Journal articles on the topic 'Road Risk Indices (RRI)'

This paper presents a risk-based approach for classifying the road surface conditions of a highway network under winter weather events. A relative risk index (RRI) is developed to capture the effect of adverse weather conditions on the collision risk of a highway in reference to the normal driving conditions. Based on this index, multiple risk factors related to adverse winter weather conditions can be considered either jointly or separately. The index can also be used to aggregate different types of road conditions observed on any given route into a single class for risk-consistent condition classification and reporting. Two example applications are shown to illustrate the advantages of the proposed approach.

Objective: Beta thalassaemia minor is a common genetic disorder without any characteristic symptoms except mild anemia. It is found to be associated with some cardiovascular risk factors such as insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. The renal resistive index (RRI) is a measure of renal arterial resistance to blood flow. The aim of this study was to evaluate the RRI in subjects with beta thalassemia minor (BTM). Subjects and Methods: A total of 253 subjects were included in this cross-sectional study. The study group consisted of 148 subjects with BTM and the control group consisted of 105 healthy subjects. BTM was diagnosed by a complete blood count and hemoglobin electrophoresis. Blood pressure measurement and biochemical tests were performed. The RRI of all subjects was measured using renal Doppler ultrasonography. Results: Subjects with BTM had lower renal resistive indices compared to healthy subjects (0.58 ± 0.04 vs. 0.60 ± 0.06, p = 0.0016). Additionally, the RRI levels of subjects with BTM were correlated with systolic blood pressure (p = 0.017, r = 0.194). Conclusion: In this study, lower RRI were found in subjects with BTM. This may be associated with a decreased vascular resistance and blood viscosity in these subjects.

Currently, research on road traffic safety is mostly focused on traffic safety evaluations based on statistical indices for accidents. There is still a need for in-depth investigation on preaccident identification of safety risks. In this study, the correlations between high-incidence locations for aberrant driving behaviors and locations of road traffic accidents are analyzed based on vehicle OBD data. A road traffic safety risk estimation index system with road traffic safety entropy (RTSE) as the primary index and rapid acceleration frequency, rapid deceleration frequency, rapid turning frequency, speeding frequency, and high-speed neutral coasting frequency as secondary indices is established. A calculation method of RTSE is proposed based on an improved entropy weight method. This method involves three aspects, namely, optimization of the base of the logarithm, processing of zero-value secondary indices, and piecewise calculation of the weight of each index. Additionally, a safety risk level determination method based on two-step clustering (density and k-means clustering) is also proposed, which prevents isolated data points from affecting safety risk classification. A risk classification threshold calculation method is formulated based on k-mean clustering. The results show that high-incidence locations for aberrant driving behaviors are consistent with the locations of traffic accidents. The proposed methods are validated through a case study on four roads in Chongqing with a total length of approximately 38 km. The results show that the road traffic safety trends characterized by road safety entropy and traffic accidents are consistent.

Over the past few years, several countries, including Spain, have been experiencing a period of economic recession. As a result, these governments have reduced their budgets for transport infrastructures (both construction and maintenance operations). The main objective of this study is to analyze whether these budget reductions have an effect on increased accident rates and to perform an assessment of their real economic benefit. Thus, we analyze whether significant changes over recent years are perceptible in the road safety indexes in Spain, in terms of risk, accident fatality, and accident severity. The relation between lower budgets and higher road safety indices is analyzed through linear regression techniques. The results show a strong relation between the Risk Index and the maintenance budget, measured as an average of the last years. In addition, a final economic assessment demonstrates that this reduction in investment had no real economic benefits, especially as the costs of the accidents exceeded the savings in the conservation plans.

This paper aims to present a framework for evaluating the functionality of emergency road networks after an earthquake from the perspective of local assistance during the process of restoring lifeline systems, such as electric power supply systems, gas supply systems and telecommunication networks. For the analysis, an earthquake of M7.3 in the Tokyo metropolitan area is anticipated, and the following types of local assistance between the related bases and the lifeline systems in the Kanto area are assumed. We employ four indices to quantify the physical and functional states of emergency road networks to be used during the post-earthquake restoration process: distance exposed by seismic intensity spatial distribution and distance exposed by PL value spatial distribution, the indices of which denote the physical state of the road networks as a result of ground motions and liquefaction, distance weighted by traffic congestion level, and distance weighted by averaged traveling time during the congestion, the indices of which denote the functional state of the road networks before being subjected to the above-mentioned seismic disturbances. By using the indices to evaluate the function of the networks from the point of view of efficiency in terms of gathering human resources and restoration materials, we can determine the most effective emergency road networks and related bases to provide local assistance to lifeline systems.

The social determinants of health influence both psychosocial risks and protective factors, especially in high-demanding contexts, such as the mobility of drivers and non-drivers. Recent evidence suggests that exploring socioeconomic status (SES), health and lifestyle-related factors might contribute to a better understanding of road traffic crashes (RTCs). Thus, the aim of this study was to construct indices for the assessment of crash rates and mobility patterns among young Colombians who live in the central region of the country. The specific objectives were developing SES, health and lifestyle indices, and assessing the self-reported RTCs and mobility features depending on these indices. A sample of 561 subjects participated in this cross-sectional study. Through a reduction approach of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), three indices were constructed. Mean and frequency differences were contrasted for the self-reported mobility, crash rates, age, and gender. As a result, SES, health and lifestyle indices explained between 56.3–67.9% of the total variance. Drivers and pedestrians who suffered crashes had higher SES. A healthier lifestyle is associated with cycling, but also with suffering more bike crashes; drivers and those reporting traffic crashes have shown greater psychosocial and lifestyle-related risk factors. Regarding gender differences, men are more likely to engage in road activities, as well as to suffer more RTCs. On the other hand, women present lower healthy lifestyle-related indices and a less active implication in mobility. Protective factors such as a high SES and a healthier lifestyle are associated with RTCs suffered by young Colombian road users. Given the differences found in this regard, a gender perspective for understanding RTCs and mobility is highly suggestible, considering that socio-economic gaps seem to differentially affect mobility and crash-related patterns.

