Development of a Control Strategy to Reduce the Start-up Delay for Autonomous Heavy Trucks

Trucks generally possess a lower level of acceleration, and the start-up delay by trucks exacerbates the signalized intersections’ performance. To mitigate the impact of start-up delay, this study proposes a vehicle-specific stop point and pre-start time for the signalized intersection, which will be referred to as advanced stop point and prior start time (ASP-PST) traffic control system. It utilizes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications between the signal controller and heavy trucks. The heavy truck starts from a faraway upstream point but before the green light starts. This study provides an analytical solution for the ASP-PST traffic control that allows the heavy truck will reach a targeted location and time with a targeted speed. This innovative system has the potential to improve the efficiency and throughput of intersections, including the smooth passing of heavy trucks. Further, it enables dynamic speed harmonization in trucks and passenger vehicles mixed traffic. Results reveal that the ASP-PST traffic control performs well in various network environments. It reduced the travel time (up to 50%) while creating coordinated platoons with uniformly spaced gaps in our case study network under all tested demand patterns

Utilization of membrane systems in beer processing

Beer is the most consumed beverage after tea, carbonates, milk and coffee in the world and it continues to be a popular drink. One of the important reason for its popularity is that beer is a drink with a pleasant flavor, an attractive color and also because of its clarity. So, Membrane separation technology has become widely used in the food processing industryto attain these characteristics.As advantages of membrane filtration are included maintainingdissolved macromolecules that give the beer its flavor and functional properties while causes removal of yeast cells and turbidity colloids and also, reducing the components that cause turbidity of the bottled beer.Because of the potential of cross-flow microfiltration as a separation method for brewery, it has been investigated in the many of recent studies. Clarification of rough beer (RB) and pasteurization of clarified beer (CB) are as an application of cross-flow microfiltration (CFMF) in brewery. An important limitation in the performance of membrane processes is the fouling mechanism and the general effect of these phenomena, known as concentration polarization have described briefly in this review article. Moreover, the influence of important parameters in the filtration process such as temperature, pressure,type of membrane, pore size and the use of stamped membrane have been discussed.

Body size and digestive system shape resource selection by ungulates : a cross-taxa test of the forage maturation hypothesis

The forage maturation hypothesis (FMH) states that energy intake for ungulates is maximised when forage biomass is at intermediate levels. Nevertheless, metabolic allometry and different digestive systems suggest that resource selection should vary across ungulate species. By combining GPS relocations with remotely sensed data on forage characteristics and surface water, we quantified the effect of body size and digestive system in determining movements of 30 populations of hindgut fermenters (equids) and ruminants across biomes. Selection for intermediate forage biomass was negatively related to body size, regardless of digestive system. Selection for proximity to surface water was stronger for equids relative to ruminants, regardless of body size. To be more generalisable, we suggest that the FMH explicitly incorporate contingencies in body size and digestive system, with small-bodied ruminants selecting more strongly for potential energy intake, and hindgut fermenters selecting more strongly for surface water.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The dataset used in our analyses is available via Dryad repository (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jsxksn09f) following a year-long embargo from publication of the manuscript. The coordinates associated with mountain zebra data are not provided in an effort to protect critically endangered black rhino (Diceros bicornis) locations. Interested researchers can contact the data owner (Minnesota Zoo) directly for inquiries.https://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/elehj2022Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog

Human dimensions of wildlife conservation in Iran: Assessment of human-wildlife conflict in restoring a wide-ranging endangered species.

Human-wildlife conflicts restrict conservation efforts, especially for wide-ranging animals whose home ranges overlap with human activities. We conducted a study to understand conflicts with, and factors influencing the perceived value of an expanding population of onagers (Equus hemionus onager) in local communities in southern Iran. We asked about locals' perceptions of six potential management strategies intended to lessen human-onager conflict. We found that human-onager conflict was restricted to 45% of respondents within the Bahram-e-Goor Protected Area, all of whom were involved in farming or herding activities. Locals within the protected area were more knowledgeable about onagers and valued onagers more than those living outside the protected area. The perceived value of onagers increased with level of education, total annual income, and perceptions of onager population trends; the perceived value of onagers decreased with the magnitude of conflict between onagers and locals. To tolerate or avoid conflicts with onagers, locals were supportive of monetary compensation and changing from a traditional lifestyle to industrialized farming (for farmers) or livestock production (for herders) with the help of government; locals did not support selling land to the government. Our study is among the first in human-wildlife conflict and local attitudes towards an endangered species and its recovery in Iran. We conclude that current levels of human-onager conflict are relatively low and perceived value of onagers is still relatively high. Therefore, wildlife authorities should consider the development of mitigation strategies with local communities before conflicts intensify

Causes, consequences, and conservation of ungulate migration

Our understanding of ungulate migration is advancing rapidly due to innovations in modern animal tracking. Herein, we review and synthesize nearly seven decades of work on migration and other long-distance movements of wild ungulates. Although it has long been appreciated that ungulates migrate to enhance access to forage, recent contributions demonstrate that their movements are fine tuned to dynamic landscapes where forage, snow, and drought change seasonally. Researchers are beginning to understand how ungulates navigate migrations, with the emerging view that animals blend gradient tracking with spatial memory, some of which is socially learned. Although migration often promotes abundant populations—with broad effects on ecosystems—many migrations around the world have been lost or are currently threatened by habitat fragmentation, climate change, and barriers to movement. Fortunately, new efforts that use empirical tracking data to map migrations in detail are facilitating effective conservation measures to maintain ungulate migration. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 52 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates