The connected driver: integrated mobile observations 2.0 (IMO 2.0)

This project is a continuation of the original Integrated Mobile Observations (IMO 2.0) project that ran from January, 2013 through March, 2014. The Connected Driver: Integrated Mobile Observations, 2014-2015 project ran from April, 2014 through October, 2015. The main goal for the project was to show the applicability and capability of a smartphone based data collection system to provide accurate and timely micro-level road condition data to weather analysts in order to generate road condition warnings for drivers via electronic road signs, website, and mobile phone application (apps). The project employed an Android-based customized smartphone software program called DataProbe to gather information from the phone (date, time, latitude and longitude, altitude, number of satellites, speed, accelerometer data, and compass heading); the vehicle through its controller area network (CAN) (air and coolant temperature, odometer, barometer, tachometer, speedometer, throttle, brakes, anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC), engine traction control and braking traction control); and through external sensors, Surface Patrol, that measure road surface and air temperature, humidity, and dew point. When looking at the two IMO 2.0 projects combined over 31 months of data collection, vehicle operators drove 901,126 miles (363 gigabytes) and took 99,569 photos (45 gigabytes). Finally, the demonstration project at the 2014 ITS World Congress displayed the ability of UMTRI and NCAR researchers to combine the data collected from DataProbe sensors with an NCAR-developed Motorist Advisory Warning (MAW) phone application that delivered timely warnings to drivers of rain, slippery roads, and rough roads on their phone as well as on electronic signs in an area of 400 feet on the test track. This demonstration clearly showed that it is possible to provide micro-level weather reports in a timely manner. Project completion for this phase was October 31, 2015.Michigan Department of Transportationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117546/1/103242.pdfDescription of 103242.pdf : Final repor

Integrated mobile observations 2.0

The key objective for this project was the implementation of a low cost data acquisition system that provides weather-related road information to weather analysts throughout the country in near-real time using a fleet of 60 vehicles along the I-94 corridor in southern Michigan. This work is part of an on-going research initiative to identify how state DOTs will use and benefit from the large quantities of data generated by future connected vehicle programs and to assist in refining connected vehicle system requirements. The project employed an Android-based customized smartphone system called DataProbe to gather information from the phone (date, time, latitude and longitude, altitude, number of satellites, speed, accelerometer data, and compass heading); the vehicle through its controller area network (CAN) (air and coolant temperature, odometer, barometer, tachometer, speedometer, throttle, brakes, anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC), engine traction control and braking traction control); and through external sensors, Surface Patrol, that measure road and air temperature, humidity, and dew point. This data is collected by the phone in one second intervals [except for accelerometer data which is gathered at 100 second intervals on three axis (x, y, and z)], written to a comma separated values (CSV) file for a period of five minutes, and sent via cell phone to a University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) server where it is validated, stored, and sent to weather analysts in five locations throughout the U.S. The Android-based smartphone was also designed to take photos of the road manually or via a web portal designed to track vehicles in use and potentially send messages to drivers through the phone. These photos were also uploaded to the UMTRI server and sent to the weather analysts throughout the U.S. Over a period of 17 months, the project saw tremendous change in every part of the process including changing nearly half of the project vehicles, re-writing DataProbe source code, changing hardware, and changing the process for working with drivers and updating software. The project resulted in the delivery of 172 gigabytes of valid data representing 196,204 valid files transferred to weather analysts, with MDOT operators driving nearly 400,000 miles and taking 44,594 photos. The IMO 2.0 project has been extended to accommodate an IMO 2.0 demonstration at the 2014 ITS World Congress – Detroit in September to demonstrate how the IMO 2.0 data can be used for traveler information in the form of motorist advisory warnings posted to dynamic message signs and the MDOT MiDrive website. Projectcompletion for this phase is November, 2015.+Michigan Department of Transportationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117506/1/103240.pdfDescription of 103240.pdf : Final repor

Grey seal predation impairs recovery of an over-exploited fish stock

Grey seal predation has been blamed by fishers for the decline of Atlantic cod stocks and has led to calls for seal culls. In the West of Scotland, estimates of cod consumption by seals have exceeded reported catches and spawning biomass, focussing attention on the interaction between fishers and seals. Bayesian models making different assumptions about seal predation were used to estimate the size of the West of Scotland cod stock between 1985 and 2005 and the mortalities due to fishing and seal foraging. A simple population model was used to identify the likely direction of cod population change at recent mortality rates. All model configurations suggest that the total mortality of cod has remained fairly stable and high for many years regardless of the assumptions on seal predation. The high mortality explains the long-term decline of the stock. The best-fitting model suggests that mortality due to fishing reduced substantially in the decade up to 2005, but has been replaced by increased seal predation mortality on a smaller cod stock. Given total mortality estimates, the stock is unlikely to recover even at present reduced levels of fishing. Synthesis and applications. Our model offers a method of estimating seal predation mortality as part of routine stock assessments that inform fishery management. The analysis shows that predation by seals can be an important component of the total stock mortality. It also shows that assuming invariant natural mortality, as adopted in many standard fish stock assessments, may lead to incorrect perceptions of fishing mortality, over-estimating the benefits of reducing fishing mortality when there is density-dependent predation. It is essential to consider predation by top predators when formulating appropriate advice for managing the fishery

Grey seal predation mortality on three depleted stocks in the West of Scotland : what are the implications for stock assessments?

