An information model for highway operational risk management based on the IFC-Brick schema

With the development of highways, new technologies should be continuously introduced to improve highway traffic safety. Digital twin (DT) has been an emerging field of research in recent years. To develop a digital twin management system, a data model is essential. In the field of highway operational risk management (HORM), however, the development of data models is still in its infancy. Motivated by the concept of linked data, in this paper, we attempt to propose an information model for HORM. The main achievements of this paper include data architecture, identification and classification code methods, data interaction method, and the developed system. Based on data needs analysis, the highway information model architecture for risk management is defined as five layers: basic highway products, traffic sensors and equipment, traffic rules, traffic flow, and weather. Furthermore, according to the concepts of semantic data, these five layers can be classified into three categories: highway product data, topology data, and sensor data. Although the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard and Brick schema were first proposed and applied in the building domain, some of their entities and relationships can also be applied to highways. To this end, we defined some new classes, a specific ontology, and an integrated framework for HORM. Finally, a case study was carried out. Applying such information model to highways has broad potential. It changes the file-based exchange method to the data-based one, which can promote highway data exchange and applications. The proposed information model could be of great significance for HORM.</p

Influential factors associated with consecutive crash severity: A two-level logistic modeling approach

A consecutive crash series is composed by a primary crash and one or more subsequent secondary crashes that occur immediately within a certain distance. The crash mechanism of a consecutive crash series is distinctive, as it is different from common primary and secondary crashes mainly caused by queuing effects and chain-reaction crashes that involve multiple collisions in one crash. It commonly affects a large area of road space and possibly causes congestions and significant delays in evacuation and clearance. This study identified the influential factors determining the severity of primary and secondary crashes in a consecutive crash series. Basic, random-effects, random-parameters, and two-level binary logistic regression models were established based on crash data collected on the freeway network of Guizhou Province, China in 2018, of which 349 were identified as consecutive crashes. According to the model performance metrics, the two-level logistic model outperformed the other three models. On the crash level, double-vehicle primary crash had a negative association with the severity of secondary consecutive crashes, and the involvement of trucks in the secondary consecutive crash had a positive contribution to its crash severity. On a road segment level, speed limit, traffic volume, tunnel, and extreme weather conditions such as rainy and cloudy days had positive effects on consecutive crash severity, while the number of lanes was negatively associated with consecutive crash severity. Policy suggestions are made to alleviate the severity of consecutive crashes by reminding the drivers with real-time potential hazards of severe consecutive crashes and providing educative programs to specific groups of drivers

Evaluation of the deposition and distribution of spray droplets in citrus orchards by plant protection drones

Plant protection drone spraying technology is widely used to prevent and control crop diseases and pests due to its advantages of being unaffected by crop growth patterns and terrain restrictions, high operational efficiency, and low labor requirements. The operational parameters of plant protection drones significantly impact the distribution of spray droplets, thereby affecting pesticide utilization. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to determine the working modes of two representative plant protection drones and an electric backpack sprayer as a control to explore the characteristics of droplet deposition with different spray volumes in the citrus canopy. The results showed that the spraying volume significantly affected the number of droplets and the spray coverage. The number of droplets and the spray coverage area on the leaf surface were significantly increased by increasing the spray volume from 60 L/ha to 120 L/ha in plant protection drones. Particularly for the DJI T30, the mid-lower canopy showed a spray coverage increase of 52.5%. The droplet density demonstrated the most significant variations in the lower inner canopy, ranging from 18.7 droplets/cm2 to 41.7 droplets/cm2 by XAG V40. From the deposition distribution on fruit trees, the plant protection drones exhibit good penetration ability, as the droplets can achieve a relatively even distribution in different canopy layers of citrus trees. The droplet distribution uniformity inside the canopy is similar for XAG V40 and DJI T30, with a variation coefficient of approximately 50%-100%. Compared to the plant protection drones, the knapsack electric sprayer is suitable for pest and disease control in the mid-lower canopy, but they face challenges of insufficient deposition capability in the upper canopy and overall poor spray uniformity. The distribution of deposition determined in this study provides data support for the selection of spraying agents for fruit trees by plant protection drones and for the control of different pests and diseases

Development and Utilization of Introgression Lines Using Synthetic Octaploid Wheat (Aegilops tauschii × Hexaploid Wheat) as Donor

