Violation of the use of traffic regulation means as a cause of a traffic accident

This article provides statistical data on the number of road accidents and their consequences (deaths and/or injuries) in all regions of Ukraine in 2021 as compared to the same period in 2020. Regions with a decrease in road traffic accident rates (Zakarpattya region, 9.6% decrease) and their percentage increase (Zhytomyr region, 56.1% increase) are highlighted. Based on the analysis of statistical data, it is estimated that the number of road traffic accidents in the country during this period increased by 19.6%. But as a positive phenomenon, the number of injuries and/or fatalities in these road accidents decreased by 17.2%. The article analyses and gives concrete examples of the use of some legally adopted road traffic control devices in the regional center of Ukraine - Zhytomyr city (traffic lights, road signs and road markings). Shows incidents of their use which are characterized by violations of traffic rules (Sections 8.1., 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.7, Sections 33 "Traffic signs" and 34 "Traffic lanes"), DSTU 2587:2021 "Traffic lanes. General Technical Conditions", DSTU 4100:2021 "Road Safety. Road Signs". At the same time there are situations when road signs are in contradiction, which is categorically unacceptable. It also shows the cases where traffic signs are installed in a shape and design that is not included in traffic regulations and the relevant standard. It was concluded that the use of the above road traffic control devices in violation of the conditions of their installation (application) can lead to misinformation of road users, create additional informational and emotional pressure on them, contribute to increased fatigue, which consequently increases the probability of occurrence of road accidents and increases their importance.

Representation of Jombang as “a santri city”: landscape linguistic study

This study examines the representation of Jombang district as a santri city. The purpose of this study is to describe the extent to which the representation of the mention of Jombang district as a santri city is examined from the use of language in public spaces that can reflect these nicknames. The data in this study are forty forms of language use on billboards, shop names, road signs, and general signs on other roads that can reflect the designation of Jombang district as a santri city. This is a qualitative descriptive research. The theory used is the basic theory from Landry and Bourhis (1997) which focuses on the study of landscape linguistics which refers to information functions and symbolic functions. The results showed that there were five ways of representing Jombang as a santri city, namely (1) representation through naming shops, buildings, and community groups using Arabic which was written using Latin letters, (2) representation through naming streets, alleys, and institutions using names. family or the founder of the Islamic boarding school, (3) representation through the provision of special information for the boarding school students, (4) representation through the promotion of Islamic boarding school-based schools, and (5) representation through other objects. The methods of representation are divided into six categories of language signs in public spaces, namely in the category of road signs, advertising or promotional signs, warning signs, building names, information signs, and objects. There were also factors that influenced the presence of language signs in public spaces that represented Jombang as a santri city, namely (1) being close to the boarding school area, (2) following trend which is done by other subjects around the boarding school, (3) the need for the existence of an institution, and (4) information facilities for the general public.

Hungarian place names from a Moroccan perspective

Hungarian, or "Magyar", is a Finno-Ugric language that is different from the other European languages. Despite existing within an Indo-European environment and experiencing some Latinization (Indo-Europeanization), it has retained its distinct characteristics. Nevertheless, it also has some linguistic features, such as a phonetic structure that carries no specific sounds that cannot be easily uttered by a French, Italian, German, or English speaker, rendering it relatively easier for speakers of some Indo-European languages. On the other hand, Morocco has a multilingual environment, with Standard Arabic and Berber (Amazigh) as official languages, along with French and dialectal Arabic. Thus, the coexistence of these languages allowed for a bilingual representation of place names; an Arabic endonym and a French exonym. Both variants hold an official status and are used in maps and road signs. Therefore, the goal of this study is to record Moroccans' pronunciation of Hungarian place names. It is worth investigating whether such Arabic speakers with French knowledge will have difficulty reading the Hungarian toponyms and what is the reasoning behind such difficulty.

Transparency- and Repellency-Enhanced Acrylic-Based Binder for Stimuli-Responsive Road Paint Safety Improvement Technology

In the current study, an acrylic polymer binder applicable to road signs was successfully developed by mixing various acrylic, acrylate-type, and photoinitiator-based monomer species at different acrylate series/silicone acrylate ratios. An amorphous acrylic monomer was used, and the distance between the polymers was increased to improve transparency. The binder was designed with the purpose of reducing the yellowing phenomenon due to resonance by excluding the aromatic ring structure, which is the main cause of yellowing. The optical properties of the binder were determined according to the content of n-butyl methacrylate/methyl methacrylate and the composition of the crosslinking agent in the formulation. Allyl glycidyl ether and dilauroyl peroxide were used to improve the yellowing problem of benzoyl peroxide, an aromatic photoinitiator. Adding a silicone-based trivalent acrylic monomer, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPMA), was also found to have a significant effect on the transparency, shear properties, and water resistance of the binder. When 15 wt% TMSPMA was added, the best water repellency and mechanical properties were exhibited. The surface morphology of the improved binder and the peeling part were confirmed using field emission scanning electron microscopy. The acrylic polymer developed in this study can be applied in the coating and adhesive industries.

