Previous studies on birth defects risk from environmental factors focused on the dose–response relationship of exposure to toxic materials. The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between the geological background and occurrence ratio of neural tube defect (NTD) birth defects. Bayesian method was used to adjust the occurrence of NTD birth defects; both parametric and nonparametric statistical methods were used to quantify the correlation between geological background and human birth defects risk. At the two limbs of anticline rock, whose kernel stratum is of Archean kingdom, age of rock strata showed significant positive correlation to the occurrence of birth defects risk. In the region inside 4?km around the fault zone, the occurrence ratio of NTD birth defects is the highest; and decreases when the buffer distance increases. In macro spatial scale, geological background has a significant correlation to the birth defects risk with people residing near the fault zone having higher risk to beget babies with birth defects. 相似文献
Objectives: To overcome the limitations of previous highway alignment safety evaluation methods, this article presents a highway alignment safety evaluation method based on fault tree analysis (FTA) and the characteristics of vehicle safety boundaries, within the framework of dynamic modeling of the driver–vehicle–road system.
Methods: Approaches for categorizing the vehicle failure modes while driving on highways and the corresponding safety boundaries were comprehensively investigated based on vehicle system dynamics theory. Then, an overall crash probability model was formulated based on FTA considering the risks of 3 failure modes: losing steering capability, losing track-holding capability, and rear-end collision.
Results: The proposed method was implemented on a highway segment between Bengbu and Nanjing in China. A driver–vehicle–road multibody dynamics model was developed based on the 3D alignments of the Bengbu to Nanjing section of Ning-Luo expressway using Carsim, and the dynamics indices, such as sideslip angle and, yaw rate were obtained. Then, the average crash probability of each road section was calculated with a fixed-length method. Finally, the average crash probability was validated against the crash frequency per kilometer to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method. The results of the regression analysis and correlation analysis indicated good consistency between the results of the safety evaluation and the crash data and that it outperformed the safety evaluation methods used in previous studies.
Conclusion: The proposed method has the potential to be used in practical engineering applications to identify crash-prone locations and alignment deficiencies on highways in the planning and design phases, as well as those in service. 相似文献