As the diploid progenitor of common wheat, Aegilops tauschii Cosson (DD, 2n = 2x = 14) is considered to be a promising genetic resource for the improvement of common wheat. In this work, we demonstrated that the efficiency of transferring A. tauschii segments to common wheat was clearly improved through the use of synthetic octaploid wheat (AABBDDDD, 2n = 8x = 56) as a “bridge.” The synthetic octaploid was obtained by chromosome doubling of hybrid F1 (A. tauschii T015 × common wheat Zhoumai 18). A set of introgression lines (BC1F8) containing 6016 A. tauschii segments was developed and displayed significant phenotype variance among lines. Twelve agronomic traits, including growth duration, panicle traits, grain traits, and plant height (PH), were evaluated. And transgressive segregation was identified in partial lines. Additionally, better agronomic traits could be observed in some lines, compared to the recurrent parent Zhoumai 18. To verify that the significant variance of those agronomic traits was supposedly controlled by A. tauschii segments, 14 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for three important agronomic traits (thousand kernel weight, spike length, and PH) were further located in the two environments (Huixian and Zhongmou), indicating the introgression of favorable alleles from A. tauschii into common wheat. This study provides an ameliorated strategy to improve common wheat utilizing a single A. tauschii genome

Inhibition of CDC25B With WG-391D Impedes the Tumorigenesis of Ovarian Cancer

Novel inhibitors are urgently needed for use as targeted therapies to improve the overall survival (OS) of patients with ovarian cancer. Here, we show that cell division cycle 25B (CDC25B) is over-expressed in ovarian tumors and associated with poor patient prognosis. All previously reported CDC25B inhibitors have been identified by their ability to reversibly inhibit the catalytic dephosphorylation activity of CDC25B in vitro; however, none of these compounds have entered clinical trials for ovarian cancer therapy. In this study, we synthesized a novel small molecule compound, WG-391D, that potently down-regulates CDC25B expression without affecting its catalytic dephosphorylation activity. The inhibition of CDC25B by WG-391D is irreversible, and WG-391D should therefore exhibit potent antitumor activity against ovarian cancer. WG-391D induces cell cycle progression arrest at the G2/M phase. Half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of WG-391D for inhibition of the proliferation and migration of eight representative ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3, ES2, OVCAR8, OVTOKO, A2780, IGROV1, HO8910PM, and MCAS) and five primary ovarian tumor cell lines (GFY004, GFY005, CZ001, CZ006, and CZ008) were lower than 10 and 1 μM, respectively. WG-391D inhibited tumor growth in nude mice inoculated with SKOV3 cells or a patient-derived xenograft (PDX). The underlying mechanisms were associated with the down-regulation of CDC25B and subsequent inactivation of cell division cycle 2 (CDC2) and the serine/threonine kinase, AKT. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that WG-391D exhibits strong antitumor activity against ovarian cancer and indicates that the down-regulation of CDC25B by inhibitors could provide a rationale for ovarian cancer therapy

Dynamic Risk Assessment and Control Framework for Work Zone and Its First Implementation under Simulation Environment

The number of road maintenance operations in China is increasing. Work zones can interfere with everyday driving and bring significant safety hazards to the throughput vehicles and construction personnel. However, there is currently a lack of effective methods to conduct a dynamic risk assessment of work zones and provide control guidance when necessary. Therefore, this study proposes a dynamic risk assessment and control framework for the work zones. The framework adopts a closed-loop control and dynamic monitoring architecture. A massive amount of microscopic data on vehicles’ behavior is obtained based on advanced data collection technologies (including multicamera multiobject tracking, naturalistic driving, and microscopic traffic simulation). Traffic conflicts between single vehicle and two- or multivehicle are detected using vehicle behavior analyzing technology and the surrogate safety assessment model. A comprehensive assessment index, i.e., UTECN (unit total equivalent conflict number), is established that can consider the severity and possibility of accidents caused by conflicts based on the vehicle collision energy theory, probability theory, and risk management theory. A risk assessment standard is established based on the level of safety service. The framework is first implemented in a simulation environment, and its feasibility and effectiveness are verified by taking a work zone of Shanghai Waihuan Expressway S20 as a case study. The result shows that the framework has good practicality. Under a moderate traffic level, the risk of the work zone can be assessed within 20 minutes. It can be quickly and effectively controlled at an acceptable level after several iterations, which is of great significance for ensuring the safety of life and property of throughput vehicles and construction personnel within the work zone

Assessment, Distribution and Regional Geochemical Baseline of Heavy Metals in Soils of Densely Populated Area: A Case Study

To understand the content, pollution, distribution and source and to establish a geochemical baseline of heavy metal elements in soil under the influence of high-density population, the concentrations of heavy metal elements Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, Pb and Fe were determined in 23 soil samples in Suzhou University, and geo-accumulation index, enrichment factor, principal component analysis, spatial analysis and regression analysis were completed. The results showed the following: The elements Cu and As were slightly polluted, while the other heavy metal elements were not. The elements Cd, Cu, Ni and As in soils were mainly caused by agricultural activities of chemical fertilizer, whereas the elements Zn and Hg were impacted by the chemicals and batteries. The heavy metal elements in the north were lower than in the south of the campus, as a whole. The enrichment of elements Cu, As and Cd was caused by the east&ndash;west river on the campus, and the enrichment of the elements Mn, Ni and Zn was induced by the reservoir. Biochemical experiments and vehicle parking influenced the spatial enrichment of Cr, Co and Pb, while domestic waste led to the spatial differentiation of Hg concentrations. The regression curve between heavy metal elements and Fe was established, and the background values of the heavy metals Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg and Pb are 50.90, 489.37, 11.76, 37.74, 55.70, 58.22, 20.07, 0.09, 0.08 and 24.13 mg/kg, respectively

Effectiveness of Active Luminous Lane Markings on Highway at Night: A Driving Simulation Study

Road lane markings play an essential role in maintaining traffic order and improving traffic safety and efficiency. Active luminous lane markings have emerged with advances in technology recently. However, it is still not completely clear what impact their application will have on drivers. This paper aimed to study the effectiveness of active luminous lane markings on highways at night. A driving simulation experiment was carried out based on advanced driving simulators at Tongji University. The driving simulation experiment involved 31 participants and 9 simulation scenes with 6 different types of lane markings models and the same 2-way highway segment, which was 5300-m long with four 3.75-m wide driving lanes. The study participants drove through the simulated highway while the vehicle operation data and the driver&rsquo;s eyes changing data were continuously captured. Overall, the pupil area change rate, steering wheel speed, brake pedal force, gas pedal, lane departure, and operating speed indicators were selected to evaluate the effectiveness of the active luminous lane markings. The results are shown as follows: (1) the active luminous lane markings have excellent visual recognition performance at night. Compared with the passive luminous lane markings, the active luminous markings can reduce the mental and physical loads of drivers, increase the early braking distance significantly, improve the lane-keeping ability and smooth the operating speed; (2) for the specific parameter settings of the active luminous lane markings at night, the yellow lane markings are better than the white ones, the point-line-type lane markings are superior to the conventional-type ones, and the blinking frequency is reasonable to set, at a moderate level, as 40 times per min. The results suggest that there are positive effects of active luminous lane markings on the promotion of highway traffic safety and efficiency at night, providing theoretical support for the popularization and application of active luminous road lane markings

Effectiveness of Active Luminous Lane Markings on Highway at Night: A Driving Simulation Study

Road lane markings play an essential role in maintaining traffic order and improving traffic safety and efficiency. Active luminous lane markings have emerged with advances in technology recently. However, it is still not completely clear what impact their application will have on drivers. This paper aimed to study the effectiveness of active luminous lane markings on highways at night. A driving simulation experiment was carried out based on advanced driving simulators at Tongji University. The driving simulation experiment involved 31 participants and 9 simulation scenes with 6 different types of lane markings models and the same 2-way highway segment, which was 5300-m long with four 3.75-m wide driving lanes. The study participants drove through the simulated highway while the vehicle operation data and the driver’s eyes changing data were continuously captured. Overall, the pupil area change rate, steering wheel speed, brake pedal force, gas pedal, lane departure, and operating speed indicators were selected to evaluate the effectiveness of the active luminous lane markings. The results are shown as follows: (1) the active luminous lane markings have excellent visual recognition performance at night. Compared with the passive luminous lane markings, the active luminous markings can reduce the mental and physical loads of drivers, increase the early braking distance significantly, improve the lane-keeping ability and smooth the operating speed; (2) for the specific parameter settings of the active luminous lane markings at night, the yellow lane markings are better than the white ones, the point-line-type lane markings are superior to the conventional-type ones, and the blinking frequency is reasonable to set, at a moderate level, as 40 times per min. The results suggest that there are positive effects of active luminous lane markings on the promotion of highway traffic safety and efficiency at night, providing theoretical support for the popularization and application of active luminous road lane markings