Public Perceptions of the Midwest\u27s Pavements - Iowa - Executive Summary

This report summarizes Iowa results of a five year, Pooled Fund study involving the Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota DOTs designed to 1) assess the public\u27s perceptions of the departments’ pavement improvement strategies and 2) to develop customer-based thresholds of satisfaction with pavements on rural two lane highways in each state as related to the Departments’ physical indices, such as pavement ride and condition. The primary objective was to seek systematic customer input to improve the Departments’ pavement improvement policies by 1) determining how drivers perceive the departments’ pavements in terms of comfort and convenience but also in terms of other tradeoffs departments had not previously considered, 2) determining relationships between perceptions and measured pavement condition thresholds (including a general level of tolerance of winter ride conditions in two of the states), and 3) identifying important attributes and issues that may not have been considered in the past. Secondary objectives were 1) to provide a tool for systematic customer input in the future and 2) provide information which can help structure public information programs. A University of Wisconsin-Extension survey lab conducted the surveys under the direction of a multi-disciplinary team from Marquette University. Approximately 4500 drivers in the three states participated in the three phases of the project. Researchers conducted six focus groups in each state, approximately 400 statewide telephone interviews in each state and 700-800 targeted telephone interviews in each state. Approximately 400 winter ride interviews were conducted in Wisconsin and Minnesota. A summary of the method for each survey is included. In Phase I, focus groups were conducted with drivers to get an initial indication of what the driving public believes in regards to pavements and to frame issues for inclusion in the more representative state-wide surveys of drivers conducted in Phase II of the project. Phase II interviews gathered information about improvement policy trade-off issues and about preliminary thresholds of improvement in terms of physical pavement indices. In Phase III, a two step recruitment and post-drive interview procedure yielded thresholds of ride and condition index summarized for each state. Results show that, in general, the driving public wants longer lasting pavements and are willing to pay for them. They want to minimize construction delay, improve entire sections of highway at one time but they dislike detours, and prefer construction under traffic even if it stretches out construction time. Satisfaction with pavements does not correlate directly to a high degree with physical pavement indices, but was found instead to be a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon. A psychological model (after Fishbein/Ajzen) was applied to explain satisfaction to a respectable degree (R2 of .7) for the social sciences. Results also indicate a high degree of trust in the three DOTs which is enhanced when the public is asked for input on specific highway segments. Conclusions and recommendations include a three-step methodology for other state studies. Physical data thresholds based on both public satisfaction and the agreement to improve are presented for each state\u27s physical pavement indices (ride and condition). Recommendations for changes to the quality ranges of the physical indices where appropriate are also made

Hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals with broad-range blue phases

We report a modular supramolecular approach for the investigation of chirality induction in hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals. An exceptionally broad blue phase with a temperature range of 25 °C was found, which enabled its structural investigation by solid state 19F-NMR studies and allowed us to report order parameters of the blue phase I for the first time

Depopulation of dense α-synuclein aggregates is associated with rescue of dopamine neuron dysfunction and death in a new Parkinson's disease model.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the presence of α-synuclein aggregates known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, whose formation is linked to disease development. The causal relation between α-synuclein aggregates and PD is not well understood. We generated a new transgenic mouse line (MI2) expressing human, aggregation-prone truncated 1-120 α-synuclein under the control of the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. MI2 mice exhibit progressive aggregation of α-synuclein in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta and their striatal terminals. This is associated with a progressive reduction of striatal dopamine release, reduced striatal innervation and significant nigral dopaminergic nerve cell death starting from 6 and 12 months of age, respectively. In the MI2 mice, alterations in gait impairment can be detected by the DigiGait test from 9 months of age, while gross motor deficit was detected by rotarod test at 20 months of age when 50% of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta are lost. These changes were associated with an increase in the number and density of 20-500 nm α-synuclein species as shown by dSTORM. Treatment with the oligomer modulator anle138b, from 9 to 12 months of age, restored striatal dopamine release, prevented dopaminergic cell death and gait impairment. These effects were associated with a reduction of the inner density of large α-synuclein aggregates and an increase in dispersed small α-synuclein species as revealed by dSTORM. The MI2 mouse model recapitulates the progressive dopaminergic deficit observed in PD, showing that early synaptic dysfunction is associated to fine behavioral motor alterations, precedes dopaminergic axonal loss and neuronal death that become associated with a more consistent motor deficit upon reaching a certain threshold. Our data also provide new mechanistic insight for the effect of anle138b's function in vivo supporting that targeting α-synuclein aggregation is a promising therapeutic approach for PD