COMPARING THE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS WITH EXCLUSIVE AND CONCURRENT PEDESTRIAN PHASE OPERATIONS CONSIDERING PEDESTRIAN NON-COMPLIANCE

Intersections are a critical location for pedestrian safety and also have a role in traffic operational efficiency. To improve pedestrian safety, the Exclusive Pedestrian Phase (EPP) was developed in the 1960s, which adds a phase entirely for pedestrian movements without any conflict with vehicles. The EPP is believed to be the safest type of pedestrian protection and has been installed in many places instead of Concurrent Pedestrian Phase (CPP). CPP allows pedestrians to cross in parallel to moving vehicles which allows conflicts between turning vehicles and pedestrians. The research hypothesis was to explore whether EPP has encouraged pedestrian non-compliance (crossing without the walk signal) and conflicting pedestrians (crossing in the direct path of a vehicle) or not and what the impact of such behavior is on vehicular intersection delay. This pedestrian behavior may lead to a less safe situation for pedestrians. The research compared 8 pairs of intersections representing both EPP and CPP operations, which were selected based on similar area type and intersection geometry. The intersections selected were in the Pittsburgh urban area with one lane approaches and simple two-phase or three-phase traffic signal operations. Pedestrian crossings were observed and classified at those intersections, which provided the number of non-compliant and conflicting pedestrian’s movements. Four of the 16 intersections with EPP, in four different land use types, were then analyzed using the traffic simulation tool Synchro. The results of the analysis revealed the impact of non-compliant crossings on intersection vehicular delay. Analysis of the intersections was done in Synchro for different cases by modifying current pedestrian behavior, which provided a comparison of intersections delays for compliant and non-compliant crossings and the conversion of operations to CPP. The research findings, based on the field observations, were that non-compliant crossings were significantly higher for all of the intersections with EPP when compared to similar CPP intersections. For these highly non-compliant EPP crossing intersections, changes in intersection delay was simulated under the condition of compliant behavior and delay was found to decrease slightly. Another case of total conflicting behavior of pedestrians with EPP was also simulated and intersection delay also increased. However, when the conversion of an intersection operation from EPP to CPP was modeled, delay decreased by more than 50%, even with a very high number of conflicting pedestrians. In summary, it was found that intersections with EPP encourages pedestrian non-compliance behavior which also increases intersection delay. Even if pedestrian behavior was altered, to be more compliant, the delays would not be changed significantly. However, when an EPP intersection is converted to CPP operations, delays decreased significantly, and intersection operations improved. This could also result in improved pedestrian safety because pedestrian crossing compliance is much higher at intersections with CPP, as revealed by the research

Using Traffic Impact Fees to Fund Alternative Transportation Projects and Impact Modal Choice in Urban Areas

The purpose of this research was to determine if focusing traffic impact fees on alternative mode capital improvement projects would this result in the enhancement of the transit, bicycle and pedestrian systems in an urban area. Alternative mode transportation projects are defined as improvements to the transit, pedestrian and bicycle facilities in a transportation network. Based upon a review of the literature, there have been relatively few attempts to use traffic impacts fees to fund alternative transportation mode projects. Traffic impact fees have traditionally been used to fund capacity adding transportation projects to mitigate the impact of growth. The research involved development of a limited contact base of government agencies that have used impact fees to fund alternative transportation projects. This contact base and interviews with experts in this field, gave a perspective of the limited use of these fees currently. A national survey of transportation planners and engineers, who work with government agencies and administer traffic impact fees, was also conducted. One purpose of this survey was to further determine if impact fees are used to fund alternative mode projects and how they are implemented. This survey identified alternative mode enhancements, such as pedestrian and transit facilities that are funded by impact fees and the methods of project selection and measuring effectiveness. A transportation planning model developed for the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was used to test the effectiveness of alternative mode projects enhancements in an urban transportation network. The model evaluated a significant long-range program of transportation alternative mode enhancements. Measures of effectiveness that were outputs of the model (e.g., average travel speeds, congested links and number of transit trips), were compared in the future no-build and build conditions to determine the impacts on the transportation network. The model results revealed some positive and negative impacts on future travel conditions due to implementation of these alternative mode projects. The results included a positive impact on the roadway system performance by projecting a 7% reduction in total distance traveled in the roadway network. A negative impact, which was an increase in average travel distance, was also a result. Potential revenues from the impact fee were estimated based upon the long-range projected growth in the City of Pittsburgh. The projected revenues were compared to the cost of the alternative mode projects to determine the financial feasibility of using impact fees for this purpose. The results of this work revealed a limited positive impact in overall congestion measures in the City of Pittsburgh, maintenance of expected travel characteristics and a minimum revenue realization compared to transportation project costs. However, employing impact fees as a revenue source for alternative mode enhancements is worth exploring further. One consideration for further research would be concentrating their use in a specific urban neighborhood or corridor which may result in more focused results relative to convincing travelers to shift modes or generally enhancing the transportation travel characteristics of an urban area

Emotions and the Phenomenal Grasping of Epistemic Blameworthiness

Typically, it is thought that if the comparative coolness of epistemic judgment is a problem for the defense of epistemic blameworthiness, this is because of some essential role that emotions play in blame itself. In this paper, I argue that even if blame does not require emotion, there remains an important tension between the claims that we are epistemically blameworthy for our epistemic failings and the claim that epistemic judgment is generally unemotional. I argue that, in the moral case, regardless of one’s account of moral blame, the moral blaming emotions allow us to phenomenally grasp propositions about moral blameworthiness and so to appreciate its significance in an important way. If epistemic judgment is emotionally cool, then we lack this mode of access to facts about epistemic blameworthiness and, I argue, are therefore unable to phenomenally grasp them. This would put pressure on defenders of epistemic blameworthiness to consider more carefully the question of whether epistemic blame does sometimes involve blaming emotions and to provide a picture of what those kinds of emotional responses typically look like

Emotion, Epistemic Assessability, and Double Intentionality

Emotions seem to be epistemically assessable: fear of an onrushing truck is epistemically justified whereas, mutatis mutandis, fear of a peanut rolling on the floor is not. But there is a difficulty in understanding why emotions are epistemically assessable. It is clear why beliefs, for instance, are epistemically assessable: epistemic assessability is, arguably, assessability with respect to likely truth, and belief is by its nature concerned with truth; truth is, we might say, belief’s “formal object.” Emotions, however, have formal objects different from truth: the formal object of fear is danger, the formal object of indignation is injustice, and so on. Why, then, are emotions epistemically assessable too? Here we make a negative claim and a positive claim. On the negative side, we consider how cognitivist and perceptualist accounts of emotion may respond to this challenge, and argue against those responses. On the positive side, we develop an alternative picture of the domain of the epistemically evaluable, according to which any mental state which is constitutively evidence-responsive is epistemically assessable, regardless of whether its formal object is truth

The association of proBNPage with manifestations of age-related cardiovascular, physical, and psychological impairment in community-dwelling older adults

NT-proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) serum concentration can be transformed by simple formulas into proBNPage, a surrogate of biological age strongly associated with chronological age, all-cause mortality, and disease count. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess whether proBNPage is also associated with other manifestations of the aging process in comparison with other variables. The study included 1117 noninstitutionalized older adults (73.1 +/- 5.6 years, 537 men). Baseline measurements of serum NT-proBNP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hemoglobin, lymphocytes, and creatinine, which have previously been shown to be highly associated with both age and all-cause mortality, were performed. These variables were compared between subjects with and without manifestations of cardiovascular impairment (myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, peripheral artery disease (PAD), arterial revascularizations (AR)), physical impairment (long step test duration (LSTD), walking problems, falls, deficit in one or more activities of daily living), and psychological impairment (poor self-rating of health (PSRH), anxiety/depression, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score < 24). ProBNPage (years) was independently associated (OR, 95% CI) with MI (1.08, 1.07-1.10), stroke (1.02, 1.00-1.05), PAD (1.04, 1.01-1.06), AR (1.06, 1.04-1.08), LSTD (1.03, 1.02-1.04), walking problems (1.02, 1.01-1.03), and PSRH (1.02, 1.01-1.02). For 5 of these 7 associations, the relationship was stronger than that of chronological age. In addition, proBNPage was univariately associated with MMSE score < 24, anxiety/depression, and falls. None of the other variables provided comparable performances. Thus, in addition to the known associations with mortality and disease count, proBNPage is also associated with cardiovascular manifestations as well as noncardiovascular manifestations of the aging process

Using New Mode Choice Model Nesting Structures to Address Emerging Policy Questions: A Case Study of the Pittsburgh Central Business District

As transportation activities affect a region’s environmental quality, knowing why individuals prefer certain modes can help a region make judicious transportation investments. Using a nested logit model, this paper studies the behavior of commuters to downtown Pittsburgh who use auto, bus, light rail, walking, and biking. Although statistical measures influence the selection of a nesting structure, another criterion for model selection is the policy questions such models inform. Hence this paper demonstrates how an alternative model structure allows planners to consider new policy questions. For example, how might a change in parking fee affect greenhouse gas emission (GHGs)? The proposed model showed that a 5%, 10% and 15% increase in parking cost reduces GHGs by 7.3%, 9% and 13.2%, respectively, through increasing carpoolers’ mode share. Because the proposed model forecasts mode choices of certain groups of travelers with higher accuracy (compared to an older model that did not consider the model selection criteria presented here), the proposed model strengthens policymakers’ ability to consider environmental impacts of interest to the region (in this case, GHGs). The paper does not suggest that one nesting structure is always preferable; rather the nesting structure must be chosen with the policy considerations in mind

Pilot Study of the Mechanism of Action of Preoperative Trastuzumab in Patients with Primary Operable Breast Tumors Overexpressing HER2

Abstract Purpose: To elucidate the mechanism by which trastuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against HER2 with proven survival benefit in women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, mediates its antitumor activity. Experimental Design: A pilot study including 11 patients with HER2-positive tumors treated in a neo-adjuvant setting with trastuzumab was performed. Trastuzumab was administered i.v. at a dose of 4 mg/kg followed by three weekly i.v. doses of 2 mg/kg. The primary tumor was surgically removed 7 days after the last treatment. Surgical samples, tumor biopsies, and lymphocytes from these patients were collected for biological studies. Result: Clinical data indicated one complete pathological remission and four partial remissions using RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors). Trastuzumab was well tolerated and neither serious adverse events nor changes in cardiac function were observed during this short-term treatment and after surgery. The biological data showed that, independent of response, (a) all patients showed high levels of circulating trastuzumab; (b) saturating level of trastuzumab was present in all of the tumors; (c) no down-modulation of HER2 was observed in any tumors; (d) no changes in vessel diameter was observed in any tumors; (e) no changes in proliferation was observed in any tumors; and (f) a strong infiltration by lymphoid cells was observed in all cases. Patients with complete remission or partial remission were found to have a higher in situ infiltration of leukocytes and a higher capability to mediate in vitro antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity activity. Conclusions: The results of this pilot study argue against trastuzumab activity in patients through down-modulation of HER2 but in favor of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity guiding efforts to optimize the use of trastuzumab in breast cancer patients

The Story of Here: A Graphic Guide to Holy Cross and College Hill

This illustrated guide captures the history of the section of Worcester where the College of the Holy Cross is located. Historical sources and imaginative interpretations based on historical research are combined to create a unique then and now approach and experience of double vision to tell the story of College Hill. This guide was a project of Montserrat Seminar 111N, taught by Prof. Sarah Luria in Spring 2020.https://crossworks.holycross.edu/hc_books/1051/thumbnail.jp

Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. AIM: To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. METHODS: Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi-parametric extrapolation having as reference an age-, sex- and year-of-onset-matched population derived from national life tables. RESULTS: Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years-of-life lost for each patient. The youngest age-quartile group (18-61 years) had the highest number of years-of-life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years-of-life lost from 12.6 years in 1986-1999, to 10.7 in 2000-2006 and 7.4 years in 2007-2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour <2 cm results in 3.7 years-of-life lost while the diagnosis when a single tumour 65 2 cm or 2/3 nodules still within the Milan criteria, results in 5.0 years-of-life lost, representing the loss of only approximately 5.5% and 7.2%, respectively, of the entire lifespan from birth. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence results in the loss of a considerable number of years-of-life, especially for younger patients. In recent years, the increased possibility of effectively treating this tumour has improved life expectancy, thus reducing years-of-life lost