build (DBB), design-build (DB), construction management (CM) and design-build-maintenance (DBM). Evaluating road project delivery models is difficult because the projects differ from road to road, state to state and country to country. Thus, the evaluation data of project delivery systems are poor and lacking. Grey theory is an effective mathematical method, which is a multidisciplinary and generic theory dealing with systems characterized by poor information and/or for which information is lacking. Therefore, grey relational analysis and grey model are employed to compare the efficiency of the four road project delivery models. According to the result, DBM is the best model. DBB is the worst one and DB is better than CM. The results may provide public sectors to employ an adequate model so as to proceed with road construction project.
Lo, Shih-Ching; Chao, Yu; Lee, Gin-Yuan
Conflation of National Bridge Inventory Database with Tigerbased Road Vectors
The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database provides detailed bridge information with full coverage in the United States. In the database, each bridge record has an associated geographic location, which makes it possible to match the NBI records with road vectors in a geospatial database. This paper presents our approach to conflating the NBI database with U.S. Census Bureau's Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) road vectors based on a point-to-line matching algorithm, which combines both geometric and semantic similarity measurements. Experiments have shown that most NBI bridges can be successfully matched to TIGER road vectors with an overall success rate over 80%. The matched results are then used to help define linear features for bridges in the road database. The resultant road databases have enhanced bridge information and are further used in creating a 3D road database. The proposed methodology has been fully implemented and has been used in various applications.
Zhang, Q.; Griffiths, S.; Wollersheim, M.; Tighe, M. Lorraine; Xu, C.
CROCKETT BARN AND BLOCKHOUSE FROM SOUTH FORT CASEY ROAD, LOOKING SOUTHEAST. The Crockett blockhouse was moved from its original location to a tract of land along South Fort Casey Road in 1938, making it more accessible to tourists. During the same year it was given to the Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington and restored by Works Progress Administration crews. - Crockett Farm, 1056 Fort Casey Road, Coupeville, Island County, WA
Risk factors for a farm vehicle public road crash
Driver, vehicle, public road, and farm enterprise characteristics were examined for their combined association with farm vehicle public road crash group membership. North Carolina farms experiencing a public road crash from 1992 to 2003 (n=200) were compared with a non-crash control group (n=185) for a 1:1 case:control ratio. Five characteristics were associated with increased odds of crash group membership in
Theresa M. Costello; Michael D. Schulman; Roger E. Mitchell
Geometric road runoff estimation from laser mobile mapping data
Mountain roads are the lifelines of remote areas but are often situated in complicated settings and prone to landslides, rock fall, avalanches and damages due to surface water runoff. The impact and likelihood of these types of hazards can be partly assessed by a detailed geometric analysis of the road environment. Field measurements in remote areas are expensive however. A possible solution is the use of a Laser Mobile Mapping System (LMMS) which, at high measuring rate, captures dense and accurate point clouds. This paper presents an automatic approach for the delineation of both the direct environment of a road and the road itself into local catchments starting from a LMMS point cloud. The results enable a user to assess where on the road most water from the surroundings will assemble, and how water will flow over the road after e.g. heavy snow melt or rainfall. To arrive at these results the following steps are performed. First outliers are removed and point cloud data is gridded at a uniform width. Local surface normal and gradient of each grid point are determined. The relative smoothness of the road is used as a criterion to identify the road's outlines. The local gradients are input for running the so-called D8 method, which simply exploits that surface water follows the direction of steepest descent. This method first enables the identification of sinks on the roadside, i.e. the locations where water flow accumulates and potentially enters the road. Moreover, the method divides the road's direct neighbourhood into catchments, each consisting of all grid cells having runoff to the same sink. In addition the method is used to analyse the surface flow over the road's surface. The new method is demonstrated on a piece of 153 meters long Galician mountain road as sampled by LMMS data.
Wang, J.; Gonzalez-Jorge, H.; Lindenbergh, R.; Arias-Sanchez, P.; Menenti, M.