Study on Relative Accuracy and Verification Method of High-Definition Maps for Autonomous Driving

High-definition maps (HDM) for autonomous driving (AD) are an important component of AD systems. HDMs accurately provide a priori information, including lane lines, and road signs, for AD systems. It is an important task to make a reasonable accuracy assessment of the HDM. The current methods for relative accuracy evaluation of general maps in the field of mapping are not fully applicable to HDMs. In this study, a method based on point set alignment and resampling is used to evaluate the relative accuracy of lane lines, and experiments are conducted based on relevant real HDM data. The results show that the relative accuracy of the lane lines is more detailed and relevant than the traditional method. This has implications for the quality control of HDM production.

Performance of Mobile LiDAR in Real Road Driving Conditions

The performance of LiDAR sensors deteriorates under adverse weather conditions such as rainfall. However, few studies have empirically analyzed this phenomenon. Hence, we investigated differences in sensor data due to environmental changes (distance from objects (road signs), object material, vehicle (sensor) speed, and amount of rainfall) during LiDAR sensing of road facilities. The indicators used to verify the performance of LiDAR were numbers of point cloud (NPC) and intensity. Differences in the indicators were tested through a two-way ANOVA. First, both NPC and intensity increased with decreasing distance. Second, despite some exceptions, changes in speed did not affect the indicators. Third, the values of NPC do not differ depending on the materials and the intensity of each material followed the order aluminum > steel > plastic > wood, although exceptions were found. Fourth, with an increase in rainfall, both indicators decreased for all materials; specifically, under rainfall of 40 mm/h or more, a substantial reduction was observed. These results demonstrate that LiDAR must overcome the challenges posed by inclement weather to be applicable in the production of road facilities that improve the effectiveness of autonomous driving sensors.

Intelligent Real-Time Deep System for Robust Objects Tracking in Low-Light Driving Scenario

The detection of moving objects, animals, or pedestrians, as well as static objects such as road signs, is one of the fundamental tasks for assisted or self-driving vehicles. This accomplishment becomes even more difficult in low light conditions such as driving at night or inside road tunnels. Since the objects found in the driving scene represent a significant collision risk, the aim of this scientific contribution is to propose an innovative pipeline that allows real time low-light driving salient objects tracking. Using a combination of the time-transient non-linear cellular networks and deep architectures with self-attention, the proposed solution will be able to perform a real-time enhancement of the low-light driving scenario frames. The downstream deep network will learn from the frames thus improved in terms of brightness in order to identify and segment salient objects by bounding-box based approach. The proposed algorithm is ongoing to be ported over a hybrid architecture consisting of a an embedded system with SPC5x Chorus MCU integrated with an automotive-grade system based on STA1295 MCU core. The performances (accuracy of about 90% and correlation coefficient of about 0.49) obtained in the experimental validation phase confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Wildlife is imperiled in peri-urban landscapes: threats to arboreal mammals

Urbanization and deforestation impose severe challenges to wildlife, particularly for forest-living vertebrates. Understanding how the peri-urban matrix impacts their survival is critical for designing strategies to promote their conservation. We investigated the threats faced by brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) in peri-urban regions of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Santa Catarina (SC) states, southern Brazil, by compiling conflicts reported over more than two decades. We assessed the major conflicts, their distribution among age-sex classes, and the predictors of conflict-related mortality using GLMMs. After 20+ years of monitoring, we compiled 540 conflicts (RS=248 and SC=292). Electrocution in power lines was the most frequent cause of death or injury (37%), followed by dog attack (34%), run over (17%), and human mistreatment (12%). The occurrence of lethal injuries ranged from 5% to 69% depending on the type of conflict and state. The overall post-conflict mortality was 56%. Adult males and females were the major victims in both states. The minimal adequate GLMM explained 83% of the variation in conflict-related mortality. State, conflict type, and age-sex class were the main predictors of mortality. Overall, mortality was lower in SC and after human mistreatment, and higher among adult females than in the other classes. We found that the survival of brown howlers in the forest-urban interface is constrained by both the urban infrastructure and the growing interactions with humans and domestic and stray dogs. We propose the placement of aerial bridges, road signs and speed bumps in areas of frequent animal crossing, the sterilization of stray dogs, and the sensitization of local inhabitants on the importance of respecting and protecting wildlife to reduce their conflicts with humans and domestic animals in the forest-urban interface.