An Exploratory Survey of Drivers’ Knowledge of Right of Way at Freeway On-ramp Merging Areas

Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The most recent data available show that in 2006 there were almost 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States where a total of 42,642 people were killed and an additional 2.6 million were injured. The majority of these motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections or within the intersection influence areas. Traffic conflicts occur at intersections due to traffic streams moving in different directions interfering with each other, and as a result they become areas with high potential for traffic crashes compared with non-intersection areas of the roadways. In order to reduce the potential conflict points, access to a freeway is only provided through gradeseparated intersection ramps (also known as interchanges). Freeways play a major role in providing mobility due to their high operational speeds and their being fully access controlled. Like other intersections, freeway-ramp areas have also been identified as locations highly prone to crashes as compared to other segments of freeways. A number of studies have been conducted to determine the causes and characteristics of crashes that occur at freeway ramps in order to devise and apply preventive countermeasures to reduce the occurrences of such crashes. Most of these studies have focused on developing and calibrating factors that contribute to traffic crash occurrences such as highway geometry, traffic volume, ramp location, and type of interchange. Other studies analyzed the type and patterns of crashes on urban freeways. For instance, a study by McCartt et al highlighted types and characteristics of ramp-related crashes, which showed that the type of crashes that occur at entrance ramps and exiting ramps are generally different. The most common type of crashes at exit ramps involve vehicles running-off the road while speeding. For the entrance ramps, sideswipe and cut-off crash types are the most frequent ones, with lack of yielding of right of way involving merging drivers from entrance ramps identified as a major cause. What is not clear, however, is whether at-fault merging drivers (from entrance ramps) know who had a right of way at the freeway merging area. In the present study, we assumed that most of these atfault drivers think that they have a right of way over drivers already on mainlines. To date, we have not found any study that has examined the factors that influence on-ramp merging drivers not yielding the right of way to freeway mainline traffic. In particular, the contribution of drivers’ knowledge of who has the right of way at the freeway-entrance ramp merge area has not been addressed. By determining what drivers know about right of way at the freeway merge area, including their driving actions, appropriate countermeasures such as education, engineering, and legislative actions can be implemented as future crash countermeasures. In addition, some states’ driver’s license testing handbooks inform new drivers to accelerate at on-ramps to attain the freeway mainline speed. This is also in accordance with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines whereby auxiliary (acceleration) lanes are provided in order to minimally affect the through traffic operations. Normally no yield sign is needed for ramps having standard-length acceleration lanes. The abovementioned reasons may also cause some on-ramp merging drivers to think that they share equally the right of way with the mainline traffic; this misconception may be one of the contributing causes of collisions at on-ramp merging areas. Furthermore, traffic safety studies acknowledge that certain demographic factors contribute to most of the motor vehicle crashes. For instance, gender and age differences in traffic crash involvement are well documented. The youngest and oldest drivers are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle crashes; similarly, younger males are more likely than younger females to be involved in motor vehicle crashes. On the other hand, females older than 50 years of age are more likely than the same age males to be involved in fatal crashes. Specifically, half of fatal crashes involving old drivers (80 years and older) tend to occur at intersections, and young drivers (16–25 years old) have a risk of being involved in traffic crashes to the order of 2.5 times higher than that of other drivers. Therefore, in the present study, we assumed that gender and age will be associated with drivers’ knowledge of freeway merging areas’ right of way. Particularly, the objective of this paper is twofold: to explore the knowledge of drivers concerning who has the right of way between the one on mainline lanes of a freeway and the one entering the freeway through the on-ramp junction lane and to explore the drivers’ actions when driving in the vicinity of freeway-entrance ramp merge areas, whether driving on the freeway mainline lanes or entering through the ramp junction lanes

Turbulent Natural Convection in an Enclosure at Varying Aspect Ratio

Energy transfer mechanism in most technical flows is through turbulent natural convection due to low viscosity of the fluids used in technical applications. Consequently, there is need to establish the parameters that influence the flow field of turbulent flow regime in order to enhance the energy-efficacy of many thermal applications. In order to establish the influence of the geometrical configuration of the flow domain on the flow field, we obtain and analyze the distribution of the velocity and temperature fields of a Boussinesq buoyancy-driven turbulent flow field in a locally heated and cooled enclosure for while maintaining the Rayleigh number of the flow at . To filter out the enormous turbulent scales inherent in the turbulent flow regime, we decompose the flow variables present in the instantaneous equations governing a viscous Boussinesq buoyant flow and subject the resulting equations to the Reynolds averaging process to obtain equations that governs the turbulent flow field. We resolve the turbulent quantities emanating from this process using the  turbulence model coupled with the Boussinesq approximation. To ensure the satisfaction of the conservation laws at the discrete level and over the entire solution domain, the non-dimensionalized equations are discretized using the robust finite volume method. The method possesses the ability to adapt a grid structure that captures the local features of the flow domain and imposes the integral form of the governing equations to each finite volume of the discretized solution domain so that the final mathematical formulation has an intimate connection to the actual physical situation. Since the equations are coupled, a segregated pressure-based iterative method is used to obtain the solution. The results revealed that the velocity and temperature fields are non-uniformly distributed in the enclosure and their magnitude and distribution significantly depend on the Aspect ratio of the enclosure. The results are consistent with the experimental results of Markatos and Pericleous (Markatos & Pericleous, 1984). Keywords: Aspect Ratio, Boussinesq, Buoyancy, Natural Convection, Reynolds Stresses, Turbulent heat flux

Hydrogen bond networks facilitate the conversion of aliphatic aldehydes in the charged active site of S. cerevisiae transketolase

Naturally, transketolase (TK, E.C. 2.2.1.1) catalyzes asymmetric C-C bond formation in glycolysis derived metabolites to afford carbohydrates for nucleotide synthesis and the production of essential aromatic amino acids.[1] While results obtained earlier in our group showed that a decrease in active site polarity in S. cerevisiae transketolase was beneficial for the conversion of non-phosphorylated substrates,[2] the charged mutation D469E was counterintuitively found to promote the conversion of aliphatic aldehydes in E. coli transketolase.[3] Here we present a comparative study of the most beneficial single and double point mutants obtained from both reports for the conversion of aliphatic aldehydes using S. cerevisiae transketolase.[4] It was confirmed that a complete change of active site polarity is not required for the successful conversion of aliphatic aldehydes and surprisingly was found more beneficial than charge neutral mutations. These results were rationalized in docking studies, where a molecule of water was identified at the center of a hydrogen bond network, essential for substrate binding and correct orientation towards the cofactor, thus allowing the conversion of aliphatic aldehydes in the charged active site of transketolase. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Rapid automated measurement of body fat distribution from whole-body MRI

The accurate determination of a person’s total body fat is an important issue in medical analysis because obesity is a significant contributing factor to a variety of serious health problems. The medical literature identifies a wide range of diseases that are closely linked to obesity. Current methods of fat assessment are largely inaccurate, and most current methods of fat determination cannot show regional fat distribution, which is important in defining disease risk. We introduce a method that combines computer-aided techniques with whole-body MRI techniques and enables accurate quantification and visualization of total body fat burden and regional fat distribution. This technique may be important in identifying and treating at-risk populations

Turbulent Natural Convection in an Enclosure at Varying Rayleigh Number

Most fluids used in technical applications are of low viscosity; hence, fluid flows encountered in engineering applications are mostly turbulent. Parameters that influence the distribution of the flow field of turbulent flow regimes thus significantly affect the performance of many thermal systems. In this study, we analyze the distribution of the flow field of a Boussinesq buoyancy-driven turbulent airflow fo

The effect of SENATOR (Software ENgine for the Assessment and optimisation of drug and non-drug Therapy in Older peRsons) on incident adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in an older hospital cohort - Trial Protocol

Background: The aim of this trial is to evaluate the effect of SENATOR software on incident, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in older, multimorbid, hospitalized patients. The SENATOR software produces a report designed to optimize older patients' current prescriptions by applying the published STOPP and START criteria, highlighting drug-drug and drug-disease interactions and providing non-pharmacological recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of incident delirium. Methods: We will conduct a multinational, pragmatic, parallel arm Prospective Randomized Open-label, Blinded Endpoint (PROBE) controlled trial. Patients with acute illnesses are screened for recruitment within 48 h of arrival to hospital and enrolled if they meet the relevant entry criteria. Participants' medical history, current prescriptions, select laboratory tests, electrocardiogram, cognitive status and functional status are collected and entered into a dedicated trial database. Patients are individually randomized with equal allocation ratio. Randomization is stratified by site and medical versus surgical admission, and uses random block sizes. Patients randomized to either arm receive standard routine pharmaceutical clinical care as it exists in each site. Additionally, in the intervention arm an individualized SENATOR-generated medication advice report based on the participant's clinical and medication data is placed in their medical record and a senior medical staff member is requested to review it and adopt any of its recommendations that they judge appropriate. The trial's primary outcome is the proportion of patients experiencing at least one adjudicated probable or certain, non-trivial ADR, during the index hospitalization, assessed at 14 days post-randomization or at index hospital discharge if it occurs earlier. Potential ADRs are identified retrospectively by the site researchers who complete a Potential Endpoint Form (one per type of event) that is adjudicated by a blinded, expert committee. All occurrences of 12 pre-specified events, which represent the majority of ADRs, are reported to the committee along with other suspected ADRs. Participants are followed up 12 (+/- 4) weeks post-index hospital discharge to assess medication quality and healthcare utilization. This is the first clinical trial to examine the effectiveness of a software intervention on incident ADRs and associated healthcare costs during hospitalization in older people with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy

"On the Spot": travelling artists and Abolitionism, 1770-1830

Until recently the visual culture of Atlantic slavery has rarely been critically scrutinised. Yet in the first decades of the nineteenth century slavery was frequently represented by European travelling artists, often in the most graphic, sometimes voyeuristic, detail. This paper examines the work of several itinerant artists, in particular Augustus Earle (1793-1838) and Agostino Brunias (1730–1796), whose very mobility along the edges of empire was part of a much larger circulatory system of exchange (people, goods and ideas) and diplomacy that characterised Europe’s Age of Expansion. It focuses on the role of the travelling artist, and visual culture more generally, in the development of British abolitionism between 1770 and 1830. It discusses the broad circulation of slave imagery within European culture and argues for greater recognition of the role of such imagery in the abolitionist debates that divided Britain. Furthermore, it suggests that the epistemological authority conferred on the travelling artist—the quintessential eyewitness—was key to the rhetorical power of his (rarely her) images. Artists such as Earle viewed the New World as a boundless source of fresh material that could potentially propel them to fame and fortune. Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802-1858), on the other hand, was conscious of contributing to a global scientific mission, a Humboldtian imperative that by the 1820s propelled him and others to travel beyond the traditional itinerary of the Grand Tour. Some artists were implicated in the very fabric of slavery itself, particularly those in the British West Indies such as William Clark (working 1820s) and Richard Bridgens (1785-1846); others, particularly those in Brazil, expressed strong abolitionist sentiments. Fuelled by evangelical zeal to record all aspects of the New World, these artists recognised the importance of representing the harsh realities of slave life. Unlike those in the metropole who depicted slavery (most often in caustic satirical drawings), many travelling artists believed strongly in the evidential value of their images, a value attributed to their global mobility. The paper examines the varied and complex means by which visual culture played a significant and often overlooked role in the political struggles that beset the period

The United Kingdom and British Empire: A Figurational Approach

Drawing upon the work of Norbert Elias and the process [figurational] sociology perspective, this article examines how state formation processes are related to, and, affected by, expanding and declining chains of international interdependence. In contrast to civic and ethnic conceptions, this approach focuses on the emergence of the nation/nation-state as grounded in broader processes of historical and social development. In doing so, state formation processes within the United Kingdom are related to the expansion and decline of the British Empire. That is, by focusing on the functional dynamics that are embedded in collective groups, one is able to consider how the UK’s ‘state’ and ‘imperial’ figurations were interdependently related to changes in both the UK and the former British Empire. Consequently, by locating contemporary UK relations in the historical context of former imperial relationships, nationalism studies can go ‘beyond’ the nation/nation-state in order to include broader processes of imperial expansion and decline. Here, the relationship between empire and nationalism can offer a valuable insight into contemporary political movements, especially within former imperial groups

Fc-Optimized Anti-CD25 Depletes Tumor-Infiltrating Regulatory T Cells and Synergizes with PD-1 Blockade to Eradicate Established Tumors

CD25 is expressed at high levels on regulatory T (Treg) cells and was initially proposed as a target for cancer immunotherapy. However, anti-CD25 antibodies have displayed limited activity against established tumors. We demonstrated that CD25 expression is largely restricted to tumor-infiltrating Treg cells in mice and humans. While existing anti-CD25 antibodies were observed to deplete Treg cells in the periphery, upregulation of the inhibitory Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) IIb at the tumor site prevented intra-tumoral Treg cell depletion, which may underlie the lack of anti-tumor activity previously observed in pre-clinical models. Use of an anti-CD25 antibody with enhanced binding to activating FcγRs led to effective depletion of tumor-infiltrating Treg cells, increased effector to Treg cell ratios, and improved control of established tumors. Combination with anti-programmed cell death protein-1 antibodies promoted complete tumor rejection, demonstrating the relevance of CD25 as a therapeutic target and promising substrate for future combination approaches in immune-oncology

Atrasentan and renal events in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (SONAR): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Short-term treatment for people with type 2 diabetes using a low dose of the selective endothelin A receptor antagonist atrasentan reduces albuminuria without causing significant sodium retention. We report the long-term effects of treatment with atrasentan on major renal outcomes. Methods: We did this double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial at 689 sites in 41 countries. We enrolled adults aged 18–85 years with type 2 diabetes, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)25–75 mL/min per 1·73 m 2 of body surface area, and a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR)of 300–5000 mg/g who had received maximum labelled or tolerated renin–angiotensin system inhibition for at least 4 weeks. Participants were given atrasentan 0·75 mg orally daily during an enrichment period before random group assignment. Those with a UACR decrease of at least 30% with no substantial fluid retention during the enrichment period (responders)were included in the double-blind treatment period. Responders were randomly assigned to receive either atrasentan 0·75 mg orally daily or placebo. All patients and investigators were masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was a composite of doubling of serum creatinine (sustained for ≥30 days)or end-stage kidney disease (eGFR <15 mL/min per 1·73 m 2 sustained for ≥90 days, chronic dialysis for ≥90 days, kidney transplantation, or death from kidney failure)in the intention-to-treat population of all responders. Safety was assessed in all patients who received at least one dose of their assigned study treatment. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01858532. Findings: Between May 17, 2013, and July 13, 2017, 11 087 patients were screened; 5117 entered the enrichment period, and 4711 completed the enrichment period. Of these, 2648 patients were responders and were randomly assigned to the atrasentan group (n=1325)or placebo group (n=1323). Median follow-up was 2·2 years (IQR 1·4–2·9). 79 (6·0%)of 1325 patients in the atrasentan group and 105 (7·9%)of 1323 in the placebo group had a primary composite renal endpoint event (hazard ratio [HR]0·65 [95% CI 0·49–0·88]; p=0·0047). Fluid retention and anaemia adverse events, which have been previously attributed to endothelin receptor antagonists, were more frequent in the atrasentan group than in the placebo group. Hospital admission for heart failure occurred in 47 (3·5%)of 1325 patients in the atrasentan group and 34 (2·6%)of 1323 patients in the placebo group (HR 1·33 [95% CI 0·85–2·07]; p=0·208). 58 (4·4%)patients in the atrasentan group and 52 (3·9%)in the placebo group died (HR 1·09 [95% CI 0·75–1·59]; p=0·65). Interpretation: Atrasentan reduced the risk of renal events in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease who were selected to optimise efficacy and safety. These data support a potential role for selective endothelin receptor antagonists in protecting renal function in patients with type 2 diabetes at high risk of developing end-stage kidney disease. Funding: AbbVie