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Background An ethnic density effect in psychosis has been observed whereby the risk of psychosis in minority group individuals is inversely related to the neighbourhood-level proportion of others belonging to the same group. However, there is conflicting evidence over whether this effect differs between minority groups and limited investigation into other moderators. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the ethnic density effect in psychosis and examine moderators. Methods Four databases were systematically searched. A narrative review was conducted, and a three-level meta-analysis was performed. The potential moderating effect of crudely and specifically defined minority groups was assessed. Country, time, area size, and whether studies used clinical or non-clinical outcomes were also tested as moderators. Results Thirty-two studies were included in the narrative review and ten in the meta-analysis. A ten percentage-point decrease in own-group density was associated with a 20% increase in psychosis risk [OR=1.20 (CI95%=1.09–1.32), p Conclusion This is the first review to provide meta-analytic evidence that the risk of psychosis posed by lower own-group density areas is not equally distributed across minority groups. The most robust associations were observed in Black individuals. Heterogeneity in effect sizes may reflect distinctive social experiences of specific minority groups. Mechanisms are discussed, along with the implications of findings and suggestions for future research.

Because the input for Futures Studies is to a very high degree formulated as written words and texts, methods which automate the processing of texts can substantially help Futures Studies. At Shaping Tomorrow, we have developed a software system using Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subfield of Artificial Intelligence, which automatically analyzes publicly available texts and extracts future-relevant data from theses texts. This process can be used to study the futures. This article discusses this software system, explains how it works with a detailed example, and shows real-life applications and visualizations of the resulting data. The current state of this method is just the first step; a number of technological improvements and their possible benefits are explained. The implications of using this software system for the field of Futures Studies are mostly positive, but there are also a number of caveats.

Aim To systematically review the literature concerning the psychosocial factors associated with repeat diabetic ketoacidosis for people living with type 1 diabetes. Methods PsycInfo, Web of Science, CINAHL, PubMed and ASSIA were searched according to a registered study protocol (PROSPERO CRD42020167381). Data were extracted into a coding spreadsheet, and findings were synthesised narratively. Included papers were also subject to a quality assessment. Results The search yielded 548 unique articles, of which 22 met inclusion criteria for this review. There was considerable variance across studies with regard to design, quality and outcome measured. Nevertheless, there was relatively consistent evidence to suggest that repeat diabetic ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes is associated with female gender, adolescent to young adult age range, lower socio-economic status and poor mental health. Some evidence was also observed for the role of ethnicity and, for children and young people at least, family, social and behavioural issues. However, this was limited by issues of methodological rigour and scant investigation. Conclusions The review identified four psychosocial factors that appear to play a key role in the cycle of repeat diabetic ketoacidosis. Individuals with these factors present may benefit from targeted support and interventions by specialist healthcare professionals. Knowledge and understanding in this area would be considerably enhanced via increased use of prospective study designs and greater consistency in the operationalisation of variables across studies.

ObjectivesPsychosis, and in particular auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), are associated with adversity exposure. However, AVHs also occur in populations with no need for care or distress.AimsThis study investigated whether adversity exposure would differentiate clinical and healthy voice-hearers within the context of a ‘three-hit’ model of vulnerability and stress exposure.MethodsSamples of 57 clinical and 45 healthy voice-hearers were compared on the three ‘hits’: familial risk; adversity exposure in childhood and in adolescence/adulthood.ResultsClinical voice-hearers showed greater familial risk than healthy voice-hearers, with more family members with a history of psychosis, but not with other mental disorders. The two groups did not differ in their exposure to adversity in childhood [sexual and non-sexual, victimisation; discrimination and socio-economic status (SES)]. Contrary to expectations, clinical voice-hearers did not differ from healthy voice-hearers in their exposure to victimisation (sexual/non-sexual) and discrimination in adolescence/adulthood, but reported more cannabis and substance misuse, and lower SES.ConclusionsThe current study found no evidence that clinical and healthy voice-hearers differ in lifetime victimisation exposure, suggesting victimisation may be linked to the emergence of AVHs generally, rather than need-for-care. Familial risk, substance misuse and lower SES may be additional risk factors involved in the emergence of need-for-care and distress.

The design and running of complex geoprocessing workflows is an increasingly common geospatial modelling and analysis task. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, which provides a graphical representation of a workflow, allows stakeholders to discuss the scientific conceptual approach behind this modelling while also defining a machine-readable encoding in XML. Previous research has enabled the orchestration of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Services (WPS) with a BPMN workflow engine. However, the need for direct access to pre-defined data inputs and outputs results in a lack of flexibility during composition of the workflow and of efficiency during execution. This article develops metadata profiling approaches, described as two possible configurations, which enable workflow management at the meta-level through a coupling with a metadata catalogue. Specifically, a WPS profile and a BPMN profile are developed and tested using open-source components to achieve this coupling. A case study in the context of an event mapping task applied within a big data framework and based on analysis of the Global Database of Event Language and Tone (GDELT) database illustrates the two different architectures.

