Influence of mountain traffic conditions on the functional state of a bus driver

Ensuring the transport process requires proper interaction of all parts of the system "driver - car - road - environment" and its subsystems. In this case, the driver is often a "weak" component of the system, and his actions can reduce the level of road users` safety. It should be noted that the reliability of the driver can be considered as the probability of his trouble-free and error-free operation, as well as the proper level of his regulatory mechanisms functioning. In this case, to analyze the activities and readiness of the driver for his professional activities, indicators of functional status are often used. Thus, the study of the "human factor" in the transport process is an important task to ensure the reliability of the whole transport system. Today the most of all transportation is carried out by road. The timeliness and safety of cargo delivery and passenger safety depend on the driver's actions. At the same time, the driver is influenced by a considerable number of external environmental factors during his work. One of the most important factors is the mountainous traffic conditions, which often have many changes in plan and the profile of roads. Another feature of such traffic conditions is the height above sea level, affecting the human body, particularly its functional state. Considering the above, the paper measures the heart rate variability of bus drivers moving on a route that was partly in the mountain's conditions. During the research, video recording and registration of the vehicle's geolocation were also carried out. This made it possible to establish indicators of the driver`s functional state in specific periods. After processing the obtained values, the influence of mountainous traffic conditions on the bus drivers` indicator of regulatory systems’ activity was established.

Storms Producing Large Accumulations of Small Hail

Hail-bearing storms produce substantial socioeconomic impacts each year, yet challenges remain in forecasting the type of hail threat supported by a given environment and in using radar to estimate hail sizes more accurately. One class of hail threat is storms producing large accumulations of small hail (SPLASH). This paper presents an analysis of the environments and polarimetric radar characteristics of such storms. Thirteen SPLASH events were selected to encompass a broad range of geographic regions and times of year. Rapid Refresh model output was used to characterize the mesoscale environments associated with each case. This analysis reveals that a range of environments can support SPLASH cases; however, some commonalities included large precipitable water (exceeding that day’s climatological 90th-percentile values), CAPE < 2500 J kg−1, weak storm-relative wind speeds (<10 m s−1) in the lowest few kilometers of the troposphere, and a weak component of the storm-relative flow orthogonal to the 0–6-km shear vector. Most of the storms were weak supercells that featured distinctive S-band radar signatures, including compact (<200 km2) regions of reflectivity factor > 60 dBZ, significant differential attenuation evident as negative differential reflectivity extending downrange of the hail core, and anomalously large specific differential phase KDP. The KDP values often approached or exceeded the operational color scale’s upper limit (10.7° km−1); reprocessing the level-II data revealed KDP >17° km−1, the highest documented in precipitation at S band. Electromagnetic scattering calculations using the T-matrix method confirm that large quantities of small melting hail mixed with heavy rain can plausibly explain the observed radar signatures.

Study on bearing structure and joint seismic resistance of large span non-landing arch on high-speed railway station

<p>The main entrance of Chongqing West Railway Station adopts the non-landing compound arch with a span of 108m. In this paper, the nonlinear finite element theory is applied to analyze the bearing capacity and seismic ductility of the compound arch joints. Low frequency cyclic loading tests are performed on the 1/5 scale model. Based on the calculation and test results, a double beam structure and a section of steel truss are placed in the arch joints to bear the force of the arch. Moreover, the buckling-restrained brace (BRB) is placed in the lower part of the arch that enables most force directly transmit to the foundation of the arch. Unlike BRB’s common use as an inter-column support, it now acts as a buckling constraint support in the large earthquake. For instance, it can be yielded before the frame column to improve earthquake resistance. The research results indicate that the compound arch joint structure successfully accomplishes the seismic design goals of strong joints with weak component. Moreover, the study provides the theoretical basis and design reference for the application of BRB and long-span arch structures in high-speed railway station.</p>

Anat Helman, Israeli National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2014. 312 pp.

This chapter reviews the book Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s (2014), by Anat Helman. Becoming Israeli deals with those aspects of Israeli society and culture that make Israel distinct from other countries. The book explores how the Israeli society emerged, mainly on its own terms, and tackles the fundamental question of “what it means to be Israeli,” along with the extent to which the characteristics comprising Israeliness emerged in the early years of statehood. Among the book’s strengths is Helman’s choice of foci: the power of her study derives from its locating spheres and behavioral acts that are extremely important but frequently overlooked (kibbutz dining halls, for example). A weak component of the book is its discussion of the subject of humor.

Edge Effects of Truncated Dirac Solitons in Binary Waveguide Arrays

We investigate the edge effects of the optical analogue of the quantum relativistic Dirac solitons in binary waveguide arrays with Kerr nonlinearity when one tail of the Dirac soliton is truncated. We show that if the outermost waveguide of the binary waveguide array hosts the intense component of the truncated Dirac soliton, then Dirac soliton will be repeatedly bent towards the binary waveguide array edge. In the contrast, if the outermost waveguide of the binary waveguide array hosts the weak component of the truncated Dirac soliton, then Dirac soliton will be pushed away from the binary waveguide array edge. To the best of our knowledge, these unique features have not been found in any other systems.

Evolution of the low-frequency pulse profile of PSR B2217+47

An evolution of the low-frequency pulse profile of PSR B2217+47 is observed during a six-year observing campaign with the LOFAR telescope at 150 MHz. The evolution is manifested as a new component in the profile trailing the main peak. The leading part of the profile, including a newly-observed weak component, is steady during the campaign. The transient component is not visible in simultaneous observations at 1500 MHz using the Lovell telescope, implying a chromatic effect. A variation in the dispersion measure of the source is detected in the same timespan. Precession of the pulsar and changes in the magnetosphere are investigated to explain the profile evolution. However, the listed properties favour a model based on turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM). This interpretation is confirmed by a strong correlation between the intensity of the transient component and main peak in single pulses. Since PSR B2217+47 is the fourth brightest pulsar visible to LOFAR, we speculate that ISM-induced pulse profile evolution might be relatively common but subtle and that SKA-Low will detect many similar examples. In this scenario, similar studies of pulse profile evolution could be used in parallel with scintillation arcs to characterize the properties of the ISM.

Carbon Fiber Reinforcing Frame Joint with Shear Failure of Core Area

Through the undamaged and damaged experimental study on frame joints strengthened with CFRP sheets, analyze and compare with two situations in stiffness, ductility, and energy consumption and etc. The results show that the carbon fiber reinforce damaged frame joint is mainly to change its damaged form, satisfied with strong joints, weak component of the design requirements, meanwhile it improves seismic behavior such as strength and stiffness degradation and energy dissipation.