Purpose Globally, road projects are notorious for riskiness, which often results in cost overruns. In developing countries, these risks are amplified by economic instabilities and institutional failures. Majority of road projects in these countries are awarded to notedly inept indigenous contractors. Currently, research on the relationship between risks and cost performance of road projects has predominantly focussed on the client’s perspective. Effects of risks on contractors’ cost performance (profit) are inadequately investigated in literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between direct risks and cost performance of road projects by indigenous contractors of developing countries from the contractors’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach The multivariate structural equation modelling technique was used to analyse purposively obtained data from indigenous contractors that recently completed road projects in Nigeria. Findings It was observed that a significant positive relationship exists between the aggregate project risk, i.e. project risk index of cost (PRIC) and cost performance of the projects. Significant positive relationships were also found to exist between identified cost risk centres and PRIC and between risk factors and cost risk centres. The risk centre site environment and location contributes the most to PRIC. Research limitations/implications Indigenous contractors of developing countries are to analyse the identified risk factors and centres prior to bidding for road projects and carefully manage them during project execution. Originality/value Future studies of risks in road project should aim to obtain project risk indices of costs for the projects.

Risk management in infrastructure projects has been a very important process to achieve the project objectives, namely: time, cost, quality, safety and environmental sustainability. Huge investments are made in infrastructure construction projects like roads, railways, ports, airports, electricity, telecommunication, oil gas pipelines and irrigation. This growing Increase in investment in infrastructure investment projects demands requires close monitoring of costs to ensure a net return. The evaluation of returns on investment at the conceptual stage plays a vital role in this phase. Software tools help in bringing out near accurate analysis of returns on investments and to support project viability under multiple circumstances. The paper presents an analysis of how software was applied to evaluate and mitigate risk during the case of a six lane road infrastructure project. The unit of analysis was the impact of cost of construction cost, interest rates for loans, methods of depreciation, revenue sharing on various financial indices: IRR, MIRR, DSCR and payback period. The interpretation was that software tools can be used to perform risk analysis, sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis. The case study makes a contribution to the body of knowledge by developing guidelines for using software tools in risk management.

The aim of this study is to identify and investigate levels of toxic heavy metals in PM2.5 fractioned road dust to better understand the associated inhalation risk and potential health impacts. To achieve this aim, concentrations of seven traffic generated heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Sb, and Cr) were determined in the PM2.5 fraction of road dust samples from four different locations (offices, residential, hospital, and school) in two cities (Karachi and Shikarpur) of Pakistan using ICP-MS. The average concentration values of heavy metals in Karachi were as follows: 332.9 mg/kg Cu, 426.6 mg/kg Pb, 4254.4 mg/kg Zn, 62.3 mg/kg Cd, 389.7 mg/kg Ni, 70.4 mg/kg Sb, 148.1 mg/kg Cr, whereas the average concentration values of heavy metals in Shikarpur were 245.8 mg/kg Cu, 538.4 mg/kg Pb, 8351.0 mg/kg Zn, 57.6 mg/kg Cd, 131.7 mg/kg Ni, 314.5 mg/kg Sb, 346.6 mg/kg Cr. The pollution level was assessed through two pollution indices enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo). These indices showed moderate to extreme level pollution in studied areas of both cities. The health risk assessment through inhalation contact was conducted according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) model for children and adults. Both non-cancerous and cancerous risks were characterised in the road dust samples for each location. As yet, there is not a single study on the concentrations of heavy metals in PM2.5 fractions of road dust in Karachi and Shikarpur, findings of this research will facilitate researchers for further investigations in current field.

Background: The total number of (road) traffic accidents in Vietnam remains high and the death toll caused by these accidents also ranks second in Southeast Asia. Many studies elsewhere have shown a positive correlation between the traffic risk perception and the traffic risky behavior (henceforth, referred to as TRP and TRB, respectively, for short) However, this relationship has been relatively under-researched in the context of Vietnam. This study aimed to fulfill the above research gap by investigating the present status of TRP and TRB among Vietnamese people who used motorbikes and/or electric motorbikes for their daily travel as well as the association between these two variables. Methods: This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Data were collected from a convenient sample of 373 people using motorbikes and electric motorbikes (102 males, 271 females; M age = 25.8) by means of an online questionnaire survey. This questionnaire survey was constructed based on the Risk Perception Scale on traffic risk developed by Ram et al. (2016) as well as an additional question that was to explore the risk behaviors of research participants during their traffic involvement for the last thirty days. Results: TRP indices were found to be higher for women than for men. Young males with extroverted characteristics had higher TRB than old females with introverted characteristics. However, no relationship existed between these two factors in the present study. Conclusion: As the finding of this study turned out to be inconsistent with those of previous research, more empirical studies are still welcome in this area.