The topic of technology development and its disruptive effects has been the subject of much debate over the last 20 years with numerous theories at both macro and micro scales offering potential models of technology progression and disruption. This paper focuses on how theories of technology progression may be integrated and considers whether suitable indicators of this progression and any subsequent disruptive effects might be derived, based on the use of big data analytic techniques. Given the magnitude of the economic, social, and political implications of many disruptive technologies, the ability to quantify disruptive change at the earliest possible stage could deliver major returns by reducing uncertainty, assisting public policy intervention, and managing the technology transition through disruption into deployment. However, determining when this stage has been reached is problematic because small random effects in the timing, direction of development, the availability of essential supportive technologies or “platform” technologies, market response or government policy can all result in failure of a technology, its form of adoption or optimality of implementation. This paper reviews key models of technology evolution and their disruptive effect including the geographical spread of disruption. The paper then describes a use case and an experiment in disruption prediction, looking at the geographical spread of disruption using internet derived historic data. The experiment, although limited to one specific aspect of the integrated model outlined in the paper, provides an initial example of the type of analysis envisaged. This example offers a glimpse into the potential indicators and how they might be used to measure disruption hinting at what might be possible using big data approaches.

BackgroundSocioeconomic deprivation has been identified as a risk factor for psychosis and admission rates for psychosis are higher in deprived areas than more affluent areas. However, social gradients exist in many mental health conditions and it is unclear if this relationship is particularly important for psychosis. ObjectivesThe present study assesses whether there is a stronger relationship between the socioeconomic deprivation of an area and its rate of psychiatric admissions for psychosis than there is for other mental health diagnoses. MethodsWe linked a large dataset of routinely recorded psychiatric admissions from the Welsh National Health Service to small area indices of socio-economic deprivation (the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation). Poisson generalised linear mixed effects models were applied to stratified admission count data to test whether the relationship between deprivation and admission rates was stronger for psychosis admissions than for non-psychosis admissions. Data from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (19,437 patients) were used as a discovery sample and an analysis protocol was pre-registered before being applied to data from the rest of Wales (116,641 patients). FindingsIn both samples, admission rates were higher in more deprived areas. In the discovery sample, this relationship was stronger for psychosis admissions than for other types of admission. However, in the larger replication dataset, this was not the case and the social gradient in admissions was equivalently steep for the two diagnosis categories. ConclusionsAlthough socio-economic deprivation was a risk factor for admission with psychosis, it is not a stronger risk factor for psychosis than for other psychiatric categories. Theoretical accounts of the relationship between psychosis and poverty should focus on factors common across mental health, rather than factors specific to psychosis.

Management by Trajectory (MBT) is a NASA concept for taking Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) to the next level of maturity. MBT looks beyond enabling technologies to flesh out the operational concept and look at how TBO changes the ways in which actors interact. In MBT, each aircraft has an assigned trajectory that is negotiated between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airspace user (AU) and complies with all National Airspace System (NAS) constraints. Any deviation from the assigned trajectory must be negotiated. In addition to the request/response interactions between controllers and pilots that have so far been proposed to support Data Comm, trajectory negotiation under MBT leverages emerging capabilities to support much richer negotiations. MBT proposes a higher level language to support new kinds of requests and responses, such as providing new or amended constraints to which a trajectory must conform and allowing the trajectory to be proposed by the AU, or controllers offering solution options to the AU for the AU to select the preferred solution. The key MBT benefit mechanisms are trajectory predictability and AU flexibility. Improved predictability supports more efficient operations, from earlier and less frequent conflict detection and resolution to better calibration of traffic flow management decision-making to balance demand with capacity. Improved flexibility allows AUs to act on their trajectory preferences. This paper provides an overview of the MBT concept and discusses open questions to be explored in future concept evaluation activities.

Overhead guide sign lighting has been used by many agencies to improve visibility. However, the availability of newer and more efficient retroreflective materials has created a new challenge for state transportation agencies going through sign sheeting upgrade programs and considering the need for using sign lighting, as there is no existing answer regarding whether upgraded sign sheeting itself can meet drivers’ nighttime visibility demands without external sign lighting. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether high intensity reflective sheeting can be used to replace overhead guide sign lighting. The conclusion of the study provided a guidance for agencies to adopt their current sign lighting policy. A luminance computation model is used in the paper to calculate overhead guide sign legend luminance under various situations, including different sign lighting technologies, different geometrics and overhead guide sign locations, and different amounts of sign dirt and sign aging. By comparing the calculated luminance of a specific overhead guide sign at a specific situation with the legibility luminance levels required by older drivers, sign lighting needs are assessed. In addition, a life-cycle cost spreadsheet is developed and used to calculate the cost of replacing the current sign sheeting with high reflective sheeting and the cost of installing/upgrading sign lighting. Eventually, the most cost effective approach to maintain overhead guide luminance is discussed. First published online 16 January 2017

Environmental science, education, business, and policy require Earth observations, sensor readings, and measurements and observations of many other kinds, but data alone are not enough. Equally imp...

