Linking Incidents to Customers (LINC): An Algorithm for Linking Incidents to Rail Customer Delays Inspired by Traffic Flow Theory

Rail transit agencies have greatly advanced the ability to measure delays to rail system customers and have developed key performance indicators for rail systems based on customer travel time. The ability for operators to link these customer delay metrics to root causes would provide great benefit to agencies, from incident response improvement to capital program prioritization. This paper describes a method for linking late train arrivals to both late customers and incident tickets. Inspired by traffic flow theory, the method identifies impact zones in time and space that can then be linked to a potential root cause by way of incident tickets. This algorithm is currently under development by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Office of Planning, and its outputs are being integrated into a variety of operations- and capital-related business processes.

SOIL CONTAMINATION IN THE IMPACT ZONES OF ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT PRODUCTION AND WASTE RECYCLING

Soil pollution in the impact zones of enterprises for the collection and processing of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) wastes is caused by the chemicals they contain. The article presents the results of studying the content of heavy metals in soils and technogenic substrates selected in the impact zones of enterprises for the production of EEE and waste processing, located in the city of Minsk, Belarus. A total of 15 soil samples and 13 samples of technogenic deposits were taken and analyzed. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used in chemical analytical tests. Statistical parameters of the content of heavy metals are presented, their comparison with published data is done. It is shown that the obtained average concentrations of cadmium and lead in the soils of the investigated enterprises are 1.2–1.5 times, and copper and zinc are 2.7–4.6 times higher than those for the industrial zones of Minsk. The maximum concentrations of heavy metals were detected in samples of technogenic deposits containing waste impurities, including plastic particles. On the example of other countries, the importance of EEE plastic waste as a source of soil contamination is shown.

Siting strategy for co-locating windfarms and radars considering interference constraints

As the energy sector moves away from use of fossil fuels towards clean renewable energy alternatives, the technical impediment of windfarm interference with radars has dented the deployment of windfarms. This paper provides a step-by-step siting methodology for co-locating windfarms and radars with the support of simulation tools. A procedural framework for co-locating windfarms and radars is suggested. The proposed methodology identifies crucial variables, such as azimuth, frequency, and topographical features affecting the co-existence of radars and windmills. The effect of variables on radar cross-section for feasible radar frequency ranges between 0.1 GHz and 10 GHz is calculated. The siting methodology suggests use of digital terrain maps for evaluating the interference impact due to terrain screening. In case of inextricable circumstances, where radar needs to be sited in high impact zones near windfarms, suitable mitigation techniques are suggested.

The limited effectiveness of bedside positive pressure irrigation on pistol projectile wound contaminant: A biomechanics study

Background Pistol caliber gunshot wounds (PC GSW) are the most common mode of firearm injury treated in the civilian emergency setting, but there is a paucity of data guiding best practice treatment. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of bedside positive pressure irrigation (PPI) on removal of gross debris from PC GSW. Methods Fourteen bovine shanks were prepared with metal impregnated fabric placed in front of the impending impact zones to mimic radio-opaque clothing-like material. They were then shot with a 9 mm bullet from a distance of 3 meters. Specimens were imaged three separate times with standardized computer tomography: immediately after impact, after 250 ml irrigation, and after a total of 750 ml of irrigation. Scanned images were examined for change in radio-opaque contamination at both the entry site and within the wound cavity. Results No samples demonstrated a decrease of debris contamination within the cavity of the wound after 250 ml of irrigation and only one did after 750 ml. Six (42.86%) samples demonstrated a shift of debris without decrease in cavity contamination after 250 ml of irrigation and ten after 750 ml total irrigation. Five samples demonstrated decrease in debris at the entry site of the gunshot projectile wound after 250 ml of irrigation and two showed further superficial decrease with additional irrigations up to 750 ml. No statistically significant differences were found between 250 ml and 750 ml PPI treatments in both superficial and cavity contamination categories. Conclusion Positive pressure irrigation with up to 750 ml of 0.9% normal saline at a rate of 20 ml/sec has limited effect on the removal of gross debris within the cavity of pistol caliber gunshot wounds. The data within this study bring into question the benefits of attempted removal of pistol caliber gunshot wound contaminants utilizing bedside positive pressure irrigation.

