Blue Road Research Articles

Optimizing Lane Departure Warning System towards AI-Centered Autonomous Vehicles.

The operational efficacy of lane departure warning systems (LDWS) in autonomous vehicles is critically influenced by the retro-reflectivity of road markings, which varies with environmental wear and weather conditions. This study investigated how changes in road marking retro-reflectivity, due to factors such as weather and physical wear, impact the performance of LDWS. The study was conducted at the Yeoncheon SOC Demonstration Research Center, where various weather scenarios, including rainfall and transitions between day and night lighting, were simulated. We applied controlled wear to white, yellow, and blue road markings and measured their retro-reflectivity at multiple stages of degradation. Our methods included rigorous testing of the LDWS's recognition rates under these diverse environmental conditions. Our results showed that higher retro-reflectivity levels significantly improve the detection capability of LDWS, particularly in adverse weather conditions. Additionally, the study led to the development of a simulation framework for analyzing the cost-effectiveness of road marking maintenance strategies. This framework aims to align maintenance costs with the safety requirements of autonomous vehicles. The findings highlight the need for revising current road marking guidelines to accommodate the advanced sensor-based needs of autonomous driving systems. By enhancing retro-reflectivity standards, the study suggests a path towards optimizing road safety in the age of autonomous vehicles.

The blue road: Provenance study of azurite samples from historical locations through the analysis of minor and trace elements

The pigments used by artists since ancient times play an important role in historical, artistic, and cultural investigations. They allow the acquisition of useful information for the study of human and technological development. This research aims at differentiating the various sources of azurite exploited in antiquity, based on the study of minor and trace elements. Azurite is one of the most important blue pigments in art history, widely used during the Middle Age and Renaissance. However, very few studies investigated the provenance of the pigment, so today it is still not possible to clearly identify the sources of azurite exploited in the past. This study is based on the analysis of several samples of azurite belonging to the MUST collection (Museum of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) and coming from different historical localities: UK, Italy, Germany, France, Romania and Slovakia (both representative of the resources within the ancient Kingdom of Hungary), Greece and Russia. The samples were analysed by electron microscopy (EMPA and SEM-EDX) and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), with the aim of detecting chemical features that are specific to the different azurite ore deposits.Among the trace elements analysed, Zn, As, Sn, Ca and Sr prove the most suitable for discriminating the origin of the samples, as well as rare earth elements. In particular, Ce and Eu anomalies are suggested as markers for the German and Hungarian localities.

Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros (review)

Reviewed by: Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros Sarah Sahn Polydoros, Aden Ring of Solomon. Inkyard, 2023 [256p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781335428639 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780369722614 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 4-7 When twelve-year-old Zach and his younger sister find a gold ring embossed with a Star of David at their local flea market, they know it'll be the perfect birthday gift for their mom, who loves to collect anything related to her Jewish heritage. It's not just any ring, however—Zach discovers that when he's touching it, he can talk to animals, and then a strange boy appears who identifies himself as Ashmedai, king of demons in Jewish folklore. Ash is on board to help Zach exact some payback on his bully Jeffrey, whose homophobic, racist, and antiSemitic harassment has made the seventh grade a living hell for Zach and his best friend Sandra. Other people are after the ring too, though, for considerably more sinister aims, and soon Zach, Sandra, and Ash are racing to avert the apocalypse. For all its action, this coming-of-age adventure stays close to home, centering on Zach's negotiation of his Jewish and gay identities and his growing friendship with Ash, who is by turns inscrutable as a thousands-years-old demon king and naïve and vulnerable like his [End Page 264] preteen counterpart. Zach's first-person narration veers between introspection and humor as he helps Ash try to navigate the modern world. Readers will only want to dive deeper into Ash and Zach's story and the world they inhabit—it's a good thing this is the opener to a planned trilogy. While they wait, Lamb's When the Angels Left the Old Country (BCCB 11/22) and Pasternack's Black Bird, Blue Road (BCCB 10/22) offer other recent incarnations of Jewish demons. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Predicting the service life of road signs based on their retroreflectivity and color using Logistic Regression

Road signs play a vital role in providing drivers with crucial information for safe driving in both day and nighttime. The color of road signs enhances visibility during daylight hours, while retroreflectivity is essential for improving visibility during nighttime conditions. Road authorities, responsible for maintaining road signs, primarily consider the levels of retroreflectivity when deciding to replace them, ensuring optimal visibility for drivers. This study focuses on examining the degradation of road signs based on retroreflectivity and color to ensure safe driving through adequate visibility in both day and nighttime conditions. The study underscores the significance of regulating the deterioration of road sign colors to enhance visibility and legibility, while minimizing maintenance and replacement costs. The primary objective of this paper is to predict the age (service life) of road signs by considering both retroreflectivity and color status and using logistic regression. The results indicate that the age of road signs can be influenced by either retroreflectivity or color. For instance, approximately 50% of red road signs are projected to lose their color after 16 years, while their retroreflectivity remains acceptable. Similarly, around 50% of yellow and white road signs experience retroreflectivity degradation after 20 and 16 years, respectively, while their color remains acceptable. Finally, blue road signs demonstrate acceptable retroreflectivity and color levels even after 35 years.

Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack

Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack

Yuka Kadoi (dir.). The Blue Road. Mastercrafts from Persia

Le musee Liang Yi a Hong Kong a accueilli en 2018 l’exposition « The Blue Road. Mastercrafts from Persia », organisee par Yuka Kadoi qui a egalement dirige la publication du catalogue bilingue (anglais, chinois). Cent quatre-vingt-deux objets d’art decoratif orientaux – principalement issus du monde iranien – furent rassembles autour de la question de la couleur bleue. Le catalogue des œuvres est precede de trois articles qui abordent le theme du bleu dans le monde iranien et centre asiatique...

Unlawful Occupation of Inner-City Buildings: A Constitutional Analysis of the Rights and Obligations involved

The unlawful occupation of inner-city buildings in South Africa has led to a number of legal disputes between vulnerable occupiers and individual landowners that highlight the conflict between individuals' constitutional right not to be evicted in an arbitrary manner and property owners' constitutional right not to be deprived of property arbitrarily. The cause of this tension is a shortage of affordable housing options for low-income households in the inner cities, a fact which shows that the state is evidently struggling to give effect to its housing obligation embodied in section 26(1) and (2) of the Constitution. In the majority of cases the courts assume that any interference with private landowners' rights beyond a temporary nature would be unjustifiable, but they do this without undertaking a proper constitutional analysis to determine whether a further limitation of the individual landowner's property rights might be justifiable and non-arbitrary in the circumstances of each case.In general the courts can allow, suspend or refuse the eviction of unlawful occupiers, provided that the order does not amount to an arbitrary deprivation of property. Nevertheless, in some instances the arbitrary deprivation of property is unavoidable, despite the court's best efforts to protect property entitlements. These eviction cases show the limits of the courts' powers both to provide adequate solutions to protect owners' property rights and to give effect to the constitutional housing provision.In the light of three eviction cases, namely Blue Moonlight, Modderklip and Olivia Road, this article explains the role of the court and the local authority, together with the entitlements and social obligations of inner-city landowners within the framework of the property clause, in order to analyse the constitutionality of the courts' decisions and to suggest ways in which the inner-city housing shortage may be addressed more effectively. This article also considers how two foreign jurisdictions, namely England and the Netherlands, have managed the precarious relationship between urban landowners – who often allow buildings to decay and stand vacant – and the homeless. These jurisdictions provide innovative alternatives to the expropriation of the ownership of private inner-city properties for housing purposes. Similar measures, tailored to accommodate the South African constitutional, economic and socio-economic landscape, may be a welcome addition to the existing statutory powers of the local authorities tasked with combatting homelessness in urban areas.

My maize and blue brick road to physical organic chemistry in materials.

Similar to Dorothy’s journey along the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz, this perspective carves out the path I took from my early childhood fascinations with science through my independent career at the University of Michigan (maize and blue). The influential research projects and mentors are highlighted, including some fortuitous experimental results that drew me into the field of supramolecular chemistry, specifically, and organic materials, broadly. My research group’s efforts toward designing new sensors based on small molecule gelators are described. In particular, I highlight how our design strategy has evolved as we learn more about molecular gelators. This perspective concludes with some predictions about where molecular gels, as well as my personal and professional life, are headed.

Blue Road Approach to Special Relativity

In 1968, Robert Brehme1 wrote a carefully crafted paper on “The Advantage of Teaching Relativity with Four-Vectors.” In his abstract he points out that “the emphasis on relativistic mass is both undeserved and misleading.” Our approach is to find the best way to teach introductory physics in a way that includes modern physics. We have found that by starting with special relativity in the first week of the course, we establish a background we can use to introduce modern physics topics as we go along. While we agree that the four-vector formalism for relativity is elegant, it is clearly inappropriate in a physics course where we have not even discussed the concept of a coordinate system. Instead, we base all our discussion on the principle of relativity itself,2 which we feel may be a more basic concept than Minkowski's four vectors.

Method for Extracting Circular Road Signs on the Basis of Scene Image Features

Road signs provide important information to guide and regulate the behavior of drivers and pedestrians to make their journeys safer and more comfortable. Therefore, we have already proposed a method for extracting and recognizing circular road signs on the basis of the color information and shape features derived from a color scene image. In the previous method, the use of lightness in images and the determination of a dynamic threshold for the binary processes have not been achieved yet. This paper proposes an algorithm to extract circular road signs on the basis of features of scene images. That is, the proposed method makes good use of lightness as well as hue and chroma. Also, the thresholds regarding the chroma and lightness in each binary process of the blue road signs are able to be automatically decided using local features in the target image. Tests on 295 images suggest that the proposed method can accurately extract circular road signs.

Blue Road to Atlantis (review)

Blue Road to Atlantis (review)

Luminescence dating and glacial stratigraphy in Westland, New Zealand

Westland is a key region in New Zealand for Quaternary stratigraphy; however, the regional glacial chronology is largely unsupported by numerical ages because of the unreliability of radiocarbon dating in this high‐rainfall region. Therefore, we tested the ability of thermoluminescence (TL) and infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IRSL) to produce stratigraphically consistent age estimates in this area. At Blue Spur Road, we obtained a stratigraphically reasonable TL age of 47 ± 7 ka in the second buried E horizon and a perhaps underestimated 53 ± 16 ka in the lower part of the fourth buried Bs horizon. A marine sand underlying Waimea outwash gave an incorrect (underestimated) IRSL age of c. 44 ka. In Saltwater Forest we collected five samples from two loess profiles overlying glacial moraines. Only one TL age (36 ± 3 ka in the lower part of the first Bs horizon) is acceptable. The next lower sample (c. 1.2 m), stratigraphically probably younger than 125 ka, gave a reasonable IRSL age of 89 ± 15 ka. In trench M1/1, on an older moraine, two TL age estimates were stratigraphically reversed, with a third result (87 ± 30 ka in unit L4) being reasonable. In contrast, IRSL produced ages of 65 ± 16 ka (1.1 m) and 145 ± 36 ka (2.0 m) for the upper two samples, removing the TL‐age reversal, although the age of the lower sample may be an overestimate. The third IRSL result (36 ± 5 ka, 2.7 m) is much too young, like the corresponding TL result. Thus, although TL is generally unreliable in the highly weathered loess‐paleosol sequences of Westland, the IRSL technique offers more promise, perhaps because of IRSL's feldspar specificity and its far greater signal‐zeroing efficiency.

Uppermost crustal structure along the Blue Road profile, Northern Sweden, from surface wave analysis

Uppermost crustal structure along the Blue Road profile, Northern Sweden, from surface wave analysis

Structure, evolution, and dynamics of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea in the Blue Road Geotraverse area

The orogeny of the Scandinavian and Greenland Caledonides is shortly reviewed, and a structural sketch map of the Scandinavian Caledonide part of the Geotraverse is presented. Post-Caledonian rifting episodes prior to the formation of the North Atlantic Ocean are briefly discussed, as well as the opening of the northern North Atlantic Ocean and its spreading rates.

Crustal structure along the Blue Road Profile in northern Scandinavia

Abstract Crustal velocity-depth models are presented from a deep seismic sounding profile across the Scandinavian peninsula. The Pg phases are influenced by local basement geology. Pg velocities as high as 6.4 km/s have been recorded over nappe units in the Caledonides. Along the Fennoscandian Shield part of the profile the velocity increases from about 5.4 to 6.0 km/s in an uppermost zone of the earth's crust, which is about 2 km thick. Faults have been detected in the uppermost part of the crust, one of which coincides with a shear zone deduced from purely geological reasoning. Velocity reversals in the Caledonides are invoked to explain the recorded data from the uppermost part of the crust. No velocity reversals have been detected along the Fennoscandian Shield part of the profile. A velocity increase from 6.3 to 6.7 km/s in a transition zone of some kilometres thickness divides the crust into an upper and lower part. The depth of the transition zone increases from 13 to 27 km below the eastern and we...

The fine structure of the lower lithosphere underneath the Blue Road profile in northern Scandinavia

Abstract On the basis of DSS data from the recordings of compressional and shear waves made during the Blue Road shootings in 1972, velocity—depth models for the lower lithosphere are presented. A lid with a velocity of 8.32 km/s was found underneath the Mohorovicic discontinuity. An upper-mantle fine structure consisting of several high- and low-velocity zones was derived. At a depth of 96 km, a P-velocity of 8.5 km/s was reached. A minimum shear-wave velocity of 4.70 km/s has been determined for the uppermost part of the mantle underneath the Mohorovicic discontinuity. This velocity allows a shear low-velocity zone of a few tens of kilometers in the uppermost post of the mantle.