The hygienic evaluation of occupational factors which characterized working conditions of traffic policemen of road patrol service was performed. The authors found that along with high neuro-emotional occupational stress in traffic policemen, they exposed to unfavorable microclimate, higher level of noise, vibration and their work was classified as heavy. Also, traffic policemen presented subjective complaints about negative impact of polluted air of motorways on their health status. Prevalence of chronic diseases was analyzed in group of 431 traffic policemen. The authors revealed a leading role of the following diseases: musculoskeletal diseases, diseases of connective tissue, digestive diseases, diseases of the nerve system, circulation system; their portion in the morbidity structure was 86.0%. The association of these diseases with occupation was confirmed by the increasing of their incidence with increasing of length of duration of service. Calculation of indices of relative occupational risk showed (that especially important) the increase of the length of service led to the increase in the risk ofpathologies, in which stress played a significant role. In examined group, the authors revealed such diseases as hypertension, autonomous-vascular dystonia, gastric and duodenal ulcer. Risk of the development of these diseases in some age/length of service groups is classified as high and very high. Obtained results provide the evidence that measures aimed to the decrease of the exposure to occupational factors will promote prevention of stress-stipulated diseases among traffic policemen.

Charsadda to Peshawar road is characterized with diverse surrounding environment of residential settlements,industrial zones, commercial and agricultural sectors along with heavy traffic route which is contributing to heavy metalpollution. This study is focused on heavy metals: Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and Lead (Pb) contribution to theatmospheric pollution level. The heavy metals pollution assessment is carried out by sample collection (soil dust samplesand two vegetation species Cyperus esculentus and Cynodon dactylon) from ten sites along the road which were analyzedby using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Average values of pollution index (PI) as well as average value ofpollution load index (PLI) for Cr, Cd and Pb in case of Cyperus esculentus, Cynodon dactylon and dust were calculated.Geo-accumulation index of roadside dust for Cr, Cd and Pb were estimated along with ecological risk due to roadsidedust using potential ecological risk index (RI). The analyses of this study suggest that the indices for the Cd metal foundto be of more concern than Cr or Pb which correspond to middle or low level of pollution. Statistical analysis revealedthat the three metals had a weak to moderate relationship with one another indicating multiple and somewhat similarsources of pollution.

Charsadda to Peshawar road is characterized with diverse surrounding environment of residential settlements,industrial zones, commercial and agricultural sectors along with heavy traffic route which is contributing to heavy metalpollution. This study is focused on heavy metals: Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr) and Lead (Pb) contribution to theatmospheric pollution level. The heavy metals pollution assessment is carried out by sample collection (soil dust samplesand two vegetation species Cyperus esculentus and Cynodon dactylon) from ten sites along the road which were analyzedby using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Average values of pollution index (PI) as well as average value ofpollution load index (PLI) for Cr, Cd and Pb in case of Cyperus esculentus, Cynodon dactylon and dust were calculated.Geo-accumulation index of roadside dust for Cr, Cd and Pb were estimated along with ecological risk due to roadsidedust using potential ecological risk index (RI). The analyses of this study suggest that the indices for the Cd metal foundto be of more concern than Cr or Pb which correspond to middle or low level of pollution. Statistical analysis revealedthat the three metals had a weak to moderate relationship with one another indicating multiple and somewhat similarsources of pollution.

AbstractOne of the criteria adopted by the Word Bank with the aim of defining the economic level of a country is represented by the condition of the road pavements. To ensure adequate road pavement quality, road authorities should be continuously monitoring and repair the detected anomalies. To fast solve problems associated with poor quality of road surface such as comfort or safety, the presence of distress must be detected quickly. The high-performance pavement distress detection, such as those base on the image processing or on the laser scanning, is very expensive and does not allow to the road administration to conduct the appropriate monitoring campaigns. To solve these problems, the paper describes the pave box methodology, an innovative and immediately operational distress detection approach based on the exploitation of data collected by the black boxes located inside the vehicles that routinely pass on the road network. Data processing and the algorithms used in the post-processing evaluation of the vertical acceleration were compared with existing visual surveys procedures such as PCI. Two different indices have been proposed to detect and classify both the local damages and the global condition of the entire road. Pave box provides a robust evaluation of the pavement condition that allows to detect all the severe distress and not less than 70% of the minor damages on the pavement surface. The proposal is characterized by low time and cost consumption and it represents an effective tool for road authorities.

Introduction. The problem of preservation of the health of drivers is a topical for most of countries. In the process of working, the mentioned group is exposed to a complex of harmful occupational factors, that both leads to an elevated increased risk for health disorders and increases the risk of road accidents. However, in available sources it was not possible to reveal reports devoted to the study of the impact of the labor conditions of drivers on various health indices on the base of the methodology of occupational risk assessment. The aim of the study is to assess the occupational risk for drivers of specialized vehicles on the basis of indices of pathological affection, calculated on the results of periodic medical examinations. Material and Methods. As a core group there were selected truck drivers (n = 1050), as a comparison group - engineering and technical personnel of the enterprise (n = 1220), matched by age and social indices. The assessment of the occupational morbidity rate was carried out on the base of the analysis of fourfold tables with the use of c2 criteria. The assessment of the degree of the occupational dependence was executed with the calculation of risk indices in accordance with the Guidelines for Risk Assessment. Results. In the course of the study there were obtained results showing drivers to suffer most frequently from diseases of eyes (65.4%), circulatory system (46.6%) and digestive system (11.6%). The main reason for the recognition of drivers as unfit to drive vehicles is hypertension at the II stage and above (71.1%). Also, there is noted an increased occupational risk in drivers for such diseases such as hypertension at the I stage (RR=2.2, CI95%=1.8-2.8, EF=54.5%, a high degree of the relationship with the work); encephalopathy of the vascular genesis (RR = 1.6, CI95%=1.1-2.4, EF = 37.5%), moderate degree of the relationship with the work in the age of older 60 years - is very high); dorsopathies at the lumbosacral level (RR=2.9, CI95%=1.6-5.3, EF=65.7%), a high degree of the relationship with the work at the age of over 50 is almost total); sensorineural hearing loss (RR=1.2, CI95%=0.7-2.0, EF=16.4%), a low degree of the relationship with the work over the age of older 60 years - moderate); hyperopia (RR=2.1, CI95%=1.7-2.5, EF=52.4%, a high degree of the relationship with the work), which determines the priority of preventive measures in relation to these diseases. The potential effect of the preventive measures is most pronounced for the circulatory system diseases in total (NNT = 13.6) and hypertensive disease at the I stage (NNT = 10.0).

