Controlled-Environment Evaluation of Fluorescent Strong Yellow-Green Pedestrian-Crossing Sign Prototypes

1996 ◽  
Vol 1553 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navaneet Dutt ◽  
Joseph E. Hummer ◽  
Kenneth L. Clark ◽  
Steven Blakely
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
Target Value ◽  
Driver Performance ◽  
Pedestrian Crossing ◽  
The Impact

Fluorescent strong yellow-green (SYG) is one of the most unassigned colors in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). FHWA has recently been considering the SYG color for nonmotorized application in the W11-2 series of signs in MUTCD. A number of field evaluation studies on the impact of these warning signs on conflicts and user preferences have been undertaken. A controlled-environment evaluation of the SYG pedestrian-crossing sign prototypes under five different natural light conditions is presented. Factors that contribute to different driver performance in response to microprismatic fluorescent SYG signs relative to the commonly used enclosed-bead yellow signs are identified. Target value and legibility distance of the prototypes in a simulated driving environment on a pool of test subjects are assessed. A factorial analysis of variance design was used to obtain unbiased estimates of these parameters. The general linear model was used iteratively to eliminate factors that did not affect the model significantly. It was found that SYG pedestrian-crossing prototypes had better performances in terms of their legibility distances than the enclosed-bead prototypes although the target value did not show any difference. The results indicate that use of fluorescent SYG signs is likely to increase driver awareness of warning signs.

Field Evaluation of Fluorescent Strong Yellow-Green Pedestrian Warning Signs

1996 ◽  
Vol 1538 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Clark ◽  
Joseph E. Hummer ◽  
Navaneet Dutt
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
Perceived Safety ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Pedestrian Accidents ◽  
Pedestrian Crossing

Recent improvements in manufacturing processes have allowed the development of a fluorescent, microprismatic sign material with a unique strong yellow-green color. Although this color is listed in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, it is currently unassigned. Pedestrian accidents continue to be a major safety problem in the United States, and the Federal Highway Administration has requested research on the application of fluorescent strong yellow-green warning signs for pedestrian, bicycle, and school crossing applications. The research effort sought to evaluate the effectiveness of fluorescent strong yellow-green pedestrian warning signs in improving safety at midblock pedestrian crossing areas, using sound experimental methodology and encompassing multiple users and varied crossing conditions in several North Carolina cities. An experimental plan with a single treatment was used (replacement of existing signs with fluorescent strong yellow-green) and followed a model of before and after with a comparison site. The measures of effectiveness used were vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and motorist slowing and stopping. Results indicate that the fluorescent strong yellow-green treatment produced only marginal improvements in perceived safety at the crossing sites. Although the occurrence of motorists slowing and stopping increased significantly at three of the seven test sites, the proportion of vehicle pedestrian conflicts did not change significantly. Based on the results it is recommended that FHWA tentatively designate fluorescent strong yellow-green for nonmotorized applications until such time that long-term accident-based and cost-effectiveness research is available to justify permanent designation or alternative uses.

User Preference for Fluorescent Strong Yellow-Green Pedestrian Crossing Signs

1997 ◽  
Vol 1605 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navaneet Dutt ◽  
Joseph E. Hummer ◽  
Kenneth L. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
User Preference ◽  
State University ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
North Carolina State University ◽  
Extensive Evaluation ◽  
Traffic Conflict ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Pedestrian Crossing

Strong yellow-green (SYG) is one of the unassigned colors listed in the FHWA’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Fluorescent SYG is promising because it appears to be more conspicuous in low-light conditions than conventional yellow signing materials. FHWA has conducted an extensive evaluation of SYG used for signs that warn drivers of nonmotorized hazards. North Carolina State University conducted one of the largest evaluations of SYG signs. The evaluation consisted of three parts: a traffic conflict study, a laboratory study, and a survey of pedestrians and drivers. The survey assessed driver perceptions of SYG warning signs at midblock pedestrian crossings. The researchers conducted the survey at four locations, which differed in pedestrian activities and saturation of pedestrian crossing signs. The study found that respondents thought that the SYG signs were more conspicuous, induced greater alertness in road users, and had a stronger association with caution. The respondents indicated that the aesthetic impact of the signs on the surroundings was no worse than that of standard yellow signs, and they generally recommended the use of SYG signs even when they were informed that the costs may be higher. The researchers also found that increases in travel frequency through the area in which the SYG signs were installed and increases in driving through that area in poor light conditions increased a respondent’s chances for noticing the SYG signs. Women and drivers between the ages of 36 and 45 generally gave SYG signs higher ratings than did other drivers. The results of this survey are described.

scholarly journals Laser Land Levelling for Higher Water Productivity in Rice-Wheat System

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 374-379
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Evaluation Studies ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Field Evaluation ◽  
Moisture Distribution ◽  
Indian States ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

Awareness of water conservation has been increasing and understandings of conservation technologies have made headway in the world agriculture. Enhancement in water productivity has been the key objective of planners and the stakeholders. Many water conservation techniques or technologies help in enhancing the water productivity also prevent salt build-up and land degradation. Laser land levelling is one of the many such techniques, which has popularized to a certain extent. Yet its spread has not been significant. Realizing the potential of laser land levelling, the ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI), Karnal, Haryana, India had imported a laser operated land leveller some three decades back. Few research and field evaluation studies have been made in the context of on-farm water savings as well as to judge the impact of this technology on small and marginal farmers. The present study highlights an on-farm as well as observations made in the farmers’ fields, on the basis of scientific observations of information collected at the ICAR-CSSRI farm on the smoothness of the soil surface achieved, uniformity of soil moisture distribution, water requirement for irrigation, as well as saving of time yield differentials of the crops in conventionally levelled and laser levelled fields. A total of 19 farmers’ fields were studied in Pundrak, Zarifa and Kalayat villages in Haryana besides two controlled studies at ICAR-CSSRI farm, Karnal. The values of Levelling Index (LI) for before and after conventional levelling have been evaluated as 3.0 cm and 2.1 cm respectively, whereas in the laser levelled fields, these were 1.93 cm and 0.85 cm respectively. The application time for irrigation in laser levelled fields has reduced to 3.5-4.5 hours from about 6 hours required in conventionally levelled fields for 0.4 ha (1 Acre). The average values of water productivity in conventional and laser-levelled fields have been evaluated at 1.5 and 2.4 kg/m3 , respectively for wheat and 0.4 and 0.5 kg/m3 respectively for rice. For the fields having LI of 0.75 cm, the application efficiency has been as high as 90% in comparison to 45% for the field having LI of 6.75 cm. The estimated net profit ranged Rs. 1000 – 1200 for the first year, which rose to Rs. 4000 – 5000 in the second year onwards, during the study for the laser levelled fields. Besides the technical appraisal, the paper highlights the limitations such as necessity of repeat application of laser land levelling once in three years. Fortunately more than 500 custom hiring units have already appeared in the North Indian states due to sensitization through trainings and demonstrations of this technology.

scholarly journals Analysis of EV Cost-Based Charging Load Profiles

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Elisavet Koutsi ◽  
Sotirios Deligiannis ◽  
Georgia Athanasiadou ◽  
Dimitra Zarbouti ◽  
George Tsoulos
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Reference Scenario ◽  
Electricity Prices ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Vehicle To Grid ◽  
Electrical Grid ◽  
Incentive Strategies ◽  
Grid Load ◽  
The Impact

During the last few decades, electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a promising sustainable alternative to traditional fuel cars. The work presented here is carried out in the context of the Horizon 2020 project MERLON and targets the impact of EVs on electrical grid load profiles, while considering both grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation modes. Three different charging policies are considered: the uncontrolled charging, which acts as a reference scenario, and two strategies that fall under the umbrella of individual charging policies based on price incentive strategies. Electricity prices along with the EV user preferences are taken into account for both charging (G2V) and discharging (V2G) operations, allowing for more realistic scenarios to be considered.

scholarly journals UTILIZING NUTRITION SERVICES PROVIDERS TO PREVENT LATE-LIFE SUICIDE: IMPLEMENTING A RANDOMIZED, CONTROLLED TRIAL

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S824-S825
Author(s):  
Matthew C Fullen ◽  
Mary Chase Mize ◽  
Laura R Shannonhouse
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Suicide Prevention ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Nutrition Services ◽  
Suicide Prevention Training ◽  
The Impact

Abstract A challenge in preventing late-life suicide is identifying and responding to persons-at-risk prior to a suicide attempt. Distressed older adults are less likely to turn to a mental health professional, meaning that community-based prevention strategies are vitally important to comprehensive prevention frameworks. Due to their “natural helper” role, nutrition services (NS) volunteers may be well-positioned to identify suicide warning signs and respond accordingly. Unfortunately, there is a lack of systematic, empirically-tested evaluations of the effectiveness of community-based strategies to prevent older adult suicide, including the use of NS volunteers. To remedy this, the authors partnered with several home- and community-based service organizations to measure the impact of training nutrition services volunteers in suicide prevention skills. The authors will present preliminary findings from this federally-funded randomized, controlled trial of suicide prevention training (i.e., ASIST; safeTALK) on late-life suicidality and its correlates.