Volunteer geographical information (VGI) either in the context of citizen science, active crowdsourcing and even passive crowdsourcing has been proven useful in various societal domains such as natural hazards, health status, disease epidemic and biological monitoring. Nonetheless, the variable degrees or unknown quality due to the crowdsourcing settings are still an obstacle for fully integrating these data sources in environmental studies and potentially in policy making. The data curation process in which a quality assurance (QA) is needed is often driven by the direct usability of the data collected within a data conflation process or data fusion (DCDF) combining the crowdsourced data into one view using potentially other data sources as well. Using two examples, namely land cover validation and inundation extent estimation, this paper discusses the close links between QA and DCDF in order to determine whether a disentanglement can be beneficial or not to a better understanding of the data curation process and to its methodology with respect to crowdsourcing data. Far from rejecting the usability quality criterion, the paper advocates for a decoupling of the QA process and the DCDF step as much as possible but still in integrating them within an approach analogous to a Bayesian paradigm.

To improve student success, instructors need to understand how students feel about their own learning and how much responsibility the students take for it. This information is crucial to teaching and to the development of more effective courses. Yet, very often, instructors in higher education focus on content learning exclusively. While summative assessment of learning in these courses is important, content learning is not the only measure of educational outcomes. This study used an instrument-surveying tool in which the Course Valuing Inventory (CVI) was adapted for Construction Management (CM) courses to evaluate cognitive-content, affective-personal and behavioral learning in students taking these courses. The study also examined the relationship between course valuing scores, Approaches to Study Inventory (ASI), and course performance. Results indicated that the CVI can be adapted for use in CM courses. Multiple regressions run in this exploratory study predicting final course grade from seven predic...

The study investigated the fatigue performance of rubberized porous European mix (PEM) and control PEM and the influence introducing methods of crumb rubber modifier (CRM) on the fatigue performance of PEM. Four PEM mixtures were used: rubberized PEM in dry process, rubberized PEM in wet process, rubberized PEM with terminal blend binder, and control styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) modified PEM. Dynamic modulus and direct tension fatigue tests were performed with an asphalt mixture performance tester system. The fatigue test data were analyzed by the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage theory. There were four main results. First, the rutting resistance of the rubberized PEM in the dry process was similar to that of the wet process but slightly lower than that of the rubberized PEM with the terminal blend binder and SBS modified PEM. Second, the fatigue cracking resistance of the rubberized PEM in the dry process was similar to that of the wet process but significantly lower than those of the rubberized PEM with the terminal blend binder and SBS modified PEM. Third, the use of smaller size CRM and transpolyoctenamer (TOR) in the dry process may have made the properties of the dry process PEM close to those of the wet process. However, the 10% CRM or 4.5% TOR used in the study could not make rubberized PEMs produce longer fatigue life like the control SBS modified PEM. Fourth, the introduction of SBS into rubberized PEM by the terminal blend method may have significantly improved the fatigue performance of PEM.

Environmental policy involving citizen science (CS) is of growing interest. In support of this open data stream, validation or quality assessment of the CS data and their appropriate usage for evidence-based policy making, needs a flexible and easily adaptable data curation process ensuring transparency. Addressing these needs, this paper describes an approach for automatic quality assurance as proposed by the Citizen OBservatory WEB (COBWEB) FP7 project. This approach is based upon a workflow composition that combines different quality controls, each belonging to seven categories or ‘pillars’. Each pillar focuses on a specific dimension in the types of reasoning algorithms for CS data qualification. These pillars attribute values to a range of quality elements belonging to three complementary quality models. Additional data from various sources, such as Earth Observation (EO) data, are often included as part of the inputs of quality controls within the pillars. However, qualified CS data can also contribute to the validation of EO data. Therefore, the question of validation can be considered as ‘two sides of the same coin’. Based on an invasive species CS study, concerning Fallopia japonica (Japanese knotweed), the paper discusses the flexibility and usefulness of qualifying CS data, either when using an EO data for the validation within the quality assurance process, or validating an EO data product that describes the risk of occurrence of the plant. Both validation paths are found to be improved by quality assurance of the CS data. Addressing the reliability of CS open data, issues and limitations of the role of quality assurance for validation, due to the quality of secondary data used within the automatic workflow, are described, e.g. error propagation, paving the route to improvements in the approach.

The paper retraces the GRASPgfs endeavor (Geospatial Resource for Agricultural Species and Pests with integrated workflow modelling to support Global Food Security) between multiple disciplines around a common objective of facilitating research and model simulations for sustainable food security. Within this endeavor, the geospatial media has been the enabler for multidisciplinary research in crop modelling. Geospatial genetic-trait variations and associations with environmental forecasting were the main focus of the GRASPgfs. Designing the platform achieving this objective generated a transdisciplinary vision of modelling and forecasting for sustainable agriculture. Based on interoperability principles, seamless access as well as sharing for data, metadata and processing models, the design is described in this paper. This geospatial binding facilitates and supports new types of hypotheses and analysis as illustrated in the paper with a landscape genetic case study (bambara groundnut) and a crop disease modelling (eyespot disease). The approach and the eGRASP platform are generic enough to accommodate further complexity into the integrated modelling that this geospatial binding enables.