Knowledge of the kilometers traveled by vehicles is essential in transport and road safety studies as an indicator of exposure and mobility. Its application in the determination of user risk indices in a disaggregated manner is of great interest to the scientific community and the authorities in charge of ensuring road safety on highways. This study used a sample of the data recorded during passenger vehicle inspections at Vehicle Technical Inspection stations and housed in a data warehouse managed by the General Directorate for Traffic of Spain. This study has three notable characteristics: (1) a novel data source is explored, (2) the methodology developed applies to other types of vehicles, with the level of disaggregation the data allows, and (3) pattern extraction and the estimate of mobility contribute to the continuous and necessary improvement of road safety indicators and are aligned with goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being: Target 3.6) of The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. An Operational Data Warehouse was created from the sample received, which helped in obtaining inference values for the kilometers traveled by Spanish fleet vehicles with a level of disaggregation that, to the knowledge of the authors, was unreachable with advanced statistical models. Three machine learning methods, CART, random forest, and gradient boosting, were optimized and compared based on the performance metrics of the models. The three methods identified the age, engine size, and tare weight of passenger vehicles as the factors with greatest influence on their travel patterns.

AbstractObjectiveTo assess whether exposure to fast-food outlets around schools differed depending on socio-economic status (SES).DesignBinary logistic regression was used to investigate the presence and zero-inflated Poisson regression was used for the count (due to the excess of zeroes) of fast food within 1000 m and 15000 m road network buffers around schools. The low and middle SES tertiles were combined due to a lack of significant variation as the ‘disadvantaged’ group and compared with the high SES tertile as the ‘advantaged’ group. School SES was expressed using the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics, socio-economic indices for areas, index of relative socio-economic disadvantage. Fast-food data included independent takeaway food outlets and major fast-food chains.SettingMetropolitan Adelaide, South Australia.SubjectsA total of 459 schools were geocoded to the street address and 1000 m and 1500 m road network distance buffers calculated.ResultsThere was a 1·6 times greater risk of exposure to fast food within 1000 m (OR=1·634; 95 % 1·017, 2·625) and a 9·5 times greater risk of exposure to a fast food within 1500 m (OR=9·524; 95 % CI 3·497, 25·641) around disadvantaged schools compared with advantaged schools.ConclusionsDisadvantaged schools were exposed to more fast food, with more than twice the number of disadvantaged schools exposed to fast food. The higher exposure to fast food near more disadvantaged schools may reflect lower commercial land cost in low-SES areas, potentially creating more financially desirable investments for fast-food developers.

The article presents results of the evaluation of urban noise levels from the road transport. Over the period 2012-2016 there was recorded an annual gain in the proportion of results of noise measurements failing to meet standards. In the daytime, evening and night time in residential areas of the city there are systematically recorded excesses of maximum permissible levels of equivalent and maximum sound levels. The highest levels of sound were recorded during the daytime: the equivalent sound level reaches 81 dBA, maximum sound level - 94 dBA. The impact of the noise of this level on the human body is characterized by a high likelihood of the development of non-specific effects (up to 0.98 units) and is evaluated as most high level. The probability (risk) for the making complaints by residents amounts up to 0.75 units (an extremely dangerous risk level), the development of hearing loss - 0.17 units (risk causing fear). High health risk indices from the impact of transport noise were established to be characteristic of cardiovascular diseases. In particular, as the age (probable duration of the exposure time) increases from 30 to 50 years, the level of risk is estimated as average (the risk ranges from 0.08 to 0.34 units), from 55 to 65 years - as high (from 0, 36 to 0.59), from 70 to 85 - as extreme (from 0.68 to 1.00). Theoretically there were substantiated measures for noise protection in the urban environment, including the architectural and planning techniques to protect the population from the traffic noise.

Background During the 2020s, there has been extensive debate about the possibility of using contact tracing (CT) to contain the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and concerns have been raised about data security and privacy. Little has been said about the effectiveness of CT. In this paper, we present a real data analysis of a CT experiment that was conducted in Italy for 8 months and involved more than 100,000 CT app users. Objective We aimed to discuss the technical and health aspects of using a centralized approach. We also aimed to show the correlation between the acquired contact data and the number of SARS-CoV-2–positive cases. Finally, we aimed to analyze CT data to define population behaviors and show the potential applications of real CT data. Methods We collected, analyzed, and evaluated CT data on the duration, persistence, and frequency of contacts over several months of observation. A statistical test was conducted to determine whether there was a correlation between indices of behavior that were calculated from the data and the number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the population (new SARS-CoV-2–positive cases). Results We found evidence of a correlation between a weighted measure of contacts and the number of new SARS-CoV-2–positive cases (Pearson coefficient=0.86), thereby paving the road to better and more accurate data analyses and spread predictions. Conclusions Our data have been used to determine the most relevant epidemiological parameters and can be used to develop an agent-based system for simulating the effects of restrictions and vaccinations. Further, we demonstrated our system's ability to identify the physical locations where the probability of infection is the highest. All the data we collected are available to the scientific community for further analysis.

