Main Road Research Articles

Patterns in the Use of Emergency Telemedicine Support in the Management of Traumatic Road Crashes.

Objective: The introduction of emergency telemedicine care models is a common theme in health jurisdictions that include rural and remote populations. How the availability of these models influences the way clinicians manage traumatic road crashes is not yet fully understood. This study seeks to compare road crashes where telemedicine was and was not used and to identify any variables that may increase the likelihood of telemedicine usage by treating clinicians. Methods: Road crashes reported in the state Department of Transport and Main Roads (Queensland, Australia) crash database between January 1, 2019, and November 30, 2020 (n = 23,734) were compared to videoconferencing call logs to determine which crashes resulted in treatment that was supported by telemedicine (n = 204). Analysis was performed to examine differences in characteristics related to the crash depending on whether telemedicine support was requested. Results: Road crashes where telemedicine support was requested on average involved more casualties (1.6 vs. 1.41; t(11,287) = -3.26, p < 0.001, relative risk = 1.13). Crashes that occurred in rural settings accounted for most requests for telemedicine (65.68%; X2 = 159.2, p < 0.001) and a greater percentage of crashes in remote locations (3.36% vs. 2.35%; X2 = 256.97, p < 0.001, relative risk = 1.43). The use of telemedicine support for crashes was associated with a 13% increase in the mean number of casualties, compared to crashes where telemedicine support was not used. Conclusion: Telemedicine support is requested by clinicians providing emergency treatment in the management of road crashes that produce more severe injuries, involve multiple casualties, and take place in more rural settings or remote locations.

Analisa Kelayakan Finansial Investasi Sistem Pengisian Listrik Umum di Kecamatan Muara Jawa Kukar

Electricity has become basic need must be fulfilled for a better life in community, including public street lighting. Mainly those who live in the alleys and away from the main road. The responsibility for procurement, management and maintenance of Public Street Lighting infrastructure lies with the respective regional governments. However, the capability of each region to fulfil this need varies, as a result there are still areas that do not have adequate public street lighting. Researchers saw this need therefore initiate the establishment of public street lighting in collaboration with the community on an independent basis with PT PLN as the SPLU provider. SPLU lighting and multi-purpose services established to answer the needs of the community, namely the ease of getting electricity for adequate public street lighting in alleys that are not yet reached by PJU and to serve socio-cultural activities in the community. The purpose of this research is to support community need for public lighting without neglecting the feasibility of investment from perspective of finance using the parameters Net Present Value (NPV), Profitable Index as well as calculating the Payback Period (PP). By this research, with initial outlays Rp 49,236,400, this project was found that the NPV is Rp 827,856,656, PI 17.8 which means both positive. The investment cost can be returned/payback period after 4 months only. This means that investing in providing SPLU facilities in the area of Subdistrict Muara Jawa Kukar is feasible

EFFECTIVENESS OF BANNING PLASTIC BAG IN BANGLADESH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Ranging from degradation of air quality to increase in ocean toxicity, plastic bag contributes to disruption of ecosystem processes and the environmental attributes. Plastic bag is the cheapest and most available means to carry goods. However, mass use and improper disposal of this product generate severe environmental issues in developing countries. Bangladesh promulgated nationwide ban on plastic bag in 2002 as a protective measure for safeguarding environment and ecosystem. This study investigates the effectiveness of the ban in the south-west region of Bangladesh. A total of 180 randomly selected retailers from six upazilas of three districts in the south-west region of Bangladesh were surveyed taking one rural and one urban agglomerate from each district. More than three-fourths of the retailers provide plastic bag to the customers and only four percent retailers provide jute bag. Our findings suggest that the efficacy of authority to execute the ban is insignificant that generates the scope of violating the banning efforts of plastic bag. The retailers endorse that lack of alternative bag is the reason behind violating the ban on plastic bag. The logistic regression results suggest that frequency of raid by public authority, non-availability of alternative product, lack of knowledge regarding deteriorating impact of plastic bag on ecosystem and environment, and business license significantly influence the retailers to comply with the enforcement of banning plastic bag, whereas the proximity of shop to the main road provides room for non-compliance. This study suggests for easy availability of environment friendly bag, awareness among mass people and frequent raid from the authority which will contribute in environmental protection and ecosystem restoration through effectively enabling the ban.