Determination of road dust loadings and chemical characteristics using resuspension
The contribution of fugitive dust from traffic to air pollution can no longer be ignored in China. In order to obtain the\\u000a road dust loadings and to understand the chemical characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 from typical road dust, different paved roads in eight districts of Beijing were selected for dust collection during the\\u000a four seasons of 2005. Ninety-eight samples
Jianhua Chen; Wei Wang; Hongjie Liu; Lihong Ren
A questionnaire-based study was performed in an area of about 16 ha near a main road in Tokyo to elucidate any relations between road traffic noise and the effects of this noise among women living on both sides of the road. Questions concerned annoyance, sleep disturbance, interference with daily activities, health-related symptoms and disease histories. 366 inhabitants were analyzed. Dose�response
T. Yoshida; Y. Osada; T. Kawaguchi; Y. Hoshiyama; K. Yoshida; K. Yamamoto
Forest roads and landscape structure in the southern Rocky Mountains
Roadless areas on public lands may serve as environmental baselines against which human-caused impacts on landscape structure can be measured. We examined landscape structure across a gradient of road densities, from no roads to heavily roaded, and across several spatial scales. Our study area was comprised of 46,000 ha on the Roosevelt National Forest in north-central Colorado. When forest stands
James R. Miller; Linda A. Joyce; Richard L. Knight; Rudy M. King
Grizzly bear use of open, closed, and restricted forestry roads
Abstract: We investigated grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) selection of three road types in the northern United States and southern British Columbia,from 1986 to 1991. We hypothesized,that grizzly bears select against open,(public use allowed), restricted (forestry use only), and closed roads (no public use allowed) in that order. We analyzed use of roads for 11 bears (five females and six males)
Robert B. Wielgus; Pierre R. Vernier; Tina Schivatcheva
An evaluation of police reporting of road casualties
Background:Under-reporting of road traffic casualties in police records has been well documented.Objectives:To investigate the extent and nature of possible under-reporting of road traffic casualties in the West of Scotland.Design:A linked database comprising both police data (STATS19) and hospital in-patient records (SMR01) was created. The study period was 1997�2005 inclusive. Contrasting the number of SMR01-identified road casualties that were also recorded
S Jeffrey; D H Stone; A Blamey; D Clark; C Cooper; K Dickson; M Mackenzie; K Major
Road extraction from aerial and satellite images by dynamic programming
In this paper, we propose a semi-automatic road extraction scheme which combines the wavelet decomposition for road sharpening and a model-driven linear feature extraction algorithm based on dynamic programming. Semi-automatic means that a road is extracted automatically after some seed points have been given coarsely by the operator through activation of a mouse using a convenient interactive image-graphics user interface.
Armin Gruen; Haihong Li
Antibiotic resistance--action to promote new technologies: report of an EU Intergovernmental Conference held in Birmingham, UK, 12-13 December 2005.
The increase in microorganisms that have developed resistance to currently available antimicrobial agents has become a major cause for concern worldwide. These organisms are widespread in hospitals but also occur increasingly in the community. Some of these strains are multiresistant and the agents available to treat infections caused by them are few and dwindling. Over recent years there have been a number of responses by national, international and professional bodies to this situation, many aimed at curbing this unprecedented growth in resistance, but there is an increasing recognition that a major problem in the management of infections caused by such organisms is the paucity of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic aids. A conference, organized by the Specialist Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (SACAR) on behalf of the UK Department of Health and sponsored by the BSAC, was held in Birmingham in December 2005 with the aim of addressing these problems. Conference attendees included those from academia, industry, funding agencies, healthcare management, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), European Directorates and representatives of EU governments. Following a number of keynote presentations which identified major issues, there were a series of workshops which addressed specific questions and produced a number of recommendations. These recommendations were discussed by all delegates. The lack of new anti-infectives and the reasons for this were discussed in some detail. Major pharmaceutical companies no longer find this area as financially rewarding as other therapeutic areas while smaller biotechnology companies, who are seen as more innovative, are hampered by a lack of funding. In spite of a few marked successes, the use of vaccines has had minimal impact in the field of bacterial infections, and progress in this field also suffers from a lack of funding. Diagnostics could aid in the better use of antibacterials but need greater acceptance in the healthcare system, which does not generally appreciate their cost-efficacy. The major recommendations were as follows: (i) Increased efforts are needed to reduce the spread of resistant strains both in the environment and in hospitals--these include improved hygiene and decreased use of some antimicrobials. (ii) Surveillance of resistance is a key factor and improved technology (e.g. IT systems) is needed to improve the potential for surveillance data to inform clinical practice. (iii) Rapid, sensitive and specific diagnostics are urgently needed and the issue of reimbursement needs to be addressed. (iv) More accurate estimates of the cost-efficacy of using anti-infectives and diagnostics are urgently needed. (v) Vaccine technology is available but is underused for the prevention of bacterial infections, particularly those caused by organisms resistant to antimicrobials. (vi) Incentives are required to encourage large pharmaceutical companies to partner small biotechnology companies, which are more innovative and have the potential to deliver the new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. Modifications to the international regulatory requirements for drug licensing could have a major impact on the time and thus the costs of developing new agents. PMID:17003063
Finch, R; Hunter, P A
Large roads reduce bat activity across multiple species.
