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Sustainable operation of tunnel drainage without shaft covers in the roadway A well‐planned drainage system for the road infrastructure and its integrated engineering structures contributes decisively to the traffic safety in road construction. Simultaneously, a carefully engineered drainage system in conjunction with suitable materials and constructions reduces the maintenance costs in the long term, thus ensuring a smooth operation of the system. The ease of cleaning of the system plays a major part in reducing road blocking time related associated to maintenance or repair works. In tunnels in particular, the drainage systems regularly cause closures precisely due to maintenance and repair works. Damages occur regularly, particularly in areas of permanent overrun of inspection shafts, and repairing them leads often to time‐consuming road closures. In order to reduce the resulting costs to a minimum, the use of a modified baffle shaft at the edge of the carriageway should make it possible to operate and maintain the drainage pipe without a manhole cover in the carriageway. This article highlights the modified baffle shaft and its advantages for the operation of tunnels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are being developed and designed to operate on existing roads. Their safe and efficient operation during roadworks, where traffic management measures are often introduced, is crucial. Two alternative measures are commonly applied during roadworks on motorways: (i) closing one or multiple lanes (ii) narrowing one or all lanes. The former can cause delays and increased emissions, while the latter can pose safety risks. This study uses a VISSIM‐based traffic microsimulation to compare the effectiveness of these two strategies on traffic efficiency and safety, considering various market penetration rates (MPR) of CAVs. The model was calibrated and validated with the data collected from M1 motorway in the United Kingdom. Results show that average delays per vehicle‐kilometre‐travelled decreased from 102.7 to 2.5 s (with lane closure) and 23.6 to 0.6 s (with narrow lanes) with 0% and 100% CAV MPR, respectively. Moreover, safety in narrow lanes improved by 4.8 times compared to 1.5 times improvement in lane closure with a 100% CAV MPR; indicating that narrow lanes would result in better safety performance. These findings could assist transport authorities in designing temporary traffic management measure that results in better CAV performance when navigating through roadworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvest regulations commonly attenuate the consequences of hunting on specific segments of a population. However, regulations may not protect individuals from non‐lethal effects of hunting and their consequences remain poorly understood. In this study, we compared the movement rates of Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos, n = 47) across spatiotemporal variations in risk in relation to the onset of bear hunting. We tested two alternative hypotheses based on whether behavioural responses to hunting involve hiding or escaping. If bears try to reduce risk exposure by avoiding being detected by hunters, we expect individuals from all demographic groups to reduce their movement rate during the hunting season. On the other hand, if bears avoid hunters by escaping, we expect them to increase their movement rate in order to leave high‐risk areas faster. We found an increased movement rate in females accompanied by dependent offspring during the morning hours of the bear hunting season, a general decrease in movement rate in adult lone females, and no changes in males and subadult females. The increased movement rate that we observed in females with dependant offspring during the hunting season was likely an antipredator response because it only occurred in areas located closer to roads, whereas the decreased movement rate in lone females could be either part of seasonal activity patterns or be associated with an increased selection for better concealment. Our study suggests that female brown bears accompanied by offspring likely move faster in high‐risk areas to minimize risk exposure as well as the costly trade‐offs (i.e. time spent foraging vs. time spent hiding) typically associated with anti‐predator tactics that involve changes in resource selection. Our study also highlights the importance of modelling fine‐scale spatiotemporal variations in risk to adequately capture the complexity in behavioural responses caused by human activities in wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, eight counties in Southeast Texas formed a non‐tax authority flood control partnership to provide a forum for communication, create a regional database and improve flood modeling, early warning, and flood mitigation decisions. This partnership is able to successfully deploy and manage an early warning flood system network at relatively low‐cost by: (i) assigning the university as technical expert and general network administrator so that no additional agency workforce is required to operate and maintain the system, (ii) the flood monitoring system is a simple system and (iii) the data was able to be displayed in real‐time using an existing web‐based dashboard owned and operated by another agency within the partnership. The low‐cost sensors are lightweight and easily mountable which allowed them to be rapidly deployed within a short period of time (73 sensor sites installed within 7‐month