Modeling the effects of urban form on ventilation patterns and traffic-related PM2.5 pollution in a central business area of Bangkok

Traffic-related PM exposure is a significant concern in several cities. This study used ENVI-met simulation to perform the airflow and PM2.5 dispersions in Bangkok's central business district during summer. The impact of urban forms and traffic pollution on airflow and PM2.5 distributions was assessed using correlation analysis. Results showed that during summer, road traffic contributed to urban PM2.5 concentrations. Sky view factor and road area significantly affected wind speeds and PM2.5 concentrations, and these two parameters positively correlated. High wind speeds and PM2.5 concentrations were found in the urban main road, while those levels in the areas far from the road dropped by 50% due to building obstacles. Large open spaces (high sky view factor) could improve wind speeds in inner-city areas by 63%. Based on wind and PM2.5 performance classification, this study introduced new performance-based zoning, including five subzones with design recommendations. Urban planners and architects can use this information to improve pedestrian wind comfort and control air pollution dispersion from road traffic.

The price of quietness: How a pandemic affects city dwellers’ response to road traffic noise

Using the outbreak of COVID-19 in Singapore as a quasi-natural experiment, we investigate tenants’ changing responses to road traffic noise in the rental housing market, using 46,980 transaction records between 2006 and 2022. Our difference-in-differences estimates show that road traffic noise decreases housing rents by 3.8% immediately after the pandemic outbreak and further declines by 12.7% in the subsequent year—equivalent to 186.7 US dollars per month. The results are robust to parallel trend analysis, permutation placebo tests, and tests using alternative distance thresholds or distance to the nearest main road. Then, we adopt a machine learning text analysis of 10,425 rental housing advertisements, showing that tenants’ preference for quietness increases by approximately 10% from 2019 into 2020. The new work-from-home business model and rising traffic from delivery services can explain for this pattern. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper using a large volume of transaction records to quantify city dwellers’ willingness to pay for quietness in the COVID-19 context. Our results have policy implications for other nations and post-pandemic era on the interaction among urban planning, transport networks, and human settlements, and shed light on the pathway to achieve sustainable development goals.

Integrated use of GIS and remote sensing techniques for landscape-scale archaeological analysis: the case study of Metaponto, Basilicata, Italy

The study focuses on the integrated use of multiscale and multisensor remote sensing techniques and big data analysis for the identification of buried archaeological remains or areas of potential archaeological interest. Satellite multispectral data (at very high and high resolution), drone based visible, multispectral, and thermal imagery, and geophysical prospecting (gradiometer) were used. The ancient city of Metaponto was chosen as case study, as it was a very important city in the formative panorama of Italian Magna Graecia and it also is one of the most important and best preserved archaeological sites in southern Italy. The analysis of remote sensing data from different sensors, with different resolutions, and referable to different physical parameters, allowed to deepen archaeological knowledge on a landscape scale, as well as on a site scale, going from the analysis of traces of the ancient landscape (e.g. palaeo-channels, canalisation system, main roads), to the discovery of small features (e.g. secondary roads, houses, facilities).

Urban Flood Modelling under Extreme Rainfall Conditions for Building-Level Flood Exposure Analysis

The expansion of urban areas and the increasing frequency and magnitude of intense rainfall events are anticipated to contribute to the widespread escalation of urban flood risk across the globe. To effectively mitigate future flood risks, it is crucial to combine a comprehensive examination of intense rainfall events in urban areas with the utilization of detailed hydrodynamic models. This study combines extreme value analysis techniques applied to rainfall data ranging from sub-hourly to daily durations with a high-resolution flood modelling analysis at the building level in the centre of Thessaloniki, Greece. A scaling procedure is employed to rainfall return levels assessed by applying the generalised extreme value (GEV) distribution to annual maximum fine-temporal-scale data, and these scaling laws are then applied to more reliable daily rainfall return levels estimated by means of the generalised Pareto distribution (GPD), in order to develop storm profiles with durations of 1 h and 2 h. The advanced flood model, CityCAT, is then used for the simulation of pluvial flooding, providing reliable assessments of building-level exposure to flooding hazards. The results of the analysis conducted provide insights into flood depths and water flowpaths in the city centre of Thessaloniki, identifying major flowpaths along certain main streets resulting in localised flooding, and identifying around 165 and 186 buildings highly exposed to inundation risk in the study area for 50-year storm events with durations of 1 h and 2 h, respectively. For the first time in this study area, a detailed analysis of extreme rainfall events is combined with a high-resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM), used as an input into the advanced and fully featured CityCAT hydrodynamic model, to assess critical flowpaths and buildings at high flood risk. The results of this study can aid in the planning and design of resilient solutions to combat urban flash floods, as well as contribute to targeted flood damage mitigation and flood risk reduction.