Although the negative impacts of roads on many terrestrial vertebrate and bird populations are well documented, there have been few studies of the road ecology of bats. To examine the effects of large roads on bat populations, we used acoustic recorders to survey bat activity along ten 300 m transects bordering three large highways in northern California, applying a newly developed statistical classifier to identify recorded calls to the species level. Nightly counts of bat passes were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models to determine the relationship between bat activity and distance from a road. Total bat activity recorded at points adjacent to roads was found to be approximately one-half the level observed at 300 m. Statistically significant road effects were also found for the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). The road effect was found to be temperature dependent, with hot days both increasing total activity at night and reducing the difference between activity levels near and far from roads. These results suggest that the environmental impacts of road construction may include degradation of bat habitat and that mitigation activities for this habitat loss may be necessary to protect bat populations. PMID:24823689
Kitzes, Justin; Merenlender, Adina
Large Roads Reduce Bat Activity across Multiple Species
Although the negative impacts of roads on many terrestrial vertebrate and bird populations are well documented, there have been few studies of the road ecology of bats. To examine the effects of large roads on bat populations, we used acoustic recorders to survey bat activity along ten 300 m transects bordering three large highways in northern California, applying a newly developed statistical classifier to identify recorded calls to the species level. Nightly counts of bat passes were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models to determine the relationship between bat activity and distance from a road. Total bat activity recorded at points adjacent to roads was found to be approximately one-half the level observed at 300 m. Statistically significant road effects were also found for the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans). The road effect was found to be temperature dependent, with hot days both increasing total activity at night and reducing the difference between activity levels near and far from roads. These results suggest that the environmental impacts of road construction may include degradation of bat habitat and that mitigation activities for this habitat loss may be necessary to protect bat populations.
Gap Filling in Road Extraction Using Radon Transformation
Road information has a key role in many applications such as transportation, automatic navigation, traffic management, crisis management, and also to facilitate and accelerate updating databases in a GIS. Therefore in the past two decades, automatic road extraction has become an important issue in remote sensing, photogrammetry and computer vision. An essential challenge in road extraction process is filling the gaps which have appeared due to getting placed under trees, tunnels or any other reason. Connection of roads is a momentous topological property that is necessity to perform most of the spatial analyses. Hence, Gap filling is an important post-process. The main aim of this paper is to provide a method which is applicable in road extraction algorithms to automatic fill the gaps. The proposed algorithm is based on Radon transformation and has four stags. In the first stage, detected road are thinned insofar as one pixel width is achieved. Then endpoints are detected. In the second stage, regarding to some constraints those endpoints which do not belong to any gaps are identified and deleted from endpoints list. In the third stage, the real gaps are found using the road direction computed by used of Radon technique. In fourth stage, the selected endpoints are connected together using Spline interpolation. This algorithm is applied on several datasets and also on a real detected road. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has good performance on straight roads but it does not work well in intersections, due to being direction-oriented.
Matkan, A. A.; Hajeb, M.; Eslami, M.; Pourali, H.; Sadeghian, S.
Automatic road extraction based on improved Radon transform
In this paper, a new method is proposed for road extraction in complex environments. The algorithm takes full advantages of the road image characteristics. Firstly, the image is preprocessed and the object edges are extracted. Then, by dividing the image into many blocks (such as m�m), an improved Radon transform (RT) is performed to extract the line segments in images. We do Radon transformation for each block. To reduce the computing time, a threshold is set and images are resumed along the ribbon region of transformation domain. Experiments show that the presented method can extract roads even in complex environments, and moreover, it can provide a complete description of the road.
