Effect of Lane Narrowing Implemented on an Urban Dual Carriageway on Speed Reduction and Acoustic Environment

The on-going growth in the use of motor vehicles leads to a number of traffic safety problems. Therefore, various traffic calming measures are applied to increase traffic safety in built-up areas. Lane narrowing is one of the techniques used to influence the perception of drivers and make them slow down. With this in mind, the authors conducted traffic volume and speed counts before and after installation of the lane narrowing treatment, covering 100 passing vehicles, at an intersection between an urban dual carriageway and an estate street where over a dozen fatal accidents occurred in the recent years. Traffic noise was also measured, both before and after lane narrowing. The traffic count data were analysed to show speed reduction by ca. 15 km/h, yet in all cases still above 50 km/h, which is the speed limit applicable to built-up areas in Poland. The analysis of the “before” and “after” noise maps showed only minor changes to the distribution of noise. The locations of these changes to the acoustic environment depended on the speed and volume of traffic and, much more importantly, on the topography of the surrounding area, the existing roadside layered landscape and the type of planted vegetation. The detailed analyses of the analysed parameters demonstrated that sustainable design of traffic calming measures on urban dual carriageways must consider not only the desired speed reduction but also the surrounding landscape and the local topography.

Theoretical Framework for Determination of Linear Structures in Multidimensional Geodynamic Data Arrays

The article addresses the issue of clustering of multidimensional data arrays with a noise using the methods of discrete mathematical analysis (DMA clustering). The theory of DMA clustering through the logical densities calculus is detailed, and the new algorithm Linear Discrete Perfect Sets (LDPS) is described. The main objective of the LDPS algorithm is to identify linearly stretched anomalies in a multidimensional array of geo-spatial data (geophysical fields, geochemistry, satellite images, local topography, maps of recent crustal movements, seismic monitoring data, etc.). These types of anomalies are associated with tectonic structures in the upper part of the Earth’s crust and pose the biggest threat for integrity of the isolation properties of the geological environment, including in regions of high-level radioactive waste disposal. The main advantage of the LDPS algorithm as compared to other cluster analysis algorithms that may be used in arrays with a noise is that it is more focused on searching for clusters that are linear. The LDPS algorithm can apply not only in the analysis of spatial natural objects and fields but also to elongated lineament structures.

Supraglacial debris thickness and supply rate in High-Mountain Asia

Supraglacial debris strongly modulates glacier melt rates and can be decisive for ice dynamics and mountain hydrology. It is ubiquitous in High-Mountain Asia (HMA), yet because its thickness and supply rate from local topography are poorly known, our ability to forecast regional glacier change and streamflow is limited. Here we resolved the spatial distribution of supraglacial debris thickness (SDT) for 4401 glaciers in HMA for 2000-2016, via an inverse approach using a new dataset of glacier mass balance. We then determined debris-supply rate (DSR) to 3843 of those glaciers using a debris mass-balance model. Our results reveal high spatial variability in both SDT and DSR, with supraglacial debris most concentrated around Everest, and DSR highest in the Pamir-Alai. We demonstrate that DSR and, by extension, SDT increase with the temperature and slope of debris-supply slopes regionally and that SDT increases as ice flow decreases locally. Our centennial-scale estimates of DSR are an order of magnitude lower than millennial-scale estimates of headwall-erosion rate from 10Be cosmogenic nuclides, indicating that debris supply to the region's glaciers is highly episodic. We anticipate that our datasets will enable improved representation of the complex response of HMA's glaciers to climatic warming in future modelling efforts.

Lost Horizon: Quantifying the Effect of Local Topography on Global 21 cm Cosmology Data Analysis

We present an investigation of the horizon and its effect on global 21 cm observations and analysis. We find that the horizon cannot be ignored when modeling low-frequency observations. Even if the sky and antenna beam are known exactly, forward models cannot fully describe the beam-weighted foreground component without accurate knowledge of the horizon. When fitting data to extract the 21 cm signal, a single time-averaged spectrum or independent multi-spectrum fits may be able to compensate for the bias imposed by the horizon. However, these types of fits lack constraining power on the 21 cm signal, leading to large uncertainties on the signal extraction, in some cases larger in magnitude than the 21 cm signal itself. A significant decrease in uncertainty can be achieved by performing multi-spectrum fits in which the spectra are modeled simultaneously with common parameters. The cost of this greatly increased constraining power, however, is that the time dependence of the horizon’s effect, which is more complex than its spectral dependence, must be precisely modeled to achieve a good fit. To aid in modeling the horizon, we present an algorithm and Python package for calculating the horizon profile from a given observation site using elevation data. We also address several practical concerns such as pixelization error, uncertainty in the horizon profile, and foreground obstructions such as surrounding buildings and vegetation. We demonstrate that our training-set-based analysis pipeline can account for all of these factors to model the horizon well enough to precisely extract the 21 cm signal from simulated observations.