Identification of Urban Functional Zones Based on POI Density and Marginalized Graph Autoencoder

With rapid urbanization, urban functional zones have become important for rational government and resource allocation. Points of interest (POIs), as informative and open-access data, have been widely used in studies of urban functions. However, most existing studies have failed to address unevenly or sparsely distributed POIs. In addition, the spatial adjacency of analysis units has been ignored. Therefore, we propose a new method for identifying urban functional zones based on POI density and marginalized graph autoencoder (MGAE). First, kernel density analysis was utilized to obtain the POI density and spread the effects of POIs to the surroundings, which enhanced the data from unevenly or sparsely distributed POIs considering the barrier effects of main roads and rivers. Second, MGAE performed feature extraction in view of the spatial adjacency to integrate features from the POIs of the surrounding units. Finally, the k-means algorithm was used to cluster units into zones, and semantic recognition was applied to identify the function category of each zone. A case study of Changzhou indicates that this method achieved an overall accuracy of 90.33% with a kappa coefficient of 0.88, which constitutes considerable improvement over that of conventional methods and can improve the performance of urban function identification.

ANALISA PERMASALAHAN DAN RENCANA PELEBARAN SALURAN DRAINASE DI DAERAH JALAN CIMAHPAR

Flood control buildings or commonly known as drainage channels are a global element of the legacy of infrastructure to help facilitate community activities and are a major component of road support construction. The Jalan Cimahpar area which is the main road that connects to Jalan Pandu Raya, an area where the majority of the people sell and pass through the road is still facing various problems. Problems that are quite disturbing to the community are when there is high rainfall, there is a puddle of water on the shoulders and road bodies as a result of overflowing drainage channels that are not functioning properly, as a result, the busyness of the community and road users falters. The slope of the road and the accumulated sediment is also one of the factors that causes the drainage water to not function properly. Thus, it is necessary to expand the drainage channel that is able to accommodate puddles of water during high rainfall.

Configuring urban morphological changes: the case of Damascus city in the late modern era

PurposeThis paper analyses changes in the activity pattern of Damascus city from late modern era (late Ottoman rule) to the contemporary era. The research objective is to explore the impact of the socio-historical process on the evolving morphological structure of the urban core and to draw implications for post-war reconstruction.Design/methodology/approachSpace Syntax methodology was employed to trace the historical and morphological changes in the urban core of Damascus. The timeframe was divided into five periods covering the city's socio-political transformation and five maps depicting these periods. Local and global integration measures were used to analyse the changes in the urban core across each period. Normalised angular choice (NACH) measure was used to identify the changes in the city planning system.FindingsThe results revealed that the urban core corresponded to the main streets, which had socio-economic importance across history. However, introducing a new planning system influenced by Western planning ideals led to the creation of multi-morphological patterns. At the city level, the study found that the urban core was more accessible in the preplanned areas, while the organic expansion of the informal settlements was exclusive of the core area. At the local level, some informal settlements showed an intense core. Intelligibility analysis revealed that earlier periods showed considerably higher values, implying declines in the ease of navigation of the city over time.Research limitationsThis study did not account for the political, economic and cultural factors that could shape morphological changes in Damascus. In addition, the study adopted historical reference points to understand the morphological changes, as high-quality geospatial data was not available to monitor the recent post-war situation.Practical implicationsThe research findings give a foundation for a more contextualised historical understanding of spatial structure and changes, which can contribute to the post-war reconstruction and redevelopment of Damascus city.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to trace historical spatial changes in Damascus from a space syntax approach, weaving together socio-historical and configurational studies. In doing so, it shows how historically informed and spatially aware urban planning and design policies can support policymakers and built environment professionals in planning and redevelopment.

