Busy Highway Research Articles

Removal, resistance and the right to the Olympic city: The case of Vila Autodromo in Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACTOn the same October day in 2009 that the International Olympic Committee announced the 2016 Summer Olympics would be held in Rio de Janeiro, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro announced that Vila Autódromo—a fairly small favela in the west part of the city, crowded between a lagoon, an automobile racetrack, and a busy highway, and ultimately the Olympic Park—would be removed as part of the infrastructure plan designed to prepare the city for the Games. This article examines the case of Vila Autódromo, and the resistance of favela residents to being forcibly removed from their community, to provide insight into the sources of opposition and resistance to urban development. The practice of forced evictions in the name of urban development will be explored as a manifest form of marginalization in the context of Olympic development. Rather than concealing urban problems, urban spectacles such as the Olympics serve to highlight social inequalities and display highly contradictory urban representations that can spawn agendas of resistance that serve to complicate elite redevelopment agendas and divide progrowth coalitions.

Influence of dietary cadmium exposure on fitness traits and its accumulation (with an overview on trace elements) in Lymantria dispar larvae

Bioaccumulation and excretion of heavy metals in insects is only partially clarified. We have investigated cadmium accumulation in the feces, head and integument of Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) larvae exposed to chronic dietary intake of cadmium. The aim of the experiment was to establish modalities of metal accumulation, primarily cadmium, as well as changes in fitness traits in two insect populations receiving 50 or 100μgCd/g dry food. The egg-masses originated from two localities: a protected nature reserve (unpolluted population) and an area near a busy highway (polluted population) in Serbia. At both added dietary levels cadmium concentration was highest in feces. Small alterations in metal concentrations after both cadmium treatments were detected in the integument. It was established that irrespective of population origin, the modality of decline of larval mass and relative growth rate (RGR) was similar. Concentrations of Cu and Zn in the integument were approximately the same regardless of dietary cadmium intake. However, cadmium accumulation in the examined tissues, as well as variability of fitness traits depended on population origin and cadmium concentration. In larvae from both populations not given contaminated food the head was the organ with the greatest accumulation of trace elements. Our results reveal how invasive phytophagous insects cope with high metal concentrations in their food by body mass (RGR) reduction and energy allocation towards processes that enable accumulation of cadmium and other trace elements in different tissues.

Acoustic renovation for an office courtyard near a busy highway

A complex of several office buildings utilizes a common courtyard as an outdoor gathering space. Regularly scheduled events and celebrations occur in this space. These activities can be disrupted by the noise emitted by vehicular traffic on a nearby busy highway. Field tests were conducted to quantify and characterize the background ambient sound due to the road traffic. The office complex, courtyard, and highway were modeled in a computer aided design system, and various renovation concepts to reduce the perception of highway noise at the venue were studied. The auralized results of design studies were used to generate a virtual reality presentation for evaluation by office management. The reduction of highway noise by several treatment options was noticeable. Also, perceived voice clarity (speech intelligibility) in the courtyard improved with reduced noise. The recommended design treatment provided a significant calculated reduction in highway noise level, with an improved acoustic environment (as perceived) for comfort and speech clarity.

