Busy Roads Research Articles

Associations between parental reasons for choosing a neighborhood and adolescents’ physical activity and commuting behaviors

IntroductionAdolescents' physical activity (PA) and commuting behaviors are related to their parents' perceptions of the neighborhood. This study analyzed the association between parental reasons for choosing a neighborhood to live in and their adolescent’ moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), active commuting to/from school (ACS), and independent mobility (IM) excluding school travel. MethodsParticipants were adolescents (n = 373) and their parents (n = 373) in Spain. Parents reported their reasons for choosing a neighborhood, and adolescents reported their ACS and IM excluding school travel. Accelerometry was used to assess adolescents’ MVPA. Multilevel regressions were used to analyze the associations between parental reasons and the outcome variables (MVPA, ACS and IM). ResultsHigh importance of affordability/value for parents was associated with higher levels of weekday MVPA in adolescents (β = 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.21, 4.16), whereas greater distance from busy streets (β = 2.08, 95% CI 0.12, 4.51) was positively associated with MVPA during the weekend. A higher percentage of ACS in adolescents was associated with having parents who valued proximity to the school (β = 3.43, 95% CI 0.17, 0.64). IM excluding school travel was higher when parents assigned relatively less value to the proximity of the school (β = −3.35, 95% CI −8.76, −2.28), safety from crime (β = −2.77, 95% CI −6.63, −1.39), and sense of community (β = −2.31, 95% CI −6.63, −0.53). ConclusionsIt is crucial to develop spaces and facilities for PA, and to increase the walkability of the neighborhoods, considering the distance from home to school, in order to promote MVPA and ACS in adolescents.

The Beginning of Memory

The Beginning of Memory

ANALISA KINERJA RUAS JALAN KALIMANTAN KOTA GORONTALO

This research was conducted on the road in Kalimantan Gorontalo City using the 1997 MKJI method. The data taken were primary data and secondary data. The Kalimantan road section is categorized as a busy road with traffic. This is because Kalimantan road is a commercial road where there are schools, settlements, cafes, supermarkets, and markets. It is known that the length of the Kalimantan road is 786.13 m, the type of road is a two-lane two-way (2/2 UD), there is no median, there is no sidewalk, there are road shoulders of approximately 0.8 - 1 m and there are drainage channels of each size. -each different. Primary data was obtained by direct observation at the research location, namely to determine the volume of vehicles, capacity, and the value of the degree of saturation. Secondary data provides data on population, road maps, and the number of vehicles in the city of Gorontalo. The time of research in the field was carried out for 3 days, namely from 14:00 – 20:00 WITA. Based on the results of traffic flow performance analysis, the maximum traffic volume calculation results occurred on Monday at 16:30 – 17:30 WITA, which was 1903.1 vehicles/hour. The value of the degree of saturation is 0.79. So the level of service on the Kalimantan road is included in category D, where the traffic flow condition is stable, the traffic speed is around 45 km/hour. The Kalimantan road section is said to be still feasible and only a few minor changes are needed, such as the need to make a sign prohibiting vehicle parking on the side of the road, especially for the shopping / stall / market area.

Micro-Entrepreneurship: Examining the Factors Affecting the Success of Women Street Food Vendors

Previous studies on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have concentrated on their contribution to the economy, treating such businesses as aggregate and homogeneous. What is lacking is studies on micro-enterprises, especially women’s street food vending, and the factors that influence their success. This study aims to examine the context-specific factors that influence the success of women-owned street food vending businesses in the Accra Metropolis. An informal sector success framework is built to derive appropriate factors based on theoretical and empirical literature. A cross-sectional survey design is used, involving quantitative primary data collected from a sample of 300 women street food vendors. The findings of the study indicate key success determining factors such as business experience, difficulty in food preparation, difficulty in obtaining key raw material and the age of the respondents. From the results, the business characteristics of women’s experience indicate that those with longer periods of engagement in business have a greater likelihood of success. There is evidence that, the difficulty in obtaining key raw materials due to seasonal changes and limited access to storage facilities, however, translates into limited opportunities for the success of these women-owned street food businesses. Capital constraints do not seem important in determining the success of food vending micro-enterprises, thus not supporting the resource-based theory of business growth. In terms of individual socio-cultural characteristics, the study again revealed that married street food vendors are constrained by family and community responsibilities, hindering the full realization of business growth. The results show that the age of the women in the business is a relevant success factor. This is the first study in Ghana to show that the individual, family and community features of women influence the success of micro-enterprises. The findings of this study provide useful information for policymakers to address the relevant constraints faced by these women vendors by minimizing the difficulty in getting key raw materials, which is sometimes due to financial and seasonal factors.

Pedestrians' Perception of Pedestrian Bridges-A Qualitative Study in Dar es Salaam.

Background: About 30 percent of all road traffic deaths in Tanzania involve pedestrians. As one of the strategies to protect them, pedestrian overhead bridges have been constructed across busy roads, and plans to build more bridges are in place. It has, however, been shown that such pedestrian bridges do not necessarily discourage street-level road crossing, even when pedestrians must cross multiple lanes with heavy traffic. This paper explores the perceptions of pedestrians when crossing urban roads emphasizing pedestrian bridge users. Methods: Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in situ around six pedestrian bridges in Dar es Salaam. All interviews were conducted in Swahili, recorded using digital devices, transcribed verbatim then translated into English. Content analysis was employed using qualitative data analysis software (MAXQDA). Results: We identified three overarching themes, namely, I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, they already decided; the bridge is just a crossing facility, not for other purposes; and follow your gut feeling, even if you don’t know how things will end. The results suggest that many participants prefer to look for alternative means of transport and resorted to more alternative routes just to avoid using pedestrian bridges due to bridges length and crossing time. Conclusion: These findings highlight the concerns caused by alternative uses of pedestrian bridges and underscore the importance of involving local communities and other stakeholders during planning.

Effects of principal stress rotation on deformation behaviour of clay under partially drained and undrained conditions

Subgrade clay in regions with busy roads is more likely to exhibit partially drained than undrained cyclic behaviour considering the long duration of traffic loads. To study the deformation response of soft clay under the two drainage conditions, cyclic tests were conducted on a dynamic hollow cylinder apparatus with and without principal stress rotation. The concept of transitional cyclic stress ratio (CSR) was proposed. When the CSR is lower than the transitional CSR, the partially drained condition causes permanent axial strain enlargement when compared with the undrained conditions; Once the CSR exceeds the transitional CSR, the partially drained condition markedly restricts the development of the permanent axial strain. Moreover, both critical and allowable CSR in the partially drained tests are higher than in the undrained ones, and the allowable CSR under different drainage conditions is smaller than the transitional CSR. Therefore, the influence of the partially drained condition on the cyclic deformation of clay must be considered in practice. Two empirical models were proposed to predict the permanent volumetric strain and permanent axial strain under the partially drained condition.

Very high radiofrequency radiation at Skeppsbron in Stockholm, Sweden from mobile phone base station antennas positioned close to pedestrians’ heads

In urban environment there is a constant increase of public exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations. With the placement of mobile phone base station antennas radiofrequency hotspots emerge. This study investigates an area at Skeppsbron street in Stockholm, Sweden with an aggregation of base station antennas placed at low level close to pedestrians' heads. Detailed spatial distribution measurements were performed with 1) a radiofrequency broadband analyzer and 2) a portable exposimeter. The results display a greatly uneven distribution of the radiofrequency field with hotspots. The highest spatial average across all quadrat cells was 12.1 V m⁻1 (388 mW m⁻2), whereas the maximum recorded reading from the entire area was 31.6 V m⁻1 (2648 mW m⁻2). Exposimeter measurements show that the majority of exposure is due to mobile phone downlink bands. Most dominant are 2600 and 2100 MHz bands used by 4G and 3G mobile phone services, respectively. The average radiofrequency radiation values from the earlier studies show that the level of ambient RF radiation exposure in Stockholm is increasing. This study concluded that mobile phone base station antennas at Skeppsbron, Stockholm are examples of poor radiofrequency infrastructure design which brings upon highly elevated exposure levels to popular seaside promenade and a busy traffic street.

