scholarly journals Synergy Effect of Factors Characterising Village Transition Zones on Speed Reduction

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 8474
Author(s):  
Alicja Sołowczuk ◽  
Dominik Kacprzak

There are various traffic calming measures that can be installed in village transition zones. So far, focus was placed on diversified use of pavement markings, amounts of horizontal deflection, shape of the installed chicanes or central islands, presence of gateway, etc., and their location along the transition zone. However, the combined effect of the different transition zone factors on speed reductions has been rarely studied so far. Authors put forward a hypothesis of there being some determinants, which in combination influence speed reduction. To corroborate the hypothesis on the combined impact of the transition zone features on speed reduction in the village transition zones and to validate the established relationships the authors conducted verification study in transition zones containing chicanes or central islands. To verify this hypothesis the authors studied twenty transition zones and managed to confirm the hypothesis at 95% confidence level. The authors used previously adopted binary methods, verified the previously defined factors and added a few new determinants. The contribution of this study is a further investigation of the synergy effect of various relevant factors and the findings can assist in planning new transition zones or suggest additional measures to achieve the desired speed reduction in existing transition zones.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 4002
Author(s):  
Alicja Barbara Sołowczuk ◽  
Dominik Kacprzak

In recent years, in which a considerable increase in the road traffic volumes has been witnessed, traffic calming has become one the key issues in the area of road engineering. This concerns, in particular, trunk roads passing through small villages with a population of up to 500 and the road section length within the village limits of ca. 1400–1700 m. A successful traffic calming scheme must involve primarily effective reduction in inbound traffic speed. A review of the data from various countries revealed that chicanes installed in the transition zones may have a determining effect on the success of the traffic calming project. The effectiveness of such chicanes depends mainly on the type of chicane, its location on the carriageway, its shape and the size of the lateral deflection imposed by the chicane on the inbound lane. The purpose of this study was to identify the speed reduction determinants in traffic calming schemes in village transition zones, based on a central island horizontally deflecting one lane of a two-lane two-way road with 50 km/h speed restriction. As part of the study, vehicle speeds were measured just before and after the chicanes under analysis. Furthermore, the inbound lane traffic volumes were measured in field and a number of factors were identified, including the applied traffic management scheme, road parameters, view of the road ahead and of the village skyline, isolated buildings, road infrastructure and adjacent roadside developments. The obtained data were analysed with a method employing tautologies of the selected 32 factors affecting the drivers’ perception. A single aggregate parameter was proposed for assessing the coincidence of the influence of selected factors on speed reduction. The analysis of the existing schemes and the results of statistical analyses carried out in this study confirmed the authors’ hypothesis that the combined selected factors produce a desirable effect and that they should be additionally enhanced by the application of solar powered devices.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5244
Author(s):  
Alicja Sołowczuk ◽  
Dominik Kacprzak

In recent decades traffic calming, especially in villages situated on through roads, has become an urgent issue. Various schemes are applied in the transition zones to reduce the inbound traffic speeds and thus improve the traffic safety. The studies conducted in several countries point to different determinants of the speed reduction obtained in this way. This article deals with the schemes including a central island horizontally deflecting one lane, located in transition zones to villages with 70 km/h speed restriction on two-lane roads (6 m carriageway width). In order to identify the speed reduction determinants, the speeds before and after chicanes were measured and the effect of the three criteria was investigated, characterising: the traffic management scheme, road design parameters, landscape elements present in the surroundings of the transition zone and visibility conditions. Based on the confirmation of logical tautology of many pre-selected factors, one aggregate parameter was proposed for the assessment of the practicable level of speed reduction, combining the effect of the selected factors in the above-mentioned criteria. Statistical analysis of the obtained results confirmed a statistically significant relationship between both the speed reduction value and the speed reduction index, and the aggregate parameter proposed by the authors. Factors related to the surrounding landscape and visibility conditions were found to have the greatest direct effect on speed reduction. The chicanes chosen in the final step of the proposed design process should be enhanced by additional solar-powered elements ensuring their improved visibility. These devices should not, however, require any additional energy supply and should not increase the construction or maintenance costs.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 774
Author(s):  
Max Langer ◽  
Thomas Speck ◽  
Olga Speck

Although both the petiole and lamina of foliage leaves have been thoroughly studied, the transition zone between them has often been overlooked. We aimed to identify objectively measurable morphological and anatomical criteria for a generally valid definition of the petiole–lamina transition zone by comparing foliage leaves with various body plans (monocotyledons vs. dicotyledons) and spatial arrangements of petiole and lamina (two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional configurations). Cross-sectional geometry and tissue arrangement of petioles and transition zones were investigated via serial thin-sections and µCT. The changes in the cross-sectional geometries from the petiole to the transition zone and the course of the vascular bundles in the transition zone apparently depend on the spatial arrangement, while the arrangement of the vascular bundles in the petioles depends on the body plan. We found an exponential acropetal increase in the cross-sectional area and axial and polar second moments of area to be the defining characteristic of all transition zones studied, regardless of body plan or spatial arrangement. In conclusion, a variety of terms is used in the literature for describing the region between petiole and lamina. We prefer the term “petiole–lamina transition zone” to underline its three-dimensional nature and the integration of multiple gradients of geometry, shape, and size.