Hao, Qiwei; Chen, Xiaomei; Ni, Guoqiang; Tang, Yi
5. VIEW FROM SLIGHTLY FARTHER DOWN SERVICE ROAD, LOOKING SOUTHEAST AT ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BUILDING, LABORATORY, AND OFFICE. - Standard Lime & Stone Quarry, County Route 27, Millville, Jefferson County, WV
Traveling the National Road: A National Park Service Curriculum Based Education Program.
In 1805, a U.S. Senate committee urged the building of a road that would connect the eastern United States with the western United States. The road came to be known as the National Road (or Cumberland Road). It began in Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually reached to Vandalia, Illinois. It was the first and only U.S. road built entirely with�
National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC.
Environmental assessment of roads constructed with and without bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration
Two scenarios are assessed in a new life cycle assessment model, ROAD-RES, developed at the Technical University of Denmark for road construction and recycling of residues. The scenarios concern a 1km asphalted road in Denmark with a service life of 100years: Scenario A was a road with natural materials only, while Scenario B was a similar road, where municipal solid
H. Birgisd�ttir; K. A. Pihl; G. Bhander; M. Z. Hauschild; T. H. Christensen
Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating road hazard information using road side infrastructures in VANETs.
This paper presents Direction based Hazard Routing Protocol (DHRP) for disseminating information about fixed road hazards such as road blocks, tree fall, boulders on road, snow pile up, landslide, road maintenance work and other obstacles to the vehicles approaching the hazardous location. The proposed work focuses on dissemination of hazard messages on highways with sparse traffic. The vehicle coming across the hazard would report the presence of the hazard. It is proposed to use Road Side fixed infrastructure Units for reliable and timely delivery of hazard messages to vehicles. The vehicles can then take appropriate safety action to avoid the hazardous location. The proposed protocol has been implemented and tested using SUMO simulator to generate road traffic and NS 2.33 network simulator to analyze the performance of DHRP. The performance of the proposed protocol was also compared with simple flooding protocol and the results are presented. PMID:24834371
Berlin, M A; Anand, Sheila
The HiPER Experimental Road Map
WP10 is one of the working packages of the HiPER project and it has the goal of addressing, in a systematic and programmatic way, some of the key experimental uncertainties on the way towards fast ignition (and shock ignition) in a perspective of risk reduction, so to contribute to the definition of the basic characteristics of the HiPER project. The paper describes the key points contained in the short term HiPER experimental road map, as well as the results of two first experiments performed in 'HiPER dedicated time slots' in European Laser Facilities.
Batani, D.; Baton, S.; Badziak, J.; Davies, J.; Gizzi, L.; Hallo, L.; Norreys, P.; Roth, M.; Santos, J.; Tickhoncuk, V.; Woolsey, N.
Traffic disruption and recovery in road networks
We study the impact of disruptions on road networks, and the recovery process after the disruption is removed from the system. Such disruptions could be caused by vehicle breakdown or illegal parking. We analyze the transient behavior using domain wall theory, and compare these predictions with simulations of a stochastic cellular automaton model. We find that the domain wall model can reproduce the time evolution of flow and density during the disruption and the recovery processes, for both one-dimensional systems and two-dimensional networks.
Zhang, Lele; de Gier, Jan; Garoni, Timothy M.
Economic aspects of communication in road transport
Availability of adequate communication systems for control and management in the road transport sector where a large part of the transport service is produced beyond the physical control of the company is discussed. The fact that the transport service has to be produced and consumed simultaneously makes the optimal use of the production capacity more critical. Developments in the organization of logistical concepts will put more emphasis on the need of communications, which inevitably will lead to the application of communication systems between office and vehicle.
Vanrens, J. H. P.