General features of strong rock bursts and induced earthquakes in critical-stress areas of the Earth’s crust

The problem connected with rock bursts and induced earthquakes is yet one of the most critical in the mining regions. The manmade nature of disastrous earthquakes induced in the areas of the heaviest impact on the subsoil is being widely discussed. The main argument against the manmade genesis of such earthquakes is their great depths and high energies. The general features of the induced earthquakes are considered. The displacement directions of the walls of large tectonic faults during such events are analyzed. The sizes of focal zones are estimated and related with sizes of geodynamcially active blocks in the Earth’s crust. The location of hypocenters of geodynamic events relative to the manmade impact zones is studied. The found homogeny of strong rock bursts and induced earthquakes is explained by the interaction of local and regional (global) geodynamic processes. The critical stress state of the upper Earth’s crust having hierarchical block structure is considered as the basis of such interaction. When focal zones of rock bursts and induced earthquakes have sizes of hundreds of meters or a few kilometers, the initiation zones of such events reaches many kilometers in size, is commensurable with the Earth’s crust blocks and is larger than the mining impact zone. Therefore, displacements along large faults are the part of a tectonic process, i.e. displacement directions along large faults during strong rock bursts are correlated with the regional stress field.

The efficiency of ablation of metals by scanning beam of pulsed irradiation with nanosecond-range fiber Yb:YAG laser

The results of experiments on ablation of targets made of stainless steel and aluminum by a scanning beam of nanosecond pulses at intensity up to 109 W/cm2 are presented. It was found that the overlap of the impact zones during irradiating leads to an increase in the ablation depth in proportion to the area of overlap of the irradiation spots. This is due to increase in overlap irradiation spots degree, zones with a large number of pulse effects are formed on surface, which increases the depth of the melt bath and leads to the ejection of larger particles. An increase in ablation depth of aluminum increase with increase of the interval between pulses up to 10 ms and overlapping of the irradiation spots. The shape of the ejected particles changes from spherical, when formed from a melt, to an irregular shape, when the target is mechanically destroyed by an internal shock wave. The size and velocity distribution of the ejected particles was determined, and on the basis of these data, the laser radiation shielding coefficients were calculated depending on the degree of overlapping of the irradiation spots. It was found that the main mechanism for the decrease in the efficiency of ablation by a scanning beam of radiation is the backflow of microparticles deposited on the target surface. The analysis of the energy balance of the aluminum ablation process is carried out.

Assessing the Impacts of Agriculture and Its Trade on Philippine Biodiversity

Many Philippine species are at risk of extinction because of habitat loss and degradation driven by agricultural land use and land-use change. The Philippines is one of the world’s primary banana and pineapple producers. The input-intensive style of plantation agriculture for these typically exported crops has many adverse effects on the environment. While global studies have attempted to understand the biodiversity impacts of agricultural goods, there are few studies that have investigated the Philippines specifically. In this study, Philippine policies and data are investigated to better characterize the nexus between agriculture, biodiversity, and trade. An analysis of key national policies highlights that more stringent definitions and protections for biodiversity are needed to recognize the increasing roles that agricultural production, and importantly, its global trade, have on threatened Philippine species. A geographical analysis shows that many banana and pineapple plantations in Mindanao and their surrounding agricultural impact zones overlap with ecologically important areas, such as Protected Areas and Important Bird Areas. Overlaps of recorded species occurrence are observed within the immediate zones surrounding 250 plantations for banana and pineapple in Mindanao, with 83 threatened species of Philippine fauna and tree at risk of exposure to the impacts of intensive agriculture.

Targets-specified grids-tailored sub-model approach for fast large-scale high-resolution 2D urban flood modelling

The accuracy of two-dimensional urban flood models (2D models) is improved when high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) is used, but the entailed high spatial discretisation results in excessive computational expenses, thus prohibiting the use of 2D models in real-time forecasting at a large scale. This paper presents a sub-model approach to tailoring high-resolution 2D model grids according to specified targets, and thus such tailor-made sub-model yields fast processing without significant loss of accuracy. Among the numerous sinks detected from full-basin high-resolution DEMs, the computationally important ones are determined using a proposed Volume Ratio Sink Screening method. Also, the drainage basin is discretised into a collection of sub-impact zones according to those sinks' spatial configuration. When adding full-basin distributed static rainfall, the drainage basin's flow conditions are modelled as a 1D static flow by using a fast-inundation spreading algorithm. Next, sub-impact zones relevant to the targets' local inundation process can be identified by tracing the 1D flow continuity, and thus suggest the critical computational cells from the high-resolution model grids on the basis of the spatial intersection. In MIKE FLOOD's 2D simulations, those screened cells configure the reduced computational domains as well as the optimised boundary conditions, which ultimately enables the fast 2D prediction in the tailor-made sub-model. To validate the method, model experiments were designed to test the impact of the reduced computational domains and the optimised boundary conditions separately. Further, the general applicability and the robustness of the sub-model approach were evaluated by targeting at four focus areas representing different catchment terrain morphologies as well as different rainfall return periods of 1–100 years. The sub-model approach resulted in a 45–553 times faster processing with a 99 % reduction in the number of computational cells for all four cases; the predicted flood extents, depths and flow velocities showed only marginal discrepancies with Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE) below 1.5 cm. As such, this approach reduces the 2D models' computing expenses significantly, thus paving the way for large-scale high-resolution 2D real-time forecasting.