Author(s):  
Ali Kamyab ◽  
Steve Andrle ◽  
Dennis Kroeger ◽  
David S. Heyer

Many Minnesota counties are faced with the problem of high vehicle speeds through towns or resort areas that have significant pedestrian traffic. The impact of speed reduction strategies in high-pedestrian areas in rural counties of Minnesota was investigated. Speed data were collected at two selected study sites under their existing conditions ("no-treatment" or "before" condition) and after the proposed speed reduction strategies were installed. Second "after" data conditions were collected to study the short-term and long-term impact of the implemented strategies. The traffic-calming techniques employed at the Twin Lakes site consisted of removable pedestrian islands and pedestrian crossing signs. A dynamic variable message sign that sent a single-word message ("Slow") to motorists traveling over the speed limit was installed at the Bemidji site. The research study shows that the traffic-calming strategy deployed in Twin Lakes was effective in significantly reducing the mean speed and improving speed limit compliance in both the short term and long term. Despite proven effectiveness, the deployed speed reduction treatment in Bemidji Lake failed to lower the speed at the study site. The single-word message on the sign and the location of the sign, as well as a lack of initial enforcement, were the primary reasons for such failure.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanisław Gaca ◽  
Sylwia Pogodzińska

The article presents the issue of the implementation of speed management measures on regional roads, whose character requires the use of different solutions than those on national roads. The authors briefly described speed management measures, the conditions for their implementation and their effectiveness with reference to environmental conditions and road safety. The further part of the paper presents selected results of the authors' research into the speed on various road segments equipped with different speed management measures. The estimations were made as to the impact of local speed limits and traffic calming measures on drivers' behaviour in free flow conditions. This research found that the introduction of the local speed limits cause reduction in average speed and 85th percentile speed up to 11.9 km/h (14.4%) and 16.3 km/h (16.8%) respectively. These values are averaged in the tested samples. Speed reduction depends strongly on the value of the limit and local circumstances. Despite speed reduction, the share of drivers who do not comply with speed limits was still high and ranged from 43% in the case of a 70 km/h limit, up to 89% for a 40 km/h limit. As far as comprehensive traffic calming measures are concerned, results show decrease in average speed and 85th percentile speed up to 18.1 km/h and 20.8 km/h respectively. For some road segments, however, the values of average speed and 85th percentile speed increased. It confirms that the effectiveness of speed management measures is strongly determined by local circumstances.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulius Luturmas

ABSTRACTThe Village Government apparatus of Analutur, Southwest Maluku Regency is not excellent, and one of the influencing factors is that the Village Apparatus Recruitment is not carried out properly. By using associative research methods that link recruitment and performance. Data were collected by conducting structured interviews, observations, literature study, and distributing a list of questions to 50 respondents. then analyzed quantitatively (Product Moment Correlation Statistical Analysis). The results show that the correlation between apparatus recruitment and government performance in Analutur Village, Southwest Maluku Regency is 0.857. Based on the coefficient of determination, it is proven that recruitment contributes to performance by 62.2% and the remaining 37.8% is determined by other variables which are constant. Furthermore, a significant test was carried out using t-count at a confidence level of 0.05%. And the result is t-count of 8.888> t-table 1.68, which means that the hypothesis is accepted. Keywords: Apparatus Recruitment, Performance and Village Improvement


Author(s):  
Hernán Gonzalo Orden

In recent years the number of deaths and serious injuries is decreasing in Spain, but, although the reduction outside the cities has been very strong, inside the urban areas, it has been smaller. This is especially hard if you look at the most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. In many accidents the speed factor appears closely linked not only to the number, but also to the severity of the accidents suffered inside the urban areas. Therefore, a reduction in the speed would improve the road safety. There are different measures known as "traffic calming measures" whose objectives are to reduce both the number and severity of accidents that occur on urban areas, by reducing the traffic flow through the streets, as well as the speed of the vehicles. However, the efficiency in speed reduction of each measure is not entirely known. That's the reason why they are implanted, in many cases, with no technical basis. The aim of this article is to show the effectiveness in reducing speed of some of the traffic calming measures. To this effect, field measurements were done on street sections with different types of traffic calming measures, in different places of a city of Burgos, in the north of Spain. These measurements were compared with other ones sited on other streets sections of similar characteristics but without traffic calming measures. Finally the conclusions are shown and some recommendations for improving their effectiveness are given.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4217