Volunteer geographical information (VGI), either in the context of citizen science or the mining of social media, has proven to be useful in various domains including natural hazards, health status, disease epidemics, and biological monitoring. Nonetheless, the variable or unknown data quality due to crowdsourcing settings are still an obstacle for fully integrating these data sources in environmental studies and potentially in policy making. The data curation process, in which a quality assurance (QA) is needed, is often driven by the direct usability of the data collected within a data conflation process or data fusion (DCDF), combining the crowdsourced data into one view, using potentially other data sources as well. Looking at current practices in VGI data quality and using two examples, namely land cover validation and inundation extent estimation, this paper discusses the close links between QA and DCDF. It aims to help in deciding whether a disentanglement can be possible, whether beneficial or not, in understanding the data curation process with respect to its methodology for future usage of crowdsourced data. Analysing situations throughout the data curation process where and when entanglement between QA and DCDF occur, the paper explores the various facets of VGI data capture, as well as data quality assessment and purposes. Far from rejecting the usability ISO quality criterion, the paper advocates for a decoupling of the QA process and the DCDF step as much as possible while still integrating them within an approach analogous to a Bayesian paradigm.

The use of Geographic Information or GI, has grown rapidly in recent years. Previous research has identified the importance of usability and user centred design in enabling the proliferation and exploitation of GI. However, the design and development of usable GI is not simply a matter of applying the tried and tested usability methods that have been developed for software and web design. Dealing with data and specifically GI brings with it a number of issues that change the way usability and user centred design can be applied. This paper describes the outcomes of a workshop held in March 2010 exploring the core issues relating to GI usability. The workshop brought together an international group of twenty experts in both human factors and GI, from a wide range of academic and industrial backgrounds. These experts considered three key issues, the stakeholders in GI, key challenges applying usability to GI and the usability methods that can be successfully applied to GI. The result of this workshop was to identify some areas for future research, such as the production of meaningful metadata and the implications of blurring of the line between data producers and data consumers.

The quality aspects of OpenStreetMap (OSM), as the global representation of crowd-sourced mapping, have always been of priomary concern to academics. While the methodologies for checking its quality against the national maps have been implemented by a number of studies, there are minimal works on how to practically improve the quality of OSM towards being an authoritative map source. This paper presents a method for conflating road attributes, namely the name and reference code, of OSM with the Open Data provided by Ordnance Survey (the British national mapping agency). The added values in the proposed methodology include the daily updates and serving of the conflated maps via open Web Services. More importantly, the OSM crowd correction is facilitated by frequently highlighting and web-serving the individual differences. There are currently over 5,800 differences in matching road names and references between the two datasets. In addition to describing the conflation methodology, the different geographic distribution patterns of the identified differences are discussed. A negative effect of the road density on the ratio of the mismatched features between the two datasets is observable, evidenced by their different geographical distribution over the map. It is shown that the best correspondence between attributes exists in the very dense areas, followed by the very low density areas, and lastly in the middle to large sized cities.

The rise of crowdsourced mapping data is well documented and attempts to integrate such information within existing or potential NSDIs [National Spatial Data Infrastructures] are increasingly being examined. The results of these experiments, however, have been mixed and have left many researchers uncertain and unclear of the benefits of integration and of solutions to problems of use for such combined and potentially synergistic mapping tools. This paper reviews the development of the crowdsource mapping movement and discusses the applications that have been developed and some of the successes achieved thus far. It also describes the problems of integration and ways of estimating success, based partly on a number of on-going studies at the University of Nottingham that look at different aspects of the integration problem: iterative improvement of crowdsource data quality, comparison between crowdsourced data and prior knowledge and models, development of trust in such data, and the alignment of variant ontologies. Questions of quality arise, particularly when crowdsource data are combined with pre-existing NSDI data. The latter is usually stable, meets international standards and often provides national coverage for use at a variety of scales. The former is often partial, without defined quality standards, patchy in coverage, but frequently addresses themes very important to some grass roots group and often to society as a whole. This group might be of regional, national, or international importance that needs a mapping facility to express its views, and therefore should combine with local NSDI initiatives to provide valid mapping. Will both groups use ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) and OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards? Or might some extension or relaxation be required to accommodate the mostly less rigorous crowdsourced data? So, can crowdsourced data ever be safely and successfully merged into an NSDI? Should it be simply a separate mapping layer? Is full integration possible providing quality standards are fully met, and methods of defining levels of quality agreed? Frequently crowdsourced data sets are anarchic in composition, and based on new and sometimes unproved technologies. Can an NSDI exhibit the necessary flexibility and speed to deal with such rapid technological and societal change?