Sales rate forecasting of single-detached houses using artificial neural network technique

Although the predicted number of sold units per month is one of the most necessary information to study the feasibility of detached-housing estate projects, traditional forecasting methods are limited. The research objective was to apply the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique to develop a sales rate forecasting model by compiling factors from an appropriate literature review. Then, 100 housing project data were collected from market research reports and the projects' websites and analyzed using the ANN technique. The results showed the ANN network with 16 input nodes from 10 factors: Selling price, Number of bathrooms, Number of bedrooms, Distance from the main road, Distance from the bus stop, Distance from the expressway, Distance from the metro station, Distance from the gas station, Distance from the shopping mall, and Project location zone. The acquired model had a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of ±6.296, and the slope and R2 values of the linear regression analysis between the forecasted rate and the actual rate were 0.620 and 0.571, respectively. The findings guide real estate developers and academia on the factors affecting the sales rate and provide a decision support model for investment and design of projects and confirm the potential of ANN in solving the problem with limited numbers of data.

GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Analysis for Selecting Suitable Areas for Urban Green Spaces in Abomey-Calavi District, Southern Benin

Green spaces contribute to a significant improvement in quality of life and maintain the sustainability of cities. In Benin, despite the political willingness regarding greening, municipalities are experiencing technical issues in finding suitable spaces to achieve this goal. This study should therefore be applicable to many other towns in Benin. It aims at identifying suitable areas for green spaces to integrate landscaping into urban planning in Abomey-Calavi district. Multi-criteria analysis combining GIS and the hierarchical classification approach was performed. Six factors (land use, altitude, slope, distance from main roads, proximity to urban centres and distance from flood zones, water bodies) were combined using the ArcGIS “Spatial Analysis” extension to generate a map of green space suitability. The results show large areas of land, of which 23.27% is very suitable and 26.06% is suitable for landscaping in this municipality. The ranking of the factors revealed that elevation, proximity to road networks, large conurbations and distance from wetlands accounted for 18%, compared with 14% for the other factors regarding the study environment. However, the use of these results must take into account the existing inhabited areas for a good site selection. These outputs provide guidance for decision-makers in choosing suitable sites for green spaces and integrating them into sustainable development.

Site Selection Prediction for Coffee Shops Based on Multi-Source Space Data Using Machine Learning Techniques

Based on a study of the spatial distribution of coffee shops in the main urban area of Beijing, the main influencing factors were selected based on the multi-source space data. Subsequently, three regression models were compared, and the best site selection model was found. A comparison was performed between the prediction model functioning with a buffer and without one, and the accuracy of the location model was verified by comparing the actual change trend and the predicted trend in two years. The following conclusions were obtained: (1) coffee shops in the main urban area of Beijing are clustered in an area within 12 km of the main urban center, and also around the core commercial agglomeration area; (2) the random forest (RF) model is the best model in this study, and the accuracy values before and after buffer analysis were 0.915 and 0.929, respectively; and (3) after verifying the accuracy of the model through two years of data, we recommend the establishment of a main road buffer zone for site selection, and the success rate of site selection was found to reach 72.97%. This study provides crucial insight for coffee shop prediction model selection and potential store location selection, which is significant to improving the layout of leisure spaces and promoting economic development.

Solid waste disposal site selection analysis using geospatial technology in Dessie city Ethiopia