From roadkill to road ecology: A review of the ecological effects of roads
Transportation infrastructure affects the structure of ecosystems, the dynamics of ecosystem function, and has direct effects on ecosystem components, including their species composition. Clearly, the construction of transport lines results in the direct destruction and removal of existing ecosystems, and the reconfiguration of local landforms. However, transportation systems, and more specifically, roads, have a wide variety of primary, or direct,
Alisa W. Coffin
Consequences of road traffic accidents for different types of road user
The study aimed to describe the immediate and later physical, social and psychological consequences of a road traffic accident for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians amongst consecutive hospital attenders at an Accident and Emergency Department. Physical and accident details were collated from hospital records. Subjects completed questionnaires at hospital attendance, 3 months, 1 and 3 years.There were 1148 respondents
Richard Mayou; Bridget Bryant
Neighborhood Social Inequalities in Road Traffic Injuries: The Influence of Traffic Volume and Road Design
Objectives. We examined the extent to which differential traffic volume and road geometry can explain social inequalities in pedestrian, cyclist, and motor vehicle occupant injuries across wealthy and poor urban areas. Methods. We performed a multilevel observational study of all road users injured over 5 years (n?=?19?568) at intersections (n?=?17?498) in a large urban area (Island of Montreal, Canada). We considered intersection-level (traffic estimates, major roads, number of legs) and area-level (population density, commuting travel modes, household income) characteristics in multilevel Poisson regressions that nested intersections in 506 census tracts. Results. There were significantly more injured pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicle occupants at intersections in the poorest than in the richest areas. Controlling for traffic volume, intersection geometry, and pedestrian and cyclist volumes greatly attenuated the event rate ratios between intersections in the poorest and richest areas for injured pedestrians (?70%), cyclists (?44%), and motor vehicle occupants (?44%). Conclusions. Roadway environment can explain a substantial portion of the excess rate of road traffic injuries in the poorest urban areas.
Gauvin, Lise; Plante, Celine; Fournier, Michel; Morency, Catherine
UbiRoad: Semantic Middleware for Context-Aware Smart Road Environments
A smart road environment is such a traffic environment that is equipped with all necessary facilities to enable seamless mobile service provisioning to the users. However, advanced sensors and network architectures deployed within the traffic environment are insufficient to make mobile service provisioning autonomous and proactive, thus minimizing drivers' distraction during their presence in the environment. For that, an Intelligent
Vagan Terziyan; Olena Kaykova; Dmytro Zhovtobryukh
Advances in ground-penetrating radar for road subsurface measurements
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is becoming an increasingly useful tool for road subsurface characterization. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has recently obtained a new 1 GHz ground penetrating radar with the ability to make high resolution measurements. Depth profile scan rates of the new radar are about 50 scan/sec and the radar operates on a test van travelling at speeds up to 50 - 55 MHz. The time domain data collected by the GPR allow the determination of thickness of the road surface and subsurface layers and, with appropriate signal processing, the data can provide information about voids and other anomalies within road layer interfaces. This paper will describe the salient features of the Florida DOT ground penetrating radar, recent measurement results, and applications of GPR for road assessments. It will also describe preliminary results of a University of Florida project which is employing advanced signal processing techniques to detect and classify subsurface anomalies in road layers. As a precursor to anomaly detection we are developing improved techniques for finding road layer thicknesses and dielectric constants. The processing techniques being developed include matched filter and slope detection algorithms. A goal of the current work is to develop signal processing techniques that will allow FDOT to evaluate subsurface conditions for large sections of road throughout Florida in a more accurate and rapid manner. It is expected that the GPR and the results of current research will assist the FDOT in more accurately determining road layer thickness profiles, in assessing road subsurface conditions with less coring, and aid in rehabilitating roads with less manpower than is now required. Such capabilities will allow potentially serious problems to be corrected before they become costly and will also provide a useful tool for future road design and improvement.
Kurtz, James L.; Fisher, John W.; Skau, Gordon; Armaghani, Jashmid; Moxley, Jonathan G.
Individual Spatial Responses towards Roads: Implications for Mortality Risk
Background Understanding the ecological consequences of roads and developing ways to mitigate their negative effects has become an important goal for many conservation biologists. Most mitigation measures are based on road mortality and barrier effects data. However, studying fine-scale individual spatial responses in roaded landscapes may help develop more cohesive road planning strategies for wildlife conservation. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated how individuals respond in their spatial behavior toward a highway and its traffic intensity by radio-tracking two common species particularly vulnerable to road mortality (barn owl Tyto alba and stone marten Martes foina). We addressed the following questions: 1) how highways affected home-range location and size in the immediate vicinity of these structures, 2) which road-related features influenced habitat selection, 3) what was the role of different road-related features on movement properties, and 4) which characteristics were associated with crossing events and road-kills. The main findings were: 1) if there was available habitat, barn owls and stone martens may not avoid highways and may even include highways within their home-ranges; 2) both species avoided using areas near the highway when traffic was high, but tended to move toward the highway when streams were in close proximity and where verges offered suitable habitat; and 3) barn owls tended to cross above-grade highway sections while stone martens tended to avoid crossing at leveled highway sections. Conclusions Mortality may be the main road-mediated mechanism that affects barn owl and stone marten populations. Fine-scale movements strongly indicated that a decrease in road mortality risk can be realized by reducing sources of attraction, and by increasing road permeability through measures that promote safe crossings.
Grilo, Clara; Sousa, Joana; Ascensao, Fernando; Matos, Hugo; Leitao, Ines; Pinheiro, Paula; Costa, Monica; Bernardo, Joao; Reto, Dyana; Lourenco, Rui; Santos-Reis, Margarida; Revilla, Eloy
On-road vehicle detection: a review.
Developing on-board automotive driver assistance systems aiming to alert drivers about driving environments, and possible collision with other vehicles has attracted a lot of attention lately. In these systems, robust and reliable vehicle detection is a critical step. This paper presents a review of recent vision-based on-road vehicle detection systems. Our focus is on systems where the camera is mounted on the vehicle rather than being fixed such as in traffic/driveway monitoring systems. First, we discuss the problem of on-road vehicle detection using optical sensors followed by a brief review of intelligent vehicle research worldwide. Then, we discuss active and passive sensors to set the stage for vision-based vehicle detection. Methods aiming to quickly hypothesize the location of vehicles in an image as well as to verify the hypothesized locations are reviewed next. Integrating detection with tracking is also reviewed to illustrate the benefits of exploiting temporal continuity for vehicle detection. Finally, we present a critical overview of the methods discussed, we assess their potential for future deployment, and we present directions for future research. PMID:16640257
Sun, Zehang; Bebis, George; Miller, Ronald
Peer Pressure Road Trip 2012 - A Report
Each year since 2005 the Angelo State University SPS ``Peer Pressure Team'' has travelled for a week in May to promote physics and other sciences for grades K-12. This year, the Peer Pressure Team visited schools in West Texas and New Mexico. This was the first year the team has traveled outside of Texas, inspired by the SPS 2012 theme ``Physics Beyond Borders.'' The purpose of the Road Tours is to encourage an interest in science in children in grades K-12 and give experience in presenting and explaining physics to the undergraduate volunteers. The schools attended are carefully selected based on socioeconomic need and an underrepresentation in physics, as well as other sciences. During this week, the Peer Pressure Team saw about 1,500 students over 10 shows. Surveys were given to teachers post-demonstration to have students complete and return so the Team could gauge the effectiveness of the outreach program. In addition, the surveys allow the Team to determine which demonstrations had the most impact. We present the details of this year's road trip with the results and analysis of the survey data.
Popnoe, Olivia
Sweat Farm Road Fire in Georgia
Dense plumes of blue-white smoke billowed from the Sweat Farm Road Fire in southern Georgia on April 19, 2007, when the Landsat 5 satellite captured this detailed image. The fire started on April 16, when a tree fell on a power line and, fanned by strong winds, quickly exploded into a major fire. By April 19, the fire had forced officials to close several roads, including U.S. Highway 1, and to evacuate hundreds of people from the perimeter of the city of Waycross, the silver cluster along the top edge of the image. The nearness of the fire is evident in the dark brown, charred land just south of the city. The active fire front is along the south edge of the burned area, where the flames are eating into the dark green hardwood forests, pine plantations, and shrubs in Okefenokee Swamp. Because of the difficult terrain, the fire and the adjoining Big Turnaround Complex fire are expected to burn until significant rain falls, said the morning report issued by the Southern Area Coordination Center on May 4. 'In the long term, the burning of the swamp will ultimately benefit the swamp wilderness habitat, which is a fire-dependent ecosystem,' said a press release issued from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on May 4. Such ecosystems require fire to remain healthy. In the case of southern pine forests, many pine species need fire to remove litter from the ground and release soil nutrients so that new seedlings can grow.
This document assists control agency personnel in evaluating unpaved road fugitive emissions control plans and helps industry personnel develop effective control strategies for unpaved roads. he brochure describes control techniques for reducing unpaved road emissions and methods...
Ussr. Reports to the International Congress on Road Building (11TH).