The Journey ofThe Little House

tension between the pastoral idyll and the urban environment represents in many ways the growing pains experienced as America moved from an agricultural tradition to an industrial society. This transition, during which the cultivated rural landscape was displaced by mechanization and metropolitan constructions, shifted the cultural focus from the idealized small town characterized by strong interpersonal relationships to the impersonal city that sociologists identify as consisting of rationalization, institutional differentiation, and new interlocking patterns of coordination (Stanley 191). fragmented industrial world is placed in opposition to the tranquility of the natural landscape (Marx 18), both sociologically and in literature.This tension forms a central and explicit theme in Lee Burton's 1942 picture book, Little House, which tells the story of a happy little pink house who watches as technology advances and the city gradually overtakes the countryside. Despite the potentially dark plot line, the 1943 Caldecott Medal-winning book has a happy ending as the house is moved back to the country and a new family moves in. It has been named among the one hundred best books for children (Bird; National Education Association; Teachers First). Burton (1909-1968), who also authored Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel (chronicling the triumphant comeback of the little steam shovel whom everyone thought was too old-fashioned to be useful), and Katy and the Big Snow (about a brave tractor who clears a snowstorm), among others, said that Little House was based on her own home, which was moved away from a busy highway to a daisy- and apple tree-covered field (Books by; Virginia Lee Burton). physical and symbolic experience of the move for Burton and the house's new setting surrounded by gardens and sheep grazing contributed to the book's creation (Elleman 57).Burton's self-declared intention in writing the book was to represent historical perspective with the Little House as the focus (Burton, Making Picture Books 231). Her depictions deliberately portray a simple country life as preferable to life in the city (Goddard 563). Little House sits at the center of the picture, literally, and it also occupies the central space in long shots which contextualize it in an environment. Indeed, the Little House sits at almost precisely the same location on the page throughout the book while everything around it changes (Virginia Lee Burton). story's opening establishes the house's relationship with nature and sets a tone of harmony with the environment. Accounting for over 30% of the book, this lengthy peaceful introduction contrasts sharply with the central portion, in which the city comes to the house. house also has an implied relationship with a specific family; the man who built her entailed the property so that it could be sold for gold or silver (Burton, Little House 1) and the house and her family remain as constants in one another's experience over several generations.Burton, using the term her-story to describe the plot, states, The heroine of my story was the little house, but unlike most central characters the little house is stationary until the end of the book while its surroundings change. And the changing surroundings represent the sweep of social history (Burton, Making Picture Books 231). Visually, this is accomplished through both color and line: the harmonious circular lines of nature are replaced with strong diagonal lines representing development (Virginia Lee Burton) and simultaneously, Burton utilizes darker hues as the city grows around the Little House.Conflict and decay, highlighting negative elements of development, are depicted. speed of technological development is echoed by the speed of the text, until finally the Little House is totally divorced from nature, able only to see the sun at noon. people rush about the city, never noticing the Little House, or indeed the old way of life that she symbolizes (Stott and Krier 33). …

Target Selection Signals Influence Perceptual Decisions by Modulating the Onset and Rate of Evidence Accumulation

Computational and neurophysiological research has highlighted neural processes that accumulate sensory evidence for perceptual decisions. These processes have been studied in the context of highly simplified perceptual discrimination paradigms in which the physical evidence appears at times and locations that are either entirely predictable or exogenously cued (e.g., by the onset of the stimulus itself). Yet, we are rarely afforded such certainty in everyday life. For example, when driving along a busy motorway, we must continually monitor the movements of surrounding vehicles for events that call for a lane change. In such scenarios, it is unknown which of the continuously present information sources will become relevant or when. Although it is well established that evidence integration provides an effective mechanism for countering the impact of noise, the question of how this mechanism is implemented in the face of uncertain evidence onsets has yet to be answered. Here, we show that when monitoring two potential sources of information for evidence occurring unpredictably in both time and space, the human brain employs discrete, early target selection signals that significantly modulate the onset and rate of neural evidence accumulation, and thereby the timing and accuracy of perceptual reports. These selection signals share many of the key characteristics of the N2pc component highlighted in the literature on visual search yet are present even in the absence of distractors and under situations of low temporal and spatial uncertainty. These data provide novel insights into how target selection supports decision making in uncertain environments.

Measured Settlement of Highways Improved by Lightweight Backfilling Without Road Closure

Excessive post-construction settlement is often found for highways built on soft soil, slowing driving speed and increasing the risk of traffic accidents. Increasing attention has been paid to lightweight backfill to reduce ground settlement because of its light density, reasonable cost, and ease of construction. However, the existing technology for lightweight backfilling requires road closure, resulting in serious traffic jams and considerable economic losses. In this paper, a new technology is proposed for lightweight backfilling without road closure. A field trial was conducted to verify the practicality of the newly proposed technology. Ground settlements during and after construction were measured in the field trial with lightweight backfilling and in the adjacent zone without lightweight backfilling. The measured results were compared, discussed, and explained. It was found that the ground settlement was significantly mitigated by lightweight backfilling. The total settlement of ground surface was reduced by 36 %, and the average settlement rate was reduced by 40 % with a decreasing trend. It is suggested that the proposed technology with lightweight backfilling could solve the post-construction settlement problem well without road closure in busy highway.