window) over a 6000 square mile area. The data is shared with the public, and local, state, and federal agencies to monitor drainage infrastructure, and provide the community with flash flood and roadway closure alerts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a period of 2 years, we noted that many large mammals in the Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, remained fairly close to the road--rather than running away--as we drove past at a relatively slow speed, of about 20-25 kph. We consider that over recent years, many of these animals have become habituated to tourist vehicles passing nearby and we recorded the minimum distances at which nine common species remained at, or close to the road edge as we drove past. Many stayed still actually at the edge, while Oribis and Hartebbest sometimes remained on the road itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motorway infrastructure consists of pavements, bridges, tunnels, noise barriers, drainage systems, electro‐mechanical equipment and road furniture. All of them need to be at the adequate performance levels to ensure appropriate availability, comfort and safety. To fulfill this condition, road authorities must regularly carry out maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction works. As engineering structures have various service lives, performing remedial works for each individual structure at the optimal time would result in frequent road closures on the same road sections, significantly reducing the road availability for the users. Consequently, a works programme of remedial measures is needed which combines the measures on the same road section to the same time frame. The times planned for performing remedial measures therefore cannot be optimal for every structure in the road network, however they can be optimal from the road's availability and total costs perspective. An appropriate coordination between individual types of infrastructure, selection of measures and a method of merging these measures to the individual road sections must be performed. The paper discusses the integration of the results of individual management systems into a unified works programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads are human infrastructure that heavily affect wildlife, often with marked impacts on carnivores, including brown bears Ursus arctos. Here, we assessed the potential impact of road networks on the distribution of brown bears in the small, isolated and endangered Cantabrian population of north‐western Spain. To ascertain whether local road networks affect brown bear spatial distribution, we first assessed potential influences on the distance of bear locations to roads using candidate models which included topographic variables, landcover types, bear age and reproductive status, traffic volume and road visibility. Then, we built two sets of habitat suitability models, both with and without roads, to discern the possible loss of habitat suitability caused by roads. The mean distance of bear locations to the nearest road was 968 ± 804 m and the closest road was a low traffic road in 72.5% of cases. Candidate models showed little influence of our variables on bear distance to the nearest road, with the exception of elevation. Habitat suitability models revealed that road networks in our study area seem to have almost no effect on brown bear habitat suitability, except for females with yearlings during the denning season. However, this result may also be a consequence of the fact that only a small proportion (16.5%) of the cells classified as suitable bear habitats were crossed by roads, that is, most of the roads are primarily located in unsuitable bear habitats in the Cantabrian Mountains. Compared to previous studies conducted in other populations, mainly North American ones, our findings might suggest a different response of Eurasian brown bears to roads due to a longer bear‐human coexistence in Europe versus North America. However, the indirect approach used in our study does not exclude other detrimental effects, for example, road mortality, increased stress and movement pattern disruption, only detectable by more direct approaches such as telemetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Limited funds for conservation and research require the development of prioritization schemes. Traditionally, biodiversity metrics were used to delineate priority areas; however, a growing realization emphasizes that logistic factors should be also considered. Here, we combine species richness, past collection efforts, degree of habitat loss and accessibility to define priority areas and spatially orient fieldwork in a cost‐effective manner for xenarthrans. Location: Neotropics. Methods: We assessed spatial patterns of species richness in Xenarthra and identified diversity hotspots based on species distribution models. Spatial patterns and biases in the Xenarthra past collection efforts were analysed using a comprehensive database including 33,464 individual records for 34 species of Xenarthra. Finally, we produced priority area indices relating species richness and collection efforts with levels of habitat loss and accessibility (roads and rivers network) to highlight important but neglected areas. Results: Collection efforts were concentrated to a small portion of the Neotropics (central‐western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and north‐western Argentina) and were biased towards access routes. Only 4% of the Neotropics can be considered well