Crash Risk Reduction at Signalized Intersections Using Longitudinal Data

This study extends the previous work of Burkey and Obeng (2004) that examined the impact of red light cameras on the type and severity of crashes at signalized intersections in Greensboro, NC. The extension takes the following form. First, we extend the data to cover 57 months, and to include demographics, technology variables, the condition of a driver at the time of the crash, vehicle characteristics, land use and visual obstruction. Second, instead of examining the impact of red light cameras, we focus on identifying the determinants of crash severity, two-vehicle crashes, and property damage costs. The major findings are that the safety impacts of seatbelt use outweigh the impacts of airbags deploying because the latter tends to increase evident injuries and property damage costs, while the former reduces these injuries. We also find that head-on collisions and under rides increase evident injuries. For two-vehicle crashes, we find that the risk of severe injuries increases in pickup-pickup crashes and SUV-pickup crashes, while the risk of possible injuries increases in car-truck crashes. For property damage costs, we found the condition of the driver at the time of the crash (i.e., illness, impaired, medical condition, driver falling asleep, driver apparently normal) to be important determinants in increasing these costs. The types of accidents that we found to increase property damage costs are running into a fixed object and under rides. Finally, we found that property damage costs of crashes are low where the land uses are commercial and institutional suggesting that the accidents that occur in these areas are minor.longitudinal data; accidents; intersections

Crash Risk Reduction at Signalized Intersections Using Longitudinal Data

This study extends the previous work of Burkey and Obeng (2004) that examined the impact of red light cameras on the type and severity of crashes at signalized intersections in Greensboro, NC. The extension takes the following form. First, we extend the data to cover 57 months, and to include demographics, technology variables, the condition of a driver at the time of the crash, vehicle characteristics, land use and visual obstruction. Second, instead of examining the impact of red light cameras, we focus on identifying the determinants of crash severity, two-vehicle crashes, and property damage costs. The major findings are that the safety impacts of seatbelt use outweigh the impacts of airbags deploying because the latter tends to increase evident injuries and property damage costs, while the former reduces these injuries. We also find that head-on collisions and under rides increase evident injuries. For two-vehicle crashes, we find that the risk of severe injuries increases in pickup-pickup crashes and SUV-pickup crashes, while the risk of possible injuries increases in car-truck crashes. For property damage costs, we found the condition of the driver at the time of the crash (i.e., illness, impaired, medical condition, driver falling asleep, driver apparently normal) to be important determinants in increasing these costs. The types of accidents that we found to increase property damage costs are running into a fixed object and under rides. Finally, we found that property damage costs of crashes are low where the land uses are commercial and institutional suggesting that the accidents that occur in these areas are minor

Commonwealth Professional Fellowship: the wealth of experience and lessons learned.

The Commonwealth Professional Fellowship (CPF) is a programme of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in association with the British Council. The Fellowship is aimed at providing a professional development opportunity for mid-career professionals from Commonwealth developing countries in diverse disciplines. Fellows who take part in this programme spend a period of one to three months in the United Kingdom to keep abreast of current trends and developments, and receive training in appropriate fields

Microbial and antibiotic contaminants in imported and locally produced honey in the tamale metropolis of the Northern Region of Ghana

Honey remains a valued natural product and has been used by humans as an important food source, disease treatment, and a healthy sugar source since ancient times. However, recent reports on the adulteration of honey and honey polluted with contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals, microorganisms as well as antibiotics have gained public attention. Thus, this study aimed to assess the quality and safety of imported and locally produced honey by specifically determining microbial and antibiotic contaminants as well as the beekeeping practices of honey producers within some locations of the Tamale metropolis. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to gather information on the sources of honey, knowledge of diseases affecting bees, knowledge of contamination of honey, and knowledge of antibiotics use in honey production from honey producers in the study area. The procedures outlined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission were followed to ascertain the microbial quality of the honey samples. Also, the Premi® test kit was used to determine the presence of antibiotics residue in the honey samples. Only eight honey producers were identified in the study area; they all had knowledge on contamination of honey. Only two (25 %) of the honey producers had knowledge on diseases affecting bees and also the use of antibiotics in beekeeping or honey production. Concerning microbial contaminants, Listeria spp., Lactobacillus spp., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Clostridium spp., Campylobacter spp., and Staphylococcus spp. were the microorganisms enumerated upon microbiological quality assessment of 30 honey samples. Furthermore, 27 (90 %) of the honey samples tested positive for the presence of antibiotics residue of which 6 (85.7 %) were sampled from imported source, whilst the remaining 21 (91.3 %) were locally produced. Microbial and antibiotic contaminants found in the honey sampled in the study area support the hypothesis that honey may not be as pure as might be perceived and this might be a public health concern. Again, since there is no available record on the  screening or antibiotic residue in honey found on the Ghanaian market, this research is timely and necessary to provide the basis forintervention policies on the minimum limits of antibiotic residues present in honey. Key words: Antibiotic, Campylobacter, Clostridium, Contaminants, Honey, Listeria, Microorganism, Residues, Tamale Metropoli