Modeling and Prediction of Long-Distance Traffic Flows Through the Example of Road Transport in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACTThe construction of large-scale long-distance roads brings an irreversible impact on the landscape and therefore its careful and precise planning is very important. For this planning we use data on the intensity of traffic flows on existing roads and statistical tools for the modeling of planned traffic flows. The main objective of this paper is the modeling of the existing intensity of traffic flows on highways and expressways in the Czech Republic by determination of the optimal distance-decay function. On the basis of the resulting model and the resulting distance-decay function, it is possible to predict the intensity of traffic in the event of the completion and commissioning of new sections of highways and expressways. The subsequent analysis will allow us to make a qualified prediction of traffic intensity in the event of the completion of the R35 expressway, or after the completion of the R35 and R43 expressways. Besides the intensity on the above-mentioned roads themselves, the paper also predicts the expected reduction in traffic intensity on the busiest highway in the Czech Republic, that is, on the D1 highway between Prague and Brno.

A naturalistic study of the impact of message framing on highway speeding

Speeding is the most common road violation, and is one of the main causes of crashes. To protect road users, authorities use sanctions and preventive measures to prompt drivers to observe speed limits. However, the efficacy of prevention messages varies according to a number of factors, among which risk framing is important. We ran a study to test whether gain is more effective than loss (framing effect). Four anti-speeding messages were presented on variable-message signs, along one side of a busy 8-lane highway in France (speed limit: 130km/h – 80mph), during 6weekends. Within a between subject design, the messages differed in orientation (gain vs. loss vs. no message) and theme (crash vs. fuel consumption). The drivers’ speed was recorded on the highway 2km (1.25miles) after the sign (6486 recordings of speed). The results showed that speed was lower when a message was displayed than in the control condition, and when the message was gain-framed rather than loss-framed. These effects were stronger on the left lanes (overtaking lanes). Hence, gain framed messages are recommended for prevention campaigns at least when no risk factor is salient.

Identifying migration corridors of mule deer threatened by highway development

ABSTRACTHighways are hazardous to migratory ungulates world‐wide, causing direct and indirect impacts to ungulate survival. Moreover, significant financial costs are incurred in damage from wildlife–vehicle collisions and in building and maintaining wildlife passage structures. Information is needed to link ungulate movements to collision occurrence to prioritize needed construction of wildlife crossings on highways. We simultaneously documented mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) migration corridors and mule deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) in South‐central Oregon, USA, over 6 years (2005–2011). We calculated Brownian Bridge Movement Models for 359 migrating mule deer equipped with Global Positioning System technology. We modeled DVC counts as functions of probability of use during migration, annual average daily traffic (AADT), and habitat characteristics. Probability of use during migration was the strongest predictor of where DVCs occurred (r = 0.93). Predicted DVCs also increased with AADT but peaked at approximately 8,000 and then decreased. Where AADT was above approximately 8,000, fewer deer attempted to cross the highway and DVCs decreased because, over time, deer either abandoned the migration route or were killed trying to cross this busy highway. Our results suggest that managers should focus on migration corridors or high‐density DVC locations to identify where fencing and under/overpasses could be most effective for maintaining migratory corridors when confronting increasing traffic and development that bisect seasonal ranges of mule deer. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Road salt application planning tool for winter de-icing operations

Road authorities, who are charged with the task of maintaining safe, driveable road conditions during severe winter storm events are coming under increasing pressure to protect salt vulnerable areas (SVAs). For the purpose of modelling urban winter hydrology, the temperature index method was modified to incorporate ploughing and salting considerations and was calibrated using winter field data from two sites in Southern Ontario and validated using data collected from a section of Highway 401 – Canada’s busiest highway. The modified temperature index model (MTIM) accurately predicted salt-induced melt (R2 = 0.98 and 0.99, RMSE = 19.9 and 282.4 m3, CRM = −0.003 and 0.006 for calibration and validation sites respectively), and showed a demonstrable ability to calculate the Bare Pavement Regain Time (BPRT). The BPRT is a key factor on road safety and the basis for many winter maintenance performance standards for different classes of highways. Optimizing salt application rate scenarios can be achieved using the MTIM with only two meteorological forecast inputs for the storm event – readily available on-line through the Road Weather Information System (RWIS) – and can serve as a simple yet effective tool for winter road maintenance practitioners seeking to optimize salt application rates for a given storm event in salt vulnerable areas.

Outdoor air pollution and cardiovascular diseases in Lebanon: a case-control study.

