Effectiveness of Stop Sign Installations at Highway-Railroad Grade Crossings: An Evaluation of Installation Safety Performance

The safety benefit of Stop-sign treatment employed at passive highway rail crossings has been a subject of research for many years. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness and impacts of Stop-sign treatment on crossing safety. This research addresses safety at public highway-railroad grade crossings across the United States within a 26-year period of accident history for Crossbucks-only controlled crossings that were upgraded to Stop-sign control. This study utilized Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) accident data to investigate average accident frequency at crossings with the two different types of passive-crossing sign controls. The research database was created by locating and extracting records relevant to public crossings, excluding private, pedestrian, and grade-separated crossings. The research followed a three-part approach. The first part of the study used statistical analysis methods to evaluate accident frequencies for target crossings. Analysis of accident frequencies that occurred during both phases of installation history indicates that accidents were significantly lower during the Stop phase than during the Crossbucks-only phase. The second part of the research used logistic regression modeling to further evaluate accident risks and factors at these two types of passive railroad grade-crossing treatments. Results of the logistic regression were reported according to the main effect of various factors and variation of those factors. An analysis of covariance was performed between factors of statistically significant contribution. The third part of the research synthesized data into a set of models designed to predict safety performance of Stop signs and Crossbucks. Negative-binomial regression modeling was used to identify attributes and limits for which Stop signs showed superior safety benefits. This research concludes that Stop controls did lead to discernable reduction in the accident rate, particularly for the period since ISTEA (1991). Annual accident frequencies were significantly higher during the period when crossings were controlled by Crossbucks only

A Critical Examination of Key Claims Karl Rahner Makes About His Thesis of the Anonymous Christian

An anonymous Christian, according to Karl Rahner, is someone who does not profess the Christian faith, perhaps even denying the existence of God, and yet is nonetheless justified by the grace of Christ. Rahner argues that there is no room for doubt among Catholic theologians that anonymous Christians can exist, that they do exist, and that in fact the vast majority of people in the world (if not all people) are anonymous Christians. He cites the teachings of the Second Vatican Council in support of his claims, though he concedes that his thesis cannot be found in divine revelation. In this thesis, I argue that many of Rahner’s key claims about his thesis are either greatly exaggerated or incorrect. Rahner claims that the Second Vatican Council leaves no room for doubt that anonymous Christians are a possibility; in fact, the Second Vatican Council leaves much room for doubt that anonymous Christians are a possibility. Rahner claims that the council also leaves no room for doubt that anonymous Christians exist, and in fact make up the vast majority of the non-Christian population; yet the conciliar documents do not even address the subject. Rahner claims that his thesis, with support from the Second Vatican Council, entails optimism for universal salvation; in fact, neither his thesis nor the conciliar documents logically entail optimism for universal salvation, and the conciliar documents actually provide good reasons to not be optimistic for universal salvation. And if his thesis truly cannot be found in either Scripture or Tradition, as Rahner says, then his thesis is not a proper object of Catholic theology, and in fact this is a decisive argument against his thesis. Nonetheless, Rahner’s work can and should be mined for possible insights into the soteriological status of non-Christians

Wait Line Behaviors at Restaurants during COVID-19

We were assigned to do field work observations through a series of individual data collection sessions. My group member and I choose to do observations at restaurants to see how covid has impacted waiting in line due to their facility reaching capacity. We each chose different locations to observe and collect data. Within this research project, we were able to identify different behaviors of people waiting. Some people were patient, kind, and courteous while other’s were impatient and rude. These observations were made by each observer at these different locations

The Effect of the Lake Restoration Project on Passerine Bird Diversity

A three page summary by six Furman students showing their research results on the lake restoration\u27s effects on passerine bird populations.https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/lake-documents/1017/thumbnail.jp

Bishops who live like princes: Bishop Tebartz-van Elst and the challenge of defining corruption

This article contributes to the debate on defining corruption. Rather than attempting to provide a definitive definition, it uses the case of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, a German bishop from the diocese of Limburg who stepped down in 2014, to illustrate that the disciplines of law, political science, economics, and anthropology all make important contributions to understanding what corruption is and how it should be conceptualized. Seen through these different lenses, the article argues, the case of “Bishop Bling” can be understood in strikingly different ways. This has ramifications not just for the case itself but also for how analysts understand corruption more broadly. Adopting an overtly interdisciplinary approach does not represent a way to “solve” the definitional dilemma, but it can help analysts understand more about corruption’s multiplicity

Parental Iraq/Afghanistan deployment and child psychiatric hospitalization in the US military

Objective: Members of the US armed forces have been heavily deployed in support of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This study examined the affect of a parent\u27s deployment to war on the rate of psychiatric hospitalization among their children. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Records of children of active duty personnel during fiscal years 2007 through 2009 were linked with their parent\u27s deployment records. Psychiatric hospitalizations were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes on admission. Odds ratios (OR) of hospitalization were determined using both univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Lengths of hospital stay were also compared by linear regression using Duan\u27s smearing estimate method. Results: A total of 377,565 children aged 9–17 years were included along with data on both their active duty and civilian parent. Mean child age was 12.53 years (S.D.: 2.5 years); 51% were male. Mean age of active duty parent was 37.8 years (S.D.: 5.2 years); 93% were male, 90% were married and 62% were white. In the study, 2533 children were hospitalized for a mental or behavioral health disorder in fiscal year 2009 with a median length of stay of 8 days. After adjusting for demographic data and past psychiatric history of the child, active duty parent and civilian parent, the OR of hospitalization for children with a recently deployed parent was 1.10 (95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.19). The OR of hospitalization increased with increasing length of deployment with a positive test of trend. There was no statistically significant difference in distribution of admission diagnoses or length of hospital stay based on deployment by the active duty parent. Conclusions: Psychiatric hospitalization increased by 10% among children aged 9–17 years when a military parent was recently deployed. The odds of hospitalization increased with increasing length of a parent\u27s deploymen

An assessment of potential for benefit from integrating geographic information systems technology into life-cycle management of infrastructures a focus for infrastructure management practice

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: p.48-49.Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.Not availabl