Energy-Saving Methods for Urban Travel and Public Transportation in Smart Cities

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Li ◽  
Ying Gao ◽  
Tao Ba ◽  
Wei Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Energy Saving ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Smart Transportation ◽  
Urban Travel ◽  
Emissions Mitigation ◽  
The Impact

In many countries, energy-saving and emissions mitigation for urban travel and public transportation are important for smart city developments. It is essential to understand the impact of smart transportation (ST) in public transportation in the context of energy savings in smart cities. The general strategy and significant ideas in developing ST for smart cities, focusing on deep learning technologies, simulation experiments, and simultaneous formulation, are in progress. This study hence presents simultaneous transportation monitoring and management frameworks (STMF ). STMF has the potential to be extended to the next generation of smart transportation infrastructure. The proposed framework consists of community signal and community traffic, ST platforms and applications, agent-based traffic control, and transportation expertise augmentation. Experimental outcomes exhibit better quality metrics of the proposed STMF technique in energy saving and emissions mitigation for urban travel and public transportation than other conventional approaches. The deployed system improves the accuracy, consistency, and F-1 measure by 27.50%, 28.81%, and 31.12%. It minimizes the error rate by 75.35%.

Effect of compost in phytoremediation of diesel-contaminated soils

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Vouillamoz ◽  
M. W. Milke
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Contaminated Soil ◽  
Contaminated Soils ◽  
Petroleum Hydrocarbons ◽  
Dilution Effect ◽  
Screening Tests ◽  
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
Grass Growth ◽  
The Impact

The effect of compost on phytoremediation of diesel-contaminated soils was investigated using 130 small (200 g) containers in two screening tests. The experiments were conducted in a controlled environment using ryegrass from seed. Containers were destructively sampled at various times and analyzed for plant mass and total petroleum hydrocarbons. The results indicate that the presence of diesel reduces grass growth, and that compost helps reduced the impact of diesel on grass growth. The addition of compost helps increase diesel loss from the soils both with and without grass, though the addition of grass leads to lower diesel levels compared with controls. A second set of experiments indicates that the compost helps in phytoremediation of diesel-contaminated soil independent of the dilution effect that compost addition has. The results indicate that the compost addition allowed diesel loss down to 200 mg TPH/kg even though the compost would be expected to hold the diesel more tightly in the soil/compost mixture. The simplicity of the screening tests led to difficulties in controlling moisture content and germination rates. The conclusion of the research is that the tilling of compost into soils combined with grass seeding appears to be a valuable option for treating petroleum-contaminated soils.

Assessing the mobility benefits of proactive optimal variable speed limit control during recurrent and non-recurrent congestion

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 477-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Luo ◽  
M. Hadiuzzaman ◽  
Jie Fang ◽  
Tony Z. Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Control ◽  
Propagation Speed ◽  
Speed Limit ◽  
Variable Speed ◽  
Variable Speed Limit ◽  
Detection Delay ◽  
Traffic Performance ◽  
Total Travel Time ◽  
Variable Speed Limit Control ◽  
The Impact

Over the past few decades, several active traffic control methods have been proposed to improve freeway efficiency at bottleneck locations. Variable speed limit (VSL) is one of these effective controls. Previous studies have evaluated VSL control, but primarily during recurrent congestion only. This study focuses on evaluating the performance of VSL control for both recurrent and non-recurrent congestion. To assess the effectiveness of a previously proposed VSL control in a real-world situation, this study has three evaluation objectives: (1) examine the control performance when recurrent and (or) non-recurrent congestion occurs; (2) assess the effectiveness of the control when a queue encounters the VSL sign; and (3) consider the impact of system detection delay in VSL control. Comparative experiments for Whitemud Drive in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, are simulated in the VISSIM platform, and traffic performance is compared among scenarios with and without control. The simulation results show that VSL improves mobility for both recurrent and non-recurrent congestion. The VSL control reduces total travel time, and improves total travel distance and total flow. Furthermore, it slows down the shockwave propagation speed, improves the average speed on most of the freeway segments, and reduces the duration of traffic recovery.

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