The aim of the study was a comprehensive analysis of the state of the environment in the industrialized city of Voronezh to justify measures to protect the environment and prevent the morbidity of the population. Material and methods. The study uses materials from the regional information fund for social and hygienic monitoring, which is implemented on the basis of the Federal State Health Care Institution “Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Voronezh Region” under the “Environment” section for the last 5 years. The methods of the comprehensive assessment of anthropogenic load on the environment and methods for assessing the health risks of the population due to environmental factors are applied. Results. The anthropogenic load on the environment has been established to be significantly higher in the territories with the predominant negative influence of the industrial sector (Coefficient of complex anthropogenic load (CL = 13.29)) and motor traffic loads (CL = 14.65) relative to the relatively prosperous territory (CL = 7.97). Among the analyzed factors (air pollution, drinking water quality, soil contamination in the residential area, road noise), the leading contribution of the aerotechnogenic factor to the formation of the level of anthropogenic load in the urban area (58.1-58.5%) was determined on the basis of a comprehensive hygienic assessment. An assessment of the health risks of the population showed the priority of the adverse impact of air pollution and road noise on the city residents. According to the degree of carcinogenic danger, the most unfavorable situation is observed in the industrial area near the aircraft plant and the plant for the production of synthetic rubber, where high levels of total individual carcinogenic risk (chrome+6, soot, acrolein, formaldehyde), more than 1∙10-4, less than 1∙10-3, which is classified as a hazardous risk. The unacceptable level of non-carcinogenic risk (HQ>1) in the industrial area is exceeded by 4 out of 14 controlled substances: acrolein, nitric oxide, copper oxide, chromium+6. When assessing the unidirectional effects of substances, an unacceptable level of non-carcinogenic risk (HI>1) was found to be characteristic for the development of the pathology if respiratory, cardiovascular, hemopoietic (blood) and endocrine system. The risk of disrupting the health of the urban population at existing levels of noise from road transport exceeds acceptable values. The highest risk indices for health from the effects of transport noise are characteristic for diseases of the cardiovascular system. As the age (probable duration of the exposure time) increases from 10 to 35 years, the risk level is estimated as average (the risk ranges from 0.051 to 0.342 units), from 40 to 45 years - as high (from 0.352 to 0.591), from 50 to 70 years - as extreme (from 0.607 to 1). The identified problems must be solved in the context of the overall development of the city.

Urban areas experience exacerbated impacts of the regional climate variability because of their form characteristics such as imperviousness of surfaces, building density and distribution of open spaces. These are further confounded by geographical aspects such as topography, soil types, and vegetation types. Nairobi city is increasingly exposed to flood and heat risk as an aggregation of its urban form and the changing global climate. The paper sought to establish the influence of Nairobi’s biophysical characteristics on its vulnerability to both flooding and heat risks. The paper used a descriptive research design augmented with Geographic Information Systems to spatially model the landcover, soil drainage, topography, green space networks, and population density characteristics at the sub-location level. Vulnerability indices were developed using the expert ranking system and used to determine the vulnerability of the different sub-locations. The findings revealed a vulnerability pattern close to the historically segregated planning of the city. The central and eastern parts of the city exhibit high vulnerability while the western, northwestern, and southern parts of the city display moderate to low vulnerability. The paper recommends that adapting existing neighbourhoods and proactive planning of new neighbourhoods uses the ecosystem-based approach. This to entail decentralization of smaller green spaces, redesign of road medians for water management, re-specification of street vegetation species to incorporate a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees and incorporating eco-roofs and walls in high-density developments like the Central Business District.

As urbanization continues to increase and extreme climatic events become more prevalent, urban planners and engineers are actively implementing adaptive measures to protect urban assets and communities. To support the urban planning adaptation process, mapping of impervious and pervious areas is essential to understanding the hydrodynamic environment within urban areas for flood risk planning. The application of advance geospatial data and analytical techniques using remote sensing and GIS can improve land surface characterization to better quantify surface run-off and infiltration. This study presents a method to combine airborne hyperspectral and LiDAR data for classifying pervious (e.g. vegetation, gravel, and soil) and impervious (e.g. asphalt and concrete) areas within road allowance areas for the City of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Hyperspectral data was acquired using the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) at 1 m ground spatial resolution, consisting of 72 spectral bands, and LiDAR data acquired from Leica Airborne LiDAR system at a density of 20 points/m². A spectral library was established using 10 cm orthophotography and GIS data to identify surface features. In addition to spectral functions such as mean and standard deviation, several spectral indices were developed to discriminate between asphalt, concrete, gravel, vegetation, and shadows respectively. A spectral analysis of selected endmembers was conducted and an initial classification technique was applied using Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM). The classification results (i.e. shadows) were improved by integrating LIDAR data with the hyperspectral data.

Abstract Extreme wind event in November 2004 caused spacious destruction of slope forests in the Tatra National Park, Slovakia. Relevant changes of land cover motivated researchers to investigate damaged forest ecosystem and its response to different environmental conditions. Surface ozone (O3) is a minor but not negligible compound of the ambient air. Control strategies for the reduction of O3 precursor emissions have been applied in Europe during the last two decades. In spite of these reductions, air quality indices for O3 suggest that highland sites are more vulnerable to health and environmental risk than lowlands where mostly emissions from road transport and industry are produced. Both anthropogenic sources and biogenic precursors (BVOC) from forest vegetation play a relevant role in the tropospheric photochemistry, especially at mountainous and rural locations. The parameters of air quality are measured at background station Stará Lesná in the High Tatras region since 1992 in frame of an European project EMEP. Long-term data series (1992-2013) of O3 concentrations obtained for site Stará Lesná provide specific opportunity to investigate the response of BVOC reduction on O3 variability after windstorm 2004. Evaluation of these data indicates moderate increase of annual, monthly and hourly O3 means for the period from 2005 to 2013 in comparison with the previous period 1992-2004. Temporal interpolation shows evident changes of O3 concentrations, especially ~30% increase for night hours in spring season and on the contrary ~15% decrease for daylight afternoon hours in summer season. Statistically significant changes were identified for spring months (April and May, 0-6 hours) and summer months (July, 12-20 hours). Increasing O3 values in the night may be associated with the absence of BVOC for ozonolysis reaction that is one of the mechanism for O3 depletion. On the other hand, the decline of daylight O3 values in summer suggests lower O3 production via photochemical mechanism.

