inTformer: A Time-Embedded Attention-Based Transformer for Crash Likelihood Prediction at Intersections Using Connected Vehicle Data

The real-time crash likelihood prediction model is an essential component of the proactive traffic safety management system. Over the years, numerous studies have attempted to construct a crash likelihood prediction model in order to enhance traffic safety, but mostly on freeways. In the majority of the existing studies, researchers have primarily employed a deep learning-based framework to identify crash potential. Lately, Transformer has emerged as a potential deep neural network that fundamentally operates through attention-based mechanisms. Transformer has several functional benefits over extant deep learning models such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolution Neural Network (CNN), etc. Firstly, Transformer can readily handle long-term dependencies in a data sequence. Secondly, Transformer can parallelly process all elements in a data sequence during training. Finally, Transformer does not have the vanishing gradient issue. Realizing the immense possibility of Transformer, this paper proposes inTersection-Transformer (inTformer), a time-embedded attention-based Transformer model that can effectively predict intersection crash likelihood in real-time. The proposed model was evaluated using connected vehicle data extracted from INRIX's Signal Analytics Platform. The data was parallelly formatted and stacked at different timesteps to develop nine inTformer models. The best inTformer model achieved a sensitivity of 73%. This model was also compared to earlier studies on crash likelihood prediction at intersections and with several established deep learning models trained on the same connected vehicle dataset. In every scenario, this inTformer outperformed the benchmark models confirming the viability of the proposed inTformer architecture.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures, 9 table

4-(4-{[(2-Phenyl­quinazolin-4-yl)­oxy]methyl}-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)butan-1-ol hemihydrate

The title compound, C21H21N5O2·0.5H2O, has two fused six-membered rings linked to a benzene ring and to a triazole ring, which is connected to a butanol group. The quinazoline ring forms a dihedral angle of 7.88 (8)° with the benzene ring, while the triazole ring is approximately perpendicular to the benzene ring and to the quinazoline system, making dihedral angles of 84.38 (10) and 76.55 (8)°, respectively. The stereochemical arrangement of the butanol chain, with a C—C—C—C torsion angle of 178.34 (19)°, corresponds to an anti­periplanar conformation. However the position of the –OH group is split into two very close [O—O = 0.810(3) Å] positions of equal occupancy. The crystal structure features O—H⋯N and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, building an infinite three-dimensional network. The water molecule is located on a half-filled general position

The Utility Extent of Linguistics to Language Teaching: An Experimental Evaluation

To approach the very questions how and how far linguistics helps language teaching, we have to examine, analyze and evaluate them critically from various view-points. During the Second World War, the importance of linguistics in language teaching was noticed forthwith for the first time. Linguistics and language teaching have the same subject matter to deal with. Though linguistics is the scientific study of language, it has some specific role to play in the process of language teaching from the earlier to the modern times. Stephen Pit Corder (1975:143) says, “… the relevance of theoretical linguistics to language teaching is indirect and it is not the task of a theoretical linguist to say what relevance it may have. This is the field of applied linguistics.” According to the American linguist Noam Chomsky and some others, applied linguistics has a direct relationship with language teaching which is a pragmatic process and cannot take place in a total isolation. It takes help from various related sources and fields such as general, educational and social psychology; sociology, social anthropology and so on. Here, linguistics provides a language teacher with effective tools. However, as Dwight Bollinger says (1975a:22), “Language teaching is not linguistics, any more than medicine is chemistry….” So, the aim of this paper is to show the role of linguistics in teaching both foreign languages and any first languages or mother tongues

Effects of monoculture and polyculture practices in oil palm smallholdings on tropical farmland birds

Industrial oil palm expansion has led to dramatic landscape changes that have negatively affected forest biodiversity in the tropics. In contrast to large-scale plantations, oil palm smallholdings may support greater levels of biodiversity through the implementation of multi-cropping system or polyculture. We examined bird species richness, together with community structure, conservation status, and feeding guild of existing smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia. Based on point transect sampling, we sampled birds in 100 smallholdings that practiced either monoculture or polyculture farming. Our results revealed that bird species richness was significantly greater in monoculture smallholdings than in polyculture smallholdings, but the opposite was true for bird abundance. Non-forest birds constituted the major species of bird communities in oil palm smallholdings. However, we found that the abundances of insectivores and frugivores were greater in polyculture smallholdings than in monoculture smallholdings. In the monoculture models, predictor variables explained 11.31–19.98% of the variation in bird species richness. When polyculture was being practiced, bird species richness increased significantly with the height of ground vegetation cover, distance to major roads, and distance to rice fields. In the polyculture models, predictor variables accounted for 11.71–24.85% of the variation in bird species richness. We also found that bird species richness increased significantly with height of ground vegetation, but it decreased with ground vegetation cover and distance to rivers. The evidence from this study suggests that monoculture and polyculture farming were able to maintain farmland biodiversity in smallholdings, at least for birds, but differed in richness, population, and feeding guild

Universal reliance on LAL/TAL in bacterial endotoxin detection in drugs and parenteral – an ecological and economic perspective

Introduction: Endotoxin detection and quantification in biological drugs and parenteral is a crucial step in helping us to be confident in process control (IPC) and product release decisions. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves either Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) /Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) derived from blue blood of horseshoe crabs to detect and quantify endotoxin. This in turn increases harvest pressure on wild crabs for biomedical bleeding practice which eventually leads to post bleeding mortality up to 30%. In economic perspective, the LAL/TAL industry worth more than 50 million USD annually. Methods: Numbers of methods were adopted to enhance the accuracy of endotoxin detection, including gel clot, turbidimetric and chromogenic method. Results: However, all these methods require crabs either from wild or from captive for bleeding purpose. Though, various conservative measures are being taken, the habitat degradation and anthropogenic pressures on wild crab population is still beyond control and leads to unsustainable utilization of natural stock. Conclusions: Due to an increased demand of LAL/TAL, the present review paper addresses the issues related to Eco-economical viewpoint on sustainable utilization of wild stock for future LAL/TAL industry. It also addresses pros and cons of recent advanced sensor technology in rapid and low cost detection of endotoxin

Efficiency Increase and Fuel Save Benefits of Combined Cycle Operation (Garri Power Plant as a Case Study)

Thermal power plants’ overall efficiency increase, and fuel consumption decrease draw worldwide researcher’s attention due to the limited resources and high cost of fossil fuel. Considering Al-Jaily power plant, the so-called Garri power plants 1 and 2 in Sudan as the case study, this paper compares overall plant efficiency and fuel save with the combined cycle and open cycle operation in which both plants could run. Evaluation of plant’s efficiency is based on the first law of thermodynamics. The results reveal advantage of the combined cycle operation mode in terms of efficiency increase, and on the other hand, in terms of fuel consumption decrease with the same amount of energy produced

Fluctuations conjoncturelles et croissance tendancielle de l’économie Marocaine

This paper estimates the smoothed-GDP of Moroccan economy since 1958. We use advanced techniques, as in the public and private international organizations, such the Hodrick-smoothing Presscott and Beveridge-Nelson decomposition. The results identified and quantified, in addition to an economic, monetary and fiscal reading-grids greatly expanded around six business cycles. These cycles show significant effects of the government policy and the climate hazards. This latter seems to amplify the extent of the cycles. The GDP-Cycles, apart the agricultural sector, appear to be relatively more sensitive to the economic conjuncture and the international environment especially of the main partners

Screening of antibacterial activity in marine green and brown macroalgae from the coast of Morocco

Antibacterial activity of methanolic extracts from 32 macroalgae (13 Chlorophyta and 19 Phaeophyta) from the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of Morocco were evaluated for the production of antibacterialcompounds against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Klebsiella pnomeuniae ATCC 700603 and E. faecalis ATCC 29213. Our results indicate that these species of seaweed collected from the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of Morocco present a significant capacity of antibacterial activities, which makes them interesting for screening for natural products

Direct heat stress-induced effects on rumen fermentation characteristics and nutrients degradability in sheep pair-fed alfalfa hay

Aim of the study: To investigate the direct effect of heat stress on rumen fermentation characteristics and nutrients degradability of pair-fed rams to subsequently eliminate the confounding effects of dissimilar feed intake induced by heat stress exposure.Area of study: Saudi Arabia.Material and methods: Five rumen-cannulated desert rams (45 ± 1.63 kg body weight; 2–3 years of age) were placed individually in controlled climatic-chambers to be exposed to two successive periods. The 1st period was a control thermoneutral period (TN; 23.64 ± 0.14 °C; extended for 21 days) followed by a 2nd period of heat stress (HS; 44.26 ± 1.70 °C, for another 21 days). Each period was consisted of a temperature acclimation phase (7 days) and a data collection phase (14 days). Alfalfa hay was offered twice daily during both periods in a pair-fed manner (800 g DM per head and day).Main results: Exposing pair-fed desert rams to elevated ambient temperature had (p<0.05) elevated their respiration rate and skin temperature, without noticeable (p>0.05) changes in their rectal temperature. Most of the rumen fermentation characteristics and nutrients degradability were not affected by HS (p>0.05). However, exposure to HS increased (p<0.05) pre-feeding rumen total volatile fatty acids concentrations, pre-feeding molar proportion of acetate, and post-feeding rumen osmolality.Research highlights: HS had no direct effect on post-feeding rumen fermentation characteristics and nutrients degradability in desert sheep. This implies that strategic approaches to mitigate the adverse effects of HS have to be directed towards promoting feed intake and nutrients utilization under such conditions