Main street business owners: aging in plain sight

PurposeAging is the most important social-demographic issue worldwide, supported by the initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its global strategy and action plan for aging and health (Rudnicka et al., 2020). The average age of business owners in most industrialized countries is on the rise. In the United States, fifty-one percent of small private businesses are owned by someone age fifty-plus (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2018).Design/methodology/approachThe authors shed light on small business owners, who age in place. The authors suggest that their importance as long-term actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems nor the issue of “Main Street churn” have not been meaningfully explored. Understanding the risks they face offers an opportunity for academics and practitioners to provide insights for business owners, the next generation of the acquirer and advisors. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has elevated the status of many of these businesses from invisible (and perhaps taken for granted) to “essential” and amplified the co-dependence of business and the local economy.Findings The anticipated “silver tsunami” caused by the retirements of Main Street business owners is not a national and homogeneous wave. Rather, each wave will land on beaches locally. Small business owners age in place, and their importance as long-term actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems nor the issue of “Main Street churn” have not been meaningfully explored. They become embedded in their community and possibly stuck there in retirement.Originality/value The embeddedness of these owners – who likely have social connections, community identification and feelings of responsibility to the community directly impacts the places that they care deeply about – is often unquestioned. However, their retirements call for increased visibility within entrepreneurial ecosystems and translations of scholarly work from several kinds of literature into policy and practice.

Metal and metalloid bioaccumulation in three centipedes (Chilopoda)

Three centipede species (Clinopodes flavidus, Cryptops anomalans and Eupolybothrus transsylvanicus) were used as bioindicators of trace metal and metalloid pollution in Belgrade, Serbia. The concentrations of 13 elements (the metals Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Cd, Tl, Pb and U and metalloids As, Se) in whole animals and soil were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Differences in the concentrations of some elements in the analyzed species were observed, both in response to the sites and between species. In most cases, the trace element concentrations were higher in centipedes from a polluted site (an industrial area near a busy street with heavy traffic) but C. anomalans and E. transsylvanicus had higher Mn concentrations at an unpolluted site (a deciduous woodland on Mt. Avala). C. flavidus was a good bioindicator for detecting differences between Zn, Se and Cd. C. flavidus and C. anomalans were more efficient in accumulating Zn than E. transsylvanicus. It appears that C. anomalans poorly accumulated Cd, unlike C. flavidus and E. transsylvanicus, which accumulated Cd according to the high bioaccumulation factor (BAF) values. We conclude that the centipedes C. flavidus, C. anomalans and E. transsylvanicus can be used as suitable bioindicators of trace element exposure. Their ability to accumulate trace elements was different and depends on their physiology and lifestyle as well as the route of exposure.

Memorials and the Mine Disaster in Monongah, West Virginia: From Trauma to an Italian Global Memoryscape

Memorials and the Mine Disaster in Monongah, West Virginia: From Trauma to an Italian Global Memoryscape

The Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health Studies: Minimising Exposure to Traffic-related Air Pollution

People who live close to busy roads and highways are exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution. This puts them at risk of significant health difficulties such as high blood pressure, heart attacks and cancer. The Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health Studies led by Dr Doug Brugge from the University of Connecticut represent community-engaged research into the biological impact of high exposure to pollution and importantly, possible solutions to this. This work has shown that high-efficiency particulate arrestance filters are one promising intervention for minimising exposure to pollution and thus improving health.

Main Street Business Initiatives and Crime in Small Towns

Main Street Business Initiatives and Crime in Small Towns

Multidimensional Urban Vitality on Streets: Spatial Patterns and Influence Factor Identification Using Multisource Urban Data

