How Should We Prioritise Incident Management Deployment?

With perpetual strains on resources and traffic increasing at a steady rate, transport agencies need to evaluate the road network and make informed decisions to determine which roads have the greatest risk of adverse impacts and therefore identify the roads that have the greatest case for intervention. This is especially the case for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and in particular incident management services where decision-making techniques are immature relative to conventional road engineering. This problem is compounded by the fact that common evaluation tools are insufficient for ITS applications. Historical information for ITS impacts is not always readily available, impacts are not transferable and impacts are incremental to the individual user. For these reasons, a new network evaluation framework is presented in this paper for incident management deployment. The framework aims to analyse the road network and prioritise roads with respect to two factors: the historical risk associated with incidents; and the cost effectiveness of implementation. To assess the historical risk, the framework initially converts social, economic and environmental impacts to a common monetary base, enabling the addition of the incident impacts. The economic impact values must be treated as relative values of measurement, not absolute costs. The second part of the framework assesses the historical risk, taking into account both the consequence of an event, measured in economic terms described above, and the probability of an event occurring based on historical information. The third uses a cost-effective ratio comparing the reduced impacts with the project costs. The economic risk analysis presented in Figure 1 below integrates safety, reliability and environmental impacts, providing an integrated decision-making tool for proactive ITS deployment decision-making

Diamond v. Chakrabarty: Oil Eaters: Alive and Patentable

Congress is empowered, under article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution, to create patent laws that encourage the promotion of arts and sciences. In the congressional fulfillment of this task, the courts have been confused as to what products are worthy of patent protection under the patent statutes. One illustration of this confusion is the recent controversy of whether living organisms fit into the statutory patentable classification of section 101 of the 1952 Patent Act. The recent United States Supreme Court decision of Diamond v. Chakrabarty has ended this confusion by holding that living micro bacteria is patentable as a manufacture or composition of matter under section 101. The author makes an exhaustive survey of the areas of confusion surrounding interpretation of the patent statutes and analyzes the Chakrabarty decision from the perspective of resolving these areas of confusion. The author ultimately agrees with the decision, but notes that although the confusion in this area is abated, the controversy still remains

Regenerable adsorption system

A method for regenerable adsorption includes providing a substrate that defines at least one layer of ultra short channel length mesh capable of conducting an electrical current therethrough, coating at least a portion of the substrate with a desired sorbent for trace contaminant control or CO.sub.2 sorption, resistively heating the substrate, and passing a flowstream through the substrate and in contact with the sorbent

Managing Motorways and Urban Arterials in Australia: Country Report for Australia

AbstractAustralian States have been investing heavily in managed motorway. It was acknowledged some time ago that the motorways that had slow moving congested traffic caused a considerable loss of value to the community. The concept of Productivity was applied to Motorways and since become a key performance indicator used to rate different motorway systems. The approach to motorway management has been based on established practices overseas although different algorithms are being developed in Australia and subsequently evaluated. This paper describes the processes used by Australian States to manage motorways and it describes the current research into new techniques.The management of motorways cannot be undertaken without consideration of the urban arterial network. It is therefore important to see the network as a whole noting that drivers tend to change their routes so that both the motorways and the arterial work in unison to provide the level of service to the user. It is therefore important that the performance of the arterial road system be maximised. The paper outlines some of the research that is directed at maximising the arterial road, using detectors on the departure side of signalized intersections to evaluating the potential for significant improvement in signal re-timing.Finally the paper will outline the use of the Highway Capacity Manual in Australian traffic engineering practices. It should be understood that Australia has used SIDRA for intersection analysis for some time and although many of the concepts of the HCM are used in SIDRA, it contains many elements and calibration factors that are peculiar to Australia

A cyclosymmetric beam model and a spring-supported annular plate model for automotive disc brake vibration

This paper discusses two simplified analytical models for automotive disc brake vibration which can be used to complement more complex finite element methods. The first model approximates the brake disc as a simple beam structure with cyclosymmetric boundary conditions. Since the beam model is a one-dimensional approach, modelling of the inner boundary condition of the brake disc, at the interface of the brake rotor and the central hat, is not possible. The second model, which is established based upon Kirchhoff’s thin plate theory, is presented in this paper in order to incorporate the vibrational deformation at the hat-disc interface. The mode shapes, natural frequencies, and forced response of a static disc are calculated using different inner boundary conditions. Among others, the spring-supported boundary condition is proposed and applied in this paper to make appropriate predictions. The predicted results are compared with measurements of the vibration characteristics of a solid brake disc mounted upon a static test rig. These comparisons demonstrate that the most appropriate model for the inner boundary condition of the measured brake disc is the proposed spring-supported inner boundary condition

Investigation of analytical beam and annular plate models for automotive disc brake vibration

In this paper two analytical models of automotive disc brake vibration will be presented and compared to experimental measurements. The first model approximates the brake disc as a simple beam structure with cyclo-symmetric boundary conditions. Since the beam model is a one-dimensional approach and, therefore, the modelling of the inner boundary conditions of the brake disc is impossible, a second model based upon Kirchhoff’s plate theory is also presented. The mode shapes and natural frequencies of a static disc with different inner boundary conditions are calculated and compared to experimental vibration and sound pressure measurements of a brake disc made upon a static test rig. Additionally, a set of initial measurements made upon a spinning disc rig are also discussed

Trauma exposure characteristics, past traumatic life events, coping strategies, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychiatric comorbidity among people with anaphylactic shock experience

Objectives: This study investigated the interrelationship between trauma exposure characteristics, past traumatic life events, coping strategies, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and psychiatric comorbidity among people after anaphylactic shock experience. Method: The design was cross-sectional in that 94 people with anaphylactic shock experience responded to a postal survey. They completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, the General Health Questionnaire 28, and the COPE Scale. They also answered questions on trauma exposure characteristics. The control group comprised 83 people without anaphylaxis. Results: Twelve percent of people with anaphylactic shock experience fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for full PTSD. As a group, people with anaphylaxis reported significantly more past traumatic life events and psychiatric comorbidity than did the control. Partial least squares analysis showed that trauma exposure characteristics influenced postanaphylactic shock PTSD symptoms and psychiatric comorbidity, which, in turn, influenced coping strategies. Conclusions: People could develop PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity symptoms after their experience of anaphylactic shock. The way they coped with anaphylactic shock was affected by the severity of these symptoms. Past traumatic life events had a limited role to play in influencing outcomes. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Mechanism in the Relationship between Early Sexual Victimization and Incapacitated/ Drug-or-Alcohol-Facilitated and Forcible Rape

Sexual assault occurring when the victim is unable to consent or resist due to the use or administra-tion of alcohol or drugs (i.e., incapacitated/drug-or-alcohol-facilitated rape; IR/DAFR) is a particu-larly prevalent form of victimization experienced by college women. By definition, substance use precedes IR/DAFR; however, few studies have examined other potential risk factors for IR/DAFR that may be unique from those associated with forcible rape (FR; i.e., sexual assault occurring due to threats or physical restraint). The present investigation tested a model of risk for IR/DAFR and FR suggesting that child or adolescent sexual abuse (CASA) leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, which in turn increase the likelihood of IR/DAFR, but not FR. Results revealed full mediation for PTSD hyperarousal symptoms in the pathway between CASA and IR/DAFR, and partial mediation for hyperarousal symptoms in the pathway between CASA and FR. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed