Examination of Traffic Incident Records and Development of a Rapid Incident Response Plan

Effective traffic incident management is an important success factor in reducing incident duration and the severe resultant congestion impacts. As such by having proper and reliable traffic incident indicators can greatly improve prioritisation and deployment of effective rapid incident response. This research aimed to examine and improve indicators for better incident prioritisation and development of rapid incident response plans for Australian conditions. A review of current practices in Australia as well as in other countries, especially the US, was undertaken to assess traffic incident management strengths and weaknesses as a benchmark for the analysis. An examination of traffic incident records in south east Queensland was undertaken using logistic regression. Based on the findings, a rapid incident management plan has been developed that can assist traffic management centres in Australia to manage and deploy more effective traffic incident response

Residential mobility and childhood leukemia.

AimsStudies of environmental exposures and childhood leukemia studies do not usually account for residential mobility. Yet, in addition to being a potential risk factor, mobility can induce selection bias, confounding, or measurement error in such studies. Using data collected for California Powerline Study (CAPS), we attempt to disentangle the effect of mobility.MethodsWe analyzed data from a population-based case-control study of childhood leukemia using cases who were born in California and diagnosed between 1988 and 2008 and birth certificate controls. We used stratified logistic regression, case-only analysis, and propensity-score adjustments to assess predictors of residential mobility between birth and diagnosis, and account for potential confounding due to residential mobility.ResultsChildren who moved tended to be older, lived in housing other than single-family homes, had younger mothers and fewer siblings, and were of lower socioeconomic status. Odds ratios for leukemia among non-movers living <50 meters (m) from a 200+ kilovolt line (OR: 1.62; 95% CI: 0.72-3.65) and for calculated fields ≥ 0.4 microTesla (OR: 1.71; 95% CI: 0.65-4.52) were slightly higher than previously reported overall results. Adjustments for propensity scores based on all variables predictive of mobility, including dwelling type, increased odds ratios for leukemia to 2.61 (95% CI: 1.76-3.86) for living < 50 m from a 200 + kilovolt line and to 1.98 (1.11-3.52) for calculated fields. Individual or propensity-score adjustments for all variables, except dwelling type, did not materially change the estimates of power line exposures on childhood leukemia.ConclusionThe residential mobility of childhood leukemia cases varied by several sociodemographic characteristics, but not by the distance to the nearest power line or calculated magnetic fields. Mobility appears to be an unlikely explanation for the associations observed between power lines exposure and childhood leukemia

Analysis of the genetic variability of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) in the Yurimáguas region, Peru, using molecular RAPD markers

Molecular markers were used to verify the existence of one or more primitive peach palm landraces, including Pampa Hermosa, in the microregion near Yurimáguas, Peru. This region provides the highest amount of seeds for peach palm heart agribusinesses in Brazil. In this analysis, we used 120 peach palm plants (Bactris gasipaes var. gasipaes) from four river basins around Yurimáguas. We used six primers, generating 73 RAPD markers. The heterozygosity ranged from 0.29 to 0.31, with a mean of 0.32, and the percentage of polymorphism ranged from 80.8 to 86.6, with a mean of 90.4. The dendrogram, based on Jaccard Similarity, presented eight groups, but it did not present groups formed by the water basins. The average gene flow was high, ranging from 11.41 to 18.89, as expected for populations within a same landrace. The analysis of the genetic diversity in this set of plants showed a common genetic basis among the plants. Nei's Genetic Distances were low, varying between 0.012 and 0.027. This suggests that such populations are very similar to each other, and that there is only one landrace in the region. Therefore, we propose the existence of only one landrace in the Yurimáguas region and the name "Pampa Hermosa" should be adopted. © 2018 Cientifica. All rights reserved

Conservation implications of the mating system of the Pampa Hermosa landrace of peach palm analyzed with microsatellite markers

Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) is cultivated by many indigenous and traditional communities from Amazonia to Central America for its edible fruits, and is currently important for its heart-of-palm. The objective of this study was to investigate the mating system of peach palm, as this is important for conservation and breeding. Eight microsatellite loci were used to genotype 24 open-pollinated progenies from three populations of the Pampa Hermosa landrace maintained in a progeny trial for genetic improvement. Both the multi-locus outcrossing rates (0.95 to 0.99) and the progeny level multi-locus outcrossing rates (0.9 to 1.0) were high, indicating that peach palm is predominantly allogamous. The outcrossing rates among relatives were significantly different from zero (0.101 to 0.202), providing evidence for considerable biparental inbreeding within populations, probably due to farmers planting seeds of a small number of open-pollinated progenies in the same plot. The correlations of paternity estimates were low (0.051 to 0.112), suggesting a large number of pollen sources (9 to 20) participating in pollination of individual fruit bunches. Effective population size estimates suggest that current germplasm collections are insufficient for long-term ex situ conservation. As with most underutilized crops, on farm conservation is the most important component of an integrated conservation strategy. © 2015, Sociedade Brasileira de Genética. Printed in Brazil

Critical Currents and Vortex States at Fractional Matching Fields in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning

We study vortex states and dynamics in 2D superconductors with periodic pinning at fractional sub-matching fields using numerical simulations. For square pinning arrays we show that ordered states form at 1/1, 1/2, and 1/4 filling fractions while only partially ordered states form at other filling fractions, such as 1/3 and 1/5, in agreement with recent imaging experiments. For triangular pinning arrays we observe matching effects at filling fractions of 1/1, 6/7, 2/3, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, and 1/7. For both square and triangular pinning arrays we also find that, for certian sub-matching fillings, vortex configurations depend on pinning strength. For weak pinning, ordering in which a portion of the vortices are positioned between pinning sites can occur. Depinning of the vortices at the matching fields, where the vortices are ordered, is elastic while at the incommensurate fields the motion is plastic. At the incommensurate fields, as the applied driving force is increased, there can be a transition to elastic flow where the vortices move along the pinning sites in 1D channels and a reordering transition to a triangular or distorted triangular lattice. We also discuss the current-voltage curves and how they relate to the vortex ordering at commensurate and incommensurate fields.Comment: 14 figure

NMR and NQR Fluctuation Effects in Layered Superconductors

We study the effect of thermal fluctuations of the s-wave order parameter of a quasi two dimensional superconductor on the nuclear spin relaxation rate near the transition temperature Tc. We consider both the effects of the amplitude fluctuations and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase fluctuations in weakly coupled layered superconductors. In the treatment of the amplitude fluctuations we employ the Gaussian approximation and evaluate the longitudinal relaxation rate 1/T1 for a clean s-wave superconductor, with and without pair breaking effects, using the static pair fluctuation propagator D. The increase in 1/T1 due to pair breaking in D is overcompensated by the decrease arising from the single particle Green's functions. The result is a strong effect on 1/T1 for even a small amount of pair breaking. The phase fluctuations are described in terms of dynamical BKT excitations in the form of pancake vortex-antivortex (VA) pairs. We calculate the effect of the magnetic field fluctuations caused by the translational motion of VA excitations on 1/T1 and on the transverse relaxation rate 1/T2 on both sides of the BKT transitation temperature T(BKT)<Tc. The results for the NQR relaxation rates depend strongly on the diffusion constant that governs the motion of free and bound vortices as well as the annihilation of VA pairs. We discuss the relaxation rates for real multilayer systems where the diffusion constant can be small and thus increase the lifetime of a VA pair, leading to an enhancement of the rates. We also discuss in some detail the experimental feasibility of observing the effects of amplitude fluctuations in layered s-wave superconductors such as the dichalcogenides and the effects of phase fluctuations in s- or d-wave superconductors such as the layered cuprates.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figure

Dynamic perfluorinated gas MRI reveals abnormal ventilation despite normal FEV1 in cystic fibrosis

We hypothesized that dynamic perfluorinated gas MRI would sensitively detect mild cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. This cross-sectional study enrolled 20 healthy volunteers and 24 stable subjects with CF, including a subgroup of subjects with normal forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1; &gt;80% predicted, n = 9). Dynamic fluorine-19–enhanced MRI (19F MRI) were acquired during sequential breath holds while breathing perfluoropropane (PFP) and during gas wash-out. Outcomes included the fraction of lung without significant ventilation (ventilation defect percent, VDP) and time constants that described PFP wash-in and wash-out kinetics. VDP values (mean ± SD) of healthy controls (3.87% ± 2.7%) were statistically different from moderate CF subjects (19.5% ± 15.5%, P = 0.001) but not from mild CF subjects (10.4% ± 9.9%, P = 0.24). In contrast, the fractional lung volume with slow gas wash-out was elevated both in subjects with mild (9.61% ± 4.87%; P = 0.0066) and moderate CF (16.01% ± 5.01%; P = 0.0002) when compared with healthy controls (3.84% ± 2.16%) and distinguished mild from moderate CF (P = 0.006). 19F MRI detected significant ventilation abnormalities in subjects with CF. The ability of gas wash-out kinetics to distinguish between healthy and mild CF lung disease subjects makes 19F MRI a potentially valuable method for the characterization of early lung disease in CF

Effects of clarithromycin at sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations on early ermB gene expression, metabolic activity and growth of an erm(B)-expressing macrolide-resistant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae

AIM: To investigate the effects of exposure of a macrolide-resistant [erm(B)-expressing] strain of Streptococcus pneumo- niae (strain 2507) to clarithromycin (0.5 and 5 mg/L) added at the outset and 6 hours after initiation of culture on early gene expression, energy metabolism, and growth. METHODS: Bacterial growth was determined by turbidometric and colony counting procedures, energy metabolism by measurement of ATP, while analysis of gene expression was per- formed using reverse transcription-PCR and sequencing. RESULTS: Addition of clarithromycin, at either concentration, at the outset of culture, caused transient suppression of growth of 10 - 12 hours duration, while delayed addition of antibi-otic (during the logarithmic phase) resulted in an abrupt halt in growth followed by recovery. These inhibitory effects of clarithromycin on bacterial growth were associated with up-regulation of expression of erm(B), decreased ATP and protein synthesis, and were unaffected by inclusion of either catalase (500 and 1000 kunits/L), or compe- tence-stimulating peptide (CSP-1, 0.5 mg/L). The inhibitory effects could, however, be overcome by pre-exposure of the bacteria to the antibiotic. Moreover, clarithromycin appeared to potentiate the antimicrobial actions of ceftriaxone, at sub-MIC concentrations, for strain 2507. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike several other common bacterial pathogens, the full expression of erm(B)-mediated macrolide resistance by the pneumococcus has a slow onset, which is associated with transient susceptibility to macrolides and inhibition of growth.CF is supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojr