Objective: This article outlines a data collection process that quantifies driver cell phone use using a software-defined radio (SDR) at a signalized intersection. Cell phone use while driving has been shown to be factor that increases the risk of a crash incident. Both operational and enforcement strategies can be applied at locations where high driver cell phone use is identified.
Methods: A baseline driver cell phone use observation was made at the intersection, where 9,699 vehicles were observed at the intersection of Carlton Road and State Route 31 (Pennington Road) in Ewing, New Jersey. An SDR cell phone detection device created as part of this study was then deployed at the same intersection to determine whether the SDR device could detect an active cell phone signal. The identification of vehicle cell phone activity using the SDR was conducted a sample of 4,000 vehicles. A visual observation, along with a motion detection camera, was made alongside the SDR to visually confirm cell phones use.
Results: Of the 4,000 vehicles sampled using the SDR cell phone detection device, 6.1% of the a.m. peak travel time and 7.6% of the p.m. peak travel time had an active cellular device. A concurrent visual field verification of driver cell phone use showed that approximately 57% (a.m. peak) and 67% (p.m. peak) of the SDR-detected cell phones were visually confirmed to be associated with distracted cell phone use.
Conclusions: Once characterized, the frequency of driver cell phone use can be used to justify changes to signal timing protocols. These adjustments could include extending the signal’s “all-red time” or holding “yellow time” longer in order to properly clear the intersection. These data can also be used to identify locations that may require more enforcement measures to dissuade driver cell phone use. Furthermore, the impact of anti–cell phone campaigns or new laws can be quantified by measuring before and after cell phone use in the near term rather than waiting for crash studies at intersections to be completed and analyzed. 相似文献
This paper describes and examines the schemes established in five EU countries for the recycling of packaging waste. The changes in packaging waste management were mainly implemented since the Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste entered into force. The analysis of the five systems allowed the authors to identify very different approaches to cope with the same problem: meet the recovery and recycling targets imposed by EU law. Packaging waste is a responsibility of the industry. However, local governments are generally in charge of waste management, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the industry and the local governments (particularly regarding the extra costs involved with selective collection and sorting). Using the same methodological approach, the authors also compare the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local public authorities for France, Portugal and Romania. Since the purpose of the current paper is to take note of who is paying for the incremental costs of recycling and whether the industry (i.e. the consumer) is paying for the net financial costs of packaging waste management, environmental impacts are not included in the analysis. The work carried out in this paper highlights some aspects that are prone to be improved and raises several questions that will require further research. In the three countries analyzed more closely in this paper the industry is not paying the net financial cost of packaging waste management. In fact, if the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment (e.g. landfilling) and the public subsidies to the investment on the “recycling system” are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities (by 125% in France, 50% in Portugal and 170% in Romania). However, in France and Portugal the industry is paying local authorities more than just the incremental costs of recycling (full costs of selective collection and sorting minus the avoided costs). To provide a more definitive judgment on the fairness of the systems it will be necessary to assess the cost efficiency of waste management operators (and judge whether operators are claiming costs or eliciting “prices”). 相似文献
Recently, the European Commission adopted a new strategy to halt the loss of biodiversity. Member states are expected to favor a more effective collection and redistribution of European Union (EU) funds under the current Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014–2020. Because of the large spatial variation in the distribution of biodiversity and conservation needs at the continental scale, EU instruments should ensure that countries with higher biodiversity values get more funds and resources for the conservation than other countries. Using linear regressions, we assessed the association between conservation investments and biodiversity values across member states, accounting for a variety of conservation investment indicators, taxonomic groups (including groups of plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates), and indicators of biodiversity value. In general, we found clear overall associations between conservation investments and biodiversity variables. However, some countries received more or less investment than would be expected based on biodiversity values in those countries. We also found that the extensive use of birds as unique indicators of conservation effectiveness may lead to biased decisions. Our results can inform future decisions regarding funding allocation and thus improve distribution of EU conservation funds. 相似文献
Species in a given trophic level occur in vastly unequal abundance, a pattern commonly documented but poorly explained for most taxa. Theoretical predictions of species density such as those arising from the metabolic theory of ecology hold well at large spatial and temporal scales but are not supported in many communities sampled at a relatively small scale. At these scales ecological factors may be more important than the inherent limits to energy use set by allometric scaling of mass. These factors include the amount of resources available, and the ability of individuals to convert these resources successfully into population growth. While previous studies have demonstrated the limits of macroecological theory in explaining local abundance, few studies have tested alternative generalized mechanisms determining abundance at the community scale. Using an assemblage of forest moth species found co-occurring as caterpillars on a single host plant species, we tested whether species abundance on that plant could be explained by mass allometry, intrinsic population growth, diet breadth, or some combination of these traits. We parameterized life history traits of the caterpillars in association with the host plant in both field and laboratory settings, so that the population growth estimate was specific to the plant on which abundance was measured. Using a generalized least-squares regression method incorporating phylogenetic relatedness, we found no relationship between abundance and mass but found that abundance was best explained by both intrinsic population growth rate and diet breadth. Species population growth potential was most affected by survivorship and larval development time on the host plant. Metabolic constraints may determine upper limits to local abundance levels for species, but local community abundance is strongly predicted by the potential for population increase and the resources available to that species in the environment. 相似文献
Coastal areas are complex systems subject to significant erosion processes resulting from both physical and anthropogenic factors. This context introduces the importance of quantifying the impacts resulting from land artificialization increase, the assessment of coastal erosion and the development of strategies for achieving an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). In this study we employed the Land Transformation Model (LTM) to forecast urban growth to year 2014 in the South Coast of São Miguel Island, Azores (Portugal). Two different scenarios for modeling urban growth were tested: (1) one that considered an urban sprawl trend equivalent to the one measured between years 1998 and 2005, and (2) another that considered the restrictions included in the intervention area of South Coast Management Plan (POOC Costa Sul). The objective was to evaluate the impact of the POOC Costa Sul in the urban growth of the studied area. Results show that the POOC Costa Sul is not effective in containing urban growth quantities which are equivalent to the non-restricted scenario. However, it was possible to observe that it is effective in deciding where the urban expansion is likely to happen, preventing, for instances, the occurrence of urban growth near water lines or in the maritime public domain. We conclude that this type of models can be very relevant to manage and monitor coastal management plans. 相似文献
The education of safety professionals shows a high variety in their level of approved qualifications, ranging from a technician level up to university master courses, and more recently, doctoral programs. In European countries, it seems that there are some differences in what regards the characteristics of the courses. These may be due to national particularities and legal issues, but also to the nature of the institutions and people ‘behind’ the courses.This paper presents the results of a survey carried out in the scope of an European research project and it aims to provide a basic understanding of the range and diversity of the OHS post-graduation courses. With an estimated average answer rate of 50%, the survey has only included courses with more than 120 teaching hours, from a post-graduation level, and with complete programs. Results are presented for 90 courses, from 18 countries, mainly (84.4%) from universities.It is possible to highlight the fact that, as expected, the majority of the courses (59%) are Masters (or equivalent), and are organised primarily by Engineering, Applied Sciences and Management schools/faculties, which together accounted for nearly 65% of the courses. In what regards the adopted quality systems reported by respondents, there is a predominance (65.8%) of the use of “internal” tools, such as the students and teachers evaluations and internal audits.One of the main conclusions is that there is a large variability amongst the analysed courses. However, it should be emphasised that these results are not representative of the situation all around Europe, as it was not possible to obtain information from all OHS courses. Considering the identified differences within all the European countries, the harmonisation of post-graduation courses on OHS, if it is to occur, has a long way to go. 相似文献
The objective in this paper is to investigate the use of a non-parametric approach to model the relationship between oceanic carbon dioxide \((pCO_2)\) and a range of ocean physics and biogeochemical in situ variables in the Southern Ocean, which influence its in situ variability. The need for this stems from the need to obtain reliable estimates of carbon dioxide concentrations in the Southern Ocean which plays an important role in the global carbon flux cycle. The main challenge involved in this objective is the spatial limitation and seasonal bias of the in situ data. Moreover, studies have also reported that the relationship between \(pCO_2\) and its drivers is complex. As such, in this paper, we use the non-parametric kernel regression approach since it is able to accurately capture the complex relationships between the response and predictor variables. In this analysis we use the in situ data obtained from the SANAE49 return leg journey between Antarctic to Cape Town. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this data set has been subjected to such analysis. The model variants were developed on a training data subset, and the ‘goodness’ of the models were assessed on an “unseen” test data subset. Results indicate that the nonparametric approach consistently captures the relationship more accurately in terms of mean square error, root mean square error and mean absolute error, over a standard parametric approach (multiple linear regression). These results provide a platform for using the developed nonparametric regression model based on in situ measurements to predict \(pCO_2\) for a larger spatial region in the Southern Ocean based on satellite biogeochemical measurements of predictor variables, given that satellites do not measure \(pCO_2\). 相似文献
Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The Alto da Várzea radium mine (AV) exploited ore and U-bearing minerals, such as autunite and torbernite. The mine was exploited underground from 1911... 相似文献