As a mid-way between the usability criteria proposed by the upcoming ISO 19157 and error propagation methods, the concept of meta-propagation allows derivation of an estimate of the propagated uncertainties using only metadata information about the quality of the datasets and processes used in a scientific workflow. The principle of meta-propagation has been illustrated using the thematic accuracy with the quantitative attribute accuracy sub-element. This paper explores other data quality elements that can be meta-propagated. Using a similar approach as for thematic accuracy, we address further the metadata quality for the processes and their links with data quality. The paper focuses on generic principles and a few specific situations where appropriate quality measures can be fully described. Basic meta-propagation, based on separability of the assessments (i.e. one input to one output), is presented but the paper also discusses the potential of using quality measures for non-separable approaches. Spatia...

THE EDITORS highlight the need to become more informed about chronic disease and long-term conditions.

Individuals reporting persistent psychotic experiences (PEs) in the general population, but without a "need for care", are a unique group of particular importance in identifying risk and protective factors for psychosis. We compared people with persistent PEs and no "need for care" (non-clinical, N=92) with patients diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (clinical, N=84) and controls without PEs (N=83), in terms of their phenomenological, socio-demographic and psychological features. The 259 participants were recruited from one urban and one rural area in the UK, as part of the UNIQUE (Unusual Experiences Enquiry) study. Results showed that the non-clinical group experienced hallucinations in all modalities as well as first-rank symptoms, with an earlier age of onset than in the clinical group. Somatic/tactile hallucinations were more frequent than in the clinical group, while commenting and conversing voices were rare. Participants in the non-clinical group were differentiated from their clinical counterparts by being less paranoid and deluded, apart from ideas of reference, and having fewer cognitive difficulties and negative symptoms. Unlike the clinical group, they were characterized neither by low psychosocial functioning nor by social adversity. However, childhood trauma featured in both groups. They were similar to the controls in psychological characteristics: they did not report current emotional problems, had intact self-esteem, displayed healthy schemas about the self and others, showed high life satisfaction and well-being, and high mindfulness. These findings support biopsychosocial models postulating that environmental and psychological factors interact with biological processes in the aetiology of psychosis. While some PEs may be more malign than others, lower levels of social and environmental adversity, combined with protective factors such as intact IQ, spirituality, and psychological and emotional well-being, may reduce the likelihood of persistent PEs leading to pathological outcomes. Future research should focus on protective factors and determinants of well-being in the context of PEs, rather than exclusively on risk factors and biomarkers of disease states.

Aim To observe the issues, benefits and challenges of providing dynamic telephone clinical advice to frontline clinicians by advanced paramedics of the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Method In order to focus on the key issues the study used a mixed method approach. A group of 11 advanced paramedics took part in two focus groups which was then followed up with a questionnaire to frontline clinicians. Using focus groups in the research not only allows for the possibility of multiple realities but also for participant validation. Using a qualitative approach allowed theory to develop and emerge which was then codified into themes and the data was then used to develop a questionnaire for frontline clinicians who had received clinical advice in the past in order to provide an element of quantitative data. Findings Five themes emerged from the stud: function, responsibility, barriers, education and support. Conclusion The study finds that clarity is required in relation to responsibilities and clinicians would benefit from a structured model to communicate information over the telephone—we believe the introduction of remote advice has improved patient safety and support to staff and has created opportunity for additional learning.

Over the last decade, there has been a tremendous growth and exploitation of open source geospatial software and technologies. A combination of factors is driving this momentum, including the contributions made by hundreds of developers and the leading role played by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), aiming primarily to support and promote the collaborative development of open source geospatial technologies and data. This article seeks to map out the social history of collaborative activities within the OSGeo ecosystem. We used the archival logs of developers' contributions, specifically looking for boundary spanning activities where contributions crossed multiple projects. The analysis and visualization of these activities allow us to have a better understanding of the role of boundary spanning in the resourcing of each project, the incubation mechanism advocated by OSGeo, and the significance of the social interrelatedness among projects. The data consisted of the subversion (SVN) commit history made by individual developers in the programming code repository. We applied several network analytical and visualization techniques to explore the data. Our findings indicate that more than one in seven developers spanned multiple projects which potentially had the effects of shaping the projects' directions, and increased knowledge flow and innovation. In addition, the OSGeo's incubation mechanism provided an important encouragement for boundary spanning and increased knowledge sharing. By studying the social history of contributions, further tools can be developed in future to assist tracking of the social history, and make developers mindful of the significance of the interdependence among projects and hence continuously contribute to the health of the OSGeo ecosystem.

Indoor spatial data forms an important foundation to many ubiquitous computing applications. It gives context to users operating location-based applications, provides an important source of documentation of buildings and can be of value to computer systems where an understanding of environment is required. Unlike external geographic spaces, no centralised body or agency is charged with collecting or maintaining such information. Widespread deployment of mobile devices provides a potential tool that would allow rapid model capture and update by a building's users. Here we introduce some of the issues involved in volunteering building interior data and outline a simple mobile tool for capture of indoor models. The nature of indoor data is inherently private; however in-depth analysis of this issue and legal considerations are not discussed in detail here.

A study was initiated to harmonize the dynamic friction tester and a locked-wheel tester on Florida's typical open-graded and dense-graded surfaces under various speed conditions. In addition, two texture measuring devices, the circular track meter and a high-speed 64-kHz laser mounted to the locked-wheel tester, were evaluated. These devices were first harmonized at a standard test speed of 40 mph (65 km/h). Because of the increased level of macrotexture in the open-graded mixtures, the open- and dense-graded surfaces were assumed to show different frictional behavior under different speed conditions. As a consequence, the harmonization equations for the open- and dense-graded surfaces were developed separately. Harmonization of different test speeds was also performed for each given test method to allow for converting the friction measured at a range of speeds—30 mph (50 km/h) to 60 mph (95 km/h)—back to that of the standard speed. The flexibility provided by these harmonization efforts is of great practical use and provides an alternative to the international friction index for Florida's conditions.

As part of Florida DOT (FDOT)’s Partnering Program, a temporary roadway was designed and constructed using three different pavement sections. The program consisted of pavement construction monitoring and field/laboratory testing during construction, prior to opening to traffic and demolition. The study documents the findings of the ongoing efforts by FDOT to assess the applicability of untreated recycled asphalt pavement (UNRAP) as base course for pavement sections. Three different temporary pavement sections were constructed. Two sections were constructed with UNRAP, one with a stabilized subgrade and the other with a compacted subgrade. The third section was constructed with a limerock base and stabilized subgrade, and was used for comparison purposes. The UNRAP material used in the temporary pavement sections was milled off of the existing roadway. Laboratory and field testing, including Dynaflect and falling weight deflectometer (FWD), were performed and evaluated. The study suggested the UNRAP base p...

The Florida Department of Transportation initiated a field study to compare the suitability of two friction-testing devices for measuring the friction characteristics of patterned and textured crosswalks: (a) a site-specific dynamic friction tester (DFT) and (b) a semicontinuous locked wheel tester. The locked wheel testing was performed with both ribbed and smooth tires at 20, 30, and 40 mph (30, 50 and 65 km/h), respectively. Ten test sections were randomly selected to include the different types of patterned and textured processes currently approved for use in Florida. The results of this study indicated that the smooth tire measurements were, generally, in good agreement with the DFT, regardless of test speed. The correlation between the DFT and the ribbed tire test improved with the increasing speed of the locked wheel testing. In addition, for a given test method, harmonization of different test speeds was also performed to allow for the speed conversion of the friction coefficients. The flexibility provided by these harmonization efforts is of great practical use in evaluating the frictional characteristics of patterned and textured crosswalks, especially when dealing with constraints such as speed limits. The testing program, the data collection effort, and the subsequent analyses and findings are described, as well as the lessons learned from Florida's experience with patterned and textured pavements.

Electricity sector is among the key users of natural gas. The sustained electricity deficit and environment policies have added to an already rising demand for gas. This paper tries to understand gas demand in future from electricity sector. This paper models the future demand for gas in India from the electricity sector under alternative scenarios for the period 2005–2025, using bottom-up ANSWER MARKAL model. The scenarios are differentiated by alternate economic growth projections and policies related to coal reforms, infrastructure choices and local environment. The results across scenarios show that gas competes with coal as a base-load option if price difference is below US $ 4 per MBtu. At higher price difference gas penetrates only the peak power market. Gas demand is lower in the high economic growth scenario, since electricity sector is more flexible in substitution of primary energy. Gas demand reduces also in cases when coal supply curve shifts rightwards such as under coal reforms and coal-by-wire scenarios. Local environmental (SO2 emissions) control promotes end of pipe solutions flue gas de-sulfurisation (FGD) initially, though in the longer term mitigation happens by fuel substitution (coal by gas) and introduction of clean coal technologies integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC).

The disposal of ash produced from the combustion of solid fuels has been a major subject of research and product development for many years. An innovative application has recently been employed by JEA to recycle both the bottom ash and fly ash from two new circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers as a stabilizer for local sandy soils and pavement base course material. The results of laboratory testing and field applications in the north Florida market area illustrate how this by-product is adding value in pavement and roadway construction applications.

As part of the evaluation of the potential use of the international friction index as the standard for the reporting of friction measurements, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) conducted an assessment of the precision of the dynamic friction tester (DFT) and circular track meter (CTM) test methods. The FDOT CTM equipment and DFT equipment were compared with similar portable equipment owned and operated by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) in an attempt to quantify both the repeatability and the reproducibility of the test data obtained. The FDOT portable equipment was mobilized to Auburn, Alabama, for side-by-side testing with the NCAT equipment. This paper summarizes the results of an assessment of the precision of the DFT and CTM equipment on 10 different test surfaces at the NCAT Pavement Test Track. Tests with DFT and CTM were performed at five different locations within each of the 10 different test sections by using both NCAT and FDOT equipment. On the basis of the results of this comparison testing, proposed precision statements are presented for both the repeatability and the reproducibility of the data for the respective pieces of equipment. Correlation relationships are also presented for the portable equipment and the full-scale equipment currently used by FDOT and others.

Because of safety concerns associated with friction testing on both high-and low-speed facilities, testing at variable speeds has been investigated by the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) and others. Previous research has demonstrated that reasonable correlations may be developed between friction test data obtained at the standard test speed of 40 mph (64.4 km/h) and other speeds. As part of an effort to harmonize its fleet of full-scale, locked-wheel friction testing equipment with portable reference test equipment (ASTM E 1960), the Florida DOT also evaluated the skid number speed gradient ( Gv) for use in transforming friction and macrotexture measurements obtained at variable highway speeds. This paper documents the results of this evaluation. On the basis of the results of this study, a practical method of measuring pavement friction and macrotexture at variable highway speeds with the Florida DOT locked-wheel test unit and the ribbed tire is presented. Since the results of the ribbed tire test are known to be significantly influenced by pavement microtexture and since the mean profile depth (MPD), as measured with the high-speed laser, is a direct measure of macrotexture, the friction number (FN)40 R and the complementary MPD data together may be readily employed to characterize the frictional properties of the pavement. This approach builds on Florida's historical database of locked-wheel, ribbed-tire test data, while adding a direct measure of macrotexture and the flexibility of testing at variable speeds. Practical implementation recommendations and examples are provided.

In recent years, larger vibratory rollers have been implemented because of their improved efficiency. An unfortunate consequence is that greater ground motion caused by these larger vibratory rollers might damage adjacent infrastructure, particularly in or near urban areas. Various federal, state, and foreign agencies have proposed vibration limit criteria; some are intended to mitigate damage to structures while others are based on limiting human annoyance. Two of these existing criteria (U.S. Office of Surface Mines blasting level criteria and German DIN 4150 standard level for human annoyance) were selected to form the basis of a recommended practice for limiting vibratory compaction in critical work zones. These criteria are used to differentiate three zones on a plot of peak particle velocity versus vibratory roller frequency. A square-root scaling law of ground motion is used to predict the ground motions from vibratory compaction equipment based on falling weight deflectometer (FWD) data. With this predictor, a potentially vibration-sensitive portion of a resurfacing project can be identified using displacement time histories from the FWD obtained during routine preconstruction testing. Detailed knowledge of the layering of the pavement structure or the geology of the surrounding site is not required. It is demonstrated that this predictor can successfully be used to restrict vibratory compaction near sensitive structures, including fragile buried infrastructure.

An experiment was conducted to study differences in workload and performance of participants when navigating a route. Participants used a mobile device to navigate a route in a building. Different types of representation were used: a paper floor plan and three representations presented on a personal digital assistant (PDA). In the PDA based conditions, an overview of the floor plan was presented in a picture viewer. Since the plan was much larger than the PDA screen, participants moved different parts of the plan into view using a stylus. Floor plans were also presented as a sequence of plan fragments on the PDA which were advanced by the user according to location. Results show significantly shorter route completion times for participants using the paper plan compared with the PDA support. Significant differences in workload, effort and mental demand were also found between the types of representation. The paper plan condition elicited the lowest levels of workload and the shortest route completion times. Implications for the design of location-based navigation support are discussed.

This paper describes the analysis of an airborne alerting system for aircraft that are landing on closely spaced parallel runways. Such alerting systems have the potential to increase airport capac...

This paper outlines the historical development of data management systems in order to identify the key issues for successful systems. It identifies the need for data independence and the embedding of structural and behavioural semantics in the database as key issues in the development of modern systems. Hierarchical, Network, Relational, Object-oriented and Object-relational data management systems are reviewed. A short summary of related research is given. The paper concludes with some speculation on the future directions that database technology might take.

Trajectory prediction in air trafe c management computes the most likely or the most desirable aircraft trajectories by using models of aircraft performance and atmospheric conditions, as well as measurements of aircraft states. In comparison, actual trajectories are obtained using feedback control from a pilot or autopilot to track e ight objectives, while theaircrafte iesthrough an actual atmosphere. This paperintroduces the concept ofclosedloop sensitivities, which are dee ned as differences between actual and computed trajectories per unit of modeling errors, in thepresenceof pilot/autopilotfeedback controls.Modeling errorsareexpressed asuncertain parameters and/or uncertain functions. Pilot/autopilot control actions are approximated by nonlinear feedback control laws, designedwith themethod of feedback linearization. Both theaircraft equations of motion and the feedbackcontrol laws are linearized around computed reference trajectories, and these linearized equations are used to determine expressions for closed-loop terminal sensitivities. The proposed method is applied to the Center/Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Automation System as well as e ight management systems.

What is the best way to promote bicycle transportation? Are people afraid to ride bicycles because motorists will run them over? Are there enough bicycle facilities available? Is promoting bicycle transportation a wise use of tax dollars? What percentage of the population currently rides bicycles? The San Diego Association of Governments allocates approximately $2 million annually on bicycling projects throughout San Diego County, California. Both the county of San Diego and the city of San Diego employ full-time bicycle coordinators. Periodically, questions and comments will arise regarding bicycling policies. “Why are they spending so much money on bicycle lanes? No one ever bicycles down this street.” “If they would build more bicycle paths, I would ride my bicycle to work instead of drive.” “How do they expect people to ride bicycles if they don’t maintain the pavement?” The San Diego County Bicycle Use and Attitude Survey was commissioned at the behest of the San Diego County Public Works Department to determine existing levels of bicycle usage and bicycling attitudes among San Diego County residents. A total of 3,800 interviews, conducted during February and March 1994 by telephone throughout the county, provided valuable insight into a large range of bicycling issues. The survey found that a majority (58 percent) of those residents polled reported that they were bicycle owners, and that a majority (68 percent) of those households in which bicycles were present reported that the adults bicycled. Respondents who bicycle chose bicycle paths, which are separated from motor vehicles, as their preferred bikeway facility. Almost three-fourths of the respondents (73 percent) stated that they did not bicycle at night. Only 15 percent of respondents who rode a bicycle at least once within the past year reported riding for transportation purposes. Over 99 percent of all respondents stated that they did not belong to a bicycling organization. A majority of respondents (over 70 percent) had not heard of various government programs that provided bicycle maps and bicycle information, and less than 10 percent of respondents have used these services. The majority of bicycling households (86 percent) reported being at least somewhat satisfied with the level of bikeway maintenance provided. Overall, survey respondents expressed support for government efforts to promote bicycle transportation.

Imaging cerebral glucose metabolism with positron emission tomography (PET) has been widely used in studying Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this study, we used fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET images to investigate reduced glucose metabolism in 90 AD subjects, 90 MCI subjects and 90 healthy elderly normal controls (NC). Compared to NC, the AD showed a significant hypometabolism in left and right middle temporal, left cingulate gyrus, medial frontal gyrus and left parahippocampal gyrus. Compared to NC, the MCI showed a significant hypometabolism in the right inferior temporal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus. Compared to MCIs, the AD also showed a significant hypometabolism in left and right middle temporal, left cingulate gyrus, left angular gyrus and right parahippocampal gyrus. This study demonstrates the different cerebral metabolic patterns of AD, MCI and controls. It also shows that glucose metabolism is a sensitive measure of change in cognition and functional ability in AD and MCI, and that might be valuable in predicting future cognitive decline.

Affective computing is an interdisciplinary research field that has made plentiful and substantial achievements in this decade. In previous Artificial Intelligence research, computers are expected to be endowed with intelligence analogous to human intelligence. In affective computing, computers are expected to be endowed with Emotional Intelligence, which means that the computer can recognize and interpret the emotional states of humans and adapt its behavior to give an appropriate response to those emotions. This paper describes the design of an experiment that is used to collect the emotional data for a cognition & emotion support e-learning project. The goal of this experiment is to explore the interrelationship between the teacher and the student from both emotional and cognitive aspects in a teaching situation, and then construct the interaction models of the emotional and cognitive levels. These models will be integrated in an affective learning system which supports the learner both from cognitive and emotional aspects. The paper addresses issues in experimental design including ethnography, ethical and practical problems related to this form of experimental work.

We describe two languages and associated tools for capturing and analyzing two different views of the architecture of an embedded system. One language is tailored to address guidance, navigation, and feedback control issues, while the other is tailored to address real-time, fault-tolerance, secure partitioning, and scalable multiprocessor issues. Both languages have tools that perform analyses appropriate for the issues each addresses, and tools to automatically configure the application software from a sufficiently detailed specification. The integrated languages and tools are intended to support a development process based on reusing an easily configurable generic architecture developed for a family of products.

In this paper the μ-synthesis multivariable control design method is applied to the F-117A to meet stability, performance, and disturbance rejection requirements. Using structured singular value (μ) synthesis allows for the direct optimization of robust performance. Performance specifications are weighted transfer functions that express the magnitude and frequency content of external disturbances, pilot commands, atmospheric gusts, and sensor noise. Maximum allowable limits are set for the magnitude and frequency content of generalized tracking errors, actuator activity, handling and ride qualities. Performance specifications and the model set definition are incorporated within a single interconnection structure upon which existing design algorithms can operate.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) investigated the use of seismic refraction tomography (SRT) for identifying changes in pillar loading at the Foidel Creek coal mine near Steamboat Springs, Colo. The inherent three-dimensional problem of directly imaging coal pillar conditions is reduced to a single plane by considering only the load transmitted from the pillar to the adjacent floor rock. Floor strata velocity tomograms (at two pillar locations) illustrate that loading conditions are nonuniform and nonunique. Also, time sequence monitoring, as the longwall face advanced, demonstrated that SRT can be used to image spatial changes in loading conditions. SRT offers the mining engineer a simple and flexible technique for evaluating pillar conditions and, thus, both present and alternative mine designs.

In this article, we describe the language and code generator ControlH. The development of ControlH is being supported by the ARPA domain-specific software architectures (DSSA) program. The language is designed for describing guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) algorithms in a concise yet rigorous manner. Both textual and graphical syntaxes exist. The code generator generates high-quality, modular Ada or C from ControlH specifications. Together, the language and the code generator provide software reuse and configuration at the level of the GN&C algorithm specification. >