The decrease in groundfish stocks in the North Atlantic since the mid-1900s coupled with increases in grey seal populations is responsible for an enduring controversy between fishers and conservationists regarding the role seals have played in stock declines. We used a Bayesian state-space model to investigate stock trends in the presence of grey seals and associated MSY reference points in the West of Scotland. This study provides new estimates of seal predation mortality on haddock and whiting and updates the estimates for cod, which together form the traditional main components of the mixed demersal fishery in this area. Grey seal predation mortality is greatest on cod resulting in estimates of total natural mortality higher than those used in the current ICES assessments. Seal predation mortality is low for haddock and whiting. Considering seal predation in stock assessments changes the scale of biomass and fishing mortality estimates for the three stocks. The estimates of F0.1 and FMSY are sensitive to seal predation for cod and whiting but not for haddock. In all cases MSY decreases with increased seal predation

Application of Flow Injection Analysis to Assess the Impact of Chlorination on Total Cyanide Concentration in Municipal Wastewaters

Cyanide is well known as a toxin to humans and aquatic life. Consequently, limits on the discharge of cyanide have been imposed to protect the environment. Concentrations as low as 5 ppb have been reported to be detrimental to sensitive aquatic life; thus, the strictest limits for cyanide discharge are placed on waste water treatment plants. Measurements for cyanide in waste water are not very consistent at this concentration, so any type of interference or contamination will influence a facility's ability to demonstrate compliance with its discharge permit. This study formed part of a project conceived by a consortium of North Carolina waste water utilities that continued to violate discharge permits for a variety of species. The study was designed to determine sources of any interference or contamination that could lead to a bias in cyanide measurements using existing methodology. An earlier component of the larger study indicated that those plants using chlorination were most likely to have recurrent problems meeting their discharge permit levels for cyanide. In addition, the analytical method for total cyanide as practiced at the utility or contract laboratories was found to suffer many shortcomings. Published literature states that both nitrite and sulfide are known to interfere with the total cyanide analysis. This research, therefore, aimed to study the potential artifactual presence of cyanide utilizing an alternative methodology. The data collected from the various experiments were intended to validate if the cyanide formation was truly occurring in the chlorination process or if the cyanide were an artifact of the testing methodology. This was designed to be done through sampling before, during and after the chlorination process. These waste water samples were then treated to identify where the cyanide formation reaction was occurring and the chemical species involved. Determination of the levels of these chemical constituent was also performed to observe any correlation exists between these species and effluent cyanide concentrations. These collected waste water samples were treated in a variety of ways to account for possible chemical interfereces that may contribute to high cyanide concentrations. Approaches were then developed to control these reactions and to assure stabilization of collected samples during analysis. This study attempts to furnish an approach for waste water utilities to ensure accurate monitoring of total cyanide in their effluent, and there by identify the source of true cyanide contamination when permit violations occur.Master of Science in Environmental Engineerin

Advance Care Planning in Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

AbstractFew data are available on the prevalence of advance care planning (ACP) in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). We surveyed adult patients pre-HCT to ascertain completion of various elements of ACP. We also reviewed medical records for documentation of discussions regarding ACP and for the presence of written advance directives. Evaluable surveys were returned by 155 of 335 patients (46%) who underwent HCT during the study period; we obtained permission for medical record review from 137 of these 155 survey respondents (88%). We found that 69% of the respondents reported having designated a health care proxy, 44% had completed a living will, 61% had prepared an estate will, and 63% had discussed their wishes regarding life support with family and friends. In contrast, only 16% had discussed their wishes regarding life support with their clinicians. Documentation of discussions between clinicians and patients regarding most elements of ACP was rare. Written advance directives were present in the charts of 54 patients (39%). ACP was more common in older, college-educated, and allogeneic transplant patients. Even though ACP was more prevalent among this sample than in the general population, its use still could be enhanced, given the high risks of decisional incapacity and death that HCT patients face

Occurrence and diversity of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris in vegetable brassica fields in Nepal

Black rot caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris was found in 28 sampled cabbage fields in five major cabbage-growing districts in Nepal in 2001 and in four cauliflower fields in two districts and a leaf mustard seed bed in 2003. Pathogenic X. campestris pv. campestris strains were obtained from 39 cabbage plants, 4 cauliflower plants, and 1 leaf mustard plant with typical lesions. Repetitive DNA polymerase chain reaction-based fingerprinting (rep-PCR) using repetitive extragenic palindromic, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus, and BOX primers was used to assess the genetic diversity. Strains were also race typed using a differential series of Brassica spp. Cabbage strains belonged to five races (races 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7), with races 4, 1, and 6 the most common. All cauliflower strains were race 4 and the leaf mustard strain was race 6. A dendrogram derived from the combined rep-PCR profiles showed that the Nepalese X. campestris pv. campestris strains clustered separately from other Xanthomonas spp. and pathovars. Race 1 strains clustered together and strains of races 4, 5, and 6 were each split into at least two clusters. The presence of different races and the genetic variability of the pathogen should be considered when resistant cultivars are bred and introduced into regions in Nepal to control black rot of brassicas

Volume 4 Issue 2 (Complete Spring 2017)

A complete version of LMU Law Review Volume Issue 2 for Spring 2017