1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-508
Author(s):  
Sonja Faber ◽  
Gerhard MÜller

abstract Precursors to S and SKS were observed in long-period SRO and WWSSN seismograms of the Romanian earthquake of March 4, 1977, recorded in the United States at distances from 68° to 93°. According to the fault-plane solution, the stations were close to a nodal plane and SV radiation was optimum in their direction. Particle-motion diagrams, constructed from the digital data of the SRO station ANMO (distance 89.1°), show the P-wave character of the precursors. Several interpretations are discussed; the most plausible is that the precursors are Sp phases generated by conversion from S to P below the station. The travel-time differences between S or SKS and Sp are about 60 sec and indicate conversion in the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle. Sp conversions were also observed at long-period WWSSN stations in the western United States for 2 Tonga-Fiji deep-focus earthquakes (distances from 82° to 96°). Special emphasis is given in this paper to the calculation of theoretical seismograms, both for Sp precursors and the P-wave coda, including high-order multiples such as sP4 which may arrive simultaneously with Sp. The Sp calculations show: (1) the conversions produced by S, ScS, and SKS at interfaces or transition zones between the upper and lower mantle form a complicated interference pattern, and (2) conversion at transition zones is less effective than at first-order discontinuities only if their thickness is greater than about half a wavelength of S waves. As a consequence, details of the velocity structure between the upper and lower mantle can only be determined within these limits from long-period Sp observations. Our observations are compatible with velocity models having pronounced transition zones at depths of 400 and 670 km as have been proposed for the western United States, and they exclude much smoother structures. Our study suggests that long-period Sp precursors from pure thrust or normal-fault earthquakes, observed at distances from 70° to 95° close to a nodal plane and at azimuths roughly perpendicular to its strike, offer a simple means for qualitative mapping of the sharpness of the transition zones between the upper and lower mantle.


Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 597
Author(s):  
Alicja Sołowczuk ◽  
Dominik Kacprzak

Traffic calming, as a traffic engineering discipline, is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the road engineering process. One of the traffic calming treatments are pedestrian refuges—raised islands located on or at the road centreline. This paper presents factors relevant to the performance of this kind of traffic calming devices retrofitted on the stretches of regional roads in village areas. To this end, speed surveys were carried out before and after the islands in each direction on purposefully chosen test sections. In order to identify the determinants, each test section was characterised by features including the symmetry of the road layout geometry, surrounding features and the existing traffic signs and, last but not least, visibility of the road ahead. The survey data were used by the authors to perform analyses in order to group the speeds at the pedestrian refuges and relate them to specific factors and, finally, identify the determinants of speed reduction. In this way, the authors arrived at a conclusion that the performance of pedestrian refuges depends on a number of factors rather than solely on their geometric parameters. The analyses showed that the pedestrian refuge geometric parameters, features located in its proximity that influence the driver’s perception and placement of appropriate marking, can, in combination, result in achieving the desired speed reduction and ensure safety of non-motorised users. These hypotheses were tested on a stretch of a regional road in village area at three points of the process: before upgrading, after installation of pedestrian refuges, and after retrofitting of enhancements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro G. Althaus ◽  
Alejandro H. Córsico ◽  
Murat Uzundag ◽  
Maja Vučković ◽  
Andrzej S. Baran ◽  
...  

Context. The possible existence of warm (Teff ∼ 19 000 K) pulsating DA white dwarf (WD) stars, hotter than ZZ Ceti stars, was predicted in theoretical studies more than 30 yr ago. These studies reported the occurrence of g-mode pulsational instabilities due to the κ mechanism acting in the partial ionization zone of He below the H envelope in models of DA WDs with very thin H envelopes (MH/M⋆ ≲ 10−10). However, to date, no pulsating warm DA WD has been discovered, despite the varied theoretical and observational evidence suggesting that a fraction of WDs should be formed with a range of very low H content. Aims. We re-examine the pulsational predictions for such WDs on the basis of new full evolutionary sequences. We analyze all the warm DAs observed by the TESS satellite up to Sector 9 in order to search for the possible pulsational signal. Methods. We computed WD evolutionary sequences of masses 0.58 and 0.80 M⊙ with H content in the range −14.5 ≲ log(MH/M⋆)≲ − 10, appropriate for the study of pulsational instability of warm DA WDs. Initial models were extracted from progenitors that were evolved through very late thermal pulses on the early cooling branch. We use LPCODE stellar code into which we have incorporated a new full-implicit treatment of time-dependent element diffusion to precisely model the H–He transition zone in evolving WD models with very low H content. The nonadiabatic pulsations of our warm DA WD models were computed in the effective temperature range of 30 000 − 10 000 K, focusing on ℓ = 1 g modes with periods in the range 50 − 1500 s. Results. We find that traces of H surviving the very late thermal pulse float to the surface, eventually forming thin, growing pure H envelopes and rather extended H–He transition zones. We find that such extended transition zones inhibit the excitation of g modes due to partial ionization of He below the H envelope. Only in the cases where the H–He transition is assumed much more abrupt than predicted by diffusion do models exhibit pulsational instability. In this case, instabilities are found only in WD models with H envelopes in the range of −14.5 ≲ log(MH/M⋆)≲ − 10 and at effective temperatures higher than those typical for ZZ Ceti stars, in agreement with previous studies. None of the 36 warm DAs observed so far by TESS satellite are found to pulsate. Conclusions. Our study suggests that the nondetection of pulsating warm DAs, if WDs with very thin H envelopes do exist, could be attributed to the presence of a smooth and extended H–He transition zone. This could be considered as indirect proof that element diffusion indeed operates in the interior of WDs.


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