This book presents the reports which were presented by the USSR delegation at the 11th International Congress on Road Building in 1959. The reports are devoted to different modern road building problems (road foundations, nonrigid and rigid pavements, cit...
V. T. Federov
...eligible under the BIA Road Maintenance Program? (a) The following public transportation facilities...transportation facilities such as public roads, highway bridges, trails...vehicle trails; (10) Public access roads to heliports and...
25 CFR 170.138 - Can roads be built in roadless and wild areas?
...BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND AND WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Recreation, Tourism and Trails § 170.138 Can roads be built in roadless...
75 FR 47631 - Douglas Battery Manufacturing Co., Currently Known as Lexington Road Properties, Inc., Including...
...Manufacturing Co., Currently Known as Lexington Road Properties, Inc., Including On-Site...Manufacturing was sold and is currently known as Lexington Road Properties, Inc. Workers separated...insurance (UI) tax account under the name Lexington Road Properties, Inc....
ARMO: Adaptive road map optimization for large robot teams
Autonomous robot teams that simultaneously dis- patch transportation tasks are playing more and more an important role in present logistic centers and manufacturing plants. In this paper we consider the problem of robot motion planning for large robot teams in the industrial domain. We present adaptive road map optimization (ARMO) that is capable of adapting the road map whenever the
Alexander Kleiner; Dali Sun; Daniel Meyer-Delius
Autonomous robot teams that simultaneously dispatch transportation tasks are playing more and more an important role in present logistic centers and manufacturing plants. In this paper we consider the problem of robot motion planning for large robot teams in the industrial domain. We present adaptive road map optimization (ARMO) that is capable of adapting the road map whenever the environment
Opportunistic dissemination of emergency messages using VANET on urban roads
Catastrophes, such as fire accidents, road crashes and other life threatening emergencies occuring at an increasing pace in urban areas, anticipate timely arrival of the emergency rescue services. Most of such emergencies arise from urban roads which are characterised by high density of vehicles. This paper presents an approach for disseminating the emergency messages and reporting the event to hospitals,
R Namritha; Komathy Karuppanan
View of middle portion of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining ...
View of middle portion of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, showing Signal Corps Radar 296 Station 5 Tower concrete pier (top center), camera facing northwest - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Oblique view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, showing ...
Oblique view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, showing southernmost portion of intact wall and portion of concrete drainage ditch from Signal Corps Radar 296 Station 5 Transmitter Building foundation above, camera facing west-north - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Contextual view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, showing ...
Contextual view of Bonita Ridge Access Road Retaining Wall, showing concrete stairway and ramp with Army Fire Control Station (Buildings 621 and 622) at far left, camera facing southwest - Fort Barry, Bonita Ridge Access Road, Retaining Wall, Point Bonita, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, Marin County, CA
Studies along the Tinpiple Banchare Dada Road, Central Nepal
This paper describes about field study as well as laboratory test performed for the geotechnical properties of rock and soil along the Tinpiple-Banchar e Dada road alignment. The purpose of the present study was to determine the geotechnical properties for both rocks and soils along the road alignment. Detailed geotechnical soil\\/rock field study sheets were used to record geotechnical parameters
Matrika Prasad Koirala; Daigoro Hayashi
North elevation from shoulder of Altamont Pass Road; Interstate Highway ...
North elevation from shoulder of Altamont Pass Road; Interstate Highway 5 viaduct in background; former Western Pacific (now Union Pacific) Railroad at right; abandoned Southern Pacific right of way beneath bridge; view to southwest; 90 mm lens - Carroll Overhead Bridge, Altamont Pass Road, Livermore, Alameda County, CA
Road surface drainage, channel initiation, and slope instability
Field surveys of road drainage concentration at three sites in the western United States are used to test simple models relating channel initiation and shallow landsliding to ground slope and contributing area thresholds. The form of boundaries between data for locations where road drainage concentration is associated with either shallow landsliding, channel initiation by overland flow, or no observable geomorphic effect is consistent with theoretically derived drainage area-slope relations. Comparison of survey data with results of previous studies in these areas indicates that the drainage area required to support a channel head is smaller for road-related runoff than for undisturbed slopes. Contrary to current land management paradigms in the Pacific Northwest, drainage concentration from ridgetop roads may cause both landsliding and integration of the channel and road networks. Road drainage concentration increases the effective length of the channel network and strongly influences the distribution of erosional processes in each of the study areas. The approach of using field reconnaissance to establish thresholds for erosion associated with road drainage provides a useful method to define regional criteria for road design that should reduce impacts on downstream channel systems.
Montgomery, David R.
Driving performance impairments due to hypovigilance on monotonous roads.
Drivers' ability to react to unpredictable events deteriorates when exposed to highly predictable and uneventful driving tasks. Highway design reduces the driving task mainly to a lane-keeping manoeuvre. Such a task is monotonous, providing little stimulation and this contributes to crashes due to inattention. Research has shown that driver's hypovigilance can be assessed with EEG measurements and that driving performance is impaired during prolonged monotonous driving tasks. This paper aims to show that two dimensions of monotony - namely road design and road side variability - decrease vigilance and impair driving performance. This is the first study correlating hypovigilance and driver performance in varied monotonous conditions, particularly on a short time scale (a few seconds). We induced vigilance decrement as assessed with an EEG during a monotonous driving simulator experiment. Road monotony was varied through both road design and road side variability. The driver's decrease in vigilance occurred due to both road design and road scenery monotony and almost independently of the driver's sensation seeking level. Such impairment was also correlated to observable measurements from the driver, the car and the environment. During periods of hypovigilance, the driving performance impairment affected lane positioning, time to lane crossing, blink frequency, heart rate variability and non-specific electrodermal response rates. This work lays the foundation for the development of an in-vehicle device preventing hypovigilance crashes on monotonous roads. PMID:21819833
Larue, Gr�goire S; Rakotonirainy, Andry; Pettitt, Anthony N
Detection of text on road signs from video
A fast and robust framework for incrementally de- tecting text on road signs from video is presented in this pa- per. This new framework makes two main contributions. 1) The framework applies a divide-and-conquer strategy to decompose the original task into two subtasks, that is, the localization of road signs and the detection of text on the signs. The algorithms
Wen Wu; Xilin Chen; Jie Yang
Analysis of Pass-by Noise in Protective Barrier Road
By method of study in aerodynamic noise, a model of car and protective barrier road in air field was built in this paper. The distributed of fluid and acoustic in aside of protective barrier road was solved by Fluent software. The result of analysis showed that velocities, pressures and noise are all distributed as alternating strong and weak near the
F. Y. Ma; Wu Weiwei; Y. S. Wang; Li Wei; Cai Lijun
Color detection and segmentation for road and traffic signs
This paper aims to present three new methods for color detection and segmentation of road signs. The images are taken by a digital camera mounted in a car. The RGB images are converted into IHLS color space, and new methods are applied to extract the colors of the road signs under consideration. The methods are tested on hundreds of outdoor
Hasan Fleyeh
Rebuilding Agricultural Markets Program (RAMP) Road Rehabilitation Report.
Rural road development in Afghanistan has suffered due to war and lack of maintenance. About 80% of the rural population is not able to access markets with motorized transport, either because the roads are of poor quality and hence seasonal and/or there a...
Infrared Nondestructive Analysis of Solid Rubber Road Wheels.
Twenty-six used and rebuilt solid rubber road wheels were examined by an infrared temperature profiling technique during drum test exercise. The IR method was evaluated as a nondestructive means of predicting road wheel integrity by analysis of the circum...
D. K. Wilburn
A study of the deflections of metal road guardrail elements
Statistical data on traffic accidents in 2008 in Lithuania is presented. Referring to statistical data, grounding on an obstacle� makes one?tenth of all registered traffic accidents ? 9.4% (an obstacle may be a road guardrail, a lamp post, a tree, a bar, a gate, etc.). Road guardrails of various types are installed on the shoulders and dividing strips of urban
Olegas Prentkovskis; Andrey Beljatynskij; Rasa Prentkovskiene; Ivan Dyakov; Laima Dabulevi?iene
Project for a Comprehensive Study of the Silk Roads
From time immemorial the Silk Road, with its hundreds of byways, was considered the highway that linked the worlds of East and West. In the mid dle of the twentieth century, scholarly research revealed the crucial role played by oases in linking the North to the South; these oases, even more than the transversal lines of the Silk Roads, played
Vadim Eliseyev
Credit PSR. View looks south (180�) across North Base Road ...