sampled. Major xenarthran diversity hotspots include the Amazonian lowlands of Bolivia and the dry Chaco of Paraguay and Argentina. Priority areas for research varied depending on the metric analysed. Amazon holds a high diversity that remains poorly explored. Central Argentina and eastern Brazil are priority areas for research and conservation given the low sampling efforts, high diversity and endemic species, high levels of habitat loss and a dense road network. Main conclusions: Most areas of the Neotropics lack a proper assessment of the xenarthran assemblage, reflecting extensive knowledge shortfalls. Sites close to roads tend to be better sampled, but many areas with a dense road network are undersampled, being good candidates for low‐cost studies. Xenarthra diversity hotspots facing the highest levels of habitat alteration are the least protected and are priority for both research and conservation. Simultaneous efforts of data collection and conservation actions across most of the xenarthran range should be stimulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mine closure practices have continued to improve over the last few decades; however, across the industry rehabilitation outcomes continue to fall short of community expectations. While examples of successful rehabilitation exist, there are still limited examples of mines closing, relinquishing, and transitioning to another land use. Barriers to relinquishment such as residual risk, land transfer liability, and limited next land use options are compounded by the lack of legislated mine relinquishment policy. Broader mine closure policy has evolved significantly over the last few decades in Australia, with recent changes in some states enhancing mandates requiring progressive rehabilitation and financial assurance mechanisms in an effort to continue to improve mine closure outcomes. Government authorities with legislative powers to report and influence rehabilitation activities in Queensland and Victoria are also considered a positive mine closure policy direction. Despite these recent legislative developments there is still no multi‐agency regulatory policy framework integrating mine closure and relinquishment in any Australian jurisdiction. This article explores how recent mine closure policy changes in Australia could be used by policy makers to enable relinquishment in the future and provides recommendations for an integrated multi‐agency relinquishment policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Host‐associated microbiomes play an essential role in the health of organisms, including immune system activation, metabolism and energy uptake. It is well established that microbial communities differ depending on the life stage and natural history of the organism. However, the effects of life stage and natural history on microbial communities may also be influenced by human activities. We investigated the effects of amphibian life stage (terrestrial eft vs. aquatic adult) and proximity to roadways on newt skin bacterial communities. We found that the eft and adult life stages differed in bacterial community composition; however, the effects of roads on community composition were more evident in the terrestrial eft stage compared to the aquatic adult stage. Terrestrial efts sampled close to roads possessed richer communities than those living further away from the influence of roads. When accounting for amplicon sequence variants with predicted antifungal capabilities, in the adult life stage, we observed a decrease in anti‐fungal bacteria with distance to roads. In contrast, in the eft stage, we found an increase in anti‐fungal bacteria with distance to roads. Our results highlight the need to consider the effects of human activities when evaluating how host‐associated microbiomes differ across life stages of wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential negative artificial selection on horn size is a concern for many harvested ungulates. The mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) has distinct black horns, but targeting animals based on horn size in the field can be challenging. We analyzed over 23,000 horn records that included base circumference and total length, from which we also derived horn volume, from mountain goats harvested in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories from 1980 to 2016. We tested 3 potential drivers of horn size variation: geographical location, environmental conditions, and artificial selection. We found no support for a latitudinal effect with surprisingly little variation across the sampling distribution. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation had the largest effect outside age in the model, suggesting a role of climate in shaping variation. Mountain goats harvested closer to roads had larger horns, indicating that ease of access might allow hunters to be more selective, though the effect size was small. Our findings reinforce the value of accurate and complete record keeping on horn size, age, and sex of harvested animals, and highlight the importance of explicitly considering climate and accessibility when devising management strategies for the mountain goat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pinhole integral imaging (PII)‐based hologram, each pinhole is regarded as a point light source to emit light rays in different directions to simulate light propagation from the reconstructed 3D information to the computer‐generated hologram (CGH). The PII‐based hologram presents at a working mode