Urban vitality is a key indicator for measuring urban development. This topic has been trending in urban planning and sustainable development, and significant progress has been made in measuring single indicators of urban vitality based on parcel or block units. With the continuous development of smart sensing technology, multisource urban data are becoming increasingly abundant. The application of such data to measure the multidimensional urban vitality of street space, reflecting multiple functions of an urban space, can significantly improve the accuracy of urban vitality analyses and promote the construction of people-oriented healthy cities. In this study, streets were taken as the analysis unit, and multisource data such as the trajectories of taxies and shared bicycles, user reviews and cultural facility points of interest (POIs) in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China, were used to identify spatial patterns of urban vitality on streets across social, economic and cultural dimensions. The correlation between the built environment factors and the multidimensional urban vitality on the street was analyzed using a multiple regression model. The spatial distribution of the different dimensions of urban vitality of the street space in Chengdu varies to a certain extent. It is common for areas with high social vitality to have production and life centers nearby. High economic vitality centers are typically found along busy streets with a high concentration of businesses. Areas with high cultural vitality centers tend to be concentrated on the city’s central streets. Land use, transportation, external environment, population and employment are all closely linked to urban vitality on streets. The crowd counting and POI density have the greatest impact on multidimensional urban vitality. The crowd and the level of service facilities profoundly affect social interaction, trade activities and cultural communication. The goodness of fit (R2) of the regression models for social, economic and cultural vitality are 0.590, 0.423 and 0.409, respectively. Using multisource urban data, our findings can help stakeholders better understand the spatial patterns and influencing factors of multidimensional urban vitality on streets and provide sustainable urban planning and development strategies for the future.

Kerbside NOx and CO concentrations and emission factors of vehicles on a busy road

Vehicular emissions contribute to roadside pollutants in cities, yet on-road emission estimates remain relatively uncommon. Nevertheless, they make an important contribution to exposure along Hong Kong's congested roads and street canyons. This study used kerbside microsensor-based monitors on Hennessy Road, one of the busiest roads in the north part of Hong Kong Island, to determine both concentrations and emission factors (EFs) of NOx and CO. Kerbside NOx and CO concentrations are skewed, with high concentrations representing plume segments from larger vehicles. The average EFs for each minute of traffic was determined from the pollutant concentration ratio with ΔCO2. These related to bus frequency for NOx, and EURO 4 or lower-emission standard vehicles for CO. The 1-min mean EFNOx 7.55 g kg−1 and EFCO 12.6 g kg−1 are typical for flows for the fleet dominated by buses, but highly skewed (Weibull shape parameter ∼0.44). Individual vehicle EFs were determined from peaks in NOx, CO and CO2, and number plates. Leading and trailing parts of the plume segments gave similar EFs (R2 > 0.95), suggesting this method was reasonably robust across the vehicle passage. Nevertheless, these EFs were also skewed, but the shape parameter was again ∼0.44. EFNOX for vehicle classes was: buses > goods vehicles > private cars > vans > taxis and diesel > petrol > LPG, with larger engine sizes also dominant. Differences were more difficult to assess with CO, but LPG vehicles had the highest EFs. Our EF estimates lay in the range found in previous studies but differ from fleet emissions calculated for regulatory purposes in Hong Kong (EMFAC). However, some high EMFAC emitters were also high in our estimates for individual vehicles. Vehicles may not perform on-road as inventory calculations suggest. The high EF variability found in our study implies that a large sample is required to assess the likely emissions from a vehicle fleet.

Dual task walking in healthy aging: Effects of narrow and wide walking paths.

Dual-task walking may lead to gait instability and a higher fall risk in older adults, particularly when walking in a busy city street. Challenging street features such as narrow sidewalks not only discourage walking, but are also likely to be taxing for older adults’ cognitive resources and gait characteristics. The aim of this study was to assess the way older adults’ gait characteristics are affected by walking on a narrow path while performing a challenging cognitive task in lab conditions imitating common urban environments. Nineteen young and eighteen older adults walked on a narrow (40cm) and a wide (80cm) path and performed a cognitive (n-back) task individually adjusted to 80% accuracy. The two tasks were performed separately (Single-Task) and concurrently (Dual-Task). Both groups walked faster, and their step width was narrower on the narrow path. During dual-task walking on the narrow path, older adults showed significant dual-task costs in the cognitive task, gait speed, step width, and stride length. Dual-task walking was associated with decreased gait speed and stride length in both age groups, suggesting that dual-task walking may adversely affect gait, particularly when walking on narrow paths. These conditions may lead to gait instability and an increased fall risk for older adults, particularly when walking along the narrow sidewalks commonly found within the built environment. However, more research is needed in an urban setting to determine the extent of the fall risk narrow sidewalks present for older adults.

Motorways to boreens: the story of the Irish Health Sciences Libraries Group virtual journal club

Boreens (from the Gaelic bóthairín meaning little road) are the narrow roads that twist through the Irish countryside. Travel is slower than the busy major roads that cut straight through, but these routes enable the traveller to easily change course as options arise and to discover hidden opportunities for exploration. It is in this context that we share how we moved from the idea of a journal club for health librarians to the reality of an active knowledge sharing group. Through the story of the governing committee and our first three presenters, we explain what is required to drive this kind of club. At the beginning there were so many options and decisions it felt like moving quickly along a busy motorway, often changing lanes to avoid snarl-ups, and watching out for tolls. However, as we settled in for the long haul, we decided to take our own quieter but ultimately more interesting route. We found that if you are clear about your destination, ensure you have sufficient resources, plan carefully but are flexible about how you get there, then you may just enjoy the journey.

NOx and CO Fluctuations in a Busy Street Canyon

Busy street canyons can have a large flow of vehicles and reduced air exchange and wind speeds at street level, exposing pedestrians to high pollutant concentrations. The airflow tended to move with vehicles along the canyon and the 1-s concentrations of NO, NO2 and CO were highly skewed close to the road and more normally distributed at sensors some metres above the road. The pollutants were more autocorrelated at these elevated sensors, suggesting a less variable concentration away from traffic in the areas of low turbulence. The kerbside concentrations also showed cyclic changes approximating nearby traffic signal timing. The cross-correlation between the concentration measurements suggested that the variation moved at vehicle speed along the canyon, but slower vertically. The concentrations of NOx and CO were slightly higher at wind speeds of under a metre per second. The local ozone concentrations had little effect on the proportion of NOx present as NO2. Pedestrians on the roadside would be unlikely to exceed the USEPA hourly guideline value for NO2 of 100 ppb. Across the campaign period, 100 individual minutes exceeded the guidelines, though the effect of short-term, high-concentration exposures is not well understood. Tram stops at the carriageway divider are places where longer exposures to higher levels of traffic-associated pollutants are possible.

Frontotemporal Dementia and Late-Onset Bipolar Disorder: The Many Directions of a Busy Road.

It is a common pathway for patients with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) to be first misdiagnosed with a primary psychiatric disorder, a considerable proportion of them being diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). Conversely, not rarely patients presenting in late life with a first episode of mania or atypically severe depression are initially considered to have dementia before the diagnosis of late-onset BD is reached. Beyond some shared features that make these conditions particularly prone to confusion, especially in the elderly, the relationship between bvFTD and BD is far from simple. Patients with BD often have cognitive complaints as part of their psychiatric disorder but are at an increased risk of developing dementia, including FTD. Likewise, apathy and disinhibition, common features of depression and mania, respectively, are among the core features of the bvFTD syndrome, not to mention that depression may coexist with dementia. In this article, we take advantage of the current knowledge on the neurobiology of these two nosologic entities to review their historical and conceptual interplay, highlighting the clinical, genetic and neuroimaging features that may be shared by both disorders or unique to each of them.

The day a car bomb missed me

It was 1973 and I was a teenager out shopping on the remote off-chance my mother would let me buy a pair of yellow platform boots. They’d be so bad...

Pengembangan usaha minuman berbasis pangan fungsional “ON SPOT” di Kota Pekanbaru

ON SPOT is a street vendor business engaged in contemporary beverages with the main ingredients of functional food yogurt and kefir. Not long ago, ON SPOT experienced problems in the form of losing its market due to restrictions on community activities during the pandemic, so it had to change the target market from students to housewives to stay afloat. The strategy is to process yogurt and kefir into mambo ice sticks that are more easily accepted by housewives. However, it is necessary to make good business development efforts so that products are more accepted by consumers such as products that have been produced with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards and have business legality to ensure product quality. The methods carried out in community counseling are in the form of training and mentoring approaches to ON SPOT, so that ON SPOT can develop business better and have business legality. Entrepreneurial devotion activities carried out, produce ON SPOT products produced with GMP standards so as to ensure products are safe to consume and have legality in the form of business licenses.