Urban environments, especially metropolitan places like Dessie with a high population, result in an increased output of waste. Waste pickers have collected the solid waste from the main road and the immediate area for truck dumping in the river downstream to Kombolcha town, all of these waste materials were deposed, and open burned in the final destination. The best way to deal with this issue is to find a proper waste disposal location in the area as the aim of the paper. To be justified, although, a number of previous related studies have been conducted with their main focus on the physical parameter to identify landfill suitability sites. In this study, not only consider the physical parameters but, also socio-economic parameters were considered, and it is still crucial to generate site-specific information. As a result, by choosing acceptable waste disposal sites using geospatial technology, the study has been undertaken to address the issues of environmental deterioration and the spread of infectious illnesses that are caused by incorrect garbage dumping and open burning in the City. A mixed research design was employed for this research. Since all the data used were processed through the application of software and formulas to produce the result in the map and numerical values which needs a detailed narration. Land use, land cover, slope, drainage, places of worship, groundwater wells, schools, soil, urban core, and population were taken into consideration. These elements were examined in terms of their parametric compatibility. To create a study waste suitability map using geospatial technology, all of the parametric appropriateness was weighted in the overlay analysis according to their respective values, which were obtained from the analytical hierarchal process (AHP). The categories included unsuitable, less suitable, moderately suitable, suitable, and highly suitable. Approximately 71% of the research area was unsuitable for the disposal of solid waste, while the remaining 29% was suitable for the disposal of solid waste concerning drainage, the weighted suitability map shows unsuitable areas were 40.8%, less-suitable areas were 17.6%, moderately suitable areas were 10%, suitable areas were 13%, and highly suitable areas were 18.6%. Existing potentially appropriate and highly suited waste disposal sites were located away from built-up, urban centers, religious institutions, and schools where high population pressure to reduce the detrimental influence on the environment and human health. Therefore, the study results strongly suggested that the current waste treatment area should be avoided and planted in highly suitable and suitable areas.

Gender Inequality, Social Movement, and Company Actions: How Do Wall Street and Main Street React?

Gender Inequality, Social Movement, and Company Actions: How Do Wall Street and Main Street React?

Simulation of urban non-motorized traffic: A agent-based modeling approach based on big data of bike sharing and social force model

Encouraging cycling, one of the urban non-motorized transport modes, has been well recognized as an environment-friendly way that alleviates urban traffic congestions and solves the first/last mile issue. However, concerns about the efficiency and safety of urban cycling have been widely made by urban planners due to the unclear right-of-way and discontinuous non-motorized corridor for cycling. This study uses the dynamic location data of the Meituan Bike (formerly Mobike) in the Hi-tech Park area of Shenzhen to analyze the spatial-temporal variations of bikeshare use, aiming at identifying the traffic corridors of cycling. Combined with agent-based modeling technique and social force model, this research proposes a new approach of simulating the urban non-motorized traffic, and hence provides valuable insights for building bicycle lanes for cycling corridors. The results show that (1) the usage of bike sharing during weekdays is 2.5 times that on weekdays, and the cycling corridors are usually the main and secondary roads that are in the vicinity of the metro stations; (2) adding bicycle lanes can reduce the traffic density of the non-motorized volume by 6% in an overall, and save the travel time of cyclists and pedestrians by 6.4% and 3.7%, respectively.

Facility Location from the Viewpoint of Main Road in JR Station Walking Area in Southern and Eastern Shiga

Facility Location from the Viewpoint of Main Road in JR Station Walking Area in Southern and Eastern Shiga

Exploring the discrepancy between top-down and bottom-up approaches of fine spatio-temporal vehicular CO2 emission in an urban road network

Road transport emissions of high spatial and temporal resolution are useful for greenhouse gas emission assessment in local action plans. However, estimating these high-resolution emissions is not straightforward, and different indirect approaches exist. The main aim of this study is to examine the differences in CO2 emissions obtained with different methods within a street canyon network in Helsinki, Finland, where a mobile laboratory campaign to quantify traffic emissions has been conducted. We compared three aerodynamic resistance based top-down methods (MOST1, MOST2 and BHT) and three activity based bottom-up microscopic emission models (NGM, HBEFAv4.2 and PHEMlight). The resulted CO2 fluxes using different methods could vary a few orders of magnitude. The combination of MOST1 and NGM model leads to the smallest discrepancy (sMAPE = 16.90 %) and the highest correlation coefficient (r = 0.78) among the rest. We evaluated the discrepancies in terms of different spatial (microenvrionments, local climate zones LCZs and grid sizes) and temporal features (seasons and periods of day). Measurements taken in LCZs of open high-rise regions and microenvironments of main road tend to have larger discrepancies between the two approaches. Using a coarser grid would lead to a relatively small discrepancy and high correlation in the wintertime, yet a loss in distinctive spatial variation. The discrepancies were also elevated on winter evenings. Among all explanatory variables, relative humidity shows the strongest relative importance for the discrepancy of the two approaches, followed by LCZs. Therefore, we stress the importance of choosing a suitable model for vehicular CO2 emission calculation based on meteorological conditions and LCZs. Such model comparison made on a local scale directly supports environmental organisations and cities' climate action plans where detailed information of CO2 emissions are needed.