Peelhill Farm

The hoard of bronze weapons found in 1961 at Peelhill Farm in South Lanarkshire remains one of the most remarkable discoveries of Late Bronze Age metalwork from Scotland, its importance reflected in the detailed account of the find published by John Coles and Jack Scott in 1963. In the present paper, the contents, location and significance of the discovery are reassessed in the light of more recent approaches to research on hoards. In particular, the renewed investigation provided fresh insights into the use and treatment of the artefacts prior to their deposition, while the local topography may have influenced the choice of location to a greater degree than previously assumed. Radiocarbon dates indicate a likely date in the 9th century BC. Taken together, Peelhill Farm and the related find of metalwork from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh, comprise the northernmost representatives of a group of weapon-dominated hoards mainly recorded in southern Britain. In view of the bias towards martial equipment in their composition, it is argued that the evidence of unrepaired impact marks, and deliberate damage by bending, breaking and burning, all assume greater significance than hitherto recognised. Taken together with what may be assumed to be intentional placement of the artefacts into a boggy setting, the deposition at Peelhill Farm is interpreted as a weapon sacrifice after a warlike event rather than as a ‘scrap hoard’ as once thought. View supplementary material here.

Semi quantitative forecasts for Baghmati/Adhwara Group of rivers/Kamala Balan catchments by synoptic analogue technique

An attempt has been made to issue semi-quantitative precipitation forecasts for Baghmati/Adhwara Group of rivers/Kamala-Balan catchments based upon 22 years data (1982-2003). The study reveals that it is possible to issue semi-quantitative precipitation forecast with confidence. Local topography and its steep gradient on Indo-Nepal Border are main factors that give birth to severe floods during south west monsoon and pose problems to Darbhanga City.

Semi-quantitative precipitation forecasts for Kosi/Mahananda catchment by synoptic analogue method

An attempt has been made to issue semi-quantitative precipitation forecasts for Kosi/Mahananda catchment by synoptic analogue method. Based upon 22 years of data (1982 - 2003) the study reveals that it is possible to issue semi­-quantitative forecasts with confidence. Local topography of the catchments and its steep gradient from Bhim nagar to Chatra / Brahkshetra in Kosi and hills in Darjeeling are favourable regions where moist air masses of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea during South West Monsoon in lower troposphere converge and trough at 500 hPa especially diffluent in rear creates divergence and moist air mass is pulled up resulting in heavy / very heavy rainfall in sub montane districts of Bihar and Nepal Himalaya in addition to orographic effects. This gives birth to severe floods and makes the life of densely populated districts of Pumea / Katihar / Saharsa / Kisanganj / Madhepura miserable and badly affects the economy of the region.

Data-driven prediction of mean wind turbulence from topographic data

This study presents a data-driven model to predict mean turbulence intensities at desired generic locations, for all wind directions. The model, a multilayer perceptron, requires only information about the local topography and a historical dataset of wind measurements and topography at other locations. Five years of data from six different wind measurement mast locations were used. A k-fold cross-validation evaluated the model at each location, where four locations were used for the training data, another location was used for validation, and the remaining one to test the model. The model outperformed the approach given in the European standard, for both performance metrics used. The results of different hyperparameter optimizations are presented, allowing for uncertainty estimates of the model performances.

Research of Toponyms of the Irkutsk Region Using the Method of Artificial Intelligence

Essential issues of toponymy presuppose studying separate words to reconstruct the denotative meaning of geographical names that were lost in the modern language and to find out how the peculiarities of the local topography, the inhabitants’ activities, etc. are reflected in them. It is possible to solve this kind of problems using intellectual methods of data analysis on the basis of information technologies. However, in scientific literature on toponymy, such methods are practically ignored. The article is devoted to the study of the origin and semantic meanings of geographical names based on finding semantic associates and calculating the semantic similarity of words using the embedding model. According to the proposed method, the origin of some toponyms of the Irkutsk region was determined, their semantic relations were revealed. The dichotomy method was used for toponyms that have two roots in their structure. This made it possible to improve the operation of the model by clarifying the morphemic composition of the original word. The method of word transformation was used to determine the etymology of the toponym «Moscow». We have received new versions of the origin of the toponym. It is shown that the application of the methods based on distributive semantics and vector representation of words, obtained on the basis of large arrays of text data, significantly expands the possibilities of research in the field of determining the origin of toponyms and clarifying their meaning.