The results of the Blue Road seismic experiment with special reference to the properties of the upper mantle

During summer 1972 seismic studies were carried out along the Scandinavian “Blue Road” traverse between the Norwegian coast near the Arctic Circle and southern Finland. A set of several reversed and unreversed overlapping seismogram sections with a maximum length of about 600 km could be obtained, using eight shots at five different positions. Velocity models of the crust and upper mantle were computed, based on very clear arrivals of refracted P-waves. The crust—mantle boundary, which was mapped along the whole profile, shows only minor undulations with a mean depth of about 40 km. A root below the Caledonian mountain chain could not be found since recording distances were too short. A constant mantle velocity is derived, to depths of about 80 km, from parallel Pn-branches. Apart from the different geological structures near the surface, the overall distribution of seismic velocities appears to be very similar within the Caledonides and the Baltic Shield.

Blue road geotraverse — A study on the structure and dynamics of fennoscandian lithosphere — Part I

The nature of the regolith that existed on the shields of the Northern Hemisphere at the onset of ice sheet glaciation is poorly constrained. In this paper, we provide the first detailed account of an exceptionally preserved, deeply weathered late Neogene landscape in the ice sheet divide zone in northern Finland. We mine data sets of drilling and pitting records gathered by the Geological Survey of Finland to reconstruct regional preglacial deep weathering patterns within a GIS framework. Using a large geochemical data set, we give standardised descriptions of saprolite geochemistry using a variant of the Weathering Index of Parker (WIP) as a proxy to assess the intensity of weathering. We also focus on mineral prospects and mines with dense pit and borehole data coverage in order to identify links between geology, topography, and weathering.Geology is closely linked to topography on the preglacial shield landscape of northern Finland and both factors influence weathering patterns. Upstanding, resistant granulite, granite, gabbro, metabasalt, and quartzite rocks were associated with fresh rock outcrops, including tors, or with thin (< 5 m) grusses. Plains developed across less resistant biotite gneisses, greenstones, and belts of alternating rock types were mainly weathered to thick (10–20 m) grusses with WIPfines values above 3000 and 4000. Beneath valley floors developed along mineralised shear and fracture zones, weathering penetrated locally to depths of > 50 m and included intensely weathered kaolinitic clays with WIPfines values below 1000.Late Neogene weathering profiles were varied in character. Tripartite clay–gruss–saprock profiles occur only in limited areas. Bipartite gruss–saprock profiles were widespread, with saprock thicknesses of > 10 m. Weathering profiles included two discontinuities in texture, materials and resistance to erosion, between saprolite and saprock and between saprock and rock. Limited core recovery when drilling below the soil base in mixed rocks of the Tana Belt indicates that weathering locally penetrated deep below upper fresh rock layers. Such deep-seated weathered bands in rock represent a third set of discontinuities. Incipient weathering and supergene mineralisation also extended to depths of > 100 m in mineralised fracture zones. The thin weathering crusts found extensively beneath till may represent types of early or middle Pleistocene palaeosols.We confirm that glacial erosion has been very limited (< 20 m) in northern Finland and has been widely restricted to the partial stripping of saprolith. The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet in this ice-divide zone remained cold-based and unerosive throughout the Pleistocene. The large-scale shield geomorphology developed before glaciation and is a product of differential weathering and erosion acting on diverse rock types and structures through the Neogene. The first ice sheets did not advance across planar, uniformly soft, deeply kaolinised beds as proposed in recent models of the Laurentide ice sheet. Instead, in northern Finland, the shield topography comprised broad plains and valleys with isolated hills and hill masses, with a relative relief of several hundred metres. Weathered rock was restricted in its distribution and thickness and provided diverse bed materials for ice sheets, including rock, broken saprock, permeable gruss, and linear zones of impermeable clay, with multiple discontinuities. Glacial erosion and local glacial transport led to widespread incorporation of this saprolith material into tills.

The Blue Road Geotraverse: An answer to some comments

Abstract This paper is an answer to some comments on papers regarding the Blue Road Geotraverse made by C.-E. Lund in GFF, Vol. 99, Part 1, pp. 79–83. Because of some confusion, I feel bound to give an answer to Lund's comments and to disprove his statements.

The Blue Road Geotraverse: Second discussion meeting held in Uppsala on February 24 and 25, 1975

Abstract The dynamic history of the Caledonides and the process and driving mechanism of Fennoscandian land uplift are basic problems of present geodynamic research in Scandinavia. The Blue Road Project concerns interdisciplinary research on crustal structure and dynamics along a traverse which passes through the Caledonides and through the Baltic Shield within the area of the highest land-uplift rate. The second discussion meeting should be regarded as an attempt to synthesize the results which have been obtained hitherto in the geotraverse area. This was the aim of Part I of the meeting. Part II of the meeting was concerned with investigations in the wider geotraverse area and with methods which could possibly be useful contributions to the solution of the geoscientific problems of the Blue Road Project. During session A, papers on the physical properties and structure of the lithosphere were presented, during session B, crustal dynamics within a wide frequency range were treated, and finally, in session C, models of past and present crustal dynamics were presented. In Part III, the idea of further interdisciplinary research along the Blue Road Geotraverse was discussed.