The reflection of top-down tourism approach in the linguistic landscape of a developing tourism village, Cisaat, Indonesia

This study explores the linguistic landscape at the Cisaat village and explains the reflection of top-down tourism approach in the linguistic landscape at the Cisaat village. The village is planned to be a leading agritourism and educational tourist village by a state university based in the capital city of Indonesia – Universitas Negeri Jakarta. The plan is formulated with a top-down approach since each plan and move is decided by the actors or authorities on the upper hierarchical level (top) and centralistic. To understand how LL reflects the top-down tourism approach, any signs along the main road in the village were collected and classified according to the language use. Only two languages were found to be significant for this study: Indonesian and Sundanese language. The Indonesian monolingual signs dominated the LL in the area. The anticipated appearance of local language from the mobility of language in periphery and the anticipated multilingualism from the grand plan of Kampung Bahasa by the university does not translate into the LL. The result reflects the top-down tourism approach in the area. The village becomes an area of interesting encounter between centre and periphery, top and bottom, affected by the tourism approach initiated by the university from the capital of Indonesia.&#x0D; Keywords: linguistic landscape, monolingualism, monolingual signs, top-down approach, top-down signs, tourism

Analyzing traffic conflicts and the behavior of motorcyclists at unsignalized three-legged and four-legged intersections in Cartagena, Colombia

IntroductionThe global motorcycle market has grown significantly, with over 770 million vehicles estimated to be in use worldwide. Motorcycle-related road traffic deaths in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Colombia are concerning, comprising 30% of all reported fatalities. Cartagena has an average of 70 motorcycle-related deaths annually between 2019 and 2022, making it a high-risk area for motorcyclists. ObjectiveThe study aimed to identify factors associated with motorcyclist safety at unsignalized three-legged and four-legged intersections in Cartagena by observing the behavior of the motorcyclists and the analysis of the potential traffic conflicts. The observational analysis focused on the access of motorcyclists from a secondary road to a main road since it is the behavior offered by the most significant road interaction and the potential risk of traffic conflicts due to crossing. MethodsThe observational process was consolidated at ten three-legged intersections and seven four-legged intersections. Thirty-six hours of videos were collected considering different time slots and weekdays randomly distributed during September 2019 and March 2020. The selection of the intersections included different vehicular flows and road safety conditions. The variables considered in the study were: interaction with other road users, motorcyclist behavior, vehicle handling, potential distractors, and safety elements. The study used the Swedish Traffic Conflict Technique to analyze conflict analysis, incorporating the Post Encroachment Time (PET) measurement. The analysis was developed with descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The collected variables were analyzed individually (frequency analysis), and contrasts were conducted with the PET values. The study evaluated associations between motorcycles and other motorized road actors at intersections about behaviors and crossroads. ResultsIn the Records, 10,281 motorcycle accesses at three and four-Legged Intersections were interactions with other road users, where 2417 and 1903 resulted in potential traffic conflicts, respectively. Average potential conflicts per hour were 115 and 127 at three and four-legged intersections. At the two intersections, the average PET values in motorcycles were between 2.09 and 2.10 s, while in the other motorized road users, it averaged around 2.67 to 2.71 s. In the road conditions, it was identified that intersections with a traffic flow of<10,000 vehicles/day and poor visibility to the left of the intersection lead to more unsafe conditions for motorcyclists. Motorcycle taxi drivers were the user group most frequently involved in traffic conflicts. Actions on the part of motorcyclists, such as risky behaviors, not using helmets, not using turn signals, and not waiting patiently for access, showed a relationship with the potential for traffic conflicts. Finally, turns to the left, particularly the indirect turn to the left on the opposite road, showed a greater risk of traffic conflicts. ConclusionsThe study found that motorcycles exhibit more severe traffic conflicts than motorized vehicles at intersections. Infrastructure conditions significantly impact the risk of intersection conflicts. Individual behaviors such as not stopping at intersections and driving recklessly increased the risk of traffic conflicts. The study recommends improving infrastructure such as visibility and signaling and implementing separators to reduce travel speed and traffic conflicts for motorcycles.