Madison County, Kentucky Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Analysis

The results of a commodity flow analysis of hazardous materials for KY Highway 21 (KY-0021) and KY Highway 627 (KY-0627) conducted by Western Kentucky University, in partnership with the Madison County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), are presented within this report. This report specifically focuses on the portions of these highways located in Madison County, Kentucky. Figure 1.1 shows the location of Madison County in relationship to the state of Kentucky. The purpose of this report is to present information regarding the patterns of hazardous materials transportation along KY-0021 and KY-0627 as observed from August 4, 2014 through August 15, 2014. This report also provides an analysis of incidents involving hazardous materials over the period of 2005 through 2014 in Madison County. Finally, this report summarizes these observations and provides recommendations based on these observations. The commodity flow analysis was necessary in order to provide the Madison County LEPC with information about hazardous materials transport patterns so that they can better prepare for potential incidents and releases of hazardous materials along KY-0021 and KY-0627. Analysis of hazmat incidents in Madison County provided an evaluation of significant hotspots where further risk assessments should be conducted. The data collected will assist in the emergency planning process by providing valuable information about frequently observed hazardous materials within the duration of the study

A Qualitative Study of the Transition from High School to University Chemistry

The transition from high school to university chemistry varies from student to student, and is likely to affect their future performance in university. This study is intended to determine the factors affecting success for students enrolled in first-year chemistry courses at the University of Toronto. As part of a larger project, semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted and students were encouraged to discuss their transition. The interviews were then coded according to six broader categories for comments related to high school and seven broader categories for comments related to university. The broader categories were further divided into more specific sub-categories which were given a score ranging from strongly negative to strongly positive based on the students’ comments. The results were graphed according to the overall score obtained by a category. The categories that scored highly and further analysis of the underlying sub-categories indicated that student study skills developed through evaluations in high school such as tests and labs were inadequate to cope with the increase in workload and change of evaluation style in University. As part of the same project, results from the Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) survey were statistically analyzed to provide further insight. Interviews were used to clarify discrepancies in student responses to survey questions concerning time management and organized study methods. The ASSIST data concerns study skills in an in-depth manner

Madison County, Kentucky Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Analysis

This report presents the results of a Commodity Flow Analysis of Hazardous Materials for Interstate-75 (I-75) (North and South Bound lanes) conducted by Western Kentucky University in partnership with the Madison County (Kentucky) Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). The only Kentucky County within the study area is Madison County as shown in Figure 1.1. The purpose of report is to give information on patterns of hazardous materials being transported along I-75 as observed from July 25th 2011 to August 5th 2011. A secondary purpose is to summarize incidents involving hazardous materials over the previous 6 years (January 2006 – June 2011). Finally, this report assesses survey information collected from fixed facilities that ship and receive hazardous materials in the I-75 highway. Commodity flow analysis is necessary in order for the LEPC to prepare for future hazardous material releases that may occur along this section of I-75. Data collected from this study will aid the emergency planning process for specific hazardous materials that were observed to frequent the study area during the study period

Affective Scene Generation

A new technique for generating virtual environments is proposed, whereby the user describes the environment that they wish to create using adjectives. An entire scene is then procedurally generated, based on the mapping of these adjectives to the parameter space of the procedural models used. This mapping is determined through a pre-process, during which the user is presented with a number of scenes and asked to describe them using adjectives. With such a technique, the ability to create complex virtual environments is extended to users with little or no technical knowledge, and additionally provides a means for experienced users to quickly generate a large, complex environment which can then be modified by hand