Outdoor air pollution is increasingly considered as a serious threat for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The aim of this study is to investigate the association between outdoor pollutants and cardiovascular diseases among adults in Lebanon and to examine the possible moderator effect of cigarette smoking status on this association. A multicenter case-control study was conducted between October 2011 and October 2012. Cases were hospitalized patients diagnosed with CVD by a cardiologist while the control group subjects were free of any cardiac diseases. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco consumption, self-rated global health, pollution exposure, and other risk factors was collected using a questionnaire. The results of the logistic regression revealed that living near busy highway (OR 5.04, 95% CI (4.44–12.85), P < 0.001) and close to local diesel generator (OR 4.76, 95% CI (2.07–10.91), P < 0.001) was significantly associated with CVD. The association between the CVD and exposure to outside pollutants differed by cigarette smoking status. A clear difference was noted between nonsmokers and current smokers OR 4.6, 95% CI (1.10–19.25) and OR 10.11, 95% CI (7.33–20.23), respectively. Forthcoming studies are needed to clarify the potential link between outdoor air pollution and cardiovascular diseases in Lebanon. Public health interventions must be implemented to reduce air pollution and to improve air quality.

Extending cost–benefit analysis for the sustainability impact of inter-urban Intelligent Transport Systems

The paper reports research involving three cost–benefit analyses performed on different ITS schemes (Active Traffic Management, Intelligent Speed Adaptation and the Automated Highway System) on one of the UK's busiest highways — the M42. The environmental scope of the assets involved is widened to take into account the possibility of new technology linked by ICT and located within multiple spatial regions. The areas focused on in the study were data centre energy emissions, the embedded emissions of the road-side infrastructure, vehicle tailpipe emissions, additional hardware required by the vehicles (if applicable) and safety, and all aspects of sustainability. Dual discounting is applied which aims to provide a separate discount rate for environmental elements. For ATM, despite the energy costs of the data centre, the initial implementation costs and mitigation costs of its embedded emissions, a high cost–benefit ratio of 5.89 is achieved, although the scheme becomes less effective later on its lifecycle due to rising costs of energy. ISA and AHS generate a negative result, mainly due to the cost of getting the vehicle on the road. In order to negate these costs, the pricing of the vehicle should be scaled depending upon the technology that is outfitted. Retrofitting on vehicles without the technology should be paid for by the driver. ATM will offset greenhouse gas emissions by 99kt of CO2 equivalency over a 25year lifespan. This reduction has taken into account the expected improvement in vehicle technology. AHS is anticipated to save 280kt of CO2 equivalency over 15years of operational usage. However, this offset is largely dependent on assumptions such as the level of market penetration.

Excessive reverberance in an outdoor amphitheater

The historic Ford Theatre in Hollywood, CA, is undergoing an overall renovation and expansion. Its centerpiece is the inexplicably asymmetrical 1200 seat outdoor amphitheater, built of concrete in 1931 after the original 1920 wood structure was destroyed by a brush fire in 1929, and well before the adjacent Hollywood Freeway was nearly as noisy as now. Renovation includes reorienting seating for better symmetry while maintaining the historic concrete, and improving audio, lighting, and support spaces. Sited within an arroyo overlooking a busy highway, and in view of the Hollywood Bowl, the new design features an expanded “sound wall” that will help to mitigate highway noise while providing optimal lighting and control positions. New sound-absorptive treatments will address the Ford’s excessive reverberation, currently more than might be anticipated for an entirely outdoor space. The remarkably uniform distribution of ambient noise and apparent contributions by the arroyo to the reverberation will be discussed, along with assorted design challenges.

Trace Metals in PM10 and PM2.5 Samples Collected in a Highly Industrialized Chemical/Petrochemical Area and Its Urbanized Surroundings

The aim of this study was to determine the potential impact of a highly industrialized area on its urbanized surroundings. The area studied is home to a refinery, a thermoelectric plant and several petrochemical facilities industries. The concentrations of twelve elements were determined in PM10 and PM2.5 samples collected along a busy highway and near the petrochemical complex. Significantly higher concentrations of Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu and Al were observed in the petrochemical zone, but principal component analysis revealed similar patterns for both the highway site and a site approximately 1.5km from the petrochemical complex, suggesting that the main pollution source in the area is vehicular flux. Higher concentrations in the industrial area may be attributed to intense diesel-powered truck and bus traffic movement, mainly due to the transport of supplies, fuel and gas. The observed concentrations of the elements Cr, Co, Ni, Cd and Pb were always lower than the detection limits of the technique used.

The White Volcanoes of Harrat Khaybar, north of Al-Madinah

The volcanic fi eld of Harrat Khaybar north of Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia contains rare examples of white volcanoes comprised mainly of the felsic rock comendite. The obsidian that occurs in association with the white comendite was exploited and worked by Neolithic inhabitants of the area. The white volcanoes are surrounded by more recent black basaltic lava fi elds that follow the pre-existing topography and display both aa and pahoehoe fl ow structures. Although situated only 60 km from a busy motorway, the volcanic area is remote and all necessary safety precautions must be taken in order to visit the volcanoes.

Influence of Television on the Sexual Behavior of Young Women in Mlolongo Township of Machakos County, Kenya

The research set out to analyze the influence of television messages on sexual behavior of young women aged between 15 and 24 in Mlolongo Township in Machakos County, Kenya. The objective was to investigate the relevance of the television messages in addressing the issues that make young women more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS than young men of the same age. The study site was chosen because the town is situated along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway, where the weighbridge is situated, making the town a sexual hub for truck drivers who spend days in the town as they wait for their tracks to be weighed; thus making it a rich spot for the spread of HIV/AIDS. The study employed the exploratory research design to collect data from the sample population. Data collection was through the use of the questionnaire method administered on a face-to-face basis to the respondents. The sample size was 60 respondents who were selected using a random sampling method. The findings indicated that awareness on the mode of transmission, prevention and management of the HIV/AIDS was almost 100 percent. Majority of the respondents had had access to TV messages that contained messages on HIV/AIDS. However, the TV viewing a lone was not sufficient enough to help change the women’s sexual behavior. Other underlying factors such as cultural beliefs, gender, poverty, peer pressure, economic dependence on male partners made the women more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and not necessarily lack of knowledge on HIV/AIDS. There was therefore need for change of strategy on the fight against HIV/AIDS and not merely awareness creation and prevention. There was need for stakeholders and to have a concerted effort towards addressing the issues at which young women are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and not necessarily creating awareness, which, according to the study, was almost 100 percent.

A Stochastic Model for Highway Accident Predictions with Winter Data

In this paper, we consider the problem of modeling and predicting highway accidents in the presence of randomly changing winter driving conditions. Unlike most accident prediction models in the literature, which are typically formulated in a static (e.g. regression models) or discrete time (e.g. time-series models) setting, we propose a continuous- time stochastic model to describe the relation between highway accidents and winter weather dynamics. We believe this to be a more natural way to describe discrete-event highway accidents that occur in continuous-time. In particular, the accident counting process is viewed as a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) with an intensity function that depends on a (Markovian) weather process. Such a model is known in the stochastic process literature as a Markov- modulated Poisson process (MMPP) and has been successfully applied to queuing and telecommunications problems. One main advantage of such an approach, is its ability to provide explicit closed-form prediction formulae for both weather and accidents over any future time horizon (i.e. short or long-term predictions). To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed stochastic model, we study a large winter data set provided by Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) that includes motor vehicle accidents on Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America.

Influence of air contaminants on planar, self-breathing hydrogen PEM fuel cells in an outdoor environment

In this study, the effects of air contaminants on the operation of air-breathing fuel cells in an outdoor environment are investigated. For this purpose, a unique testing platform, which allows continuous operation of 30 cells at different locations, was developed. Three of these testing platforms were placed at different sites in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, with high variances of weather and pollution patterns. These locations range from a highly polluted place next to a busy highway to a location with virtually pure air at an altitude of 1205 m. The fuel cells were tested at all sites for over 4500 h in continuous operation. The degradation of the cells due to air pollutants was measured as a voltage decrease for three different operation loads and membranes from two different manufactures. As the temperature of the fuel cells has not been regulated, the irreversible degradation of the cell voltages could not be isolated from the dominant influence of the temperature in the raw data. With the use of the measured data, the impact of real mixtures of air contaminants was observed to be mainly reversible.

Could Environmental Exposures Facilitate the Incidence of Addictive Behaviors?

Could Environmental Exposures Facilitate the Incidence of Addictive Behaviors?

Multivariate Forecasting of Road Traffic Flows in the Presence of Heteroscedasticity and Measurement Errors

Summary Linear multiregression dynamic models, which combine a graphical representation of a multivariate time series with a state space model, have been shown to be a promising class of models for forecasting traffic flow data. Analysis of flows at a busy motorway intersection near Manchester, UK, highlights two important modelling issues: accommodating different levels of traffic variability depending on the time of day and accommodating measurement errors due to data collection errors. This paper extends linear multiregression dynamic models to address these issues. Additionally, the paper investigates how close the approximate forecast limits that are usually used with the linear multiregression dynamic model are to the true, but not so readily available, forecast limits.