similar to resolution‐priority integral imaging (RPII). The depth of field (DOF) is inevitably limited. In this paper, we use twice close‐range capturing to enhance the DOF of this hologram. Twice close‐range capturing can ensure that the virtual objects with different depths are not far from their respective image reference planes, and the detailed information of the back object also can be preserved. Besides, we use a simple ray‐tracing method to solve the occlusion problems. Numerical and optical reconstruction verified that the proposed method can reconstruct clearer 3D images compared with the single capturing method. In addition, the proposed method can present a natural occlusion effect. Thus, the DOF is enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roadside perception systems commonly rely on millimetre‐wave radars that are stationary. Obtaining global coordinates of radar detection targets requires calibration of radars installed on roadways, which is dangerous if performed via conventional methods. Hazards such as live traffic, particularly on expressways, make safe calibration difficult without road closures. To avoid these issues, this paper proposes a novel calibration method for roadside millimetre‐wave radar by using high‐definition maps to provide global positioning for radar detection targets, combined with vehicle trajectory data from live traffic. After clustering collected traffic data, a polynomial curve fit provides the shape of lane centrelines. Calibration parameters for the relative‐to‐global position mapping are then obtained by matching fitted curve sample points to points in high‐definition maps using non‐linear optimization. The calibration results are verified experimentally using a connected vehicle and roadside unit on an urban street, demonstrating that the proposed method meets lane‐level precision requirements for V2X applications. This data‐driven method borrows live traffic for calibration and hence is safer and more convenient compared to existing calibration methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction site is located close to the Spullersee, one of the most impressive mountainsides in the Alps, and is part of the ÖBB Spullersee power station, which is used to generate green 16.7 Hz traction current. The Spullersee, a formerly natural mountain lake, is located over 1800 m a.s.l.in the municipality of Dalaas in Vorarlberg. After almost a century of generating electricity, essential parts of the plant have reached the end of service life, resulted in essential facility renewals as well as numerous operational optimizations in the last two years. In a first construction phase, a new access tunnel to the existing apparatus chamber had to be excavated before seasonal winter closure of the access road. For the winter construction phase, thousands of tons of building materials were stored on the construction site in order to replace the old system parts in the area of the lake‐side apparatus chamber after the Spullersee had been completely emptied. Due to high‐alpine location of the site in one of the snowiest regions in Austria, not just working in winter was challenging, but also access. In winter the site was achieved only by using a small cable car and a narrow footpath through the almost two‐kilometer‐long pipe tunnel. This was not everyone's cup of tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HEITKAMP Rapid Construction Bridge: KBE for innovative bridge abutments in the pilot project of the federal freeway A 3 Stokkumer Straße In order to make the infrastructure in Germany fit for the future, many dilapidated bridges have to be replaced by new structures with correspondingly higher load requirements. Implementing this ambitious task with as little negative impact on traffic as possible requires innovative construction methods that enable a significant reduction in construction time and less intervention in the traffic area. Exactly these aspects have been successfully implemented in a pilot project called "HEITKAMP Rapid Construction Bridge". A significantly reduced CO2 balance and complete deconstructability with full reuse of the materials used are further forward‐looking aspects of this modern construction method. For the replacement of the "Stokkumer Straße" bridge, the steel composite superstructure including waterproofing and kerbs was built on a neighboring parking lot away from the highway without any traffic obstructions. The approx. 40 m long and 400 t heavy superstructure was driven to the A 3 highway and set down on the abutments with the help of SPMT equipment during a weekend closure. The special feature of this new replacement structure are the abutments made of geosynthetic‐reinforced earth. This construction method enables to construct the abutments within a few days only. As this is not yet a regulated construction method, the relevant requirements and verifications for the load‐bearing and deformation behavior of the reinforced earth were developed in close cooperation with the BMVI and Straßen.NRW. In order to be able to precisely plan all time sequences, technical interfaces and geometric specifications in advance, this project was also planned and modeled using the BIM method (figure 4). In this respect, too, this was a pilot project for bridge construction measures in the area of responsibility of Straßen.NRW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the correlation filtering tracker for visual target tracking has achieved excellent results in both accuracy and robustness, there are still some problems yet to be solved. Obtaining stable scale estimation using traditional trackers is a challenging problem in visual target tracking, and many trackers fail to handle scale change in complex video sequences. In order to solve the problems of scale change, partial occlusion and geometric deformation for target tracking effectively, a new tracker based on kernel correlation filtering is developed in our study. The tracker obtained with maximum posterior probability method has scale adaptive ability and can deal with scale change to improve the tracking ability. In addition, the tracker further enhances the ability to deal with illumination variation, geometric deformation and occlusion by fusing the adaptive color naming feature and the histogram of oriented gradient feature as well. The VOT‐2018 which has 50 video sequences is used as the benchmark data set in this work and the simulation evaluation on this data set have shown that the proposed tracker has achieved stable tracking results in some challenging scenarios and can achieve better tracking performance than other trackers. © 2021 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bratislava Harbor Bridge is an important part of Slovak highway and railway network. The authorities of the bridge (Railways of the Slovak Republic and National Motorway Company) cannot afford to close it. In the case of closure, traffic in Bratislava would be paralyzed, as up to 100,000 vehicles pass the bridge daily. Because of that, only dynamic tests during operation are possible, but the mentioned companies do not possess a sophisticated measurement system for structural health monitoring purposes. Therefore, a preliminary proposal of a measuring system has been prepared, in accordance with the fact that the bridge is one of the most complex structures in Slovakia. An initial and subsequent validated and verified FEM model have been used for numerical calculations. Time history analysis has also been used for verification and validation of the FEM model. This article also presents a comparison of current results of operational modal analysis and results of numerical analysis. It includes the recommendations for the fib Model Code 2020 (MC2020) as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the lack of adequate measures for flood risk reduction in Nepal, where recurrent flood‐related hazards have had grave consequences for many people over the past decades, we develop a flood risk assessment model for a study area in the Sindhupalchok District. The model considers direct and indirect damages that are assigned to four asset categories (hydropower plants, roads, houses, and farmlands) and two scenarios (low‐exposure‐low‐flood and high‐exposure‐high‐flood scenarios). Model results indicate the following: (a) the planned expansion of hydropower plants reflected in the high exposure scenario is responsible for a substantial increase of economic damage compared with the low scenario and (b) for both scenarios, flood damage is largely related to road closures, which result in the loss of income for villagers and the loss of customs revenues. As this study aims both to provide methods for the assessment of flood risk and to demonstrate them in a case study, we discuss future work related to model‐based flood risk assessments that are needed towards flood risk reduction in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new bridge over the Saane: modern steel girder for the historic railway viaduct The almost 120‐year‐old Saanen viaduct on the Berne–Neuchâtel railway line, a Swiss monument of national importance, is being renovated and extended to double track. The extension to double track will involve the repair of the masonry, the renewal of the deck plates on the viaducts and the replacement of the historic thin iron girder of the 64 m long main opening over the Saane. Like the historical bridge, the main opening between the river piers of the masonry viaducts is crossed with a steel girder with modern design and built in steel‐concrete composite construction. For the replacement of the bridge over the Saane and the renewal and extension to double track of the entire viaduct, railway traffic may be totally interrupted during five weeks. For this reason, the new bridge over the Saane will be entirely constructed beside the railway viaduct before the total closure and will be transversely moved during the total closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction projects are often associated with partial or full road closures, which result in user costs and community disruptions in terms of reduced business productivity. A number of studies have addressed the problem of scheduling construction projects based on a variety of stakeholder objectives. Yet still, there seems to exist a few gaps regarding (1) possible tradeoffs between road user cost reduction and business cost reduction associated with optimal scheduling, (2) role of the project type (rehabilitation and capacity expansion) on the solution methodology, and (3) lack of solution algorithm to address the problem complexity by deriving the optimal solution. In addressing these gaps, this article adopts a novel approach for developing an optimal project schedule for multiple road projects within a construction horizon. The goal is to minimize the overall cost of the projects to road users and adjacent businesses over the construction horizon. The project scheduling problem is formulated as a mixed‐integer nonlinear program. We solve the problem using a local decomposition method. The methodology is demonstrated using the Sioux Falls city network with two project types: capacity expansion and rehabilitation. The results of the numerical experiment suggest that (1) the solution algorithm converges to optimal solution in finite iterations and (2) a network‐wide scheduling of urban road projects using explicit optimization can yield a significant reduction in business disruption costs while incurring a relatively smaller increase in system travel time, and overall, is superior to a schedule developed only considering the total system travel time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability of railway superstructure and substructure refurbishments with heavy construction equipment This study analyzes the environmental potentials of railway superstructure and substructure refurbishments with heavy construction equipment (excavating machine, track renewal train and track tamping machine), wherefore a comparative LCA to a refurbishment with conventional earthworks is carried out. The study object is a refurbishment section of a project of the ÖBB. Thereby, relevant processes until the completion of the refurbishment are examined. Differences regarding fuel consumption of the construction equipment, the shares on equipment production (ratio of construction duration to equipment lifetime), material recycling for unbound base courses, material transport, transport logistics and replacement bus services depending on necessary route closures are therefore examined in detail. The comparison of the LCA results shows advantages of up to 46 % for the heavy equipment variant, although these machines require higher fuel consumptions for construction processes due to higher engine power. However, rail‐bound transports, avoiding the need of a site road, the possibility of material recycling in the excavating machine and the shortening of the route closure period cause positive environmental effects, which compensate the additional fuel consumption for the construction processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding large carnivores' behavioural adaptations to habitat modifications is critical for their persistence in human‐modified environments. Based on 10 Global Positioning System‐collared wolves in a protected area of central Italy, we investigated wolf responses to anthropogenic features such as roads and settlements by using Step and Resource Selection Functions. We revealed that responses by wolves to anthropogenic features varied according to behavioural state (travelling vs. resting) and social affiliation (pack members vs. floaters), while accounting for seasonal and circadian effects. During summer, pack members strongly avoided roads and settlements throughout all day, both when travelling and resting, and complemented this response by selecting forested areas and shrublands. Conversely, during fall and winter, pack members relaxed the avoidance towards anthropogenic features by travelling closer to main roads and settlements, but they still selected resting sites farther from anthropogenic features and located them in denser cover and along steeper slopes. Compared to pack members, floaters, when travelling, showed a weaker avoidance of main roads and settlements and did not show any selection pattern towards environmental variables. When resting, contrary to pack members, floaters selected sites closer to main roads and settlements, even though these were still located along denser cover and steeper slopes. Our findings suggest that wolves living in human‐modified landscapes adapt behaviourally to the spatial and temporal distribution of perceived interference by humans and that their response is complementary to the expected seasonal and circadian variation in human activity. These adaptations appear to be aided by the selection of habitat features that enhance security and allow segregation from humans. Maintenance of such habitat characteristics appears of critical importance to ensure the functionality of behavioural adaptations by wolves living in human‐modified landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy rain in South Africa's Western Cape Province has caused widespread flooding, resulting in several deaths and hundreds of evacuations. Power infrastructure was destroyed, leading to electrocutions, and many people in informal settlements were affected. The flooding also caused road closures and power outages, with significant disruptions to daily life. Additionally, the National Treasury is facing challenges in balancing public spending cuts with essential expenditures and meeting wage demands, as the country's economy continues to struggle with unemployment, GDP contraction, and power cuts. [Extracted from the article]

To explore the mechanisms involved in the global ocean circulation response to the shoaling and closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS), we performed a suite of sensitivity experiments using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model (ESM), GFDL‐ESM2G, varying only the seaway widths and sill depths. Changes in large‐scale transport, global ocean mean state, and deep ocean circulation in all simulations are driven by the direct impacts of the seaway on global mass, heat, and salt transports. Net mass transport through the seaway into the Caribbean is 20.5–23.1 Sv with a deep CAS but only 14.1 Sv for the wide, shallow CAS. Seaway transport originates from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Pacific and rejoins it in the South Atlantic, reducing the Indonesian Throughflow and transporting heat and salt southward into the South Atlantic, in contrast to present‐day and previous CAS simulations. The increased southward salt transport increases the large‐scale upper ocean density, and the freshening and warming from the changing ocean transports decreases the intermediate and deep water density. The ocean circulation pathway with a CAS traps heat in the Southern Hemisphere oceans and reduces the northern extent of Antarctic Bottom Water penetration in the Atlantic, strengthening and deepening Atlantic meridional overturning, in contrast to previous studies. In all simulations, the seaway has a profound effect on the global ocean mean state and alters deep water mass properties and circulation in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific basins, with implications for changing deep water circulation as a possible driver for changes in long‐term climate. Key Points: Independent of the shoaling stage, the Central American Seaway altered the ocean mean state and deep water properties globallyThe seaway provided a shortcut for Pacific water, transporting heat and salt to the South AtlanticThe seaway suppressed Antarctic Bottom Water northward extent, allowing North Atlantic Deep Water to deepen and slightly strengthen [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pluvial flash flood (PFF) can cause serious traffic disruption in big cities. We conducted interdisciplinary research by integrating flood modeling and traffic analysis to reveal the spatiotemporal pattern of the interplay between these two processes. A simplified simulation tool, which is capable of building a road network model, assigning trip paths with the effect of road closures, and evaluating travel delay and vehicle volume redistribution in a given PFF scenario, was developed to capture the traffic disruption in the face of PFF events. Modeling outputs from a case study in the city center of Shanghai showed that the delay of vehicles diverted to dry links or trapped in flooded links may reach 0.5 to 8 times the travel time in no‐flood scenarios. Overall, approximately 1–7% of vehicle volumes on flooded links would be redistributed onto dry links (more likely major arterial roads). However, the vehicle volume variation during each time interval demonstrated evident disparity with the spatiotemporal change of flood inundations. Simulating and mapping the congestion can largely facilitate the identification of vulnerable links. Future research will test the method in other intra‐urban areas and try to bridge the gap between modeling outputs and smart city planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little Cottonwood Canyon Highway is a dead-end, two-lane road leading to Utah's Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. It is the only road access to these resorts and is heavily traveled during the ski season. Professional avalanche forecasters monitor this road throughout the ski season in order to make road closure decisions in the face of avalanche danger. Forecasters at the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) avalanche guard station at Alta have maintained an extensive daily winter database on explanatory variables relating to avalanche prediction. Whether or not an avalanche crosses the road is modeled in this paper via Bayesian additive tree methods. Utilizing daily winter data from 1995 to 2011, results show that using Bayesian tree analysis outperforms traditional statistical methods in terms of realized misclassification costs that take into consideration asymmetric losses arising from two types of error. Closing the road when an avalanche does not occur is an error harmful to resort owners, and not closing the road when one does may result in injury or death. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Den sites are important for many species' ecology, and individuals should choose den sites that minimize risk and maximize energy gain. We examined den site selection and spring space use for black bears (Ursus americanus) at the individual level, and analyzed support for the anthropogenic risk avoidance and infanticide avoidance hypotheses. We obtained telemetry data for 94 individual bears (71 F and 23 M) and collected 162 den locations from Michigan (2009–2011 and 2013–2015), Missouri (2010–2016), and Mississippi (2008–2017), USA. Of 71 females, 37 were monitored during multiple reproductive states. We used generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the influence of reproductive state (female with cubs, female with yearlings, female alone, or male) on den distance to the nearest road, two road indexes (den emergence and spring), spring home range size, mean spring road distance, and a NDVI selection index. All black bears, except females with cubs, chose den locations farther from roads than available to them, supporting the anthropogenic risk avoidance hypothesis. Additionally, females with cubs displayed the smallest spring home ranges among females, as well as denned closer to roads and used areas closer to roads during spring than females with yearlings, supporting the infanticide avoidance hypothesis. The differential responses by the same females when having cubs or yearlings point to strategies to maximize reproductive success. By investigating behavior considering individual availability, we revealed patterns that might not be detected by population‐level assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]