Traffic flow in a Manhattan-like urban system

In this paper, a cellular automaton model of vehicular traffic in Manhattan-like urban system is proposed. In this model, the origin-destination trips and traffic lights have been considered. The system exhibits three different states, i.e., moving state, saturation state and global deadlock state. With a grid coarsening method, vehicle distribution in the moving state and the saturation state has been studied. Interesting structures (e.g., windmill-like one, T-shirt-like one, Y-like one) have been revealed. A metastability of the system is observed in the transition from saturation state to global deadlock state. The effect of advanced traveller information system (ATIS), the traffic light period, and the traffic light switch strategy have also been investigated.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Onchocerca volvulus transmission in the Mbam valley of Cameroon following 16 years of annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin, and the description of a new cytotype of Simulium squamosum

Background: The onchocerciasis focus surrounding the lower Mbam and Sanaga rivers, where Onchocerca volvulus is transmitted by Simulium damnosum s.l. (Diptera: Simuliidae), was historically the largest in the southern regions of Cameroon. Annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) has been taking place since 2000, but recent studies have shown that new infections are occurring in children. We aimed to investigate blackfly biting and O. volvulus transmission rates along the lower Mbam river 16 years after the formal onset of annual CDTI. Methods: Black flies were collected for three consecutive days each month between July 2016 and June 2017 at two riverside villages and two inland sites situated 4.9 km and 7.9 km from the riverside. Specimens collected at each site were dissected on one of the three collection days each month to estimate parity rates and O. volvulus infection rates, while the remaining samples were preserved for pool screening. Results: In total, 93,573 S. damnosum s.l. black flies were recorded biting humans and 9281 were dissected. Annual biting rates of up to 606,370 were estimated at the riverside, decreasing to 20,540 at 7.9 km, while, based on dissections, annual transmission potentials of up to 4488 were estimated at the riverside, decreasing to 102 and 0 at 4.9 km and 7.9 km, respectively. However, pool screening showed evidence of infection in black flies at the furthest distance from the river. Results of both methods demonstrated the percentage of infective flies to be relatively low (0.10–0.36%), but above the WHO threshold for interruption of transmission. In addition, a small number of larvae collected during the dry season revealed the presence of Simulium squamosum E. This is the first time S. squamosum E has been found east of Lake Volta in Ghana, but our material was chromosomally distinctive, and we call it S. squamosum E2. Conclusions: Relatively low O. volvulus infection rates appear to be offset by extremely high densities of biting black flies which are sustaining transmission along the banks of the lower Mbam river. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.

FUSION OF AIRBORNE AND TERRESTRIAL IMAGE-BASED 3D MODELLING FOR ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT – VISION AND FIRST EXPERIMENTS

In this paper we present the vision and proof of concept of a seamless image-based 3d modelling approach fusing airborne and mobile terrestrial imagery. The proposed fusion relies on dense stereo matching for extracting 3d point clouds which – in combination with the original airborne and terrestrial stereo imagery – create a rich 3d geoinformation and 3d measuring space. For the seamless exploitation of this space we propose using a new virtual globe technology integrating the airborne and terrestrial stereoscopic imagery with the derived 3d point clouds. The concept is applied to road and road infrastructure management and evaluated in a highway mapping project combining stereovision based mobile mapping with high-resolution multispectral airborne road corridor mapping using the new Leica RCD30 sensor

Selenspiegel bei Glaukompatienten: eine Pilotstudie.

Hintergrund Spurenelemente können über oxidativen Stress vermittelte molekulare Interaktionen in die Pathogenese der Glaukomerkrankung eingreifen. Vor allem für das Spurenelement Selen (Se) wird eine Mitbeteiligung postuliert. Der Selengehalt im Serum wird unter anderem über die Ernährung gesteuert und unterliegt damit kulturellen und ethnischen Variabilitäten. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, den Serumselenspiegel bei Patienten mit primärem Offenwinkelglaukom (pOWG) im Vergleich zu einer Kontrollgruppe zu analysieren. Diese Ergebnisse der vorliegenden deutschen Kohorte wurden auf mögliche Alters- und Gendereffekte hin untersucht sowie ins Verhältnis zu der bislang einzig beschriebenen Kohorte in den US gesetzt. Material und Methoden Die Selenkonzentration wurde von 39 Serumproben (22 pOWG, 17 Kontrollen) anhand der Inductively coupled Plasma-sector Field Mass Spectrometry (ICP-sf-MS) analysiert. Die statistische Analyse umfasste eine Kovarianz-, Perzentilenregressions-, Alters- und Genderanalyse. Ergebnisse Die Serumselenkonzentration (Ls-mean) betrug 134,86 µg/l für Patienten mit pOWG und 132,02 µg/l für die Kontrollgruppe. Der Serumselengehalt zwischen diesen beiden Gruppen zeigte keinen signifikanten Unterschied (p > 0,05). Jedoch war ein dezenter Alters- und Gendereffekt zu beobachten. Die Quantilanalyse erbrachte eine Reduktion der 1. Serumselenquantile mit ansteigendem Alter bei den Patienten mit pOWG im Gegensatz zu den Kontrollprobanden. Die Odds Ratio der 1. Quantile betrug 1,3 (jeweils in Bezug zur 2. und 3. Quantile). Zusammenfassung Der Serumselengehalt von Patienten mit pOWG zeigte sich als ca. halb so hoch wie der publizierte Wert der US-Literaturkohorte (Glaukom 209,11 ng/ml; Kontrolle 194,45 ng/ml). Zusätzlich war ein leichter Alters- und Gendereffekt zu beobachten