Historical and simulated ecosystem carbon dynamics in Ghana: land use, management, and climate

International audienceWe used the General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) to simulate responses of natural and managed ecosystems to changes in land use, management, and climate for a forest/savanna transitional zone in central Ghana. Model results show that deforestation for crop production during the last century resulted in a substantial reduction in ecosystem carbon (C) stock from 135.4 Mg C ha?1 in 1900 to 77.0 Mg C ha?1 in 2000, and in soil organic C stock within the top 20 cm of soil from 26.6 Mg C ha?1 to 21.2 Mg C ha?1. If no land use change takes place from 2000 through 2100, low and high climate change scenarios (increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation over time) will result in losses of soil organic C stock by 19% and 25%, respectively. A low nitrogen (N) fertilization rate is the principal constraint on current crop production. An increase in N fertilization under the low climate change scenario would increase crop yield by 14% with 30 kg N ha?1 and by 38% with 60 kg N ha?1, leading to an increase in the average soil C stock by 12% and 29%, respectively, in all cropland by 2100. The results suggest that the climate changes in the future from current climate conditions will not necessarily become a determinant control on ecosystem C fluxes and crop production, while a reasonable N fertilization rate is critical to achieve food security and agricultural sustainability in the study area through the 21st century, and current cropping systems could be optimized to make full use of the rainfall resource

A detailed investigation of crash risk reduction resulting from red light cameras in small urban areas

This is an update to the October, 2003 version of this report. Using the latest available data, we include an additional 12 months of accident data. Additionally, several data coding errors were discovered in the original data set, and corrected for this report. Therefore, results from the October, 2003 report should be disregarded. This paper analyzes the impact of red-light cameras (RLCs) on crashes at signalized intersections. It examines total crashes and also breaks crashes into categories based on both severity (e.g. causing severe injuries or only property damage) and by type (e.g. angle, rear end). Prompted by criticism of the simplistic methods and small data sets used in many studies of red light cameras, we relate the occurrence of these crashes to the characteristics of signalized intersections, presence or absence of RLC, traffic, weather and other variables. Using a large data set including 26 months before the introduction of RLCs, we analyze reported accidents occurring near 303 intersections over a 57 month period, for a total of 17,271 observations

A detailed investigation of crash risk reduction resulting from red light cameras in small urban areas

This is an update to the October, 2003 version of this report. Using the latest available data, we include an additional 12 months of accident data. Additionally, several data coding errors were discovered in the original data set, and corrected for this report. Therefore, results from the October, 2003 report should be disregarded. This paper analyzes the impact of red-light cameras (RLCs) on crashes at signalized intersections. It examines total crashes and also breaks crashes into categories based on both severity (e.g. causing severe injuries or only property damage) and by type (e.g. angle, rear end). Prompted by criticism of the simplistic methods and small data sets used in many studies of red light cameras, we relate the occurrence of these crashes to the characteristics of signalized intersections, presence or absence of RLC, traffic, weather and other variables. Using a large data set including 26 months before the introduction of RLCs, we analyze reported accidents occurring near 303 intersections over a 57 month period, for a total of 17,271 observations

Interrelationships and consequential effects among technological innovation, service consistency, customer satisfaction and loyalty in banking

The key to long-term success in banking is consistent improvement and delivering of quality product and or value-added service that conform to the expectations of customers. IT-innovative products/services and processes (technological innovation) facilitate these key elements of customer satisfaction and critical factors for retaining valued customers. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of technological innovation on service consistency and the consequential effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty covering seven universal banks in Ghana. The results of the empirically tested model reveal new/improved product/process functionalities, service consistency and innovative product/process satisfaction contribute significantly to customer loyalty (p < 0.001). Service consistency has a marginal higher impact (? = .373) on customer loyalty than the others. Product/process quality contributes significantly (with ? ranging from .345 to .742 and p < 0.001) to each of the above three antecedents than all other items