The poor performance of rural health in remote from the center territories of the Tomsk region, determined the need for the optimization of cancer control measures. In 2013-2015 in the oncology service of the Tomsk region there were occurred structural and qualitative changes: there was formed a three-level system of the provision of specialized health care. For workers of the first level of health care system - feldsher obstetric units (FOUs) there were approved methodical approaches to the organization and implementation of screening for external location cancer, the formation of cancer risk groups for further examination; routing and observation of cases with risk factors, precancerous and background processes; documenting of the execution of the examination for cancer; routing and tactics for the observation of cancer patients. There are introduced motivational measures for the improvement of the quality of the work of medical staff. There are actively practiced mobile forms of the activity, with taking into account seasonality, the state of the transport accessibility (the use of mobile mammographs based on KAMAZ chassis, the regional project «The floating clinic», curation of districts by oncologists). There was introduced the mechanism of «individual road map», including telemedical technologies for distance observation of patient documents (the number of unnecessary visits of rural residents decreased by 30%). There were founded primary oncological units (POU), their base is enhanced by the diagnostic equipment, which reduced the number of underexamined patients by 47.5%. There was created the network of primary cytological laboratories completed with microscopes with digital processing and transmission of images over the Internet, there were performed more than 20,000 telemedical consultations, resulting in 70 diagnosed cases of cervical cancer for 2 years. The execution of POU-based courses of drug antitumor therapy increased the number of patients received the treatment at site of residing by 2.2 times. There was organized beneficiary drug coverage, including drugs for the treatment of chronic pain. Thanks to the work of POUs in the new status there were increased both the coverage of the population by cancer preventive examinations and indices of detection rates of precancerous diseases and chronic external localization diseases as in men as well in women.

Grassland biomass is the embodiment of grassland productivity, and the material basis for the maintenance of the grassland ecosystem. Grassland is the main vegetation type in the Mongolian Plateau. Grassland changes in the core region of the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative have an important impact on regional ecology, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. This study established three types of models for estimating grassland production through statistical analysis methods using NDVI, EVI, MSAVI, and PsnNet remote sensing indices retrieved from a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) dataset. This was combined with ground-measured grassland data and meteorological data. Based on model evaluation, the spatial and temporal distribution and variation characteristics of grassland along the Mongolia part of the China–Mongolia Railway were obtained through inversion for the period from 2006 to 2015. The results showed that all the models had good simulation effects. The optimal model was an exponential model based on MSAVI—with its simulation accuracy reaching 78%. Grassland production in the study area has increased slightly in the past ten years, with little change in the first five years and a fluctuating increase in the next five years. The average grassland production (per unit production) in the past ten years was 3400.39 kg/ha and the average total production was 9707.88 × 104 t. Grassland production increased slightly in most areas along the railway, and in some areas it continued to decline. The regional spatial distribution of increased and decreased grassland production was significantly different. With better grassland resources in the northeastern part of the study area—the area around Chinggis City and the capital of Hentiy Province—had the most significant growth. However, the southern Gobi area—with its trend towards land degradation in the area where the southern Gobi and desert steppe transitions to steppe and dry steppe—had a significant decrease. This meant that the risk of grassland degradation still existed. There were also quantitative and spatial differences in the areas where grassland production decreased on both sides of the railway. The decrease in grassland production on the western side of the railway was more obvious than on the eastern side, and the reduction area was dispersed on the western side and relatively concentrated on the eastern side. In future research, the identification of key areas of grassland degradation along the China–Mongolia Railway as well as its driving forces should be investigated further.

<em>Transactions related to global trade flows have significantly improved at present, on account of the internationalization and highly developed e-commerce. Exports and imports opportunities have substantially increased so also risk associated with international trade has reached a high level. Along with issues related to languages used for communication involved in international marketing, drafting of letter of intent / purchase order, drafting of letter of credit, financing during execution of purchase order, pre and post shipment inspection and finally negotiation of bank documents for collection of payments, the international trade was always been quite risky. This risk is because of the fact that exporters and importers are from different countries, separated not only by physical distance but by socio political conditions. Actual trade flows determines quantum of foreign trade. Foreign trade divided by GDP is a good measure of improvement or growth in foreign trade. (Harrison 1996). There is a positive relationship between Foreign Trade well supported by domestic as well as foreign banks and economic growth (Edwards 1992).Mixed results are obtained during the study related to explanation of the causal relationship between the degree of openness of the economy and economic growth. This paper takes a review of India’s Foreign Trade with reference to post RBI Road Map 2005 and financing by Foreign Banks (FB) during the period 2003-2013.</em>

The spectacular increase of number of motor vehicles on the road is mainly attributed ingeneration of traffic problems like accidents, congestions, delays etc., especially in the urban premises of developing countries. This paper examines the traffic problems and sustainable improvement of road intersection at Bhopal, India. The special and temporal constitutions of the vehicle as well as pedestrian traffic at the intersections were examined and the characteristics of the junction indoctrinating the delay problems are identified. Data regarding the traffic volume, land use and pedestrian movement activities are collected through surveys, expert opinion and literature . Analysis of the collected data revealed that the improper planning of the junctions, lack of traffic signals and unauthorised parking are the major factors contributing to the traffic congestions. Various Using data collected from surveys, traffic frequency and severity standards for signalized and Un signalized have been established. The methodologies are developed incorporating the relative importance of different severity of different safety indices at intersection. The relative importance (weights) of very low, low, medium and high severity condition is developed using data collection and expert opinions experience people which have knowledge in development/safety development at intersection were obtained by conducting a survey.

Background. The rise in particulate matter (PM) concentrations is a serious problem for the environment. Heavy metals associated with PM10, PM2.5, and road dust adversely affect human health. Different methods have been used to assess heavy metal contamination in PM10, PM2.5, and road dust and source apportionment of these heavy metals. These assessment tools utilize pollution indices and health risk assessment models. Objectives. The present study evaluates the total mass and average concentrations of heavy metals in PM10, PM2.5, and road dust along selected road networks in Dhanbad, India, analyzes the source apportionment of heavy metals, and assesses associated human health risks. Methods. A total of 112 PM samples and 21 road dust samples were collected from six stations and one background site in Dhanbad, India from December 2015 to February 2016, and were analyzed for heavy metals (iron (Fe), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and zinc (Zn)) using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Source apportionment was determined using principal component analysis. A health risk assessment of heavy metal concentrations in PM10, PM2.5, and road dust was also performed. Results. The average mass concentration was found to be 229.54±118.40 μg m−3 for PM10 and 129.73 ±61.74 μg m−3 for PM2.5. The average concentration of heavy metals was found to be higher in PM2.5 than PM10. The pollution load index value of PM10 and PM2.5 road dust was found to be in the deteriorating category. Vehicles were the major source of pollution. The non-carcinogenic effects on children and adults were found to be within acceptable limits. The heavy metals present in PM and road dust posed a health risk in the order of road dust&gt; PM10&gt; and PM2.5. Particulate matter posed higher health risks than road dust due to particle size. Conclusions. The mass concentration analysis indicates serious PM10 and PM2.5 contamination in the study area. Vehicle traffic was the major source of heavy metals in PM10, PM2.5, and road dust. In terms of non-carcinogenic risks posed by heavy metals in the present study, children were more affected than adults. The carcinogenic risk posed by the heavy metals was negligible. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests

This study aims at examining the nature of the rising trends in road traffic accident phenomenon in Nigeria, using data for the period 1990 1995. It examines the spatiotemporal variations of road traffic accident parameters, in addition to studying the fatality (severity) and injury indices as well as the health risk for each state, and the country in general. The paper observes a downward trend in all road traffic accident parameters, with fatal and serious cases declining as much as 33% and 24% respectively, although, the number of person killed during the period experienced an increase. Regionally, the performance varied among the states of the country, with Lagos, Ogun, Niger, Edo, Kano, Kogi, Delta, Jigawa, Sokoto, Cross River States and Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) recording high trends in all cases. These states thus need some more attention from all the agents of road safety in the country. The study concludes that, in addition to the behavioural modification approach which has not been emphasized enough, a lot more still needs to be done in such areas as maintenance of road transport infrastructure, vehicle road worthiness inspection, driver retraining and potential driver training, pedestrian education proper accident data collection, recording, storage and retrieval and finally law enforcement.

Abstract Background and Aims Transplanting renal centres have a duty to use the finite resource of the deceased-donor kidney pool to benefit potential recipients without exposing them to excessive risk. However, there is known variation in centre and clinician practice. This may relate to clinicians’ attitude to risk, knowledge of the recipient and unit culture. Centre differences in acceptability of donor organs is evidenced by variation in NHS blood and transplant registry data. Use of marginal donors has become more frequent, especially for older recipients with higher comorbidity. In the UK this year we will see whether switching to an ‘opt out’ donation law further increases this proportion of donors. We developed a systematic method to retrospectively review donation after brain death (DBD) kidney offers declined by our centre, with the intention of reducing variation in practice between clinicians, and identifying cases where offer acceptance may have been appropriate Method All DBD kidney offers declined by the Richard Bright Renal Service between June 2018 and May 2019 were reviewed. Data were collected by casenotes review and by contact with other transplanting units to establish the outcome of donor kidneys and recipient progress. Reasons for offer decline were recorded. Donor and recipient risk indices (DRI and RRI) were calculated. For patients now transplanted, the DRI of the declined offer was compared to the DRI of the transplanted kidney. Results During the study period, 98 DBD kidneys were declined. A donor organ identifier was not available in 8 cases, so 90 are considered here. Average donor age was 57 years with 52% having a Donor Risk Index (DRI) score of 4, and 74.7% a DRI score ≥3. The most common reasons for organ decline were donor related (65%), of which 27% were due to poor kidney function and 22% age mismatch; or recipient related (35%), where 30% were deemed inadequate quality for the recipient and 30% were unavailable or unwell. Of those kidneys which were transplanted elsewhere, 88% were functioning at 6 months with a median creatinine of 119 (IQR 106-148). There were 60 potential recipients, 61% of whom had a RRI score ≥3; 44% had a RRI equal to or less than the DRI of the declined organ. Those who have still not been transplanted have accrued a median of 352 extra days on dialysis. 31 recipients (52%) have been transplanted since their declined offer. The median change in DRI score from the declined offer to the accepted offer was -1 (IQR -2 to 1), and offers were accepted after a median of 45 (IQR 14-143) additional dialysis days. Of those who were transplanted after declining a donor offer, 11 (39%) received a kidney from a donor with equal or worse DRI than the original offer, after a median of 49 further days on dialysis. Conclusion This review process highlights the effect of kidney offer decline on future progress of the potential recipient, as well as differences in our centre practice compared to other centres. Key to this review is to highlight the risks involved with DBD organ decline- 18% of recipients ultimately received an equal or inferior kidney while accruing additional time on dialysis. Alongside this review we have implemented strategies including a policy on AKI in donors and monthly multidisciplinary meetings to discuss individual DBD decline cases. We aim to standardize decision making and increase our utilization of all as well as marginal DBD organs, and expect to show a reduction in variation in practice in future reviews. Use of this process in other units or at a national level could reduce unwarranted variation in the utilization of the donor organ pool.

