A bibliography of the leaf-cutting ants, Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp., up to 1975

Abstract not availabl

The use of simulation in the design of a road transport incident detection algorithm

Automatic incident detection is becoming one of the core tools of urban traffic management, enabling more rapid identification and response to traffic incidents and congestion. Existing traffic detection infrastructure within urban areas (often installed for traffic signal optimization) provides urban traffic control systems with a near continuous stream of data on the state of traffic within the network. The creation of a simulation to replicate such a data stream therefore provides a facility for the development of accurate congestion detection and warning algorithms. This paper describes firstly the augmentation of a commercial traffic model to provide an urban traffic control simulation platform and secondly the development of a new incident detection system (RAID-Remote Automatic Incident Detection), with the facility to use the simulation platform as an integral part of the design and calibration process. A brief description of a practical implementation of RAID is included along with summary evaluation results

Ecological research on spiders associated with moorlands

Not availabl

Traffic Composition during the Morning Peak Period

Using registration plate analysis, this paper investigates 1) the proportions of ‘unique’ vehicles, 2) the proportions of vehicles re-appearing from day-to-day and their individual arrival variances and 3) the numbers of locally registered vehicles among those seen during the morning commute period on three roads in Southampton. During incidents, a traffic controller would hope to divert the more familiar drivers onto less congested parts of the network using VMS and other media. Knowing the proportions of regular and unique drivers which make up the peak commuting periods would help in the timely dissemination of this traffic information. The proportions of unique vehicles varied significantly with road and time. Vehicles appearing on more than one day formed 80% of the traffic before 08:15 but only 60% between the 08:45 and 09:00 peak period during the 1996 Bassett Avenue survey. Although the proportions of vehicles re-appearing from day to day varied significantly with road, their arrival variances were found to be very similar. On average, 65% of the returning vehicles re-appeared within +/- 5 minutes of their previous day’s time implying that this frequency of arrival could be part of an habitual behaviour pattern. The results suggest that for occasions where congestion can be anticipated in advance, such as prior to emergency roadworks or special events, warning messages would be most effective before 08:30 a.m. when the largest proportion of regular vehicles would be using the roads. If regular users are more familiar with the local road network than one-off ‘unique’ vehicles, and would be more likely to divert on receiving incident information relevant to their route, then later in the morning, the proportion of knowledgeable local drivers falls substantially. (Some mathematical expressions are not shown, please refer to the paper

Making training more cognitively effective: making videos interactive

The cost of health and safety (H&S) failures to the UK industry is currently estimated at up to £6.5 billion per annum, with the construction sector suffering unacceptably high levels of work-related incidents. Better H&S education across all skill levels in the industry is seen as an integral part of any solution. Traditional lecture-based courses often fail to recreate the dynamic realities of managing H&S on site and therefore do not sufficiently create deeper cognitive learning (which results in remembering and using what was learned). The use of videos is a move forward, but passively observing a video is not cognitively engaging and challenging, and therefore learning is not as effective as it can be. This paper describes the development of an interactive video in which learners take an active role. While observing the video, they are required to engage, participate, respond and be actively involved. The potential for this approach to be used in conjunction with more traditional approaches to H&S was explored using a group of 2nd-year undergraduate civil engineering students. The formative results suggested that the learning experience could be enhanced using interactive videos. Nevertheless, most of the learners believed that a blended approach would be most effective

Back to the future? A theoretically inspired musing on the concept of Product Stewardship and its implications for Corporate and Social Responsibility

yesThe concept of corporate and social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing momentum and importance in business operations today and companies have globally responded to this philosophy. To what end though? Product Stewardship (PS) and the corporate, social and environmental responsibilities associated within this term are a key part of a business’s CSR agenda. In the extant literature, it is a challenge to clearly identify the boundaries of responsibility for PS - who sets these boundaries for governance and what are the actions taken under the guise of PS. This paper aims to start the process of demystification in responding to the title of this work, stimulate further musings and outline a future research agenda

Where are you? A preliminary examination of the track and trace mechanisms in place to facilitate effective closed-loop medical equipment retrieval in the National Health Service (NHS) (UK)

yesThe National Health Service (UK) is wholly accountable and heavily scrutinised for its strategy, activity, performance and spending (Appleby, 2016; NHS Confederation, 2016; Parliament UK, 2010), and much research has been undertaken as to its effectiveness at managing its operations and its competency in doing so (Gov.Uk, 2016; National Audit Office, 1999)). The impact of not performing adequately combined with threats such as funding cuts (King’s Fund, 2016), government intervention and private sector competition; has led to uncertainty and disillusion with the sustainability of the service (Hunter, 2016). Based on current economic concerns, this paper chooses to focus on the area of Medical Equipment Loans Services where products are released to patients to aid therapeutic rehabilitation and physical mobility. The aim of this study is to examine the process of product retrieval in a multi-case study analysis and consider how value-added technologies can be used to improve retrieval success rates