AbstractThis article provides a spatial and comparative approach to evaluate the territorial accessibility in the event of a volcanic crisis in the French West Indies. A spatial assessment of resources and populations exposed to volcanic hazards is performed, followed by an assessment of the risk of territorial isolation due to lahars. Modelling of the risk of terrestrial isolation builds upon graph-based computations and indices that take into account the specific vulnerability of river-crossing structures and the knowledge of historical lahars. Another application of the graphs concerns scenarios for the evacuation of population, the sole efficient response to an eruption. This results in an optimised division of areas to evacuate in order to assess the potential reduction of the load on the road network. These different results are integrated into a prototype for evacuation maps intended for local authorities. The situation of Guadeloupe is of greater concern than that in Martinique, given the level of exposure, the potential losses of accessibility in case of lahars, and the greater and on-going volcanic unrest of La Soufrière volcano in Guadeloupe.

Purpose This paper aims to present a novel approach for assessing the resilience of transportation road infrastructure against different failure scenarios based on the topological properties of the network. The approach is implemented in the context of developing countries where data scarcity is the norm, taking the capital city of Beirut as a case study. Design/methodology/approach The approach is based on the graph theory concepts and uses spatial data and urban network analysis toolbox to estimate the resilience under random and rank-ordering failure scenarios. The quantitative approach is applied to statistically model the topological graph properties, centralities and appropriate resilience metrics. Findings The research approach is able to provide a unique insight into the network configuration in terms of resilience against failures. The road network of Beirut, with an average nodal degree of three, turns to act more similarly to a random graph when exposed to failures. Topological parameters, connectivity and density indices of the network decline through disruptions while revealing an entire dependence on the state of nodes. The Beirut random network responds similarly to random and targeted removals. Critical network components are highlighted following the approach. Research limitations/implications The approach is limited to an undirected and weighted specific graph of Beirut where the capacity to collect and process the necessary data in such context is limited. Practical implications Decision-makers are better able to direct and optimize resources by prioritizing the critical network components, therefore reducing the failure-induced downtime in the functionality. Originality/value The resilience of Beirut transportation network is quantified uniquely through graph theory under various node removal modes.

A number of local butchers in Uyo metropolis usually make use of used scrap car tyres (USCT) and condemned plastics (CPS) as close substitutes for firewood to singe slaughtered ruminants. This study evaluated the effect of singeing materials on the distribution of some metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe) in liver and kidney samples of Capra aegagrus hircus (goat) slaughtered in Uyo Village Road Abattoir in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks for children and adults were also estimated using Estimated Chronic Daily Intake (ECDI), Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Hazard Indices (HI) of metals in liver and kidney. Relative to unsinged samples, singed treatments generally demonstrated elevated heavy metal levels in both goat liver and the kidney. Apart from nickel, iron and zinc, the range of values obtained for all the metals in singed samples studied were above the threshold stipulated by the Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization. The health risk assessment revealed Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr as potential carcinogens in the signed samples evaluated. The continuous use of these dangerous materials for singeing of goat meat for human consumption poses great risk to human health and should be discontinued.

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the impact of traffic pollution on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Therefore, using frequency matching and propensity scores, we explored the association between traffic pollution and COPD in a cohort of 8284 residents in a major agricultural county in Taiwan. Methods All subjects completed a structured questionnaire interview and health checkups. Subjects with COPD were identified using Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Databases. A hybrid kriging/LUR model was used to identify levels of traffic-related air pollutants (PM2.5 and O3). Multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate the prevalence ratios (PRs) of COPD and evaluate the role played by traffic-related indices between air pollutants and COPD. The distributed lag nonlinear model was applied in the analysis; we excluded current or ever smokers to perform the sensitivity analysis. Results Increased PRs of COPD per SD increment of PM2.5 were 1.10 (95% CI 1.05–1.15) and 1.25 (95% CI 1.13–1.40) in the population with age and sex matching as well as propensity-score matching, respectively. The results of the sensitivity analysis were similar between the single and two pollutant models. PM2.5 concentrations were significantly associated with traffic flow including sedans, buses, and trucks (p < 0.01). The higher road area and the higher PM2.5 concentrations near the subject’s residence correlated with a greater risk of developing COPD (p for interaction < 0.01). Conclusions Our results suggest that long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution may be positively associated with the prevalence of COPD. Graphical abstract

Concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in settled house dust and road dust samples collected from a core urban area of Hanoi. Levels of PAHs ranged from 830 to 3500 (median 2000) ng/g in house dust, and from 1400 to 4700 (median 1700) ng/g in road dust. Concentrations of PAHs in dust samples of this study were within the moderate range as compared with those from other countries in the world. Toxic equivalents to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP-EQs) in our samples ranged from 81 to 850 (median 330) ng BaP-EQ/g with principal contributors as BaP and dibenz[a,h]anthracene, which accounted for 69% to 93% of BaP-EQs. In almost all the samples, proportions of high-molecular-weight PAHs (HMW-PAHs with 4–6 rings) were higher than those of low-molecular-weight PAHs (LMW-PAHs with 2–3 rings), suggesting emission sources from combustion processes rather than direct contamination by petrogenic sources. 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